Design Practice: January 2014

Friday 24 January 2014

OUGD503 Responsive: Interim Evaluation

OUGD503
RESPONSIVE
INTERIM EVALUATION

Overall I am happy with my progress so far through this responsive module. I feel that the resolutions i have developed at this point are strong and am pleased with the designs I have created. At this point in the module I would have liked to completed more briefs, however I am finding it hard to balance a heavy work load with this running along other modules. I need to learn to balance my time evenly so that all work runs smoothly and nothing gets left behind. I am really pleased with how my Purdey's D&AD brief is coming along. I think that i have developed a decent concept and getting along well with it. Another highlight so far has been my live brief for the F/11 exhibition poster, although this client has been awkward at times it has been a great learning experience and I hope to do more client based briefs throughout this module. Moving on from this evaluation I need to better schedule my time and organise my self more, paying particular attention to recording my progress through the use of my blog.

Thursday 23 January 2014

OUGD503 Responsive: Purdey's final developments

OUGD503
RESPONSIVE
PURDEY'S
FINAL DEVELOPMENTS

After reflecting from the crit i decided a good way to add more interest and extra detail to the design with out losing the simplicity would be to add more colour. In the end I decided to use gradients.

I experimented with lots of different colour combinations and the connotations that each colour scheme had.

CHOSEN COLOURS:

FINAL DESIGN:

Wednesday 15 January 2014

OUGD504 Final evaluation

BA (Hons.) GRAPHIC DESIGN		LEVEL	05
Module Code	OUGD504
Module Title	Design Production

END OF MODULE SELF-EVALUATION

NAME

Sam Cook

1. What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?

Through out this module I think I have developed a number of skills. Firstly I have been to a number of different print process workshops. I have developed skills in screen printing, embossing, laser cutting, etching, book binding and lino cut. I now feel a lot more confident when using these processes and plan to put my new skills to good use in future briefs. I have found embossing and laser cutting particularly interesting; as these were 2 of the processes I used to produce my book. I also feel that my confidence has grown and can now go in to the print rooms feeling confident in my abilities and not rely on the help of technicians and tutors.

Design for web has been a huge learning curve for me. Before this module I had no previous knowledge of web design or coding. I feel I have learned the basics needed to code a simple website. However I feel I could have pushed my self further. I found web coding daunting and couldn’t get my head around it, instead of asking for help or seeking out my own solutions I buried my head in the sand and tried to focus on other things, because of this my website has suffered. If the opportunity arises to do web coding in the future I will try harder to develop a deeper understanding and challenge my self to be more creative.

Design for print and web taught me the importance of having a defined concept before designing. This module has taught me the skills to think more conceptually when interpreting a brief. I think my conceptual thinking during this brief wasn’t the best, however I have learned of its importance in future briefs. The brief also taught me how to permeate my design across different medias and the importance of considering web when designing print and vice versa.

My time management over all still needs to improve dramatically, I tend to get so caught up in how much work I have to do I end up doing nothing at all. I need to be better at planning my time efficiently and splitting my time between different briefs evenly. The use of to do lists and calendars could help me with this in future.

2. What approaches to/methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?

For design for print I have developed lots of skills in terms of design production. At the end of last year one of my goals was to try out different print methods. I have tried a number of these, but could have organised my time better in order to try even more. I experimented quite a bit with embossing on to my leather book and the optimum way to do this. If I had more time I would have created a copper plate to emboss with so I could test between wooden plate and copper plate and see which left the best result.

In terms of design for web I think I should have developed more scamps and wire frames in order to make my end result stronger. Doing more preparatory work would have helped my end production considerably.

3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?

I think one strength in my design for print module is the final outcome, I really pushed my self ot create something I was proud of. If I had have organised my time better I think I could have developed my book even further. I also need to be aware of how long things take to be delivered when ordered online as this hindered my over all design.

I think another strength of my design for print and web was my ability to design a large quantity of design in a short period of time, this has taught me the amount of work it is possible to produce.

4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?

OUGD504 has been a huge learning curve for me, I personally think I have suffered from the lack of time constraints and tutor initiated work like we had last year. I need to learn to be more independent and rely on my self to get work done. Motivating my self to do work has been a constant struggle. I am constantly putting myself down and judging myself against others, which isn’t productive at all. I think if I spent less time worrying about my work and more time trying to develop it every module would be more defined and developed for hand in. A constant battle with me is blogging, I still haven’t found a productive way to keep on top of blogging and yet again it has all crept up on me, due to not blogging regularly I have also lost lots of developments and prep work that would help to improve my over all grade. In future I will blog little and often in order to keep on top of it.

5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?

1. Blogging frequently, I plan to blog frequently in order to keep on top of the work load and save my self the stress of doing it all last minute.

2. Starting workload immediately, I need to start the work load as soon as its set and not procrastinate. This will help my final outcomes be more developed and the best possible version they can be

3. Researching more, I need to start researching more so that my final outcomes are well informed.

4. Self-belief, I need to be aware of my own ability and not get dragged down comparing myself to others and doubting my self.

5. Developments, I need to develop my work further, through the use of prototypes and thumbnails. In future I will start developments even earlier.

6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas:

(please indicate using an ‘x’)

5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor

Attendance

Punctuality

Motivation

Commitment

Quantity of work produced

Quality of work produced

Contribution to the group

The evaluation of your work is an important part of the assessment criteria and represents a percentage of the overall grade. It is essential that you give yourself enough time to complete your written evaluation fully and with appropriate depth and level of self-reflection. If you have any questions relating to the self evaluation process speak to a member of staff as soon as possible.

Monday 13 January 2014

OUGD503 Responsive: F/11 Exhibition Water colour experiments

OUGD503
RESPONSIVE
F/11 EXHIBITION
WATER COLOUR EXPERIMENTS

To add more colour and interest to the design I decided to create some new textures and layers using water colours.

EXPERIMENTS:

IN USE:

Although these designs are a lot mrs eye catching i think they are too garish and in your face. The client also prefers a clean, minimal aesthetic, as do I.

These posters work a lot better. The right poster also shows the revised typography choice that the client approved.

I also revised the shape and style of the aperture logo. This logo is a lot stronger than the previous one for a number of reasons. Firstly there is less negative space in the middle of the circle, this makes the poster look more full and less bare. It also helps to show off the colours more. Originally when i showed this design to the client she said she proffered the original design. I told her to show the other people who were exhibiting to see what they thought.

FEEDBACK:

- Second aperture design is stronger

- Try new colours for logo

- Adjust text alignment

This feed back has been really beneficial and will help me improve the design even further.

NEW HUES:

The last design turned out to be the clients favourite. It was my chosen colour too. The colours are more natural and subtle but still eye-catching and bold.

FINAL DESIGN:

This is the final design, as approved by the client. All that is left is the confirmation of the sponsors of the exhibition so that they can be added on to the poster.

This has been a challenging brief at times, but it has put me in good stead for future live briefs. It has taught me the importance of defining a clear brief, with set deliverables and mandatory requirements before embarking on the design process. I think the end result is visually strong and striking. The client is very happy with the design and it is being sent to print later this week. Although this has been a challenging and at times frustrating brief it has also been really exciting and interesting. I can't wait to partake in more live briefs in the future.