1. What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?
Throughout this module I think I’ve developed quite a lot of new skills and techniques that I had very little knowledge or none at all before starting this course. When I first started the course my background knowledge on the digital aspect of graphic design such as Illustrator, Photoshop and other digital media based programmes was non-existent. Having to use it in the first nine weeks has at least familiarised me with the tools and I am now more and more interested in learning how to produce good quality work with these programmes. I have also learnt how to effectively use a blog, at the start of the course I found it hard to get into a regular routine with blogging research and work in general but as the weeks have gone on I’ve begun to find it useful and effective.
2. What approaches to/methods of idea generation have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?
-Constantly blogging has helped me to develop research more, just looking on websites for ideas and designers approaches to various works. I think having shorter briefs has helped me to generate ideas quicker, sometimes having one week to produce something makes you try out various methods because your'e on a time limit. I think generally having to be in the studio must of the time in a creative working environment has helped to generate and produce ideas, this is a contrast to my foundation where the timetable wasn't as scheduled.
3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?
-I feel whilst being on this course my general understanding of graphic design and techniques within graphic design have improved vastly, I feel from looking at the briefs that I've submitted for this module its not as easy to see because i'm at a transitional period where i'm putting these new skills into practice (Illustrator) and so some of the briefs looking back, I don't think, are done as well as they could of been after undergoing two months on this course. I think within these first few months of being here i've made huge progress just generally building a foundation for better work to be produced as time goes on.
4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?
I tend to be slow with generating ideas, if I could think up a number of ideas and test them through design sheets and various other progressive stages then by the end of it I would have an idea that I could fully develop. Also time keeping, I usually start with the idea and come back to the research later, however from the final brief we did I found myself changing ideas and developing further due to looking at other designers work, if I could keep on top of all aspects of the brief (design sheets, development work, research and the final piece) I feel overall my work would be a lot more successful. Another weakness is my lack of knowledge on Illustrator which I have been trying to improve as the weeks have gone on, the first brief where I had to design an alphabet, looking back, now that I feel more advanced, I could do a lot more with the brief. I feel you can see an improvement from one of the first briefs where I used Illustrator to create the alphabet in contrast to the final brief of this module where I used Illustrator to create my proverb in the tone of voice of a hairdresser, I think theres an improvement in terms of technical skill. I feel I need to try physically getting things down on paper to go through a process of elimination of ideas rather than just trying to think of a final idea.
5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?
-Make a point of completing design sheets before starting to make my final piece, this will help me generate ideas quicker, and have a better developing body of work to support my final idea.
-Use the library more in order to get a wider range of research for my Design Context blog
-Start my final idea with more time to develop it to the best possible solution instead of cutting it fine and not always getting to do what I would of liked to because of lack of time.
-Use different techniques to produce work, screen printing, laser cutting and become more familiar with Illustrator
-Try and do a bit of development work and blogging on a daily basis to stay on top and become more engaged on the brief by constantly surrounding myself with it, i.e taking a camera with me everywhere to photograph research etc.
How would you grade yourself on the following areas:
5=Excellent, 4=Very Good, 3=Good, 2=Average, 1=Poor.
Attendance -4
Punctuality-4
Motivation-3
Commitment-4
Quantity of work produced-2
Quality of work produced-2
Contribution to the group-2
