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

Throughout the course of this module I have developed skills within Adobe InDesign and Illustrator as we experienced workshops that linked to each of these programmes. For Speaking from Experience I developed a range of organisation skills, as there was such a large quantity of work to be produced I had to prioritise what tasks were more important than others and whether aesthetics were key over content and what I had to include within the designs. 

I have also developed my own time management skills over the course of the module which was why I decided to base my 'Speaking from Experience' brief on this. I managed to complete the majority of tasks as we were given them, this has really helped me towards the end of the module as it has allowed me to focus more heavily on the greater quantity of work that needed to be produced for my design based brief 'Speaking from Experience'. 

I have then further developed my communication skills with the 'Who are you?' brief based on Emily James. I had to communicate her illustrative style effectively without drawing attention away from the text and her own work whilst also making it clear that she is a young and professional designer. I feel that I achieved this well with this brief.

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

I have followed a standard design process to help me develop my solutions conducting a range of research before refining some hand drawn design sheets that will aid my final designs and revised solutions. My design sheets have helped me to find solutions that are appropriate for both my target audience and appropriate printing methods, available stocks and time constraints. 

Developing idea's was key as it allowed me to stay focused on the requirements of the brief. I have also undertaken a range of research into my select topics and key elements that relate to my briefs, this has helped me to focus my design production in the right direction and meet the requirements of set briefs.

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

I have really enjoyed producing both of the design briefs within this module "Who are You?" based on Emily James and "Speaking from Experience" aimed at the new first years. I have time managed myself better with this module, not leaving things until the last minute. I have produced a large quantity of work for the Speaking from Experience Brief because of my time management skills being improved. This has allowed me to excel myself and get the most of the time given for each brief and module.

I have also strengthens my InDesign skills after the workshop in the mac suite a few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to explore these skills with the "Who are You?" Brief based on Emily James within the OUGD402 PPP Module. Another skill that I have strengthens is my use of "less is more" I kept my designs for "Speaking from Experience" Simple and this has benefitted me as the quantity of work was very excessive. It also gives the designs a very professional appearance which is important for the target audience as you need to have a professional attitude towards the course and your studies. 

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

My main weakness throughout the duration of the OUGD402 PPP Module is my efforts to evaluate and annotate my designs as I progress through. I need to focus on this in second year as I feel it will allow me to re-evaluate my work and see where I am at at each stage before progressing and improving my designs further to make them more appropriate to a set brief.

My quality of final prints could also be improved, because of the quantity of work I have produced and also the time of year that this brief has occurred, this has become a problem and I would have preferred a more professional finish to my designs, however this is obviously something that could be easily changed or altered.

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

1. I would make better use of drop in and the printing facilities at an earlier stage as it has suddenly become very busy and printing is difficult to get done in such a short period of time for drop ins. I was organised and pre-booked slots, however these have come in useful but because of the large quantity of work I have struggled to get everything printed to a high standard for the deadline.

2. I would experiment more within the "Speaking from Experience" brief, possibly producing less but being more effective and experimental with my prints looking into foiling and more intricate design processes that could benefit my style. I think I could have use amy time effectively to learn new skills that benefit my designs in second year.

3. Keep up with blogging, I have managed well keeping up with my tasks and blogging appropriately throughout the module for set briefs and tasks. However I would have liked to blog more personal study work, things that I find myself whilst researching for various other briefs or external work. I feel this would benefit my working process as well as my blog content as I could then refer back to this for future reference.

4. Continuously self evaluate rather than just evaluated at set crit sessions that are programmed into the time table. I feel that continuous self evaluations will benefit my working processes as above as it would allow me to sit and think about my designs and refocus my thoughts if necessary. 

5. Finally, I would like to produce more primary research, questionnaires etc. I find this really difficult as I struggle with confidence issues, and don't have the confidence to email people with questionnaires as I know how annoying it can be getting a mailbox filled with tasks like this, however I also realise how this is so beneficial to my designs and allows me to focus my target audience better, and produce more directed designs.

5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor
	1	2	3	4	5
Attendance					x
Punctuality					x
Motivation					x
Commitment					x
Quantity of work produced				x
Quality of work produced				x
Contribution to the group				x

Here is the final double page spread that I produced based on Emily James and her working progress as a student designer. I am really pleased with the outcome and the works well as the text stands out against the reversed background and the subtle colour draws attention to her work as the focal point of the spread.

My refined development of Emily's double page spread was saved in an unusual format and would no longer open and so I have had to rework this and develop my idea further. Here are some screen shots oft he new solution. I tried to keep in minimal and therefore any colour would be focused on Emily's work and and text would also be about her. This has worked well and I feel my outcome is eye catching and professional.

I decided to use three columns as a basic layout for my double page spread, this was simple and worked effectively.

I then began to structure the basic body copy that I had previously written based on Emily and her life after I conducted an interview with her. I was really pleased with the simple design as it looked professional giving Emily herself a professional appearance.

I decided to give a really modernist feel to the design keeping my colour scheme simple with purely black and white, to give a high contrast style. This work really well and the text stands out against the black background.

I have chosen images of Emily's work that represent her try illustrative approach to represent her style to my readers / audience. This has worked well as they have become the clear focal point of the publication with simple use of negative space and the colour against the high contrast black and white everywhere else really stands out.

Here are some sheets that I have produced from the crit feedback sessions with Fred and Amber. I found these really useful as it helped me to develop and refine my idea further.

Here are some images of my finished designs before print, one for each day of the year. 

I have taken this current first year timetable as a basis for my calendar design and I have colour coded (using information graphics) as a basis for time management before deadlines to help new students cope with the scary approach of module submissions. 

I have used famous design quotes as inspiration in and around these other aspects of my calendar to inspire students to keep motivated at the weekends and throughout the christmas, easter and summer breaks.

I have now completed all 365 basic page layouts, plus a title page. I now need to go through and add specific details to key dates that relate to the course. Here is a screen shot of my front cover page... I  still need to construct a plan for a the box that the cards will come in. I original wanted a tear-away style of calendar however, to get this ringed it would be too difficult and I have learnt from previous briefs that it is very important to consider the printing options available to you before beginning any designs.

Here is the basic design that I will be using for each page of my 365 page course calendar. It is smart and simple, will hopefully appeal to design students with the strong use of contrast and negative space combined to give this contemporary appearance. I will now be working on adding key dates from the course calendar once I have completed the basic layout for each page. 

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

I have developed range of skills primarily researching skills. This module has shown me how to research properly and I have learnt how to reference using the correct references systems which was something that I initially struggled with and had to get my head around. I have opened my influences to different designers with different styles through the sessions with Jo and I have developed communication and group work skills through the timetabled sessions and crits. 

Throughout the module I have been fascinated by both modernism and postmodernism, I have developed and extended my knowledge of the two topics through extended research, research towards the essay component of the brief, the postmodernism exhibition in London, as well as research towards my final practical brief 'Theory into Practice'. 

I have developed my use of typography, something that I have wanted to include in one of my briefs throughout the year and never really had the opportunity. I took this open brief as an opportunity to explore and develop the skills I have and the new skills that I have picked up throughout the theory into practice brief. 

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

Production has really affected my final product as I produced a series of postcards that were linked together in order for my audience to interact with. This meant that my print needed to be double sided A1, however the printers in digital dungeon don't cater for this, and after speaking with Jams he explained that this kind of print would cost between £300 and £400 a sheet. This was clearly not reasonable and with only 8 days until hand-in I had to find a compromise. I decided to print the designs single sided and stick the two back to back. 

Unfortunately this means that my final designs are not quite to the quality I would have hoped for, and the interactive elements are not as successful as I may have desired. Despite this, I have learnt that I need to consider the final outcomes and how possible it is to produce the final product before beginning my designs. This is something I can take forward with me into second year and learn from my mistakes.

I think that within the Theory into Practice module I got too carried away with the designs themselves, distracting myself away from the theory aspect and focusing more heavily on typography, clearly this reflecting on the comments from my final crit and this is something for me to work on in the PPP brief I am currently working towards for a different module and also within briefs I will work towards in second year.

I am also gaining more confidence in my design process structure, working with initial design sheets, hand drawn design sheets, digital plan sheets and then digitalising my design sheets to create my final designs. As each brief passed I gain more confidence with tis process and am becoming better at planning out my initial idea's on paper before taking them straight to an Apple mac and producing a digital design.

I have used a variety of sources to help back up my designs, and I have referenced these within my publication emphasising my focus on 'theory into practice'.

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

I have researched thoroughly throughout the module and feel I am gaining confidence with using sources and references books, and websites etc. I have become more efficient with producing work in this module and have managed to structure my time well by completing tasks when they are set in order to reduce the amount of work towards the end of a module, my time management skills are improving with each module and I am maturing in myself as a result from this. 

I have created a range of developmental work towards my Theory into Practice module and this has helped me to develop my designs effectively and work towards a final outcome with a certain style or identity that works between all my products.

I have really enjoyed the academic side of this module, writing up lecture notes after each lecture and researching artists etc. This has allowed me to take a break from more design based work in other modules and work towards gaining more background knowledge in topics studied throughout the lecture programme.

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

A major weakness within my theory into practice brief was getting too carried away with the visual aspect and forgetting to focus on how the designs relate to my chosen topics of modernism and postmodernism, however I initially chose with style of my designs because I tried to combine both modernism and postmodernism, despot this, it became clear in the crit that this confused the audience and my designs became very unclear.

Another weakness was not using the designer book effectively, despite filling it with designers over the duration of the course, I don't feel as though I have used these artists to my benefit within my designs, I would like to look at these in more detail over the summer and inter second year, as many of them are very suited to my own style and i could strengthen my skills from using these artists as inspiration. 

Another weakness was not researching my essay thoroughly, although I visited an exhibition in London which I found so interesting that I didn't want to leave and was probably the key aspect in making me fall in love with modernism as a movement in design, I feel like I should I read more books and used more sources, however for a first essay in this style I am extremely pleased with the outcome and can work on further research in next years context of practice module. 

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

- Produce more background research and post it onto my blog ( general things that interest me, further research into lecture topics etc ). I really enjoy the theory behind design and so this is something that I feel quote strongly about. 

- Gain more confidence, I was incredible nervous for the Theory into Practice Research presentations that we completed on the 30th March in front of half of the course group, I am hoping to work on this before the PPP presentations in two weeks. All the information as there, I just get very nervous and rush through the presentation leaving no time for people to appreciate and absorb what I am saying.

- I need to concentrate on meeting the requirements of the brief and not get carried away with what I think looks good and concentrate on what suits the format, and content and combining the two together to create an effective outcome.

- Ask more questions,I need to ask my peers more often what they think of my work, what could improve it etc. Kind of like a miniature crit session that will help me keep focused on the aspects that meet the requirements of the brief I am answering.

- Use my artists more effectively, base my designs on artists that I have research throughout the module, this will link my designs better to the context and the content of what I have previously been looking at, and make my outcomes stronger in relation to the brief.

6. How would you grade yourself on the following areas:

Attendance – 5

Punctuality – 5

Motivation – 4

Commitment – 4

Quantity of work produced – 4

Quality of work produced – 4

Contribution to the group – 4