ppp blog: May 2013

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

This year I have really developed a skill in organising and time managing my workload and social life. There has a great difference in last year as I have been prepared with the hindsight. This has allowed me to book print slots months in advance as well be able to fit in processes such as binding, laser cutting and screen printing. As well as managing my other modules I have maintained a on going interest in my PPP. I have developed a skill in recognising what design I like and dislike which last year I found hard to focus. This allowed me to effectively realise my ambitions as well as what kind of designer I am. This new skill I effectively applied to my self branding by using the areas of design I want to go into as a basis of searching where I am aiming my branding at. I also used it to display me as a person and designer in my branding demonstrating my creativity and friendliness in my colour scheme as well as using a concept to show how I work and am idea driven. I feel concepts are something that have gone really well in this module as I didn't only create one for me but also for Life's a Pitch and both I feel were strong and effective for the purpose. I applied the concepts effectively over a range of products for my self branding as well as across the presentation and promotion of life's a pitch.

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

I learnt through the year a lot about finished products and printing which I then collectively used in my final product of self- branding. Working across printing and the laser machine I was able to create designs that stand out and change the regular formats. This gave my branding an edge and by learning how to print properly and align the laser machine with prints it informed my design development process. I can now work across them both and create new formats and printed promotional material.

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

One strength I can identify in this module is motivation and commitment. I had to work in a team of five for Life's a Pitch which was a struggle at times to get everyone together at the same time. I feel that I contributed a large part to the group with ideas, concepts, names, research and by creating the presentation and script with Tom. I was really motivated to make our studio realistic and to stand out against the other groups. I can now capitalise on this as I have learnt who I do and don't work well with and what strengths I have got to offer in a collaboration. By doing research I have learnt about the business of design and also how to approach setting up a studio by using a concept which can be effectively applied and reused in different ways. I feel a strength in this particular project was being a good communicator and maintaing a balance between all the different characters in the group. I was able to lead and direct the conversation in the appropriate direction as well as formulate the group to make decisions so we could move forward.

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

A weakness I identified in my work is networking and maintaining contact. I lost contact with Allotment over Christmas even though I had been successful after showing them my work. Communication stopped after talking to them about getting paid, I didn't hear a reply and didn't preserver in contacting them and asking for an answer. If I had I might of done some work for them paid or un paid and got some valuable experience and work for my portfolio. I now no that I need to keep contact with people and not rely on them to reply or remember to reply. I wasn't as a afraid later in the year and persevered with Numiko as they were slow responding due to being busy and I now have a visit next week. With networking I did a few things but could made more of the opportunity for example at Creative Networks I shouldn't of been so shy and spoke to people before the talk. I also need to enhance my online presence and networking as at the moment theres nowhere other than my blog to see my work as I've not put anything on my behance. This is something I'm going to do over summer by creating a website and putting work on my behance. I'm also going to speak and get involved on LinkIn so I can get some contacts with industry people and get my name known by talking and asking questions.

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

Take photos of my work
So my portfolio has quality images and my work is presented in the best way
Speak on LinkedIn
Gain contacts and make friends with industry people
Keep in contact
Maintain conversation in order to gain work
Start early contacting studios
Get in there before a lot of other students and give a lot longer to plan something and get something arranged
Blog more
I want to blog more about the experiences that have made me think about design and ideas and have made me realise my ambitions

Attendance - 5
Punctuality - 5
Motivation - 4
Commitment - 4
Quantity or work produced - 4
Quality of work produced - 4
Contribution to the group - 5

I wanted my website to follow my branding but I didn't want it to be over the top and hard to navigate through. I stripped it back to basics so that it focused on my work and the colour wasn't so intrusive. My logo in the top left is a gif which flashes through the colours.

The home page will have images of work fade in and out of projects and when the navigation is hovered over it reveals a different colour of my branding.