1. What skills have you developed during this module and how effectively do you think you've applied them?
During this module I feel that I have really strengthened my illustrative skills. During the first brief, Communication is a Virus, I chose to work on putting the hand drawn images into Illustrator and working with them on there. I feel by doing this, I learnt a lot about the program, and I was able to try something that I hadn't really looked at before this. From this brief, it made me much more curious about turning what I could produce by hand into digital. I enjoyed experimenting with the more hand rendered style, and didn't just focus on live trace. This is apparent in the Stamp It brief and also in It's Your Choice. I feel that it was best applied in Stamp it, as I was able to show contrast whilst appealing to my chosen audience. This brief also allowed me to work on a much smaller scale that usual. Despite this, whilst I am enjoying this way of working, I do want to make sure that I carry on exploring and experimenting with different techniques.
In addition to this, my team skills have much improved. Originally, I was worried that working with such close friends was going to hinder our development, however it definitely made us much more efficient at working, communicating and generating ideas. Although there were occasional clashes, we were able to work out our design differences, making a very organised team. Time-keeping and communication skills were definitely built upon during this brief, and it gave us the opportunity and the confidence to get our product into the environment. A lot was learned from working in this group, and hopefully I will be able to apply everything that I learned during this brief, to other group briefs in the future.
2. What approaches to/methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?
During Communication is a Virus, I found that talking to my peers allowed for faster idea generation as we were able to bounce possible solutions off of each other. Whilst you must make sure you're producing work as an individual also, group work allowed us to think of new and interesting possiblities. During this module, I also found that I was becoming much more confident when in came to producing design sheets. Getting your ideas down to begin with definitely helps the process and allows you to come up with the best solution. With the stamp brief, I found that the use of thumbnails was really beneficial, as I could consider size and also content. It led me to the idea of the 'cycle to work' scheme, which I believe was an effective response.
Looking at past feedback, and considering the opinions of my peers was also an extremely helpful way of informing my development process. The It's Your Choice brief gave great opportunity to go back and re-consider what it was that I could improve on. The best way to find out was to look at previous comments given to me about my work. I was able to find feedback about a particular brief and work on it through the use of design sheets.
As well as this, putting together design direction boards were beneficial, particularly during Stamp It and Communication is a Virus, where you could display your ideas, concepts and responses in a clear and suitable form.
3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?
I received a lot of positive feedback about the illustrations I produced both for Communication is a Virus and the Stamp It brief. From this, I have enjoyed focusing my work more, and looking at different ways of using colour and line within it. During a crit, the illustrations were described as both 'memorable' and 'eye-catching' and I feel that they worked well in relating to a particular audience. I am glad that I have experimented more with this style and I think my drawing abilities have much improved over the course of this module. It's been a fun way of exploring certain briefs.
I am also pleased at the consideration I have given to previous feedback during the It's Your Choice brief, and have begun to examine different ways of presenting my work. The use of layering was an opportunity to move away from usual stock decisions, opening up new possibilities for later briefs.
4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?
The brief that I am most disappointed with is the poster brief for Erik Kessels. Although we were given a short time frame, I feel that idea generation at the very beginning wasn't good enough. I unfortunately got stuck on one idea in particular and tried to push it even though it wasn't really working. I also feel that I didn't relate well enough to Erik Kessels' own work, and could have taken this into more consideration. This goes for other briefs also - I believe that looking further into current design work will help inform my decisions, making sure that my work is relevant.
5. Identify 5 things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?
1. Focus on current and relevant design work in order to make sure that what I produce is up-to-date and relevant to what is going on.
2. Continue to consider other ways of producing primary research that doesn't just involve surveys in order to measure audience reaction and whether or not the product is going to be successful.
3. Experiment more. Make sure I don't get stuck in an illustration rut and make sure to look at new and different processes to stop my work from looking to similar.
4. Keep producing design sheets in order to inform idea generation and find the best solution to the problem.
5. Don't just put images up on my blog - document, otherwise this causes problems towards the end of the module.
6. How would you grade yourself on the following areas:
Attendance: 5
Punctuality: 5
Motivation: 3
Commitment: 4
Quality of work: 3
Quantity of work: 3/4
Contribution to the group: 3
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