STUDY TASK ONE//WHY AM I HERE- WHAT DO I WANT TO LEARN?//OUGD502

LEVEL FIVE: WHY AM I HERE- WHAT DO I WANT TO LEARN?

·         Identify and explain 5 reasons why you chose to study on this programme.

-I think the way the course is structured plays a part in how successful graduates do after the degree.  The course is broken down into modules, with each module covering an important aspect of graphic design, where you then become very knowledgeable about that certain area within the subject.  I think something that I find really good about the course is it gives you the knowledge and understanding of the contextual aspect of graphic design, giving you a further depth of knowledge about the history, the designers, graphic design movements etc. which gives you an upper hand compared to other degree courses.

-With this course it gives you great opportunities and encouragement to go out and take as many placements as possible.  I think this is something thats quite important when trying to gain a job after graduation.  Design companies and studios will be looking for graduates with work experience and placements.  It also leaves you with possible connections after university.

-This course really highlights the importance of the industry, and rather than just getting students to create good work it teaches you about the industry and the importance of selling yourself and presenting yourself in a way that gains employers interest.  Various briefs enable you to take on the project as though its a graphic design brief rather than a university brief and really highlights the importance of communicating a message with a purpose and target audience.

-The course constantly puts you out of your comfort zone, it forces you to try new ways of designing and take full advantage of the facilities offered for producing designs.  Having to have regular crits and present your work to a group of people to get feedback and gain more confidence in your work gives you good professional experience when leaving university.

-It is a university course that has a full time table expecting you to be in five days a week, this creates a good work ethic and allows you to get into a routine, you are also working in a professional working environment with a creative atmosphere.

• Identify and explain 5 things that you want to learn during your time on the programme.

-I want to gain more confidence when presenting my work, I found this quite hard to do through first year but the more we did it the easier it got, I'd like to be able to feel a bit more comfortable when presenting my work to a large group of people, as this is the kind of thing you will have to do when leaving the course

-I want to learn how to put together a professional portfolio that will show a broad range of skills within the subject.

-I need to learn more about web design, this is something that I've never really looked at properly and something that would be good to have some basic knowledge and techniques on, even if its not something I want to specialise in.

-How to go about work placements.  I don't know much about the process of applying and sorting out somewhere to gain experience.

-What are the more specific career paths for the area of graphic design I almost interested in.  What opportunities are there once I've finished my degree.

• Identify and explain 5 skills that you think are your strengths.

-Thorough research that helps me to create the best possible outcome for my designed product.  I think when it comes to research I like to blog from a few different sources so I feel like by the end of a project Im quite well informed about the topic.

-Evaluating my work and recognising my strengths  and weaknesses- I think I'm good at recognising what needs to be improved within a piece of work, I think I go into detail with my evaluations and am honest on what I think I could improve on

-Layout- In terms of image and type I think link them together well

-Looking for means of graphic design inspiration- I think I can be inspired by loads of things around me, as well as graphic design blogs and visuals on the internet I feel like loads of different things from day to day life inspire me and the work and ideas I have.

-Blogging regularly - I think my blog is usually up to date- I struggle more with getting designing done on time

• Identify and explain 5 things that you want to improve.

-Software (PHOTOSHOP) most of the design work I see that I want to try myself is done on photosphop, I really want to learn how to use it to create the work I want

-Presentation skills- I've never been confident in presenting things in front of people, especially my own work, I understand that that needs to improve to get where you want to be

-time management (meeting deadlines) I end up rushing the final product because I've spent too much time on the research, development and idea generation and then the final outcome is not as successful as it could of been

-Using other means of research rather than just the internet (take advantage of library facilities) this way I will have a lot more primary research

-Leave enough time to be able to execute my final outcome without rushing it

-How to use colour appropriately

-How to screen print

• Identify and explain 5 ways that you will evaluate your progress.

-Blogging and regularly documenting my progress on Blogger so I can see the improvements and what still needs to be worked on.

-Feedback/crits - this will be one of the most helpful ways of getting feedback about my work,i'll be able to see if it communicates the message properly, if it is visually appealing and what I can improve on

-Evaluations (regularly and end of module) - this is a good way to record individual progress, this way I can register what needs to be done next time and record the level that I'm at.

-Tutorials - this is important as I need feedback from tutors to make sure Im on the right path and to get some feedback on what I can do to get a better grade or improve a design

-PPP study task reviews 

-Set myself targets within briefs to keep up to date and achieve the best I can in that particular brief, so that when the list is complete you can record how successful the time management plan was.

• Identify 5 questions that you want to find the answer to

-What will I be doing a year after graduating?

-How can I establish myself in the industry/make myself stand out?

--How to balance academic, social and domestic lifestyle?

--How do I become better informed of whats going on in the industry?

-How can I get the most out of second year?

• Identify and explain 5 things that inspire you

-Travelling/ different cultures- I think experiencing different cultures draws lots of inspiration because your looking at something you don't know that much about but can draw so much from it, in terms of language, religion, politics, media, art and design etc.

-The city/ London- Living in a city helps to get loads of inspiration from people, places, advertisements, events etc.  I think London has a great atmosphere for taking inspiration from in terms of designing, just because it has so much to offer.

-Photography- Good photography inspires me, I want to learn to use it more in my work this year as I think a lot of the things I like and want to create incorporate photography in the design

-History/ past movements/ styles/ events- I like looking back into different decades in terms of music, style, movements, politics, issues that surrounded the generation at the time etc.

-Language- I really like using text in my work, before I started at Leeds College of Art i would always use lyrics, literature and words in my work 

• Identify 10 examples of design that illustrate your fields of creative interest

HOW TO USE TYPE AND IMAGE EFFECTIVELY TOGETHER:

SCREEN PRINTING IS SOMETHING I REALLY WANT TO DO IN SECOND YEAR:

C.D COVER DESIGN:

PHOTOGRAPHY:

I WOULD REALLY LIKE TO CREATE PHOTOMONTAGE BASED WORK SIMILAR TO THIS:

TYPOGRAPHY:

BECOME MORE SKILLED AT PHOTOSHOP:

ILLUSTRATION:

FILM POSTER DESIGN:

FIVE REASONS WHY//PPP TASK//OUGD502

5 REASONS WHY I CHOSE THIS PROGRAMME:
-specialist art and design school
-good reputation/ good previous work produced on the course
-broad range of facilities 
-creative environment 
-intense work ethic 

5 THINGS I WANT TO LEARN:
-how to improve my time management skills
-improve presentation skills
-continue to improve on Adobe software (especially Photoshop)
-how to incorporate more practical methods of working such as letter press, screen printing etc.
-the more contextual side of graphic design (context of practice)

5 SKILLS YOU THINK ARE YOUR STRENGTHS:
-evaluating my work and identifying my strengths and weaknesses 
-keeping my blog up to date, blogging regularly
-looking for means of graphic design inspiration
-layout
-researching

5 THINGS YOU WANT TO IMPROVE:
-software (photoshop)
-presentation skills
-time management (meeting deadlines)
-using other means of research rather than just the internet (take advantage of library facilities)
-leaving enough time to be able to execute my final out come successfully without rushing

5 WAYS TO EVALUATE YOUR PROGRESS:
-regular blogging (PPP)
-feedback
-tutorials
-crits
-evaluations (regularly and end of module)

5 QUESTIONS THAT YOU WANT TO FIND THE ANSWER TO:
-how to balance academic, social and domestic lifestyle?
-how can I get the most out of second year?
-how do we learn web and general software skills?
-what do I want to specialise in?
-how do I become better informed of whats going on in the industry?

10 PROBLEMS - LEVEL FIVE
1.booking print slots
2.work overload
3.no time to socialise
4.financial issues
5.managing own briefs/ organising and booking crits (time management)
6.not getting any placements
7.maintaining inspiration
8.not getting the grades
9.letting the work load build up (falling behind)
10.not keeping a routine

OUGD402//END OF MODULE EVALUATION

EVALUATION:

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

I feel throughout this module I have learnt a lot about myself as a learner and a graphic design student. This module has given me the opportunity to reflect on my progress through the tasks that we we're given and the blogging of evaluations .  I feel like Ive used my blog in this module and feel I have a much better understanding of what graphic Design actually is and the importance of it.  I feel like I now know a lot more about publications and where graphic design can be used.  I think it has definitely helped me understand graphic design more and not just as a subject but outside of that and what impact it has on the world.  This module has made me reflect on how I work and can take away from it what I need to improve for next time.

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

I used primary research for my 'speaking from experience' brief, I also think my illustration skills have improved from OUGD403.  I think this brief has been a lot about reflecting on your practice which I think has helped me understand what weaknesses I have with work etc.  

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

I think my presentation boards for speaking from experience worked well visually and were informative.  I think some of my blogging was consistent and reflected my progress.

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

I think this is the module I've done the worst in.   There are a lot of things i have reflected on and a lot of things i need to do in order to improve for next time.  I started off enjoying the module because I felt like I was reflecting on things that I could to improve as a graphic design student.  However as the brief began to run alongside OUGD401 and OUGD406 I found it hard to keep up to date with on going blog investigations.  I think trying to juggle the publication (ougd401) brief with speaking from experience and its your choice proved hard because it definitely had an impact on all three of the final outcomes.  I thought the postcards could of worked really well if printed properly, on good stock, and I would of given myself enough time to do more so they could of worked well as a set.   I think my presentation of my final prints were terrible because they were done in the mac suite, again this is down to time management and organisation skills.  I thought my double page spread wasn't good enough.  Some of the designs in my speaking from experience and who are you brief were not up to a good enough standard because of lost work.

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

-DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE HOW MUCH TIME I HAVE TO COMPLETE THINGS
-BOOK A PRINT SLOT

-MORE DEVELOPMENT WORK

-LEAVE ENOUGH TIME TO PRESENT/SORT FOLDER OUT

-BACK UP WORK ON HARD DRIVE 

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

Attendance: 4

Punctuality: 4

Motivation: 4

Commitment: 3

Quantity of work produced: 2

Quality of work produced: 1

Contribution to the group: 3

OUGD402//SPEAKING FROM EXPERIENCE//CRIT FEEDBACK

OUGD402//PPP PRESENTATION

PPP PRESENTATION
BEGINNING- 1ST SLIDE

WORK-I decided I wanted to do graphic design as a degree when I chose the graphic design pathway on my foundation course at Camberwell.  My idea of Graphic Design has definitely changed since starting at Leeds, on my foundation they allowed you to approach the project in a way you felt comfortable and familiar with as opposed to Leeds where it challenges you and takes you out of your comfort zone encouraging you to try different techniques and approaches to answering the brief.

PERSONAL-Moving away from home was always something I'd wanted to do when coming to university, to experience a new city, to meet new people and to gain some independence.  I didn't want to stay in London because I wanted to move out of home and go somewhere new, London doesn't have a great student atmosphere because its so big and i wanted to experience somewhere like Leeds, known for its student life.  Leeds has been a great place to experience my first year at uni, it has a good student atmosphere and a completely different feel to home.

WHAT I'VE LEARNT THIS YEAR- 2ND SLIDE

I feel like I've learnt a lot this year, not only as a graphic design student but as an individual.  I have become a lot more independent and have had a lot more responsibilities since coming to university.  I feel in terms of graphic design my knowledge about the subject has improved drastically and I now have a clearer understanding of what the subject actually is and how much of an impact it has around us.

INDIVIDUAL:
-how to live away from home
-how to cook (to a certain extent)
-how to budget
GRAPHIC DESIGNER:
-how to meet a deadline
-how to work independently and in a group
-to use Adobe programmes such as inDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop
-time management skills
WHAT I WANT TO LEARN:
INDIVIDUAL:
-improve my cooking skills
DESIGNER
-Improve my time management skills
-Improve trying to manage various briefs at the same time 
-Learn to use type more effectively
-How to use colour appropriately
-to use different techniques and facilities to create my work such as screen printing and letter press

What mistakes have you made and how have you learned from them?
DESIGNER:
Something that I've constantly wrote at the end of every end of module evaluation is to improve my time management skills, even if I feel like I have I it always becomes an issue just before submission and I feel like the it then effects my final outcome and presentation of the work. 
-Again something to do with time management and organisation skills- book a print slot in advance when I know a deadline is coming up- this will ensure I have everything printed for the final crit and can avoid queuing for drop in
-wasting money on pointless things

WHAT I'VE ENJOYED THIS YEAR-3RD SLIDE

meeting new friends and going out in Leeds

living in a new city-I've really liked getting to know Leeds better, I still don't feel like I know it completely yet, but Ive loved the experiences I've had here

signing for a house-something that I'm looking forward to next year.

learning new skills within graphic design, working digitally, 

at first I didn't like the idea of crits so regularly but my work has definitely  improved and benefited from the feedback

STRENGTHS//WEAKNESSES-4TH SLIDE 

What are your strengths and how have you/will you develop them further?

Responsibilities, since moving to Leeds I've definitely learnt to grow up a bit more.  Domestic responsibilities such as  laundry, cooking, paying rent etc. are things that I've had to do over the year.  Also signing for a house has made me more aware of the responsibilities that come with running a home such as bills, water, electric, gas.  Its definitely something thats made me more independent and I feel like I've progressed over the last six months in terms of growing up.

Adobe, I think in terms of being a graphic design student, the biggest progress I've made is working with Adobe, in particular, Illustrator and Photoshop.  Before starting the course i'd never even opened the programmes, I had absolutely no concept of how to work with them but after practicing and being made to use them to create different projects I've found its not as hard as I first thought.  I really like the style and final outcome of creating work on Adobe.
I FEEL MY WORK LOOKS A LOT MORE PROFESSIONAL THAN IT EVER HAS DONE.
Ive gained some understanding of the demands of the graphic industry through intense deadlines to meet ~(having to juggle 'speaking from experience' with 'its your choice' and the context of practice publication.
learnt to work with creative limitations: such as being restricted to a specific colour pallet (for example with communication is a virus, 2 colours plus stock) 
know have an understanding of how to stylize a publication in a particular manner and put theory into practice
-Another thing thats been more of a focus this year is target audience, which wasnt something I had to take into consideration before this course.

What are your weaknesses and how do you intend to address these? 

 Another problem, my time management skills.  Again and again I've found I'm not leaving myself enough time for the final design, the majority of the time for each brief is spent on researching, design sheets and trying to think of an actual idea.

COOKING AND WASHING UP

i think my time management skills have improved but its hard to notice any major improvement because I have more things to do and more responsibilities than ive ever had which i think makes it a lot harder to successfully balance an academic, social and domestic student life style.

WHAT I'VE ACHIEVED THIS YEAR-5TH SLIDE

What did you want to get from the year? 

Looking back through my blog I found a task from the beginning of the course stating what I oped to achieve this year, some of these things were:

-Develop a good body of work which shows progression from foundation portfolio and incoperates new skills.

-Learn more about the contextual aspects of graphic design and become more knowledgeable on designers.

-Be on time.

-Learn how to use programmes such as Adobe Photoshop etc. 

I feel I have definitely achieved this, before starting the course none of my work was done digitally, so you can see that new skills have been applied.  In terms the contextual aspects of graphic design Ive learnt so much due to the context of practice module.

Graphic Designers, before doing my foundation I didn't even know I wanted to do graphic design, I hardly knew any graphic designers, just fine artists, since starting the course, and especially doing all the context of practice tasks, I've learnt so much about famous graphic designers and contemporary graphic designers.  Ive discovered some of my favourite designers through some of the context of practice  workshops and through research on my d.c log.

Working professionally, being in the studio from 9:30 till 4:00/5:00 everyday as definitely helped me to get into a routine of working better, the studio is set out like a professional workplace, with a creative atmosphere and like minded people.  I appreciate the studio because not all institutes supply the students with practical equipment as good as ours.

Blogging, I'd never blogged before I came to LCA, at first I found it hard to keep on top of it and do it daily but now I think its an effective way of recording progress, showing work more professionally and monitoring the work load.  Now its something thats a daily occurrence, that happens as a habit rather than a chore.

BRIEFS-6TH SLIDE

What have you discovered that you weren’t expecting?-6TH SLIDE
I didn't expect to be on such an intense course, I know people at other universities in first year that haven't had such a heavy workload or have been expected to be in five days a week.  I feel after having completed this year I have an advantage because of all the things I've learnt and and the large body of work I've produced that clearly shows my progression from september to now.  This year has prepared me for second year and continues to prepare me for such a competitive industry so I can end up with a profession that I enjoy.

OUGD402//WHAT IS GRAPHIC DESIGN FOR?

Using the areas of Graphic Design discussed  in the seminar, studio workshop as a starting point and with reference to the 'What is Graphic Design For - Part 1/2' presentation. Identify, record and evaluate a minimum of:

•  5 examples of websites/blogs. that will help you to define information & way-finding design. 
•  5 examples of websites/blogs. that will help you to define product & packaging design. 
•  5 examples of websites/blogs. that will help you to define branding & identity design.
•  5 examples of websites/blogs. that will help you to define editorial and publishing design.
•  5 examples of websites/blogs. that will help you to define retail and & promotion.

FIVE EXAMPLES TO DEFINE INFORMATION AND WAY-FINDING:
Information and way finding: this design involves the communication of information visually.  This could be through info-grapics, maps, signs etc.


-http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/

http://www.holmes-wood.com/default.asp

http://www.designworkplan.com/

http://www.biesek.com/home.html

http://www.designworkplan.com/design/wayfinding-handbook.htm

FIVE EXAMPLES TO DEFINE PRODUCT AND PACKAGING:

http://abduzeedo.com/65-outstanding-packaging-designs

http://www.paulcartwrightbranding.co.uk/

http://www.thedieline.com/blog/category/industry-food?currentPage=5

http://www.stockholmdesignlab.se/en/projects/ikea-2/food-packaging/

http://www.graphic-exchange.com/archives/07packaging_03.htm

FIVE EXAMPLES TO DEFINE BRANDING AND IDENTITY:

http://www.paulcartwrightbranding.co.uk/

http://retaildesignblog.net/2012/01/30/topshop-window-display-london/

http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2012/february/selfridges-words-windows

http://www.berryplace.co.uk/news-blog/carnaby-street-office-gets-blazing-nike-window-display.html

http://cargocollective.com/peters/Logos

FIVE EXAMPLES TO DEFINE EDITORIAL AND PUBLISHING:

http://www.aisleone.net/

http://www.theconsult.com/work/114/labour-market-intelligence

http://tillwiedeck.com/2010/07/hier-dasein/

http://folchstudio.com/projects/index-barcelona-s-fashion-environment

http://bachgarde.com/html/works/nya_upplagan_1.html

 http://www.stoutkramer.nl/stedelijke-transformatie/

FIVE EXAMPLES TO DEFINE RETAIL AND PROMOTIONAL:

http://www.natalieschaefer.com/Dr-Martens-Holiday

http://www.andycolclough.co.uk/ted-baker.html

http://www.bvd.se/en/projects-identity-apotek_hjartat-2.htm

http://inspiredesignblog.co.uk/

http://www.rightangle.uk.com/index.html