initial ideas

We wanted to create a book which provided the first year 

students with tips and tricks which would help them settle in their first year of university. Although the book was going to be informative to some extent, the general context would be fun and light-hearted. With this in mind we gathered a list of ‘Needs and wants’ from our peers in relation to four categories; nights out, travel, uni supplies and food. These categories were chosen because they were the most consistent amongst the class, they were mainly essentials outside of the studio but essentials within it were also considered (uni supplies).

After distinguishing the main categories, the ways in which we could illustrate them were considered. The idea of hand drawn illustrations was favoured amongst the group, as it was

important that the reader understood that traditional image making techniques are widely encouraged on the course, and that individuals should not limit themselves to mac based software. Collage was also a strong concept as the outcomes would be visually rich and would mean that only a small amount of text would need to accompany them, again 

enforcing the range of image making provided as part of the course. 

Above, a rough sketch of some footprint is provided, this was an initial idea for the category of travel. From our class 

research, the concept of Ubers as an alternative to walking is a costly form of travel, and one which many students waste their money on. Therefore enforcing the idea of walking as a way of saving money was a strong concept. Another category which was particularly popular amongst our peers was food, and how a great deal of money is wasted on takeaways, the collage above formed the basis for ‘food wants’. 

The format of the booklet was experimented with, different pagination techniques were considered as we felt it was 

important that the information and imagery was presented simply. Our original idea was to create the booklet on scraps of leftover paper from screen printing, this would be an 

effective way of enforcing the idea of re-using materials and saving money that would otherwise be spent on expensive researchers from somewhere like Fred Aldous.