This is the centrepiece of this module for me, it is the combination of a whole lot of research and critical understanding of a subject that I found it hard to wrap my head around. Although I found it fairly smooth to design in the end I feel this was directly down to the good amount of research I completed before I started. From having a very basic knowledge of the space industry, and virtually no knowledge of the UK space industry I can now talk about it quite fluently and I think this manual is a testament to that. I am also really happy with the visual intelligence of the logo itself, it subtly nods towards the professional slickness of the NASA worm logo, without being a copy and the text sits within two circles which represent a basic principle of physics in space; the way smaller bodies with a lower mass orbit larger bodies. Firstly this represents a planet or sun with an orbiting body, [ Earth and the Moon] [The sun and Earth] [Jupiter and titian] it doesnt really matter. The second thing that the logo represents is how the UKSA is a governing body, that helps and matures smaller organisations and startups, it is the large group in the middle supporting the new idea, or the entrepreneurial startup.
The content of the manual explores the rules of the identity re-brand, the application of typefaces and their fonts and finishes with a wide range of examples of the identity applied to a range of contexts. This means that the manual could be used by anyone; from an employee smashing out a small office poster to a design studio building the new website, anyone could read this manual and get a feel or solid instruction in how the identity works in real life. It explores a more mature and a more inspiring version of the UKSA than what is currently out there and I really do believe that if the organisation used this identity it would be viewed as less of a government project and as more of a proper, scientific organisation, which is what it deserves. The aim of this project was to rebrand the UKSA so that the public would view it in a better light, for the reasons stated above I believe the project has been successful.
The Booklets as a Set
When I designed the second booklet it was obvious that I had to follow the rules I had just made in the visual identity manual. This was a great opportunity to use the rules and apply them to a real world product to see how they work out. This also produced a booklet that works with the manual as a set, and it explores a move that I think the UKSA should take; a serious redesign, with an empasis on informing the public about the advantages of space exploration. With public suport, there would be less backlash against government funding of the space program and hopeful more applications will get through so we can see real innovation.
The Public Information Booklet: Why We Explore.
The purpose of Why We Explore is twofold. Firstly it was designed to prove that the rules in the visual identity manual work in a real life context. Secondly it was to explore if it is possible for the UKSA to get more of the public on side when it comes to spending money on space exploration. The publication remains short because it is designed to be distributed into a busy public domain, where people don't have to much time to read a long winded document, at the same time it is full of facts and figures explaining why we should invest more in space exploration and how health it is for our economy and our future. Key features are presented in easy to read graphs whilst reading the body copy will take longer but be more convincing. I considered stitching the pages for binding but settled for the simple stable binding on the spine because I thought that that was how the booklet would appear in public, it is a quick read, throw away item, that would be cheap for the UKSA to produce so I thought that this would be more suitable. Again I was pleased to have done all the research for this document in advance, and I think it reconfirms that I have really gained an understanding into my subject, I have even written I bit about the SKYLON project in the back as en example of an inspirational role of the UKSA and the future of space travel. I included this story because it demonstrates a really exciting prospect of the future of space travel, the first spaceplane that operates like something out of star trek. I the booklets have been generally successful in fulfilling their purpose. If I had more time it would have been great to generate a range of them.
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