OUGD503 - Responsive - WEA Brief - Research and Final Outcome

In the Summer I had my first opportunity to produce a paid piece of Graphic Design work for the Workers Education Association, a programme that helps disadvantaged adults learn science. The brief was to design an eye-catching flier that would promote the programme but not look too childish.

'What the flyer needs to convey: – In September we are starting new WEA science courses. We are going to teach pre-GCSE Biology, Chemistry and Physics, initially in the North West and then Nationally. We teach adults, 19+ in deprived and disadvantaged areas. So we are targeting people who don’t believe that Science is for them. They think it’s boring, or too hard, or contain too much maths or that they will be tested. Whereas, we are planning easy fun experiment based courses with explosions, 2 hours a week (for each subject) for 22 weeks over the first two school terms.

We want to give people the confidence in science to assist their children with homework, to volunteer to assist with science in schools and to understand the science on the news and to go on and do GCSEs if they want. The flyer needs to attract attention without being childish. We need the RAS, RSC and WEA logos on it, and the charity and Matrix stuff that’s on the bottom of one of our poor attempt at flyers for another course which I’ve attached.

We are targeting people who think science isn't so much a swear word, but something that clever people do, and therefore totally beyond their grasp! Still pondering names. We may get Tim peak to endorse what we are doing through the Royal astronomical society, so it may become the Tim peak science school. I am going to phone the RAS tomorrow, and see if there is any news on the Tim thing.

If you are still interested in having a go at this for me, just get in touch, and hopefully we can put a design on our science courses which will be easily recognisable!' - Claire

Research and Development

Before I started designing I first began by looking at posters and flyers that the WEA had previously used to advertise their programmes to analyse their tone of voice and visual approach.

I then looked into bold and eyecatching flyers of this nature which would appeal to both men and women aged between 19 - 40 years old. I also tried to look for science style themes in the flyers and see how they had been made to look trendy. 

Geometric shapes, block colours, angular lines and strong images were at the forefront of many of these posters which inspired me to experiment with a similar approach myself.

This was the finished flyer: 

My thinking behind the flyer was to incorporate some form of explosive image and a subtle but modern colour scheme - nothing too garish. I used predominantly black and white with a peachy orange accent colour that didn't clash too much with the logos which had to be incorporated at the bottom.

I wanted to get across the fun and experimental side of science with an image of something exploding or bubbling away in the background. It was hard to find anything appropriate as all the stock images of science experiments were very garish and clashing. The image I used was a stock image of exploding paint which I thought worked just as well as it reminded me of the chemical powders you often see in labs. 

This was a huge learning curve for me and although the client was absolutely lovely, the pressure of knowing I was being paid and it would actually be used in the real worlds was extremely nerve wracking, incase I let them down. I also had to find a way to make the text editable after designing the flier in illustrator. Luckily the client absolutely loved it and the whole team was really happy with the final design.

This was an invaluable experience for me as it taught me major communication skills with the client and also taught me skills such as invoicing and how to sort out payments etc.

The flier got a really positive response and the programme saw a huge influx of new participants to the scheme as a result of it.