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