I think the biggest skill that I have developed in this module is conceptual. The workshops that I underwent really made the penny drop that good design is nothing without a good concept. Another thing that stuck in my head was creating a brand with a concept means that it could be revisited year on year and still work in a number of different environments. This is what I tried to achieve when taking on the main What Is Good Brief. I spent much longer trying to build a concept which would work, and one which could run for a number of years and still be innovative.
I think I have been able to be a lot more comfortable with this brief, because I chose something that I was passionate about and something that I had a lot of background information and research in dealing with. This really helped me when it came to idea generation and building my concept. I also feel that it helped me create a set of final outcomes and products that were realistic within the brief that I set myself.
My Research skills have improved, and this might be because i've been passionate about what i'm researching, but if it is, this means that whatever brief I take on, I need to become passionate about that subject, even if its just for the day! More realistically though, I feel that by creating the book, my research was much more focussed and I knew exactly what I had to go on and learn to bring it all together. This was a massive help.
I think that learning to write your own brief is important because it gives you real life limitations and also a solid structure on what you can and can't do, what you need to do and why you need to do it. For example, I limited myself to creating things on a large scale which would be very cheap, because the festival I was designing for, is very low key and low-budget. So being able to deal with a clients need like this is a very important skill to learn.
I have obviously developed practical skills to. With limitations come innovation and making the most of what youv'e got. I learned different paper-craft and peroration and binding techniques that would be able to be created on a larger scale for minimum expenditure, but also leaves a lasting impression. This also goes for the choice of stock and inks. All an important thing to consider.
2. What approaches to methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?
The main approaches to design i've developed had already been looked at in the first question. This is a strong level of research and an even stronger concept. I think by coming up with multiple concepts for the same brief, this instantly makes you see what works and what doesn't. And also spending a little longer thinking about how the concept can instantly grab the attention of your chosen audience is highly beneficial.
As i've already lightly touched on, I feel that I have considered much more stocks, inks and different physical techniques which can make a product or brand stand out. I feel
I've improved my 'mocking up' techniques and this was important particularly for the What Is Good Brief. The reason being, when creating proposals for a festival, I had to demonstrate to the best of my abilities how the wayfinding systems would work, as well as promotion on a much larger scale than what is physically possible. This is why being able to mock things up for clients is important. This could be used to help win a pitch and to also transfer your idea in the best possible way , without spending lots of money on getting it physically made.
I have also touched on production techniques I haven't made the most of before. I've research heavily into innovative formats and considered how user interaction can control the actual product itself. It's important that you look at how people are going to interact with whatever it is you have designed. I used various different folding, binding and perforated techniques which help my products really come to life, and to make the user want to engage with it, be this through design itself, and production, and a combination of both.
3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?
I definitely think iv'e developed conceptually. I believe that my work can do much more now than sit there and look the part. I am much more focussed on creating a brand that can make a client come to life and this is not always about design. I feel that I am more aware of how the target audience will come in contact with the brand or whatever it may be and how they can react to it.
I think I am getting better at applying a brand across a whole range of products and not doing it in a way which is just sticking a logo on it and making everything look pretty. I've learnt how you can be playful with what the format and restrictions of the format give you and how you can use it as an advantage, applying a concept to it.
My Web Design skills have developed too. I have managed to look further into areas of web design such as JQuery and other bits of Javascript which help make a website come to life. I'm still at a fairly basic level, but feel that my knowledge in this field of design is growing constantly the more I work with it.
I feel I have a much greater understanding with design for print. I have spent much longer focussing on format, stock consideration and inks in order to get the best possible result for what it is I wanted. I have experimented with different techniques which have enhanced my skill set in this area.
4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?
I think that I left the submission for this module quite late, which meant that I was photographing the products pretty much the day before, then having to rush the final design boards. This is never good because the design boards are probably the most important aspect. I feel that time needs to be organised better, but in this case it was very hard towards the end of the year, trying to not tread on the 3rd years toes. This is still no excuse though and self organisation time management is important when working in this field.
I feel that some of my products are not to the best of quality which I created, and this was because I had to make the finish suffer in order for the stock and concept to work exactly how I wanted it. In photographs, this hasn't really effected anything. The idea comes across strong in my opinion, but when the products are handled close up, they are not the best of quality in my opinion. Nevertheless, when creating these as part of a proposal to be created at a much larger scale, I think they are appropriate for my brief and also for my timescale and money budget.
I think I am getting better at applying a brand across a whole range of products and not doing it in a way which is just sticking a logo on it and making everything look pretty. I've learnt how you can be playful with what the format and restrictions of the format give you and how you can use it as an advantage, applying a concept to it.
My Web Design skills have developed too. I have managed to look further into areas of web design such as JQuery and other bits of Javascript which help make a website come to life. I'm still at a fairly basic level, but feel that my knowledge in this field of design is growing constantly the more I work with it.
I feel I have a much greater understanding with design for print. I have spent much longer focussing on format, stock consideration and inks in order to get the best possible result for what it is I wanted. I have experimented with different techniques which have enhanced my skill set in this area.
4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?
I think that I left the submission for this module quite late, which meant that I was photographing the products pretty much the day before, then having to rush the final design boards. This is never good because the design boards are probably the most important aspect. I feel that time needs to be organised better, but in this case it was very hard towards the end of the year, trying to not tread on the 3rd years toes. This is still no excuse though and self organisation time management is important when working in this field.
I feel that some of my products are not to the best of quality which I created, and this was because I had to make the finish suffer in order for the stock and concept to work exactly how I wanted it. In photographs, this hasn't really effected anything. The idea comes across strong in my opinion, but when the products are handled close up, they are not the best of quality in my opinion. Nevertheless, when creating these as part of a proposal to be created at a much larger scale, I think they are appropriate for my brief and also for my timescale and money budget.
5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?
1. Towards the end of the year, I will make sure I plan months and months in advance, because no matter what you want to do, it will always be fully booked around this time and this makes it difficult to achieve the final outcome you want. This isn't an excuse, but something that I will have to be on point with straight away next year, planning months in advance, not weeks. This can be hard to figure out when your not really sure what you will need to be doing months down the line, but its something that needs to be mastered.
2. I would have like to extended my brand across further digital media but unfortunately didn't have time. I spent quite a lot of time making the website, and I managed to get an app mock up, but would have loved to have pushed the design further into the digital side of things, because film is moving, maybe creating video, animation or an ident.
3. I would have like to have spent more time on mocking up the way-finding and information side of the brief. A lot of the time obviously was spent by me making the product range across print and web, but with the actual brief I was creating, It would have been nice to really push the way-finding side to the best of my abilities. I feel that with the work submitted, It is enough to give proposal, but it doesn't really cover every area of this particular section of design.
4. I'll probably spend more time getting the quality of the finished product up to scratch next time round. This will be planning time better and making best use of resources. This could be creating a copper plate to emboss, or choosing the most appropriate print method.
5. I was unable to get the vinyl that I wished to use on some products as I had to order it out and it would have taken too long to get here. This sort of comes under planning again, making sure that I have all the material I need in order to achieve the best quality.
How would you grade yourself in the following areas (5 - excellent to 1 - poor)?
Attendance: 4
Punctuality: 5
Motivation: 5
Commitment: 5
Quantity of work: 5
Quality of work: 4
Commitment to the group: 5
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