Project Proposal

                                            the proposal

For my final major project I want to produce two brochures on the VW Camper Van and the VW Beetle, I want to show the development and changes over the years from when they were first produced all the way through to present day, the title of my final major project will be called “From the Old to the New”. The proposed end point that I want to achieve will be two brochures, one for each car showing this, I will use text and imagery - both my own and existing photography and show a strong connection with the design and layout between the two brochures. This project is going to further my own knowledge of VW Campers and Beetles and it will extend my creative ability within the layout and style of the brochures as I will be able to use my passion for cars to design an effective, suitable and innovative brochure.

The starting point for my project will be researching into the history behind each of the cars, creating a timeline and overall picture of their production, style and development changes through the years. I will create a range of mood boards, which will reflect my target audience and give me a style that will be suitable to produce my brochures in. I will also create pages in my sketchbook on festivals set up especially for these cars and show my own imagery that I have taken at these festivals. I will also visit Santa Pod Raceway and car show events where I will take more photos and talk to owners of VW Campers and Beetles to get their opinions, feelings and thoughts on the cars. I will use websites such as Bugjam and Wikipedia along with many others to gather relevant information. I will also use specific books based around VW’s along with books on effective brochure layout and design.

Techniques and processes that I intend to use will be editing my images from festivals in Photoshop so that they are suitable for the styling of my brochure, I will design my brochures in InDesign and use a range of downloaded fonts, which will reflect the aging of the cars. I will use downloaded Photoshop brushes where I will edit the backgrounds of the brochures so that they are more visually appealing. For this project I will need to create a time plan where I can schedule out my work load for the 12 weeks, this will ensure that I include all necessary project work within my time limit, it will also mean that I will give myself enough time to produce my finals so that they are of good enough quality.

I will critically review and analyse my work by annotating and evaluating my work throughout my project, what I feel is successful and whether it is suitable for the target audience. I will also ask for opinions and views from peers, their feedback will allow me to make development throughout. I will produce an evaluation at the end of my project, this will be a written up document of how I feel my project went overall and what I could do to improve it, further it so that it is ongoing and what I feel I could’ve done to improve it. 

Week	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Research
Ideas
Photography
Production
Development
Annotation
Finals
Presentation
Evaluation

Purpose

For my final major project I am designing a book which will show the development of the classic Volkswagen Beetle up to the present day Beetle. The use of this blog is going to help support and influence my project as I will be able to gather information and images quickly and annotate them easily and refer back to them for visual reference. It will show a thought process and how the images, styles and artists that I'm looking into are helping to create the structure and appearance of my book design.
It will allow me to be far more creative as I will be able to link up my blog with websites that I feel are relevant, I will be able to include video and interactive images that can support my project and findings. I will also be able to view my friends blogs and communicate with them via each blog and look at the artists and styles that are influencing the and their projects.

Statement of Intention

This is my final major project, I have chosen to base it around the Volkswagen Beetle and show how the Beetle has changed over and through the years, from where it originated up to the latest 2012 Beetle.

The requirement I have assigned to my project is to create a book (approx 30 pages) that shows the life of a Beetle. I have decided to title my book ‘A Bug’s Life’ as I felt that this reflected the fun elements of a Beetle with a simplistic name, it is also easy for the target audience to recognize what I am trying to achieve.

To ensure that my project is successful in telling the story of ‘A Bug’s Life’ I will create a time plan to work against and I will list what I am going to do and how I am going to do it.

Firstly, I will write up a project proposal to inform of what I want to achieve and how, I will then create a series of moodboards with my first thoughts and feelings of the content so that I have an idea of what I want my book to look like and include.

I will set up a blogger account and create a blog which I will update and fill with research throughout this project, I will collect a range of imagery such as vintage, black and white styles, imagery from off of Facebook (this will be successful as it will give me a range of imagery from people all around the world of different ages and styles) and from off of official Beetle websites and shows.

With the use of blogger, I will be able to be more experimental and flexible with my kinds of research, therefore I will include adverts from Volkswagen and clips from YouTube of other influences that I feel are suitable to my project, it will allow me to branch out and away from just the cars and VW’s.

For primary imagery, I will include my own photography from past Beetle shows and I will also visit current Beetle shows that they hold at raceway Santa Pod, this will give me a new insight into the world of Beetles and it will allow me to take some interesting and appropriate photos that I will use within my project and final book.

I will also scan in existing magazines, brochures and books that I have, such as Top Gear, Racing Legends, VW Cabriolet and New Beetle brochures. This will give me an idea of how VW present and advertise their Beetle in their brochures and the techniques that they use to connect with their audience, it will also allow me to see the types of modern and innovative layouts that the magazines have and will influence my page designs. I will also look at the Haynes Manuals as the style of paper and layouts that they use is going to be helpful to the style of my book and how I want it to appear along with the illustrations that they use.

I will then look into particular styles and designs that I like alongside artists and photographers. I will find artists via blogger, friends and the Internet and research into their life, starting points, interests influences and then their works that they produce and why I like the style of work and how I feel I can apply this to my project, I feel that this is going to be one of the strongest aspects of my project and will allow me to be creative and experimental and create my own style of work.

Following this research, I will then start to produce my own practical work, I will use print making from lino cuttings and a range of coloured inks and acrylics, I will use different types of paper for different effects and feels. I will tea and coffee stain paper as from the start of my project, this has been the main focus and starting point for the style of how I want my book to look, I will use these in my book by scanning them in and doing as little editing as possible as I want it to use the primary image for the strongest effect.

After producing suitable practical experiments, I will need to draw up a range of DPS’s in my sketchbook so that I have something to work from and guide me through and allow me to be creative with how I want the layouts of my pages to look. To ensure that my DPS’s will be suitable, I will need to write up the content I am to include in my book. I want the content to be mainly written in my words, broken down from both internet and book sources, this way I will have the right amount of text that I feel will look suitable on the pages and it means I know the content that is going into the book and how I can link suitable imagery in with the text.

I will then research into different typefaces that I feel will work and show the Beetles off effectively as well as connecting with my target audience. I will follow this up by collecting the imagery from my research, which I feel is suitable enough to go into my book and group it together ready for use.

I will then design my book in InDesign, I will apply the content into the pages and then work on each DPS separately until I build up the entire book from start to finish and then altering and developing areas so that it is more suitable for the audience. I will then send it to the printers and print my book within the guidelines of my timeline.

To round my project off, I will need to ensure both my blog work and sketchbook work is finished off to a high enough standard including an evaluation of how I feel my project went, I will also need to set up my exhibition stands and will need to order any objects I feel will work well alongside my book and present my work on the boards in a successful way.

This is how I intend to get from the start to the end of my project and by doing the above and relating back always to my target audience; I feel that my project will be successful.

Chelsea Nelms.

Project Proposal Breakdown

Constraints and Limitations

The constraints and limitations of this project are that it has to be no less than 15-20 DPS’s but it can be more, I need to ensure that the content I am putting in is all correct and factual so that it offers a service of information to the audience, another constraint is that it has to be produced and finished to a high enough standard within a 12 week period as it will then be shown to the public. It has to meet the target audience’s needs and it must contain enough content, which will be set out in chronological order of events. The limitations are that I don’t want to be biased towards the Beetle and create rivals from competitors and I don’t want this book to come across as promotional material. 

Environment

The environment in which my book is going to be placed and seen in is mainly going to be bookshops and car shops -this may be tuning car shops, certain stores and supermarkets, but I mainly would like to launch my book at Volkswagen itself and have it on display in their garages and showrooms as this would connect with the correct target audience and it would be very appropriate and noticed here. If I brand it right, with the correct content and styling, I feel that it will be very successful and would work well alongside their brochures for selling cars as it would be of more interest.

I feel that with the launch of the new 2012 Beetle, this would be very appropriate to have it launched in the VW showrooms and to get my book out there as their is going to be a lot of interest and talk about VW Beetles next year and my book would sell and show the history of the Beetle successfully.

What am I being asked for as the designer?

As the designer and creator of the project, I need to convey the purpose of the project, which is to show the life of a Beetle, and how it has changed from when it first started up till present day.  I need to think about the environment that my design will be put into and who I am trying to aim my product at and how I’m going to target the audience with the choice and style of my design. I will need to thoroughly research into the history of Beetles to ensure that the content and final outcome of my book is effective.

Target Audience

This is a one off special edition book; it is targeted towards Beetle enthusiasts and lovers of the classical cars.  The purpose of this book that I want to achieve is to engage with the reader to show them how the development of the Beetle has changed through years and how the society and era’s develop and impact upon the way people design, both physically in design and mechanically in design.

I want my audience to see how the well-known and loved Beetle has changed through and over the years, but also how the modern Beetles are still influenced by the older and original designs and how modern techniques and processes are not always as successful as they were back in the day.

In my book design I will ensure that the content will be kept as simple as possible with the main important facts so that the audience can interpret the information easily without being overpowered, in a format that is fun and innovative in page designs and layout. Targeting and capturing the style of my audience is what is going to make my book successful and work well with the public.

Production Issues

When it comes to producing my book, the issues I might have will be the paper stock and quality as I would like it to be on different qualities of paper and have layered up pages at different sizes, this may be quite difficult to find a local printers to produce this for me and it would be quite expensive at cost which means that the sale price to the public would be too expensive and very little chance of selling. Also, I want my book to have a solid book spine bound on it but I feel that this will also be expensive and hard to find a printers that will do it, although I could produce this at college, if too many pages are bound together with the technique used, the pages will splay out and not line up evenly.

For my book to be a success, I need to ensure that the content is suitably written for my target audience and that it is of relevant interest and that the book has a point for being created, the design and look of my book needs to be visually strong and appealing so that it stands out from the shelves and that it interacts with the audience.

Plan of action

My plan of action is written out in my statement of intention; I will plan out each area and work in sections to ensure I complete each topic that is needed. I will use the content that is on my blog and link it to my sketchbook which I can use to make my designs more creative and innovative which I will then use to help influence my final design outcome so that it is more suitable for my target audience.