Hi! I’m Dani, I am 20 years old and before I even knew what Graphic Design was, I studied Art & Design for 2 years and achieved an Art and Design BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma. Once I knew how massive the art and design industry was, I decided to narrow that down. Graphic Design popped up one day, I done some research and thought I’d give it a go. I am keen on trying new things and building up my skills. The last two years has really helped me gain knowledge and understanding for Graphic Design. When I first started, two years ago, I did not know what I was getting myself into but I am so glad I gave it a shot and now I have achieved new skills in something I want to build on.
Professional Brief
For this brief I decided to create something that actually interested me. When I was younger my
grandad was given a ‘homemade dog biscuits cookbook’ as a gift as he loved baking and when I
would go round my grandparents house, I would make a batch of homemade banana dog
biscuits for their Golden Labrador - Lola. She would love them and we all would not feel bad in
giving her one as we all knew the ingredients.
From that inspiration, I decided to create my own brand which delivered freshly homemade dog food that owners could buy and not have to worry about what ingredients was in my products as my brand would only use organic and fresh produce. I also used portion controlled as I know people can over feed their dogs and not know it. I know every dog owner loves to treat their four legged friends and I know that depending on the size of your dog, they have different needs. I done my research and made sure that all the products I created benefited the specific dog size. I also researched into foods that was good for dogs and which ones were bad. Let’s be real,
human food is way better than dog food. So I made sure that our furry friends could still enjoy our food but in moderation. The ingredients in my products are foods that are not toxic to dogs and some have ingredients that can help them become their healthiest version of themselves.
I created packaging that was environmentally friendly because with my products being all natural and organic, I wanted to make sure my packaging was also included with that. For my colour scheme I decided to use a neutral colour paired with a dark navy blue with accents of orange. I really like the contrast between the blue and orange as they are complementary colours on the colour wheel so they make each other stand out. Alongside the food products I also created gifts and accessories like dog bowls, dog collars, toys, tote bags and much more.
Charity Advertising
For this brief we had to chose a charity and create a campaign around that charity. The charity I
decided to use was Mind - for a better mental health. The reason I made the decided to go with a
mental health charity was because I know people who suffer/ suffered with mental health issues
and I wanted to expand my knowledge. When doing my research into mental health, I discovered
that mental health issues can be caused by various different ways. The reason why I decided to
chose Mind was because I was very familiar with their logo but I did not actually know much
about them as a charity. So I was intrigued to find out more about them and what they have to
offer for people who needs the help.
I found out that Mind has actually done quite a few campaigns already and most of them are all about awareness, so from that I decided to focus my campaign around awareness. I had to design a 48 sheet billboard and I created three different ones. The first had a question mark in the shape of a face which meant what is mental health? The second was a tree that resembles ‘the tree of life’ and the meaning behind that was it’s human to tackle mental health issues. Lastly my third design I used Mind’s logo and sketches of a brain which was laid out to show that more people have a lot going on rather than a calm, normal looking brain. I chose to keep to Mind’s colour scheme because I did not feel the need to change it.
I also created other elements to this campaign like social media. I made a mock up of an account and posts. I also created a radio ad and an event poster. My event poster was a coffee morning event, that I called T.L.C which stands for T - TALK, L - LEARN and C - CONNECT. I got that idea from the original meaning of TLC which is tender loving care. I wanted an event that was calm and something that everyone can get involved in. It was an event created for people to come along
with no charge in the morning to have a chat over a coffee and a slice of cake. To go along side the poster I created mock ups of coffee cups. I thought this would be a nice touch to the event and it will help spread the awareness further. The designs I used on the cups was statements from my social media posts. I thought it would be a nice way for people to see them if they don’t have social media.
