I started off by running her through my questions i had already prepped earlier, and briefed her with what i needed her to do for me, and what i can do for her in terms of layouts, design, formats, print etc. by setting the foundations early, she knew where i stood form a design point of view and i knew where she stood in terms of the client.
I quickly drew up some really simple ideas for layout and what could work. it is only a really small proposal in terms of layout but it starts the idea generation ball rolling:
Because beth brought along her portfolio of research towards this project it gave me the insight i needed into how she works, colour schemes and branidng. It wa sa massive help and rather inspiring going through it. She explained when asked "do you want the book to reflect the style of your research, i.e. rough edged" or do you want it to be clean cut?", " well i guess i will go for a cleanish style but i want it to tie in well with all my work".
From this i think that even though her style of the range is rough cut and uses a certain colour palette and style, i don't necessarily think that the book or whatever resolution we decide upon should be exactly the same. i feel that if we went with a somewhat simple style and layout that was relevant to her work but wasn't over crowded, then i believe hat the work will speak for itself and that the style and feel to the range will come thorough in her photography.
From here we moved onto layout and format. I was really excited when Beth pointed to one of my sample designs i had brought along which consisted of a big large format poster which folded down into a concertina, this was right up my alley, i love resolution which engage the audience. she went on to point out more designs in her layout book she had with her that were also related to my design practice and style. This made me pretty happy that i had a client on the same wave length as me and with some of the same ideas.
i went on to explain that a look book that stands out instead of being A format will get you remembered, to which she agreed. Again this boosted my confidence further for this brief.
Towards the end of the meeting we both made a list of things we require of each other. To which i asked her to:
- produce all the body copy for her garments and photos
- have all references and acknowledgments listed
- Gather all photo-shoot photography into a file, both studio and location shoots
- produce a introduction to what he range is about/inspired by
- a short passage about you as a designer along with contact details
Once i have got all of this i can start using the body copy and photography to do test layouts and mock ups to bring to our next meeting.
She asked me to:
- experiment with her interests in layouts
- test different typefaces
- re-shoot the bottled resolutions
- experiment with front cover designs and layouts
Beth is receiving her photography from the studio shoot on Thursday and her location shots on friday and said she will get them straight to me. This will give me the weekend to experiment with layout and design to which i can bring to our next meeting which is scheduled for monday as it will them bring us on par and allow us to make tasks and deadlines for the week ahead.