OUGD405 - How To... Self Evaluation

For our first brief for Design Process was quite difficult. I was put in a group of 5 people and we were given the word 'routine'. As a starting point we all researched different variations of the word routine. I was given safety routines to look into further. I chose to look into the clean up routine after a natural disaster. 

My town was devastated by flooding in June this year, a disaster which has occurred more than once in the last century. I know first hand how this experience can affect families as my own lost their home. When it came time for the group crit I explained my research and received a good response from my fellow group members. After everyone in my group had presented their research we were given the brief 'make someone try something new'. With my research this question was very hard to achieve as it would mean getting people to volunteer in areas of the UK and abroad. As a group we decided that my research did not present enough avenues to go into and therefore chose another persons research. 

The subject we chose to go into was Fitness routines, which Ewan had looked into. Trying to come up with new and innovative ways to get people to exercise was very hard as it had been done, or tried to be done, before. We chose to target out project on students as we have a direct connection to a large group of them. 

With this focus we designed an easy step-by-step guide to 5 simple exercises for students to do in day-to-day life. We called our brand NUYU. I think our final product was very good and looked the part but that we could have put more time and effort into another form of media (an app). As a group we worked very well together with no disagreements at all but I think like all group work communication was the main problem.

If we were to do this project again I think we would have looked into designing an app instead of a printed poster as students are more likely to engage with a digital form of media rather than print. Overall I am happy with the quality of work we produced but think it would have been better to have had more structure to the group and roles.

Oficial College Evaluation Sheet

OUGD403 - Module Evaluation

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

- Throughout this module I have developed my skills on Adobe Illustrator. Though I have only learnt the basic skills with the pen tool I have found it a really helpful skill to have.  I have also developed my understanding of type and letterform. I came onto the course with no knowledge of typefaces and I feel that this module has helped me significantly to understand an important part of Graphic Design.

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

- I have further developed my developmental stage of design, I now sketch out a range of different ideas before experimenting digitally. I have found this very helpful as it is a more visual way of documenting my ideas and thought processes. I have also found that asking other people if they understand my message as I am developing my ideas, this is very helpful as it is of the upmost importance that my designs are legible and understandable.

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

- I feel that my strengths lie within the development stages and the ability to self evaluate my work. I now produce a wide range of possible design rather than producing my first idea. I also feel that I am devoted to the course and put a lot of time into making sure that my work is at degree standard.

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

- I think my weaknesses still lie in software skills. I know how to use Adobe Photoshop quite well but my Illustrator skills could be improved. I also feel that by developing my software skills my work an prints will be at a higher standard.

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

- Pay more attention to stock choice and print methods. From doing this I think my work will look more professional and the colours will look how they were intended.

- When producing work to a specific scale (2:1) I will produce my developmental drawings in that format. This will mean that the process of digitally producing my designs will be less complicated as I have already taken the size of the paper into account.

- Use Illustrator when producing anything image based. This would mean that when printed images would not be pixelated and would be crisp.

- Take into account other methods of displaying my designs instead of just print format (designing an app) This will help me to develop my understanding of other technologies.

- Experiment more with type and develop my understanding of type anatomy.

Message and Delivery : Distribution Crit

For our final crit for Message and Delivery we had to critique 6 pieces of work in a pair. Afterwards we were given back our work from another group.

My Crit Feedback 1

This pair had some very good points about my work. They noticed that the stock I used to produce my work on was not thick enough and the mailshot could be seen from the outside. I have documented my print problems in my Design Practice blog and intend to change my stock to make sure that my design looks more professional. Another bit of feedback I got from this pair was that I had used 3 colours instead of the two allowed. I made sure that when I produced that aspect of my design that I used a tone of black which was allowed in the brief. My intention was to have my design be of high impact and therefore I limited the amount of research that I would present in my mailshot. This obviously hasn't worked completely as the pair were confused about some of information I had chosen to display. I will have to revise this before submission. The suggestions that I received from this pair was very helpful and I will make sure to act on it. 

The second set of feedback that I received had similar comments. This is obviously a reflection of my work. I will need to change the stock I used to produce my work and will maybe have to add more information. I do not want to have my design doubled sided as I want it to be simple and to the point. I do not think that people will take the time to read a lot of information especially students. Another comment I received was that my envelope seemed rushed. I was going for a minimal look but will be happy to add more detail to my design to make it look like I have put more thought into it. I agree with most of the comments I received and will make the necessary adjustments before submission.

What is Graphic Design for? Part 2

Editorial and publishing 

Magazine design

Fashion
Music
Lifestyle
Health and beauty
Current Affairs
Photography
Technology
The Arts
Hobbyist
Food and Cooking
The Home

Good Housekeeping

Look magazine

Publishing

Fiction
Non-Fiction
Travel
Biographies
Manuals
Children's Books
Education
Training
Reference
Language

The Gruffalo

General Publication

Annual Reports
Catalogue (Commercial, event)
Brochures
Instructional
Public Sector
Self-Publication
Creative Press
Fanzines

Brochure

Retail and Promotion

Tags
Bags
Signage

Topshop bag

Product and Packaging

T-shirts
Calendars
Paper Product (cards, wrapping paper)
Stationary
Wallpaper
Packaging

Packaging as protection

Cath Kidston

Message and Delivery : 3 Posters Crit

The general feedback I got from the crit was positive. People understood the message I was trying to convey but they did have some trouble with my just image piece. I found this crit very helpful but I think I prefer verbal feedback. 

OUGD402 : What is Graphic Design for? Part 1

Information and Way Finding

Publishing and Editorial Design

Branding and Identity

Product and Packaging

Retail and Promotion

How to categories :

• Genres
• Content
• Audiences
• Sectors
• Functions
• Format

Information and Way Finding

Visual categorisation of data

Research driven

Examples from Pinterest

Branding and Identity

Relationship between my work and the industry but also between the two.

Brand - Perceived emotional corporate image as a whole

Identity - Visual aspects that form part of the brand

Logo - Identifies the business in its simplest form

Examples from Pinterest

OUGD403 : Message and Delivery Crit 26/10/12

For this crit we were split into small groups. We each had our own time to explain our research and have feedback from Amber, Simon and fellow classmates.

I was worried about my story as I had 2 research tasks: James Bond and Chris Brown and Rihanna (domestic violence). As I explained my thought processes I began to see a common link between these stories with sexism and stereotypes.

With both of my chosen articles the woman is seen as the damsel in distress with man either perceived as the hero or the villan. I started to question what people usually see when they picture domestic violence and with asking the people in my group I found that it is common to picture the woman as the victim. With reference to my stories, Rihanna has been represented as the innocent victim of a terrible crime inflicted by her thug boyfriend, Chris Brown. An interesting thing to look into would be how people perceive people by first judgements.

When I researched into James Bond I found it very appealing though I do think I was looking at it more from a personal viewpoint and I could not produce a visual body of work based on the story in the newspaper. I had a few ideas with regards to approaching this story with looking into ageing in actors and sexism. I found both of these ideas appealing but I was still unsure what I could produce to communicate it. It wasn't until I looked into the Chris Brown story that I found my focus.

PPP Task Blog Group Question 5

• Are they up to date

PPP Task Blog Group Question 4

• Does the blog show individual improvement

Personal improvement

PPP Task Blog Group Question 3

• Consistency throughout blogs

Labels

Coincide with each other

Similar amount of work on each

PPP Task Blog Group Question 2

• Are they communicating their ideas effectively

Does it relate to the brief

record of visuals and text (ideas)

PPP Task Blog Group Question 1

• Is there a substantial amount of research?

Broad

Analysis

Quantity

Sourced well

Primary and secondary

OUGD403 : Alphabet Soup Part 2 Crit 19/10/12

Crit 19/10/12

For our crit we had to present our work to a group of people including our partners. in this session we also had to present our partners with a name tag made of our typeface. This was to see how our typeface looked on a smaller scale. My name tag looked ok but I don't think my typeface work as well in a smaller scale. One weakness in my typeface is the amount of detail which I have included, it is not clear and easy to read from a distance though the letterforms are still legible. Simon recommended that I blow one of my letters up large and see what it looks like on a larger scale. I think this could be really interesting though I am not sure which letterform is my favourite and would work on a larger scale. I think if I was to do this task again I would take more care in choosing the gig tickets as some of my letterforms look empty (c and l) as when I traced them I did not include the photography in the background of the letterform.