Hey Weight Weenie: After Critique

So the critique went fairly well. I'm definitely happy with the end result of the weight weenie campaign, and look forward to using it as a portfolio piece. It's been a great insight into another design system that is applicable to society, and a great new exploration into the worlds of design research and the study and targeting of a particular subculture. I'll be sure to use the design research skills we've learned in future work.

On another note, there are a few things that can always be improved. The U-lock section of the campaign still needs work. The chain pattern isn't working well with the audience either, and I think I need to re-evaluated designing for the bike rack. I've considered designing something that wraps around the bar of the bike rack rather than existing on a u-lock that might be missed or torn off. And although it might have been out of my budget and time constraints, I would like to explore different materials for printing and design as well. Should I have designed the wrap that would attach to a bike rack's main bar, paper would have been flimsy and unpractical when it rains. Some sort of plastic or signage material would be interesting to look into, and might spark some research on my part into the world of industrial and package design.

The rest of the campaign however turned out great. I'm pleased with the patterns and the fact that it is guerilla advertising that penetrates and resounds within the subculture is fantastic. It's always a great thing to design something that will be kept as opposed to thrown away. The idea of collectibility is also something new to my work, and designing in a series certainly lends to that desire to trade and gather these different patterns and statements. The bandanas in particular were my favorite part of the project. I've never used textile products in my designs, so it was great to include that, and using them as a highly visual form of advertising, completely devoid of text was a great learning experience as well. Design that functions in that way is very interesting and powerful stuff, and lends to the underground and unknown secrets of a subculture.

Below is a scribd file of my presentation at critique, plus the font that wasn't on my presentation computer. I've certainly learned the importance of using fonts available across multiple systems.


Hey Weight Weenie Presentation