How to buy a diamond engagement ring
At first I found it difficult to really get my head round what we were making and how it would look, working in a group is very different to working individually. When you make a decision you can't just rely on yourself, you need to discuss it with others and make sure everyone's on the same page. I think once we got the brief, everyone wasn't quite sure what we were actually making and the style of it, so we all ended up just making initial imagery. There was also a clash of styles and opinions I think. For me, I was given the role of making a logo and trying to outline the general style and look of it. So this is what I paid special attention to.
What evidence did you find to support your decisions?
I looked at existing jewellers and diamond dealers, their general aesthetic and colour scheme and decided how I wanted to reference this in our own product. I also looked at existing imagery to do with diamonds, existing pieces and artists whose work I like and want to inform my own logo design, I tried to make it look quite vintage but also quite modern. Black and white are used quite alot for a 'classy' look on jewellery websites, so we also adopted this.
What methods did you use to gather your evidence and what forms did it take?
Surveys, questionnaires and internet research and also asking people what they think about certain issues.
Categorising research using terms primary/secondary/quantitative/qualitative
primary
- looking into colour pallettes of existing jeweller websites
- Questionnaire and survey on how to be a best man
- Imagery for diamonds
- Imagery to inspire and inform my logo
secondary
- Top stag locations in UK
- Dealing with anxiety (for a best man)
- Art of Manliness: 10 steps to the perfect best man speech
- Art of Manliness: The origins of a bachelor party and how to throw one
- Glossary of terms on Diamonds and Engagement Rings
- Types of diamond cuts
quantitative
- Stag/hen night stats
- Statistics on diamond engagement ring and average price
- Average prices of stag weekend packages
- My How To Be A Best Man survey, looking at percentage of people who associate the best man, with best man speech, etc, to imply the importance of each aspect of being a best man
qualitative
- Tips and general experiences of being a best man
- Best man guides
- Top stag locations in UK
- Dealing with anxiety
- Art of Manliness: 10 steps to the perfect best man speech
What methods of research did you find useful and why?
I found looking at existing imagery and colour palettes etc pretty useful for the diamond ring product, it helped me alot, especially for the logo design and to help make suggestions to the group about what kind of style and colour scheme we could adopt.
I also found the research about the cost of rings very interesting, like how guys generally find it quite nerve-wracking and how much girls dream of weddings and the whole engagement process. It's very important to a girl, so it needs to be done right and with proper research, to make it perfect. We also noticed the amount of general information about diamonds, it inspired us to want to make it appealing to the everyday person and 'bitesize'
How did these inform your response to your problem?
The amount of information and sort of pretentiousness of jewellers and diamond dealers out there and the findings about how they charge different prices for different people, if you don't seem informed, they basically take you for a fool sometimes. It inspired us to make an unbiased sort of guide for a person who has pretty much no knowledge of diamonds and make the first steps in looking at diamond engagement rings easier and less stressful.
What methods did you encounter as problematic?
At first it was hard to work efficiently as a group, we didn't know what was getting done and what needed to be doing. It probably slowed down the work flow abit as we were abit weary to just crack on as we were afraid another person in the group might be doing exactly the same thing and make it counter-productive, so maybe communication could have been better.
There was also a slight clash of styles and opinions, we kept throwing ideas out there but they just remained ideas, some were quite unrealistic and farfetched for a two week brief. It's easy to just throw ideas around and not do any actual design.
How did you overcome this?
We assigned each other tasks to carry out, and started to keep in touch more. We all got on the same page, and slowly decided on what we were going to make - a shopping booklet available to pick up in a shop providing an unbiased, easy to digest guide on diamonds and rings. After the crit and a discussion with the tutors, we all for the first time kind of found ourselves talking passionately about the same subject all on one table at the same time, previously it was kinda hard for us to talk freely and successfully in terms of ideas. We came away from it quite motivated and clear on what we needed to do next. So we assigned each other roles, and certain tasks to achieve over the weekend in time for us all to meet up after the weekend and look over.
What research could you have carried out that would have proved more useful?
I think personally I could have carried out more research myself, as the how to was Imogen's we all kind of relied on her research as it was pretty strong and in-depth, I could have looked generally into diamonds more, as I basically had the task over the 2nd week to create a logo, I mainly focused on this and focused on colour schemes etc. So I did abit of research into this, I think I could have carried out more primary research, such as what girls look for in an engagement ring and so on. It would only have helped, I could also have carried out more research into logos for jewellers and if there are recurring themes in them that I can reference.
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5 things I learnt about the design process over the last two weeks
- Research is incredibly important, it only makes your work stronger and more fit for the purpose
- Primary research is really useful
- Organisation is key, especially when working in a group
- Communication is keywhen working in a group
- General study on the subject is incredibly important, all good artists and designers do this. Especially ones that inspire me.
5 things I would do differently next time
- Carry out more primary research
- I'd carry out more research on existing products that are similar to what I need to deliver for my brief
- Only start designing after a lengthy research and development period
- I'd try and do more within the group as I don't think I contributed enough this time round, I think the amount of work each of us did wasn't proportionately fair
- I would do more general study on the subject and become pretty clued up on most aspects of it.
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