OUGD103 Evaluation

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

I feel my skills have somewhat developed in terms of presenting, working on a live brief at the start made me realise about the importance of getting my work out and into the open as a future designer. My ability to present the right amount of information on boards finally came together in the last two crits where even though they may not have been fully successful I did communicate the ideas I was trying to pursue well. I feel my communication skills have developed well this year, I have learnt the importance of a well prepared presentation and what kind of visuals are necessary to get my ideas across. This has helped my independence as designer and I have been able to work when needed on my own and despite sometimes lack of motivation there have been high and low points where I have produced lots of work in a short period of time.
Not only working independently during this module, working collaboratively during this module with fellow peer Hannah Jackson I found myself very strong at developing design concepts. Being able to share the load with a partner I felt much more at ease and so we were able to produce lots of ideas within a very short space of time. Because we both have other commitments and don’t live close to each other we were also able to work together though careful planning through the use of timetables. ­ Making to do lists has been a major priority on this module, by taking feedback from previous tutorial I was able to organise the time I had available much easier, I have also managed to organise myself better at home by organising the descriptors and helpful sheets which have made looking for them much easier.
Working on the type and grid brief has opened new doors for me giving me a new skill which I have used only briefly. Having never looked at things such as publication design before, I have been able to branch out onto a new design plane looking at editorial design and such. It has also provided me with a good structure for any type of layout design to which I feel more disciplined.
2. What approaches to/methods of problem solving have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?

I thought that this time round I had definitely developed a sense of design process. Being able to find out what it was I wanted to communicate then from there, research using both primary and secondary sources and then develop and design into final product. Although not always going in the right direction I feel much more confident about what needs to be done its just carrying it through that seems to be not going as well. I did have a problem when it came to the speaking from experience brief where I knew from the start what I wanted to produce but I felt in a way that I should be more open and consider the possibilities but the idea of a book was something that I wanted to pursue, I think if I had just got stuck into it rather than think that I have to research first I could have produced a lot more work. Maybe it would have been better this time for design to derive content rather than the other way around which it should be. Working on the collaborative brief on the other hand, we stuck to what should be done, I think because that what each of us expected of each other to research then design. A subconscious way of working that benefitted us greatly.

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

I have become somewhat of a master at blog surfing of late and have become very interested in what other people have been pursuing in design. My amount of supporting secondary research has been massive, yet despite looking at lots of work it is selective research which is very much related to what I was trying to achieve. The only downside of course could be that I had too much; I spent more time looking at what other people were doing than producing my own work. But as I positive I feel I have become much more engaged in the graphic design industry.
I have taken a much greater appreciation in the use of craft within design and have worked when it comes to designing straight to material and design sheets rather than straight to digital rendering. This was definitely true of the “Communication is a Virus” brief and the “How to...” brief where design sheet were handmade and even so the final although very informal was handmade also. I do aim to continue this exploration.

4. What weaknesses can you identify in your own work and how will you address these more fully?

I found myself able in this past module to generate ideas very rapidly; working with Hannah Jackson on the brief “communication is a virus” we were able to collaborate very successfully producing lots of idea and then working from that idea and onto the next. I felt very strongly about some of these ideas and had developed ideas it thoughtfully in our own heads but when it came to making I feel that I lacked interest once the idea had become resolute in my mind, I felt to extent less interested and so physical mock-ups and even so the final piece lacked the quality that I normally look for. This mentality has continued right through until the end of the module, with an end to no final piece being produced at all. This I feel was very disappointing as the concept pitches that I delivered were highly successful and the ideas that I had proposed seemed to fit the brief outcomes well, yet I lacked the enthusiasm for the subject after I had come up with the idea.
This could have been due to several factors, unfortunately I have had to repeat the 1500 word essay for critical studies which took up valuable time and possibly made me feel less confident with the work I was producing. It is also coming to the end of the year and as much as I have enjoyed this year I think I am looking forward to a well earned break. It also didn’t help that in my final project I changed what I wanted to do with two weeks remaining making time very short to collect, develop and design.
Another weakness during this module was not making mock-ups and not testing any final attempts. I think this could easily be sorted through testing and communicating with my fellow colleagues.

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

Try to be less distracted. A lack of motivation has led to the final brief being incomplete, something that has let down my confidence and I have disappointed myself by not trying harder when it really counts. I know that if I apply myself properly I can produce a wealthy body of work.

Produces samples and mock-ups more often as they best illustrate my final outcome and what point I am in the design process as they often count for more than a design sheet in terms of helpful feedback.

Continue the application of timetables and to-do lists to help keep motivation and organise what needs to be done with priorities coming first.

Utilise the workshops to my advantage, since the last module I haven’t actually used any of the facilities to experiment and play with design I think it is important that I book workshop time and doing something physical may help in producing more wealthy bodies of work. I thoroughly enjoyed the print-making elective that I completed it’s such a shame that I didn’t try and involve more printing processes.

Try going on impulse. I feel that sometimes I had an idea of what I wanted to do yet I felt restricted and that I should just complete it properly as a design process. If I have an idea, go for it and get it out of my system so I can work from there.

6. How would you grade yourself on the following areas (5 excellent, 1 poor):

+ Attendance 4
+ Punctuality 3
+ Motivation 2
+ Commitment 3
+ Quantity of work produced 3
+ Quality of work produced 3
+ Contribution to the group 4

A forgotton Project...

I forgot i produced this. For a brief for module OUGD102, based on a newspaper article, i produced in response to the problem of public transport over cars, a mail shot looking at the idea of how you would like to see transport and looked at the extortionate fares that seem to keep on growing for public transport, after all why would you pay more for a public service than enjoy your own company in you car? The target audience would be transport authorities and public transport users as a way of getting peoples views noticed on the debate of lower transport fares. The mail-shot idea comprised of a small 148 x 105 x 4 mm box, which can be sent the same price as a letter, and the contents would be cutouts which could be assembled to create their own scene by the recipient and emphasized the question "How would you like to see public transport?" and referenced a website (never made) to which people could submit their opinions on the debate. Looking back i thought this was a nice idea and my response the the brief i thought was very good. Heres a snapshot of the mail-shot, given we had a limit of 2 colour + stock i tried to produce a visual style based on a look of an air-fix kit and this was my first attempt at using illustrator.  

I just found these whilst blog surfing, they are limited edition prints by artist and designer Paula Scher. they are brilliant, I love the colour choices and the composition, its something you could look at over and over again and find something new every time. She also produces paintings and drawings within the same styling.

After another blog gander i found a blog of a recent graduate designer, Dan Collier. I really liked some of his work and i especially love this piece. This is what i would have produced for the project on "What is a line?" but based upon my social networking and the people that i know, with the lines of string connecting the people under different categories of people. Unfortunately this never panned out for me. Dan Collier's piece "Typographic links" maps links and connections in the world of Typography, the thread he uses acts like a form of hyperlink which helps guide the reader through the book. A beautifully crafted piece.

Marc Martin

A lovely illustrator i found Marc Martin. I love the intricacy and everything else really. brilliant! and i'd love to own this book.

Charley Harper

Pop-up

Designed by Michele Chun & Miya Saito

Recircle

These are designs by a design company called Recircle for a hair stylist's business cards. How cool and cute are these, I'd have my haircut by this stylist if I found one of these cards! super ace!

a Change of Direction...

To Make a Magazine?

New/Work/Mag

Becca showed me this site, a digital magazine or printable if you purchase one called New/Work/Mag. the content although not really interesting is lifted by a beautifully constructed layout which begs to be viewed. printable at a newspaper scale each pages layout has carefully been considered and thought out, with different type and flowing layout grid systems. The magazines content is based on an idea similar to what i am trying to create, featuring a range of artists and designers the magazine is deigned to inspire and give fresh design sources. 

The page above is my particular favourite, from the talks we had on publication layouts with Lorenzo i think he would agree, its simple, not too lengthy text mixed with a kind of tiered gridding system helping reading the page flow better, even though there may seem like a lack of content the page works well, i think i would like to see imagery on this page though aside from the black squares, but with imagery to co-ordinate with this page on other pages it does work well together.

Visionaire 55*

Searching for more inspiration i came across a fantastic magazine, "Visionaire". The magazine is run tri-annually, each issue is uniquely different from the next and has collaboration with some of the best designers in the fashion world, Alexander Mcqueen, LV, the list goes on! a very exciting magazine which looks at the idea of being something more than it actually is, something to be kept and taken care of to preserve its 'amazingness'. And so it should be kept in good condition with a limited edition on each magazine and each one costing up-to £2500... ouch! This video was for issue 55 and is centered around the idea of surprise, with collaboration from designers such as Andreas Gurtsy, Steven Klein and Mario Testino.

The images below are from the most recent issue 56, in collaboration with Calvin Klein, this piece is extraordinary. Whilst the piece is indoors and away from light the book is colourless and white with delicate and subtle white embroidery on the front. But when exposed to sunlight the book bursts into colour and life as the fabric reacts to the light and glows. for £100 it could be yours...

Sugar+

Some very interesting type rendition from a designer Marian Bantjes for another deigner Stefan Sgmeister. how lovely is this type? i love the white on white and this kind of look would have been great for the project on purity for the Don't Panic brief.

Esquire [02]

Whilst on the theme of Esquire, another interesting magazine idea, this magazine is part-digital. The front cover design is meant to be animated although i think it just lights up... a tad diassapointing of something that could have been really special. Still none the less interesting and definitly more interactive than a standard magazine.

Esquire

On the speaking from experience brief i have had i couple of developments from working on looking at, a form of outlet for LCAD graphic design students to exhibit their work for other students, whether it be final pieces, inspiration or even exploration work. I began looking at these forms of outlet in the various forms of blog posting, books, postcard design and from the more recent crit a design orientated magazine which would be editioned every month. Through the crit we established that a magazine would be highly appropriate, it could feature what people have been getting up-to in design, favourite or new designers, a featured designer of the month, competitions, it could link directly to the student union and have helpful generic student advice, photoshop tutorials to get great looking pieces of work through tips and helpful hits in magazines such as computer arts, the magazine could also feature advertising to help funding and maybe even professional designer interviews.

We further established that this kind of project with a high magnitude of information to process could be bettered through collaborative practice, layout designers, typographers, content and research, photographer and even binding processes as well as the management run by myself, there were many volunteers. To aid with my research i am going to assemble a questionnnaire to find some useful artists and designers which people in our graphic design community are looking at for inspiration and also maybe ask around about people who are doing some interesting work. I can also do this by looking a blog posts and such. also witht the 3rd years leaving very shortly it would be a very good opportunity to gather information about where they are heading and final projects, dissertations and their thoughts and feelings about their time here on the course. I also want to look at running a competition for the magazine edition, like the don't panic posters which are designed every month, i want to maybe look at running a competition for the design of a front cover or something, this would definitly help loosen the work load.

At the minute however i have been looking at publication design and have concequently been overloaded with not only standard magazines but so many different ways of embellishing on the the idea of an editorial piece. I found this recent magazine by esquire, for the month of May 2009, which featured a mix and match front cover design. a very unusual piece in itself and something interesting that makes the magazine less throw away and something that could be kept.

Crit Feedback [02]

For this particular crit i had to gather 5 images which i i felt showed successful interactive deign in relation to my chosen subject area in the the speaking from experience brief. Mine were the following:The "IsNotMagazine" was an example that Ian gave me of successful interactive design. Created in 2004 this magazine lasted until 2008 where it met its last issue but a very inspiring magazine none the less. Taking inspiration of a public art poster this magazine was run monthly and was free, the magazines articles were spread over the page and could be read if the issue was placed in an environment where it could be read over a period of time, near benches or bus stops would seem an ideal place. The visual style was quite appealing and definitly an original idea of interactivity.
This piece for a magazine called wallpaper run every month. Designed by an architect called Zaha Hadid this outrageous die-cut magazine illustrates a recreation of one of his recent architectural projects. I find it really interesting, this piece could only be purchased by subscribers to the magazine and so was a limited edition, a piece of art in itself i suppose.
This i think is a good example of what i am trying to achieve. This newspaper style magazine was made to draw attention to some longer written pieces that are more easily assimilated in print than online. And also illustrates the cheapness of how tabloid newsprint publications are made.
This magazine is not an actual magazine but an image i found. By designer Gary Cook, he cut down ordinary magazines to 35mm squares, they became new publications by placing a new cover on the front which although this isn't a magazine is a reminder that magazines don't have to be A4 format.

This piece was for a magazine called "Tare Lugnt" and was the 3rd edition of which only 1 was printed of the magazine. Obviously its quick a big commitment to make having a tattooed magazine, but none the less a visually engaging idea which is definitly ground-breaking in terms of publication design.

5 examples of contemporary graphic design which i like as part of my personal development and realte to my chosen area of study in the current final brief: speaking from experience.
crit feedback