1.What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?
Throughout this module I have tried to experiment a little more, however time is always a problem because of the high demanding schedule. The first brief was the 'rain brief', within this brief I used photoshop and illustrator, I experimented with textures and collage as this is something that I used to work with and haven't experimented with for a while, however my designs changed dramatically after the final crit and my idea's refocused.
Brief 2 was Communication is a virus. This allowed me to work with other people in a group, something that I am not necessarily confident with, I enjoy working with other people however I do find group work difficult, everyone has different idea's and it's hard to pull these together and all agree on one design, however by the end of our weeks project the group really came together, our idea was strong and we worked well as a group overall, this allowed me to enjoy this brief more than previous group briefs because we were productive.
The third brief was 'Stamp It' this was the brief I enjoyed most. Throughout this brief I was quote poorly and so couldn't spend as long in the designing process as I might have hoped, however once I began designs the idea's came really fast and I was please with my final outcomes, however I used adobe illustrator to create vector images, this worked well as it suited the theme of the olympics because a lot of the olympics imagery for 2012 uses vectors as a basis. However, this was also something I felt comfortable with and so I decided that in the final brief I must try something new.
The final brief was 'Your choice' it was nice to be able to look back over previous briefs and create a new one based upon previous designs. I decided to combine the proverbially yours 1 brief along with the theme from my hotdog brief 'three'. I took the opportunity with the brief, having more free time in my timetable to get on, to learn how to screen print. This was something I have never done before yet I thoroughly enjoyed and really liked the outcomes. This techniques however was really time consuming and I wasn't completely happy with the results as two oft he prints didn't come out perfectly because the screen wasn't screen properly after one of the prints leaving stains that then printed onto my designs. To resolve this I would have to complete the entire process again and this was not convenient therefore, If I had more time within the brief this is something that I would have liked to work on. I would also like to experiment with colour and shading if I have more time, and considering I have the screen for a minimum of 2 weeks I may go back and experiment with these other techniques giving me the confidence to use screen print in future briefs.
2. What approaches to/methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process.
In this module I have tried to improve the quality of my design sheets working harder in to design development stages of a brief. This has managed to go really well however I would still like to further develop my initial design sheet skills for future briefs and modules. I have improved my designs throughout the module my improving this technique, in early brief I rushed into the designing process whereas now I take more time my designs are stronger and meet the criteria of the brief better.
I can now see improvements in my briefs as they go on and I become more confident in myself and my designs and my process is better and more structured. I have developed by use of website design, although our group had no ida how to design our own website we did know how to use a tumblr and this was more appropriate for our target audience anyway, therefore throughout this brief I learnt new skills from other members of the group who were used to working with tumblr as I was not as familiar with this.
Producing my prints for my final brief 'your choice' via screen printing was also a choice that later affected my designs, I initial began designing quite a complex solution, however when I worked out the number of screens needed to produce this I would have needed around 30 screen which is clearly not practical nor manageable, this meant that I then changed my designs using silhouettes as a method of communication for this brief. This allowed me to use only one screen as I would only be using black ink. Using one screen allowed me to focus on learning the process of screen printing better and becoming more confident with this rather than concentrating on getting all the colours right and the lining up correct.
3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?
Throughout this module I have learnt a range of skills that I have developed. A key strength that I learnt about myself was my ability to relax, int he past i've always struggled with group work and ended up working on my own for the majority of things, however with the 'communication is a virus' brief my teamwork skills were much stronger, we worked well together allocating key tasks which suited our working process and this benefitted our final solution and made the brief stronger overall.
Another strength is my confidence, I am generally quite a shy personal and so getting up the courage to go to screen print and learn a new technique with members of staff that I was unfamiliar with was quite a challenge, however once I got used to my surroundings and I became more confident I managed to enjoy this new process and hope to use it in future briefs ( I'm just upset that it closes over summer as this would be a perfect opportunity to experiment).
Time management is another key skill that I have strengthened over the period of this module. I am now much more relaxed because I planned out this brief and my time effectively. I had all my designs printed at least 1 week before the deadline and have just worked on smaller tasks and briefs from other modules, allowing me to feel more confident about other deadlines soon approaching as well.
4.What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?
I think one key weakness is that I blog too often and blog useless things, I have known this is a weakness for quite a while now, however it is something that I continue to struggle with. I find it difficult to cut down my blogging yet still include all the images and information that I find necessary. I am working on this however, and feel that it has improved from previous modules.
Another weakness is still my design sheets, again something that I am working on and have definitely seen an improvement in, however there is still plenty of room for improvement here. I need to be more refined in my ideas, and produce a stronger range of initial ideas, as I feel this will help me develop my later solutions and improve the digital versions in the final stages.
I am fairly good at blogging as a go, however I would like to get into a solid routine before second year, one where I blog the day I do the work. This will help me manage my time even better throughout a module and result in less stress as deadlines approach. This will also help me to see exactly where I am at with each brief within a module and where I could improve designs / blogging and where I have blogged too much.
5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?
- I will try to experiment more and improve my range of skills. I am very comfortable using illustrator and photoshop and so this is easy for me to fall in to the habit of using these to produce designs, I want to learn new skills and try things that I have never worked with before. This will open my skills up and make me more experienced as a designer.
- My time management is improving with every module and this time I have seen a vast improvement making me enjoy designing much more, however there is always room for improvement, I need to get used to sticking to a time plan better and not just writing one then disregarding it after a few days of working to the plan
- I would like to work more with screen print as I thoroughly enjoyed this new skill that I have developed whilst working on a brief within this module. I hope to become more confident with this, and would love to specialise is screen print at some point.
- One key thing that I need to work on is reading the brief and re-reading it to make sure I take in all key information. I learnt with the rain brief that this is so important to meeting the criteria correctly and I have now developed skills and techniques to help me with this (highlighting key points etc). This is something that I need to continue working on over the coming modules.
- Develop my primary research skills. I need to work harder at filling out questionnaires and taking photographs where appropriate etc. This will help me to develop my designs and improve the quality of each brief, however this also comes with confidence, I hope to gain greater confidence in myself at the same time and hopefully the two will compliment each other.
6. How would you grade yourself on the following areas:
Attendance – 4
Punctuality – 5
Motivation – 4
Commitment – 4
Quantity of work produced – 3
Quality of work produced – 3
Contribution to the group – 4
