INDUSTRIAL TRAINING

09/12/20 - 28/02/20 (Week 1 - Week 12)

Alicia Lee Hui Min (0331719)

Industrial Training: Tasks & Reflection

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I N S T R U C T I O N S

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LIST OF PROJECTS


Project 01: Website Illustration

Project 02: 2019 Year in Review

Project 03: 2020 IG Story Game Template

Project 04: 2020 Q&A

Project 05: CNY Gift Box

Project 06: Inktober Zine 2019

Project 07: Personalisation Plus

Project 08: Mailchimp Automation E-mail

Project 09: Women's International Month

Project 10: Postcard

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R E F L E C T I O N


PROJECT 01: Website Illustration
Week 1 - Week 4

Problem/ Task The task was to illustrate illustrations for their website base on the three steps of making a Mossery book to guide the customers. The three steps include "Selecting your cover", "Personalise your name" and "Select Text Paper". I was given a brief to illustrate some human elements into the illustrations such as hands and such and also to include some magical elements as it reflects Mossery's brand image.

Action
For this, I came up with a few sketches and also made some animated gif sketches and once they were approved, I moved on to digitising the sketches. From here onwards, most of the time was spent on refining the illustration as they had to look consistent and also I had to get the angle right which was quite difficult. After finalising the illustration, I moved on to sending the illustrations to a animation intern to animate the gif

Result
After the animation was done, it was coded into the website along with the still version in case the gif does not load there is still a still visual present on the website.


Reflection
From this project, I learned that when creating a series of illustration it's important to not just be consistent in terms of colour but also the stroke and weight of the artwork. Also ensuring that the illustration is balanced out when placed next to each other. I found that I took a while to adapt with working fast as I was not used to this work ethic thus it took some time to adjust to their pace. 


PROJECT 02: 2019 Year in Review
Week 3

Problem/ Task
As the year was coming to a close, Mossery wanted to have a blogpost on a review of the year, to reflect on all the highlights of the year for Mossery. I was tasked to create an illustration for the top and bottom banner. I was also told that I could illustrate people looking at a gallery.

Action
With the brief in mind, I started to sketch out some sketches and once they were approved I moved on to digitising them. After that, I went on to find a colour scheme that would suit Mossery and the showed some variations, once they were finalised I made a mobile and web version of the illustration.

Result
The illustration was then coded into the website. 

Reflection
From this project, I was able to work a bit faster as I found myself being able to produce sketches faster though there is still room for improvement. 



PROJECT 03: IG Story Game Template
Week 3 - Week 4

Problem/ Task
This project is to create a IG Story template which surrounded on the theme of 2020 that were in the form of a bingo template and GIF challenge template. This task was delighted to both me & Megan to work together on this project whereby I was asked to create illustrations while Megan was in charge of the layout. 

Action
Together we planned out the content for the Story with the help of some of our colleagues. I started off by sketching some possible illustrations and themed it around stars as it represents hope and we all would like to hold on to that value as we walk into the new year. After the sketches were approved, I moved on to illustrating them and we both came up with a colour palette together. After I was done with the illustrations, I passed them to Megan to design the layout. 

Result
These IG stories were the posted on Instagram for users to participate in this challenge.

Reflection
This was the first time I worked on a project with someone which was a nice change of pace from working alone on the past two projects. It was quite fun to come up with the content for the story and also the illustrations.


PROJECT 04: 2020 Q&A
Week 4 - Week 5

Problem/ Task
This project is an extended series from the previous one however it would be executed differently. It would be a Q&A for both IG and IG story that engages the user to discuss on certain topics with the new year as the theme. I was tasked to come up with illustrations for three questions each and create a gif for the IG, as for the IG story it would be three stills but with the same movement as the one in the IG.

Action
I started off again by sketching out some sketches and then started digitising them once they were approved. After that, I used the existing template as a guide to design the layout of the story and then placed the illustration inside. After that I moved on to animating the gif which was mostly a photoshop sequence. 

Result
The final outcome was then posted on Instagram for users to participate and engage in the conversation.

Reflection
This project was quite fun as it was my first time designing an insta story and using the template that was given which was very useful in helping me place the elements. Though I did struggle a bit with one of the animations as it required some leg movements but it was a good experience for me. Overall, this project was quite fun and a new experience.


PROJECT 05: CNY Gift Box
Week 5 - Week 6

Problem/ Task
As Chinese New Year was approaching, Mossery wanted to design a gift box to send out to their collaborators and suppliers. I was tasked come up with a design for their greeting card and also stickers for the box and the products inside such as labels for the cookies. I had to stick with a budget for this project thus in the end,  we chose to use the Mossery boxes and also it was a better choice as others would be able to recognise the brand easily.

Action
I started off by sketching out some sketches for the greeting card and from there made some tweaks to design after receiving some feedback. From there, I tried out a few colour schemes and got the team to vote on which one they preferred and then, I started to design the stickers. My files were then sent over to my supervisor to prep the file for printing. Once the stickers and greeting cards were printed, I helped to cut and assemble the boxes.

Result
The gift boxes were then sent out to the suppliers and collaborators and they were happy to receive it.

Reflection
This project was quite fun as I was able to dabble into some packaging design though I wish  I could have printed a whole new box but it was still a great experience. I also learned a lot about sticker production which was not to make it too thin or it would break and also to always have a bleed to avoid any mistakes. Overall, this was a really fun project.


PROJECT 06: Inktober Zine 2019
Week 5 - Week 8

Problem/ Task
I was tasked to design an Inktober Zine which is a tradition that Mossery has been doing for a year now. Inktober zines basically feature the 31 artist that they have approached to draw following the prompts provided and also some tips for the next Inktober. I was tasked to design the zine and also try to come up with some new content for the tips section.

Action
I started off by compiling information such as the profile picture and artwork of the artist for each day and also compiled the answers for the question that we asked the artist on an excel sheet. From there I also started to create a pagination which is planning the content page by page and after that I moved on to sketching the illustrations for the tips. I also tried to suggest some new layouts however due to being restricted by printing limitations, I stuck with the usual layout. From here, I moved on to using data merge to merge the data from excel sheet to Indesign to save some time and placed the sketches in the zine and made a mock-up to get feedback from. After finalising the sketches, I digitised them and placed it into the zine. From here on out the process was mostly printing mock-ups and making refinements to it. I then send the final file for my supervisor to make some small amendments and sent it off for printing.

Result
The Inktober zine 2019 is now out and every purchase of a product would come with a free copy of it.

Reflection

This project was really interesting as I got to dive into publishing design and printing. I found out that when designing a zine, alignment is key as the paper is thin and it's quite noticeable when the alignment is off. I've also relearned how to make mock-ups and understand the nitty and gritty of creating a zine. Despite this being a small zine, it was still quite a lot of work to design it as every aspect needs to be taken into account such as the size of the book fits into the pocket of the product. Though the project took a while too complete due to the CNY project which caused a delay however I tried my best to work as fast as I could. I've also learned that there is a lot of trial and error as what is seen on-screen might not be nice physically on paper thus why my supervisor asked me to print out a mock up. I think by far this was one of my favourite projects as I learned a lot from it and gain some new knowledge.



PROJECT 07: Personalisation Plus
Week 9 

Problem/ Task
I was tasked to come with designs of the horoscope star sign for the personalisation on their products. I had to come up with a design so that all star signs would fit on the space that it is limited too due to printing limitations. Also, the star sign can't be too thick or the foil would flake off.

Action
I started with sketching out each star sign first however after much research me and my supervisor found out that there is no universal star sign as many interpret them differently thus we decided to ask a few colleagues that are enthusiast of horoscopes to choose the star sign design that was easily recognisable. From here, we tested out the thickness of the personalisation using different thickness of lines and dots to find the most suitable one and made a few mock ups using rejected covers.

Result
Finally, we found the suitable point size and the best design for all the star signs and then I sent the final designs to my supervisor to create symbols out of them for the personalisation machine and also to launch on the website.

Reflection

This project was quite interesting too as I got to work with the operations people to get the personalisation done. Also, this was a constant trial and error to figure out the best one which taught me patience as it took so many tries and research to find the best design and size for the personalisation.

PROJECT 08: Mailchimp Automation E-mail
Week 10 - 12 

Problem/ Task
I was tasked to come up with illustrations for the mailchimp automation e-mail for their subscribers. The content was already written by the copywriters and I was tasked to use that as a guideline for my illustrations. For this project, I also worked on it together with Megan whereby I would do the illustrations and she would design the layout of the newsletters.

Action
I started with sketching out some illustrations for all the emails and once they were approved, I would move on to digitising them and then picking the colour scheme. Once the illustration was finalised, I would pass it to Megan to place it in the newsletter. However, there are always changes to make as the boss tends to change his mind and some of them need some tweaks.

Result
The illustration is on the newsletter to help draw attention, these newsletter would be sent out to subscribers depending on the occasion.

Reflection


I realised as I'm heading towards the end of my internship, I found that I was able to work way faster than I did compared to my first week and did my best to adapt. Also after constantly creating illustrations, it has made me improve my skills and have a better vision as to where I would like to head to in the future.



PROJECT 09: Women's International Month
Week 10 - 12 

Problem/ Task
I was tasked to come up with a logo for the campaign and a post for Women's International Day and the Q&A post and story. As for the logo, I was briefed to include women of colour in the logo and also to use the tagline as a guideline which was empower towards equality. For the Q&A it was exactly like the previous one that I did except this time it was a different set of question. As for the Women's International Day post, it was a rather last minute idea and the head of the social media asked me to use one of my rejected logos for the post. 

Action
I started with sketching out some ideas for all of the task I was asked to do. However, I found myself in quite a dump as I ran out of ideas. So instead of just looking at references, I went and ask my colleagues for inspiration and from there I got some ideas on what to illustrate. After the sketches were confirmed, I moved on to digitising them and animating those that required of that. I did struggle a lot on the animation of the logo as I'm not an animation major and was having a hard time figuring out some parts and due to there not being a person who's good in animation present at my office. Everything was self taught and searched through google.

Result
After all the illustrations were completed, they were then scheduled to be posted on the set dates.

Reflection



I realised that I'm quite interested in animation from carrying out his project. I've always been interested in that field however I was afraid of the 3D rendering which stopped me from going to that path. Through this project, I've also realised that juggling a lot of projects at once was really hard especially when the timeline is tight due to my internship duration however this project was quite fun despite being stressful at times when I'm unable to figure out the animation.

PROJECT 10: Postcards
Week 12 

Problem/ Task
I was tasked to come up with designs for postcards and it was completely up to me what I would like to illustrate.

Action
I started with sketching out some ideas and for some reason at that time was highly inspired by Japan's culture and starting drawing scenes from Japan such as summertime, bullet train and more. After showing the sketches to my supervisor, I got feedback on my sketches and she said I could illustrate one or two of them. However, due to time constraints I only had the time to illustrate one postcard design.

Result
The illustration was then sent to my supervisor if they do plan to publish it in the future.

Reflection


I had fun with this project as I had more freedom and was finally able to do more full drawings as it was not one of my strengths. However, it was really fun to test out different scenery's and play around with composition though I must admit I had no ideas for a while at the beginning but I was quite happy with the final outcome of the postcard.