Here is the sheet from my final crit last week. A couple of things cropped up that I need to work on, like blogging less yet more appropriate things. However, these are all things that I was already aware of and am currently trying to work on. Other than minor things the crit went really well. I have managed my time much better for this module than I have previously and feel much less stressed over all. 

Here are the three final versions of my poster designs. After much frustration and deliberation.

I am finally pleased with my outcome. 
I think they are simple and straight to the point and effectively communicate my point to my target audience.

Once again, after decided on my final idea, looking at it again the following day I am still undecided. 


I have now re-worked the latest solutions to resolve one final idea that I will be sending to Amber tomorrow ready to be sent off to Erik Kessels as part of the live brief. 


I have re-branding using 'Helevetica' as my new typeface, this is much more professional and appropriate and my new quote 'Britain is Beautiful' taking the work 'Rain' out of britain, is really effective and much more suited. 


I have also chosen a more suited 'turquoise' colour palette taking ti away from the heavy blue tones used before. 


This is also more effective, as well as the lighter effect on the rose flower, to draw more attention to the flower. 


I decided to use a rose, as this represent England, one of the main countries in Britain. 


I have also decided to remove the raindrop from the top third of the poster, as the structure of the text resembled the shape of a cloud and I wanted the rain to appear as though it was coming from the cloud.


I feel these new effects have worked much better than my original posters, and after much frustration I am now finally happy with the outcome. 

Here is the final poster design, that I will be sending off for the 'live brief' aspect of this module. I have added subtle toning to give a softened appearance, and decided to go with a 'blue' tone to emphasise the focus on rain. 


Flowers are always associated with beauty and so this is whyI have decided to take this one as the final design rather than the posters which focus on grass or tree's. 

Here is another alteration of my design, experimenting further with colour. 


Here I have incorporated blue into the background colour of each design. 


I still wanted to maintain a focus on other colours, as most people have used blue as a focus, I wanted my designs to be different. 


However, my incorporating more blue it has toned down the extreme appearance of the bright colours before. 


This has worked well with the first two designs, however the third has a very neutral grey appearance that is unattractive.

Here are the final designs ready to be sent for the final submission of the 'live rain brief'. 


After my feedback from the crit I decided to re-create my design, going back to one of my earlier initial ideas. 


Despite this I still feel my original final designs are effective, however the new ones fit the criteria of the brief more directly and therefore work better with respects to that. 


I have tweaked the colours since my previous post giving a more defined and clear appearance to the imagery and simplistic text.

Following yesterday's crit session with Amber, Jo and 5 other members of the group, I decided to go back to my original idea, and develop it further. I wanted to maintain the simplicity, yet incorporate more of a focus on imagery rather than type. Here are my resolved solutions, which I feel meet the criteria of the brief more successfully following issued raised in yesterday's session. 

Here are larger versions; to see better detail etc.

Although these haven't taken as much time, I do feel they meet the criteria of the brief more directly. The colours are complimentary when working as a series, and I decided after yesterday's crit session to stay away from the colour 'blue' as this typically represents rain, whereas I feel this way we are focusing more on the bright colours we see around us that we wouldn't have if rain didn't exist..

In preparation for our crit session, we each had to fill out a form answering questions about our work that we have produced in response to the live brief on 'Rain'. Here is a photograph on my form; I have also filled out the form digitally below to give a more accurate view:


We used the theme 'DIET' ; describe, interpret, evaluate, theorise.


Describe; What is visible? What is the audience looking at?
I have created a series of posters that work together using a map of England. Although it is pixelated in this initial image, I will improve this before the final deadline creating it in a higher resolution using Adobe Illustrator. I have kept text minimal as posters are not normally read for a long period of time. 


Interpret: What does it mean? How does it function?
I designed the posters to show the audience (people from abroad who visit the D&AD lecture in Manchester) the impact that rain has had on Britain, yet show them how we still enjoy ourselves and get on with life, showing rain in a positive way.


Evaluate; How successful is it? What context best suits it?
I realised my theme and focus on the map worked well with a more vintage style and so used this as a basis throughout my theme. I think that throughout this brief, time restraints became a real issue, having not done a one week brief for a number of weeks. In my opinion, my idea takes a different approach to most others and has wide room for development. Using facts throughout, and relating one poster to 'Manchester' (where the D&AD lecture takes place) works well and they crete a strong vibe when used as a series. However, I don't feel that they represent rain as positively as I would have hoped. The main image needs to be reprinted to the none pixellated version and emphasised into a puddle more effectively. 


Theorise; Does it solve the problem? How else cold it solve the problem better?
I'm unsure as to whether it solves the problem of representing british rain positively, however it does show how we cope with it as a nation and how rain is such a big factor in Britain. I would reprint with the better quality image before the deadline and possibly improve the focus on the map of Britain looking like a puddle. I would also like to incorporate a more positive attitude to rain.

These are my final designs. I have decided to keep the colour theme very simple, using blue to represent my focus on rain, and the cream colour is very complimentary. 

I have now decided to take my previous idea and create a developed and refined outcome. Along with peer feedback I will then decide which aspects I feel work well and which I feel are less successful. Here are my variation outcomes:

Here, I have decided to take a more factual and statistical approach to my designs. I think this looks really effective as a starting point and could be refined and developed into a really simple yet informative design. 

To fully understand the concept of rain, I decided to do some initial research into the meaning, and various phrases that are used to represent rain. Here are some of my findings:

Definition from Oxford Dictionary. 

Rain  noun

[mass noun]

• the condensed moisture of the atmosphere falling visibly in separate drops:

  the rain had not stopped for daysit’s pouring with rain
• (rains) falls of rain:

the plants were washed away by unusually heavy rains

[in singular] a large or overwhelming quantity of things that fall or descend:

he fell under the rain of blows

verb

[no object] (it rains, it is raining, etc.)

• rain falls:

  it was beginning to rain
• literary (of the sky, the clouds, etc.) send down rain:

the low sky raining over tower’d Camelot

[with adverbial of direction] fall or cause to fall in large or overwhelming quantities:

[no object]:

bombs rained down

[with object]:

she rained blows on to him

[with object] (it rains ——, it is raining ——, etc.) used to convey that a specified thing is falling in large quantities:

it was just raining glass
The Oxford Dictionary also provided common phrases that are about rain and this has given me an idea for the copy of the poster- to possibly looking at existing words and phrases about the theme and turn them positive with simple alteration. This will confuse the audience if the phrase is well known and make them view the poster again to notice the difference. Unless the phrase works without.

Phrases

be as right as rain

be perfectly fit and well:

she’ll be right as rain in a couple of days

it never rains but it pours

see pour

rain cats and dogs

rain very hard.

[origin uncertain; first recorded in 1738, used by Jonathan Swift, but the phrase rain dogs and polecats was used a century earlier in Richard Brome's The City Witt]

rain on someone's parade

informal prevent someone from enjoying an event; spoil someone’s plans.

(come) rain or shine

whether it rains or not; whatever the weather:

   be rained off (or North American out)

(of an event) be cancelled or terminated because of rain:the match was rained off

he runs six miles every morning, rain or shine

Facts- The met office says it rains the most in the lake district.

- Manchester is the second most rainy place in the UK

- The umbrella was originally invented to protect people from the hot sun.

- Rain drops can fall at speeds of about 22 miles an hour.

- Rain starts off as ice or snow crystals at cloud level.

- Light rain is classified as being no more then 0.10 inches of rain an hour.

- Heavy rain is classified as being more then 0.30 inches of rain an hour.

- Rain drops range in size from 0.02 inches to about .031 inches.

- Rain drops do not fall in a tear drop shape, they originally fall in the shave of a flat oval.

- Rain that freezes before it hits the ground is known as frozen rain.

- Rain is recycled water that evaporated from our worlds lakes, rivers, oceans, seas etc.
- The most rain ever recorded in one day in the UK was 279.4 millimeters in Martinstown Dorset 18th July 1955
- One inch of rain falling over an area of one acre has a weight of about one ton
- The roof of a typical family home captures over 100,000 litres of rainwater a year
- There are about 1 billion tons of rainfalls drop on Earth in a minute
- The average speed of rain water fall is just 8-10 km / hour.

- 

Why is rain so good?!

- When you cry in the rain people cant tell

- It smells nice when it rains

- When its raining and you manage to find shelter you have a massive appreciation because you are no longer getting wet.

- The sound of rain on your window has been described as enchanting

- Appreciation that rain is a natural occurrence

- Rain gives you an excuse to just take a short break

- It cleans the streets

- Its relaxing when your inside

- When you get caught in the rain and get wet its quite a liberating feeling

- When it rains it makes it cosy inside.

- Waters your plants for free

- It feels nice on your skin

- Football in the rain is fun

- Rain is uncontrollable

- Less chance of getting skin cancer

- No such thing as droughts

- It makes you appreciate the sunny days more making them more enjoyable

- People make good songs about rain

- No hose pipe bans