OUGD602: 505 Client Feedback

OUGD505 was focused around socially responsible design picking an ethical issue and creating a creative response to this problem. In my response to the brief I created a client focused resolution that looked at the importance of buying local produce and shopping independently creating a campaign for a local independent farm shop close to my home in Wales. Unfortunately I was unable to get feedback from the client before 505 was submitted however felt it was important to gain a critical sense of feedback as to if my resolution was appropriate from a client perspective in order to develop my practice leading into Level 6. 

Campaign Deliverables 

Setting up a meeting with the manger of the Farm Shop over the summer break I created a small presentation to create a visual narrative to my design process, exploring further extensions of the project and how it would fit within a commercial setting. The feedback to this was really quite encouraging, Alan praised me for clearly understanding the ethos of the farm shop as a brand and designing appropriately for this. He picked up on innovative forms of advertising such as the beer mats to sit in the Farm Shops sister business the Glynne Arms pub and restaurant as something they they had never considered but would work really well in creating a positive reinforcement of the farm shop within the local community. The meeting ended positively, I gave the manager a proposal pack to share with the owners at a later date to establish if this is something they could practically implement. As a small thankyou I received a £50 rosette for the Glynne Arms restaurant as a thankyou for thinking of the farm shop to base the project around and for doing such a good job on the design. 

UPDATE: Hearing back from Alan and the owners that at present they have a design agency on retainer to create all of their promotional materials meant at this time they would not be able to take my work forward commercially however provided a glowing reference that will be a strong attrition to my portfolio along with the the final resolution. This experience as greatly improved my confidence in working with and dealing with clients and reinforces the quality of my work within a real life context. 

"We initially discussed a branding/design project with Rhys that would allow him to use The Hawarden Estate Farm Shop it’s subject, what happened thereafter was that his work prompted me to consider real changes to the current direction of our brand and graphic design. Rhys inspired this through creating a simple and effective way of communicating our values by introducing working props to support his work, such as; Menu cards, beer mats etc which we had not previously considered. Rhys’ project work also inspired us to reflect on our current brand /design direction and accept that it was inconsistent and in need of fresh impetus. Rhys has a natural interest in the provenance of food has a professional attitude which certainly helped to get this project right on many levels. Thanks Rhys

Alan Downes"