OUGD 303 End of Module evaluation.

Its has been a long journey but I am finally at the point of the end of my degree (except PPD off course) It has been challenging and rewarding throughout my FMP. The FMP took structure of numerous briefs under one focus of investigation, which was type and layout, with a focus on print and process. This was stated in my original statement of intent. I feel I successfully followed out what I initially set myself out to achieve. I created a substantial body of work that pushed my conceptual ability and showed my professionalism when approaching briefs, resulting in some strong and interesting resolutions.

My FMP  developed alongside my design context in respects of what direction i was heading in. I made valuable contacts throughout the context process and was able to utilise my type and layout skills to form the product of the context brief which was a publication. I feel I was pretty successful in my resolution of this brief through the interviews I recieved and analysing the content of those and different studio's work.
If I could alter any aspect of my design context then I would have strived for more replies from studios I had contacted, as quite a few failed to reply, I did chase these people up, but more of an effort on my part could have been made to get a result. Overall the replies I did receive were full of valuable advice that have been able to take on board to help me develop as a designer.

In relation to specific briefs I found the original briefs I chose which were wrote in my statement of intent proposal evolved further than I had initially imagined. Specifically the important issues brief which was originally 3 poster designs and in the end turned out to become 3 individual campaigns.

I had also started with broader briefs such as the quote me on that greeting cards and the mp3 brief which only focused broadly on type and layout. After easter I assessed and evaluated all my briefs so I could get greater focus on what I was trying to achieve from my FMP. Looking back at these briefs such as 3 minutes to think, important issues were the briefs I enjoyed and connected with the most and also through my research for design context I had narrowed my practice down to type and layout that communicates social, health and educational issues.

I chose from this point on to focus on the briefs that fitted with the above statement most successfully. Therefore I chose not to develop the greeting card brief further and drop the mp3 brief, which I had only done initial research for. I chose a new brief, based on an education company called Information access this was a live competition brief which gave me the opportunity to pitch my work to the client.

For my final few weeks I wanted to expand briefs such as WWF climate change and choose one final brief that encompassed all my design interests. I really enjoyed the Cosmos and Culture brief, developing the reveal formats to work alongside the concept. I only wish I had more time to have developed these ideas further and also tried printing on a larger scale. Due to high demand of the print room close to deadline this wasn't possible.

Looking back at the overall process of my FMP I really feel I have gained a clear focus and direction. I think time management wise I coped quite well and I can clearly state what I am about as a designer and I feel the work produced from this module successfully communicates this and I can show this in my portfolio.

I am happy knowing I can narrow down my work to a more specific audience as the design briefs I am mainly interested in are covered in the public or service sector of the industry.

The main strengths in my work have been my ability to research and conceptualise design problems a lot quicker than previous modules. I have then had the time to develop and tackle formats and designs within my work. I have tried new approaches to print like reaveal formats and 3D printing, such as the heat sensitive mug. Learning about the new processes really pushed my concepts further and became more engaging with the audience. I have improved my technical abilities through layout and type and I feel I have produced beter crafted resolutions that are more professional than previous modules.

If I were to pick specific weaknesses from my FMP it would be that I did not focus my design practice down sooner, I had greater enjoyment and purpose when creating work when I was in a more focused and had clear direction.

I am now eager to continue developing as a designer and furthering my career in the graphic design industry, (amongst becoming a mum). I see the finishing of my FMP and my degree as just another starting point to now go and expand my knowledge and experience in graphic design, now with the focus on type and layout that communicates social, health and educational issues.

Final crit...

Final crit... well its been an epic journey, Can't believe I am finally at this moment in my degree. It has come round so fast. I look back at my progress from the start of the course and I think... What the hell was I doing haha. I hope in 3 more years I will grow as a designer and think exactly the same about my work now.

Any way down to the nitty gritty, I asked for feedback mainly on my boards as I was in a position ready to print the final sets the day after the crit (Friday).

Some quick notes I joted down:

• scale down logo images on Ted Baker board
• Ted Baker - packaging, align the photographs so they meet together at the top of the page.
• Cosmos and culture board - leaflet - align images in a sequence.
• wwf board - development tighten the images together so they are less spread out.

So pretty simple changes there but make the boards look a whole lot better layout wis.


I also got some feedback on my context book, I showed a mock-up as my final booklet hadn't come back from the printers yet. It was suggested that because the front cover titles The Big Issue I should have an outer sleeve made from newspaper and screen printed to tie in with the concept of the big issue handed out in the street.

I looked into this, however because I am pregnant It makes screen printing a no go really, especially when there is only a week left. All due to health and safety.

I am hoping that the final printed book won't need a wrap or sleeve cover anyway so fingers crossed when the book comes back.

Crit feedback

Had a crit on Thursday morning for all the FMP work I have done so far, last progress crit ever, yikes! I felt quite happy with the work I have produced so far and have enjoyed the briefs I have been working on. I feel like I could have pushed some concepts a bit frther with some more interesting experiments with formats, more like the CO2 brief for greenpeace, and this was picked up on by Fred as he passed by my work, so I feel for the last few weeks it will do me good to work on formats and developing concepts to use interesting formats for campaigns, mail shots, promo etc for issues that interest me. I love science as a topic so I want to include this in the brief as I feel I can really get my teeth stuck into the subject quicker compared to any other subject I could have picked. As I have now completed the recommended 5 briefs I want to have a bit of fun with my work for the time left and although some briefs could have been pushed further like the greeting card brief I think it would be in my best interests to leave these briefs and move onto something that takes elements from the completed briefs and use them on a new final brief.

In the crit it was also suggested that I tweak the photos of my boards a bit, because the cropping was a bit off, and some photos were not clear enough etc. So I am currently on with this as I will be printing as many boards as I can tomorrow afternoon (Monday)

As suggested in the crit Ted Baker needs a few added things to it. I need to design another gift box for Ted Baker and maybe a small bit of in-store promo, I'm thinking a small card that has a few Ted Baker collection pieces on it, running through the theme of Shakespeare etc. Don't want it to take long as I want to get on with my new 'final' brief.

I also just need to re-print the Emergency booklet and try it with a different stock as it was said in the crit.

Also perhaps re-print the Climate change cover to add more rigidity to the sniper scope and also the green of the inner front cover is a bit off the rest of the prints for this brief.

It was suggested also for the climate change brief that I could try other animals on the poster but I feel the Panda is iconic as it is WWF's logo and also I could spend my time doing something more worthwhile to my design practice. I am happy with the brief as it stands. One suggestion I really like for this brief is using thermo paper for the poster which would have the panda disappearing as the paper got hotter, this would really fit in with concept of the species dying out due to the climate getting hotter from CO2 levels rising, so I am going to do a bit of research into this type of stock and see what it would take to produce the poster in this way, I doubt I will be able to do it myself or in my budget so it will just be for research, but its such a good idea :)

SUMMARY

So in summary I am tweaking a few things on the 5 briefs I have done so far

Thinking of how formats and paper stocks engage with the audience and think of a brief based on science that can be applied to this.

Print as many boards as I can on Monday 17th May 2pm

final brief number 2 - Information access logo

This brief is another educational sector brief, I want to focus on more than just publications for my design work so I thought this would be a quick brief I could work on that will have clear concept development and I get to play around with type more closely rather than dealing with lots of body copy.

Final brief ideas...

I am continuing focusing my work down to what type of designer I want to be. From my context research and previous briefs I have narrowed down my interests to type and layout design that communicates social, health and educational issues.

To demonstrate this in my work and portfolio I feel one of my final briefs should cover an educational issue as I have focused on the other two areas in previous briefs, like the important issues briefs - which consisted of a campaign against nuclear power, awareness for fair health care endorsed by EMERGENCY,  Climate change campaign for WWF and 3 minutes which was based for the NHS.

I want to make sure I cover at least some of each area of the things I am interested in as a designer. The image below show the brief I have drafted out that can lead me through my final weeks of my FMP. Bringing together my range of briefs under the theme mentioned above of type and layout... etc.

I am having a tutorial tomorrow so I will be discussing my proposed brief and my progress on my FMP so hopefully this will give me the added confidence in the direction I am going in.

Interim Evaluation

So at this stage it would be ideal for me to be writing 'I have completed all my initial briefs proposed in my statement of intent and photographed and documented them'.

But I'm not am I.

However I am not far off. I still need to photograph a few resolutions and print a couple, obviously not the ideal situation to find myself in but I will have to get on with it.

The initial briefs were:

1. Important issues - posters for WWF, Emergency and Greenpeace.
2. 3 Minutes
3. Ted Baker - window display graphics
4. Greeting cards - brand, cards and packaged.
5. 70 rpm-mp3 - Posters

Firstly after starting the mp3 brief and creating some initial ideas I moved onto other briefs and from the development of these and also my design context I moved away from what I felt this brief fitted into in regards to my work as a designer. Initially I chose briefs that were type and layout driven, with not really much more focus than that, hence why I started on the greetings card brief. After completing other briefs and researching more into my context I developed more focus into design for social, political, health and education. With this in mind the un-resolved 70rpm-mp3 brief seemed daunting to go back to and eventually I decided the best decision would be to drop the brief in favour of the other briefs that I had decided to expand more to follow my new more focused direction.

Jiggling my initial timetable for the important issues brief I expanded each poster for each organisation into small campaigns for the issue being addressed. These were great for working with type and layout and resolved in desired formats. I think these briefs and the 3 minute brief are my strongest elements to my FMP so far as they are the most focused in what I want to achieve as an outcome for my FMP.

In regards to the body of work as a whole, I feel I have produced an acceptable amount for the time up to now. However some briefs I made really quick decisions on, which as evaluated from past modules was what I needed to start and do, due to this though I neglected the time to possibly find the strongest format for the resolution for the briefs, resulting in several of the resolutions being A format booklets, In the last seven weeks I wants to push how I produce publications, as I love working to the grid and the layout but the actual format lets my strong concepts down a bit I think. I need to push myself to create the resoluion that makes me stand back and think wow! I expressed in my statement of intent the want to explore format so over the next 7 weeks now I have built on the focus of my FMP I can consider format more in the forefront of my mind.

So my plan for the next seven weeks, (short but will be sweet and fun I hope) is to develop a brief which can be resolved with a number of elements. I think a campaign will be a good idea, which will fit into the context of social, political, health or education as an underlining theme.

I think one large focused brief will give me the opportunity and time to develop a strong concept, test and develop format and create a body of work that sums up me as a graphic designer.

FMP - crit feedback

Cards:

Lyke on the end of - ta very much sounds too northern.
Try wetting the paper when embossing to soften it.
The topographic map does not come across strong enough as part of the concept, try using more stereotypical imagery, or could just focus more on the typography.

Extend package sets - Yorkshire, produce E-cards.

Ted Baker:

Research more existing themes for retail shops, including in magazines etc.
Research background of Ted Baker more thoroughly, relate to the audience. If following on with the Shakespeare idea appeal to a younger audience. - more modern take - "Where art thou Romeo - other guy on phone, I'm in Ted Baker".
Ted Baker identity - incorporate original logo instead of designing a whole new one for the theme.
Skulls imagery was more popular, develop that more.
Think about scenery from Shakespeare plays.

3 minute:

More optimistic, black cover symbolises death too much. - try other colours.
Context - Doctors waiting room - pharmacies - Hospitals.
A booklet to read while you wait for your appointment.

Rename to more appropriate to concept of booklet being something to make people think about checking their health and having annual doctors check-up for any queries.

Possible title - Three minutes to think.

SOI - Rationale - Hand in.

Communication through type and layout with emphasis on print, format and process.

I am focusing my FMP on type and layout. I think a design message should be expressed clearly and easily understood. I feel this can be achieved through design that is communicated effectively with a clear concept and also to aid this would be work with the graphic design principles of layout, especially the grid. I have a keen interest in design utilising the grid system, my dissertation is based on this and is feeding knowledge into my own design practice. I want to create modern design with a clear typographic aesthetic.

I will emphasis my design through print, format and process. Each new design problem lends itself to me testing out new ideas and print formats to solve it. Through conceptual research the format I chose for a brief will follow, I like the freedom to play with the format, however consideration of a projects budget keeps boundaries in place. I am interested in tactile processes such as embossing but I am also interested in the more technical print processes like varnishing, and spot colours and how these can enhance the message being communicated.

I do prefer working typographically but I still want to be able to incorporate image into the layout aspect of my design. Mainly through use of photography or simple symbol, linear illustration. This will feature where appropriate to communicate the concept clearly and where it aids solving the design problem.

I will design type and layout to inform and educate an audience or make them aware of something. The briefs I choose will evidence this. I am interested in creating design for commercial purposes, including retail graphics and branding with a more high end feel, but I also feel my work lends itself well to the public sector and charities. I enjoy working in both areas as they are very different but both have there own rewards.

 

FMP Briefs chosen so far - initials

1. YCN competition brief. Ted Baker, window display graphics – chosen for the chance to take print design further than paper and to design layout for larger scale and how the audience interact with the displays for their shopping experience.

2. Important issues – poster brief for 3 causes, climate change, nuclear threat and medical care availability. These are endorsed by different British charities, Green Peace, Emergency and WWF. (This brief was developed from a past Good 50x70 competition brief) Chose this brief to push my interest in awareness to the audience.

3. Typographic greetings cards. Chosen to allow a creation of a brand from scratch and then develop designs to push my knowledge of print stocks and processes.

4. 3 Minutes. Past Istd competition brief. I am going to develop this to design type and layout publication.

5. 74 Rpm. Past Istd brief, on music lyrics of the 20th century. I see this as an opportunity to produce a typographic piece. I want to experiment with formats and paper structures.

FMP - propsal - rationale

I am focusing my FMP on type and layout through the theme of lucid design. I think a design message should be expressed clearly and easily understood. I feel this can be achieved through design that is communicated effectively with a clear concept and also to aid this would be work with the graphic design principles of layout, especially the grid.

I plan to produce work that will explore these areas and I aim to build some strong pieces for my portfolio. I prefer working typographically but I still want to be able to incorporate image into the layout aspect of my design. Mainly through use of photography.

I like designing to inform, educate an audience or make them aware of something. I think it aids in creating lucid design, so the briefs I choose will evidence this.