Final Project Commentary

My team and I decided together what style we wanted to approach for the ebook. We searched online for some inspiration and found a soft illustration style that we felt was most appropriate for the wedding theme. Aside from that, we decided on a General color scheme too. We went for a more rustic color scheme with beige, brown and maroon because we want the ebook to be on the genre neutral rather than feminine. Though people might say that ultimately the bride picks, the group’s stance is that a wedding planning is something that both the bride and groom should partake in together.

My individual role for the project was the illustrator because I had the most experience with the Illustrator software. A few things has to be catered to what I am able to illustrate within the short time span we had to complete the ebook. Some of these changes were made because I wanted to start on the graphics early and came up with my own designed. This will be elaborated on later.

For the cover page, we decided to model it after the reference we got for the illustration style.
However, I did make some changes to it. I changed the hairstyles of the bride and groom to make them more stylish and modern. Initially, they were holding up cards but I changed it so that they were doing the finger hearts, which is commonly done by millennials. The last thing I changed was the dress to a tube to subtle rival the more conservative dresses that brides usually wear. One problem I had was that I had a reference in mind for this page and found it hard to deviate from that example. However, through feedback and experimentation, I was able to create a graphic that was different from the reference and make it my own.

Illustration Reference

First Draft

Final Product

I found more references to guide me as I illustrated. 

The introduction and content page was originally structured with a paragraph on the left and the various titles on the right. The different topics were segmented by pink ribbons. However, after consultation, we were told that there was no clear hierarchy in the page. Thus, I come up with the following layout wherein the page numbers are big and prominent and thus eye-catching. Instead of separating the content left and right I tried to segment them top and bottom. I sent it to the group and Si Jia (who was in charge of putting the content page together) made some changes to make it look like a wedding invitation like keeping a similar layout. I think this is a clear example of how well the team worked together because we were able to bounce ideas off each other. We also experimented with colors but decided but they clashed with the visual and overall color palette we had.

Initial Design I did

     

Adjustments I made

Experimentation with colors

Final Product

For the engagement ring article, Zhou Ting did up the initial sketch. When I did up the graphics, I decided to change the woman's hand to a man's hands showing a ring box because I felt that it was more evocative of proposals. The initial sketch of the woman's hand might not be as clear cut to me because I thought that it could also be done for an article about accessories. We also played around with the color of the man's suit to make it match the suit on the cover page. 

Zhou Ting's Draft

My Draft

Final product

For the article on proposals, we presented two layouts that Zhou Ting did up for the critique. Through the feedback we gathered, we decided to go with the listicle layout. As I was creating the graphics, I felt as if they were disjointed and the page wasn't coherent. Thus, I decided to make the graphics have an element that was the same color. I chose red because it symbolised romance and love. When I made this change, I also changes the graphic in the engagement ring article on the previous page to match this spread. Thinking that it worked, I thought that it might be interesting to have the different segments have a different accent color. After consulting the team, we agreed that it would be an interesting thing to do for the e-book. Thus, I started illustrating graphics to have a specific accent colors for the specific segments.  

Layout 1

Layout 2

Initial draft 

Final Product

The article on the average cost of a wedding was decided by the team to be an infographic of cake with fondant decorations. Stacey did up the initial sketch for the critique. When I illustrated it, the only change I made was the style of the illustration. I think Stacey did a very good job with the floral accents on the page and making the spread come together. 

Initial Draft

My Second Draft

Final Product

The sketch Stacey did for the budget tips had the information on wedding invitations. However, as I was doing up the illustrations, I found that there was no clear association between the topic and the graphic. Thus, I decided to change the graphics to items related to bills because the topic was on how to cut back on the invoices. I think for this article, I was a little more conscious of the content of the text because I had friends who were in the target audience. I felt that the content were too general at first and was pushing for more specific advice to be given in the article. 

Initial Sketch

Second Draft

Final Product with change in content

For the venue article, we found flowchart quizzes online and decided to make the article one. Si Jia did the initial sketch but I found it a little too straightforward and plain. Thus, I made another draft for the critique that had more overlapping lines and organic shapes. Through feedback, I also made the bubbles colored to fit the illustrations. 

Si Jia's draft

My draft

Later Draft

Final Product

For the article on proposal, we initially wanted to a comparison between traditional and modern weddings. The draft Si Jia did had a graphic of a heart in the middle with two couple. However, I felt that it took up too much space and constricted the space we had for the actual content. Thus, we wanted to change it to a table with tea ceremony elements on it on one side and modern wedding elements on the other. However, I had a lot of issues illustrating the graphics because I was not familiar with the ceremony. I asked my friends who have attended weddings and they told me that the article seemed to Chinese-centric or Westernised. Thus, the team decided to change topic and focus on modern trends that millennials can adopt for their own wedding. From here on, we were more conscious on making sure our content was inclusive. For the layout, after some discussion, the team decided that the main visual should be the wedding ceremony. Thus, I arranged the different trends in order to make them appear as they do in the actual ceremony. 

Si Jia's Draft

Final Product

I was in charge of designing the back cover for the critique. I first made it something like a closing remarks. However, the team felt that there was no need to reiterate the same point. Also, through feedback from the critique, I scaled the car down and added the ferns. Other on, Stacey took over and made it look more like a back cover of a story book. When Zhou Ting took over to collate everything, she thickened the border to match the front cover.

Initial sketch

Draft

Draft by Stacey

Final Product by Zhou Ting

Overall, the project was smooth sailing and we didn't face too many problems. It was exceptional tiring for me because I had to illustrate every graphic in the e-book but the rest of the work was distributed quite equally amongst everyone. I also made sure that I wasn't only an illustrator and commented on the layouts the other did and even on the body copy. I think the team dynamic was good synergetic and this allowed us to complete the project on time.