PPP - Evaluation

What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?
Through this module i feel i have generated a skill in time managing. I have been able to effectively assess my workload along with domestic and social duties and create a better balance between the three. I feel that before the workshops i hadn't been giving equal energy to aspects of my life and concentrated a lot on work but now with more things to plan around and with the studio being more flexible with less workshops, i can plan and arrange when and what work needs doing before a certain time in order to focus my engery on different parts of my life. I feel this have benefitted me greatly because i have been able to get what i've need to do done and time to myself to do social things which over all has made me a lot happier and a lot more motivated to work. Another skill i feel i have developed is recognising the design that i like and that i don't like. I found out a lot of what type of design i want to focus on or try more of and realised a lot about the balance of professional and personal aspects of design. I feel i  have effectively applied this by choosing ideas that go into the areas of graphics that i favour and designing in ways that i have seen in work i like.

What approaches to methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?
I have developed my methods of design production by working in Indesign which i had never previously done before the course. For the double page spread for my partner i learnt a lot about using indesign and by playing around with different things discovered a lot more than what we were told in our workshop. This informed my design development because i realised that there were different problems with using images from the internet and the amount of text would effect the layout. When developing my design i had to consider this aspects and design around these factors in order to get the look i was going for for my partner.

What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?
A strength i have identified in my work in this module is to create a range which i think is best shown in the speaking from experience brief. When briefed on this module i feel i had a clear development process from channeling down ideas to research to then developing different aspects of the design and bringing it all together to create an effective solution. The designed flowed throughout even though there were different packaging nets, shapes and sizes. This strength i will choose to capitalise on in the future in order to create a strong design which can be applied across to a range of formats and media. Another strength i have identified is organisation. I felt that i was well prepared for both crits on speaking from experience and had developed my work throughly enough to give a clear understanding for the group. This benefited me because i got clear, concise feedback were people understood and could comment effectively on aspects i hadn't considered or ideas they did like rather than no research because i hadn't prepared it in time. In the future i will hopefully maintain this and come heavily prepared for crits to get the crit feedback that i can develop further on.

What weaknesses can you identify in your and work and how will you address these in the future?
A weakness i can identify in my work is consistency in quality. I have struggled to maintain a consistency throughout the whole course in quality of final prints. I feel that this can be improved on greatly in the future as when printed, cut/made accurately it benefits the design greatly and gives it better credit in its content/context as the media you choose can change the communication.  I hope to have pre booked print slots and a budget set aside in the future in order to print my designs to there best ability. Another weakness in my work is the inability to complete my idea to a level of completeness. I never feel entirely happy with my work as i feel like its not as i envisioned in my head. With the speaking from experience task how i envisioned my idea of the freshers flu kit is not shown through the final product. I proposed the idea of it being a plastic box with a fixed mould inside and the graphics braille on each item, however this obviously is not how it is finished. In the future i could maybe look at actually trying to do these ideas or at least attempt it with other departments of the college in order to try new medias.

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

1.  Use different parts of the college more to my advantage and try different types of design than vectors so i develop a range of skills.

2. Attempt to complete my designs in the best quality available and maintain a consistency in order to make my designs communicate better.

3. Research different areas of graphics such as retail and promotion to generate different ideas to briefs.

4. Work more on Indesign, using grids in order to learn more about the software.

5. Focus on finding out more about my opinions on design and what morals i will have in my future work.


Attendance - 4
Punctuality - 4
Motivation - 4
Commitment - 3
Quantity or work produced - 4
Quality of work produced - 3
Contribution to the group - 4

Design Principles: Self-Evaluation

Overall from this module i feel that i have developed a lot skills into the theoretical side of designing. Learning about the effects of type and how you can alter certain elements through such things as kerning and tracking etc has altered my designing as i can produce what i want  effectively and professionally. I feel similarly about learning about colour and the principles of combining colours and how this can alter how it not only appears but the communication. This has been something that i have had to consider when designing and printing as it can really effect what my design is communicating. For example when choosing colours for my What is a line? aztec pattern i needed to consider my audience and context before picking a palette and when designing the promotional posters how the colour patterns effected one another and its legibility. 

I found learning about grid and layout particularly useful as previously when designing i had no structure whereas now i am more inclined to use a grid to layout my work to create a professional and fluent layout throughout my work. This has not only helped the atheistic quality  but also aided the design process as from working with design sheets to producing the design has become more accurate,focused and neater. This is a strength i hope to develop further as i no there is still a lot to improve on and will be very beneficial to my designs and work method.

A strength i have noticed in this module is problem solving as when doing the hotdog booklet brief it took a lot of prototypes, practices and tests in order to get the design right and laying out correctly. Although i couldn't do the original idea i was able to twist the design in a different direction and still be successful as i sold five books at the book fair!

One weakness i have found in this module is design sheets, i feel i have been designing more digitally rather than sketching out enough ideas first, particularly with What is a line?. In the future i will push myself to draw out and write down ideas before i jump into designing digitally. Another weakness i struggled with in design principles was getting my head round the seven contrasts of colour and the differences between the two. I understood the presentation to a point but when it came to applying that myself i feel i struggled.

If i was able to go back and change something in this module i think it would be to be more practical and hands on with my work. I feel a lot of my work is becoming digital and print and i'm loosing the skill to create something with my hands. I enjoyed doing the hotdog booklet and was really excited about the brief but i feel i could of pushed it further and done a lot more with it as the brief was so open.

With What is a line? i would change the way i created my designs, i feel that the way i used illustrator to create the images and patterns was very amateur and this made my life very difficult when trying to make the pattern continuous. I feel there is a lot left to learn on illustrator even in the basic tools.

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

Attendance - 4

Punctuality - 4

Motivation - 3

Commitment - 3

Quantity of work produced - 3

Quality of work produced - 2

Contribution to the group - 3

Design Practice - Evaluation

What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?
I skills i have developed in this module i feel are managing briefs from all parts of the course at the same time. This will be important to cope with next year and at first i did struggle to prioritise the briefs for the different modules as they ran at the same time and i still feel i could approve on this skill further but i still think its a skill i have developed even more with this module. Another skill i have developed has been to produce a range of items that work as a set or series. With the stamp brief i had a range of formats from the actual stamps to the cover to the presentation boards which i felt all where clearly as a set as they were printed on the same paper, designed in the same way using the same imagery and type and had a flow throughout the work. This was also shown through communication is a virus with different formats, poster,leaflets and business cards which were clearly a set through the layout, colour scheme and content. It's your choice and Eric Kessels brief also had a consistency within them whether that be a theme or constancy in design. I feel i have defiantly applied this skill to all the aspects to this module as i can see through my work that they are visible a set.

What approaches to methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?
I've been more practical in my production in this module by building packaging for Its You Choice, i think i chose a different route to take in what i could continue on and attempted a different approach to the brief by choosing packaging as it wasn't the same format i had began with. It had informed my design development process by developing my design to fit the different formats and changed a lot of the normal routine and timing of a brief. This brief took an extended amount of time as there was a lot of working out and making involved. This has informed me that in the future when doing a different method of production that printing i need to insure i have more time to really put work into what i'll be doing.\

What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?
A strength i have identified is going back to researching whilst working on an idea instead of it just being at the beginning. During the It's Your Choice brief i frequently went back to my research to get ideas, look at the visuals that i wanted to create, the weighting and grouping of buttons etc. I feel this made my work more productive and worked more smoothly as i didn't forget what i had found out and sourced new things which aided my design. Another strength i can identify in my work is that my skills on illustrator are being more efficient and perfected. I have found new techniques for perfected paths and using clipping masks and compound paths from other briefs. Overall this has effected my time in designing for the better but also the visual quality of my designs throughout all on going modules. A strength i think i can really identify in this module was from the communication is a virus brief where i was able to notice there being to many visuals and ideas all trying to be put in to one thing and it didn't work. This made us stop, re think and cut out what wasn't needed to and by reducing our ideas and designs generated a much more pleasing and communicative result. I plan on capitalising on these new found strengths by deepening my usability in illustrator, reducing more so in my work so there is only the information necessary. I defiantly felt i was more outspoken this time on the group brief and communicated my ideas across.

What weaknesses can you identify in your and work and how will you address these in the future?
One definite weakness in this module was time management in printing and finals. With all the deadlines coming up at once i was unprepared for the demand to print and i wasn't organised to think of this before hand so i struggled to get everything finished in suitable timing. Although my work was ready the ability to print i found hard and therefore printing and making in time was made more difficult. In the future i will defiantly pre book print slots at this time of year in order to achieve my work in its best quality and timing. For the Eric Kessel brief i found a weakness, although i had tried to approach a different angle on the rain posters this failed to comply with what the actual purpose was for. I mixed up the brief of in studio and the live brief being the same thing and found my idea being more appropriate towards the idea the brief was giving of promoting rain and britain as attractive but not with the intention to be showcased at a design talk. In the future i will consider all aspects of context and
audience before moving forward with an idea.

Identify 5 things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from these?
I will book print slots way ahead of the deadlines and organise for my work to be finished by that point. By doing this i will have my work completed on time and without stress.
I will consider the timing to undertake a task i have given myself and the necessary focus and organisation i will need to prepare in order to successfully accomplish it. This will relief me of added pressure and a more easy and enjoyable process.
I will focus on what the brief is asking for, do more research into what it's asking and deliver the right message without going to astray. This will let me answer the brief efficiently and aid my process in completely a brief successfully.
I will try more practical approaches to design and gain skills in other areas of graphic design.
I will consider the interaction of the design and the audience and how this can be pushed beyond boundaries. Hopefully this will increase my creativity and imagination to create different kind of designs than 2D print.




Attendance - 4
Punctuality - 4
Motivation - 3
Commitment - 3
Quantity or work produced - 4
Quality of work produced - 3
Contribution to the group - 4

WHAT IS GRAPHIC DESIGN FOR?

•  5 examples of websites/blogs. that will help you to define information & way-finding design. 

http://sixrevisions.com/graphics-design/40-useful-and-creative-infographics/

http://www.infographicdesign.org/

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2011/10/14/the-dos-and-donts-of-infographic-design/

http://www.coolinfographics.com/

http://dailyinfographic.com/

http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/infoarch/publications/mfoltz-thesis/node8.html

http://www.biesek.com/

Information and way-finding design is about making a mass amount of information visual to simplify and make it easier to understand and process.

•  5 examples of websites/blogs. that will help you to define product & packaging design. 

http://www.conkadesign.co.uk/

http://www.trigcreative.com/

http://www.thedieline.com/

http://lovelypackage.com/

http://www.purecreativemarketing.net/design-print/packaging.html

Product and packaging design is about containing and labelling products in a suitable format and context to the specific product.

•  5 examples of websites/blogs. that will help you to define branding & identity design.

http://www.bigfish.co.uk/

http://justcreative.com/2010/04/06/branding-identity-logo-design-explained/

http://www.madebyanalogue.co.uk/showcase/#identity

http://www.jamesgood.co.uk/identity-design-8

http://www.davidairey.co.uk/

Branding and identity design is about creating an image of understanding for something for what it represents e.g. morals, its function, purpose

•  5 examples of websites/blogs. that will help you to define editorial and publishing design.

http://www.behance.net/?field=32

http://creattica.com/editorial/

http://www.pentagram.com/en/new/editorial-design/

http://www.pentagram.com/en/new/publications/

http://magculture.com/blog/

http://www.spydesign.co.uk/

Editorial and publishing design is producing information available to the public in print format.

•  5 examples of websites/blogs. that will help you to define retail and & promotion.

http://www.section-d.com/

http://www.greenroomretail.co.uk/

http://inspiredesignblog.co.uk/

http://www.ddionline.com/displayanddesignideas/galleries/Project-Gallery-26.shtml

http://www.sheridanandco.com/index.php

Retail and promotion is about combined disciplines producing design within space to encourage knowledge or understanding.

Speaking from Experience: Final Designs

Before i printed on my chosen paper i had a mock up test with the nets i had made to make sure they fitted together like i had hoped.

The mock ups worked well and helped me adjust some parts in to the right place for example with the nasal spray as when folded round the text and image wasn't placed correctly.

Final Print:

unfortunately the text wasn't as central on the back as i had hoped

I did have problems printing double sided but luckily cutting and folding wasn't to much of a problem so they were quite successful!

I was very pleased with the final product and felt it worked well as a set and showed a good range of products suitable as a solution to the problem.

Crit feedback:

I was relatively happy with the crit feedback as they could see i had done a lot of development and research and also felt that it was a good solution to the problem which was my main aim in this brief.

Now i just need to bring my boards together into A2 size as stated on the brief.

Speaking from Experience: Development

After the crit i started trailing out design ideas:

testing arrangements that will fit the box

Final designs:

Speaking from Experience: Crit

Design boards for the crit:

Feedback:

From the feedback i was relevantly pleased, they were positive about the problem and solution being in the format of a medical box and also liked the link with Fred making more connected to our Graphic Design course.

They also liked the whole coding with colours and symbols which i was pleased about and mentioned for areas of improvement to solve issues like mixing drugs was to use the coding so this is something to consider when designing as well as the information that it will need to contain.

Packaging

Speaking from Experience - Design Sheets

After having the crit on our ideas i decided to start doing some design sheets.

I started by working out the name. After having the idea of 'what would fred say?' bracelet similar to the WWJD ones I wanted to go with this idea further. With the bracelet asking the question what would fred to say in the situation of being ill, the items in the medical kit will feature Fred Says in response to the question. When writing out the text i thought about the negative space in and around the text and started seeing how visual this was in reading as legible text. It wasn't very clear to read in most cases but it reminded of the braille that i saw through my research on medicine boxes. This made me think about having Fred Says in a Graphic Design braille using the negative space of text as it tied in with my other idea of being ill on the quiet.

I drafted out some ideas as to what would feature on the items using paracetamol as an example and experimented with scale and layout. I thought of a simple code system for the items using geometric shapes to represent which parts of the body the item works for. This ties in with the feedback i received back from the crit as it needed to be clear and big and colour coded to help you find what you were looking for easy.