Evaluation of OUGD201

This module has been all about print and different print processes which I think I overlooked slightly in my design process. However, this is the module where I feel I have learned the most. We have been filled with facts about printing, in all different areas, which will be incredibly useful when we proceed on into the industry.

Lorenzo’s seminars about actual print processes were fascinating and I learned things that I’ve never even considered before. It has opened so many new doors into the graphic design world and opportunities to use this knowledge for print-based work. The seminars really got me thinking, and has got me trying to figure out how things were printed, from birthday cards, to posters and flyers in every day life. Which I feel doing a course you love is all about.

The mac suite inductions were really useful when it came to resolving my ideas and actually designing. I feel I now have a solid knowledge of colour palettes and learning how to use swatches has been incredibly beneficial, especially with my posters and using different colours for each one (including the logo). Again, I feel that I have really learned something this module when it comes to software.

The type lessons were also interesting, learning little bits about things which, in the end, seem to be common sense. I’ve never really seen type as something I am particularly interested in, but now I see the possibilities which type open. I used what I learned in my poster designs, playing around with different positioning of letters, weight and orientation to add emphasis to certain words.

All in all, I do feel that this has been my favourite module to date and the most useful. I really feel that I have a much wider knowledge than when I went into it, knowledge that I can actually use and I have put everything that I have learned in the past few months into my “what is good” resolution… and the working up to them.

Looking back over the module, I am disappointed in the small amount of work that I have produced. However, I do feel that it could be some of my best work to date. For once, I actually like what I am producing, and the self-written brief really opened doors for me.
I really wish that personal issues hadn’t affected me in any way when it came to college work, how ever, these things happen and cannot be helped. I am happy that I have made contact with the course team and that they understand what has gone on. If I had more time with this module I would have furthered my product range, branching out from posters to packaging, and maybe a range of t-shirts.

I do feel that I have worked a lot harder than I did last year and truly feel I have matured in my attitude towards college. I have kept up with my blogs a lot more successfully than I have done in the past and have explored a wide range of ideas in response to my brief. I do feel this might have had an impact on the amount of work I produced as a resolution how ever as the mine-field that is my head seemed to go in all directions with this project, with about 5 different ‘final’ ideas emerging on my blog. But that is graphic design. 

What I want to achieve...

What do you want to achieve by the end of this year?

-I want to have a better idea of what area I want to work in within the industry.

-I want to develop and identify my own personal style.

-I want to set up research visits and work placements/internships for the summer.

-I want to network and set up an address book of contacts who may help me throughout my time at LCA and in my career. 

-I want to gain the confidence to ask for help from these contacts.

-I want to have a much better idea of the industry I will work in. 

-I want to explore different companies and the way they function... the work ethic, the employees and the difference between working for a large company and being a freelance designer.
-I want to manage my time better, no all nighters the night before deadlines.
-I want my work ethic to drastically improve.
-I want to make the most of my time in Leeds, the city and all that is available. 

What do you want to achieve by the end of the course?

-I want to know exactly who I am as a designer. 

-I want to have an extensive knowledge of the graphic design industry. 

- I want to have a number of different placements and internships under my belt so I have a proper idea of what I want to do and where I want to do it. 

-I want to know about all the jobs available in the industry.

-I want an impressive portfolio.

-I want to have a job lined up.

What do you want to achieve in your career?

- I want to be recognised and remembered for my work.

-At some point I would like to work abroad... particularly in New York.

-I want an exciting job, where no two days are the same.

END OF LEVEL 04, BEGINNING OF LEVEL 05

Seminar with Bridget - Costings

Mazlow's heirarchy of need

• Physiological needs
• Safety and security needs
• Love and belonging needs
• Esteem needs
• Self-actualisation needs
• Travel and personal needs

Costing sheet

Lecture 1 - What is marketing? Notes

End of module evaluation OUGD103

1. WHAT PRACTICAL SKILLS HAVE YOU DEVELOPED DURING THIS MODULE AND HOW EFFECTIVELY HAVE YOU APPLIED THEM?

This module has really helped me find my own place in the studio and the design process. The collaborative brief taught me a lot about picking the right team of people and how important it is. You need to collaborate with people who have strengths in different areas to you, rather than similar as it gives a much more rounded result. For example for our collaboration, i mainly focused on the computerized aspects of the designing, Liz on the illustration and Steph on the type, and the result was particularly effective.

I've worked a lot on the computer for these recent briefs and really enjoyed fortifying my skills in the Adobe programmes.

I also tried out print and letterpress, which I would love to use again in the future, it was so interesting to learn new skills that I hadn't known about before and gives such a nice hand-rendered feel.

2. WHAT APPROACHES TO/METHODS OF PROBLEM SOLVING HAVE YOU DEVELOPED AND HOW HAS THIS AFFECTED YOUR DESIGN DEVELOPMENT PROCESS?

I have furthered my research skills which we were taught in the previous module, and as I did more, I found it more and more useful. Knowing the subject which you are working on is definitely a must if you are going to produce a good result.

I also learnt illustration skills from the other students in the class, those who's passion is drawing, I'm liking the hand-rendered effect a lot at the moment and would love to do more of it, print-making aswell.

For the Speaking From Experience brief, I found the crits really useful, and being made to follow up more than one idea to get the perfect one is really useful as, if I had gone with my initial idea, it would have failed and probably have looked terrible.

3. WHAT STRENGTHS CAN YOU IDENTIFY IN YOUR WORK AND HOW HAVE/WILL YOU CAPITALIZE ON THESE?

I think my main strengths this module reside in my research and work produced on the macs. I was really interested in the InDesign programme and learning about layout.

I also think that my skills on Illustrator have advanced a lot which I'm really happy about as it was my main "what I want to learn this year" at the begginning of the course. I would love to learn a lot more about these programmes.

4. WHAT WEAKNESSES CAN YOU IDENTIFY IN YOUR WORK AND HOW WILL YOU ADRESS THESE IN THE FUTURE?

Due to illness and other various issues I wasn't putting my all into this module, and paying for it now as I am not happy with a lot of the work produced. My motivation was down and my time management was terrible. I need to learn to start a brief at the begginning rather than leaving it to the crunch time.

5. IDENTIFY 5 THINGS THAT YOU WILL DO DIFFERENTLY AND WHAT DO YOU EXPECT TO GAIN FROM THESE?

1. Work better as a team, put more into the group.
2. Work on my time management, get more done, more quickly.
3. More experimentation and recording of ideas, better results are acquired when you try out a lot of different things.
4. Focus more in inductions, I find it hard to remember a lot of the things I have learnt.
5. Stay healthy. My health has been terrible.

6. ARE THERE ANY THINGS WE COULD HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY THAT WOULD HAVE BENIFITTED YOUR PROGRESS?

No, I think this module was really well thought out and organized.

7.

ATTENDENCE - 3

PUNCTUALITY- 4

MOTIVATION - 2

COMMITMENT - 3

QUANTITY OF WORK PRODUCED - 3

QUALITY OF WORK PRODUCED - 3

CONTRIBUTION TO THE GROUP - 3

PPD Presentation - Outcome sheets

Communication is a Virus - Final Feedback

For this final crit, every group set out their work with no back-up work in the class. This is a perfect way to see wether each piece of work was effective in communicating both the problem and the solution. This was the feedback we received.

What Is A Line - Self-Evaluation

As Amber said at the beginning, I found the time management for this project slightly difficult as it was prioritizing it above or below the others going for OUGD102/03. I found myself full of ideas when first given the brief, and, surprisingly, my first idea was the one i then followed up and carried on to the end.
I actually really enjoyed the design process of this brief. Photography has always been a passion of mine, made more so after our elective, and as this was a project in which you could progress in any way you wished, I immediately tried to focus on photography-based ideas. As I had decided to have both rural and urban ones, the easter period fell perfectly as I returned home to Dorset and visited Cornwall which gave a really nice variation to the collection of photographs i put together. I also enjoyed experimenting with photoshop to see what brought the lines (if very subtle ones) out in the pictures. It felt like the possibilities for this brief were endless. The installation process was tricky... just finding a corridor long enough, also positioning each photograph and deciding on the sizing.
I feel that if I had put more time into this project that it could have been taken a lot further. Since the hand-in date I have been experimenting further with the photos, putting them together on illustrator and seeing what other effects I can put on the actual photographs themselves.
In some ways, I'd like to carry on going with this as an ongoing investigation, maybe see how long I can get the continuous line. It has definitely made me a lot more aware of different lines in the environment, they are everywhere and in all different shapes and sizes. Everywhere I look now I see them and position them in my head next to each other.

Communication is a virus - Student Presentation 1

Communication is a virus - Progress Crit

ISSUES RAISED
You can't read the hand-written parts of the cards properly.
There are some problems with the colours... different printers, different stock.... not only 2 colours + stock.
We need some examples online.

ACTION TO BE TAKEN
Change the hand-writing, make it clearer.
Change the website design.

GENERAL FEEDBACK
It is a really nice idea, unique.
Actually useful to people.
Could be taken further and into an actual website and company.

Communication is a virus - Partner choice form

Why have you chosen to work with your creative partner? What are your aims?

I have chosen to work with Lizz and Steph because they have skills in areas that I am not strong in such as drawing and photoshop. Our aims are to combine our skills to produce a strong visually engaging piece of work to communicate our problem and it's solution.

What are your specific areas of creative interest in this brief?

I'm interested in the website and it's design. Also in the research part of the brief.

What specific design skills do you have to offer in relation to your chosen brief? How do you intend to use them?

I'm quite good at communication and would like to use this in presenting our work. I also like to look deeply into subjects, therefore would like to add a lot of research to effectively answer our problem. I also find myself reasonably good at layout and am interested in web design, therefore I would like to have a part in the website page designs.

What specific non-design skills do you have to offer in relation to your chosen brief? How do you intend to use them?

I am punctual and when I say I'll do something, I stick to my word.

I am also a good listener and will listen and try out anything ideas that the other two will have.

I am good at putting accross our points, I'd like to have a part in the presentations.

What will your specific roles be in collaboration in relation to your brief?

Communication is essential in group work and it will be really important to keep each other up to date with everything that we do as individuals in regards to the brief.

We need to get into meetings at least once a day to equally share out roles and things to do.

We will also be collaborating our research and idea generation.

What will your individual responsibilities be in relation to your brief?

Research

Website design

Presentation

What will your joint responsibilities be in relation to your brief?

Research

Idea generation

Communication

Agreeing on design direction

Working on feedback comments

Realizing problems and straightening them out.

Presentation

Signed... Ellie Niel-Mee

End of module evaluation.

BA (Hons.) GRAPHIC DESIGN	LEVEL	04
Module Code	OUGD101
Module Title	DESIGN PRINCIPLES

END OF MODULE SELF-EVALUATION

NAME

BLOG. ADDRESS

1. What practical skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them? I have learnt a lot about research techniques this module... as was intended. I discovered ways to thoroughly look into things which I never knew about before and feel that it has really helped with the briefs that we were set. I've discovered the importance of the research part of the work, the briefs which we were set which allowed us a lot of time for research are some of my best work. It really does all tie in. I also am happy with the skills I've acquired in Photoshop and Illustrator. Especially in the last brief, I used them as best as I could and learnt a lot in the process. My skills are definitely a lot better at the end of this module than the start.
2. What approaches to/methods of problem solving have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?
I have developed my research methods a lot. I never knew about the different sorts (primary, secondary, quantitative and qualitative) and it has really helped when it comes to idea development having the back-up research to help. Particularly the 'collection 100' brief, over christmas I researched so much into my chosen topic that I knew exactly what I was talking about/ dealing with when it came to the rest of the brief.
3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these? I think that, with the techniques i learnt in regards to photoshop and ilustrator, my skills have got to a level where I can actually produce work that's worthy of being seen. I was really happy with how the shoes came out at the end of the 'collection 100' brief. I intend to use these programmes a lot in future work. I also think that the time management session we had really helped me realize I needed to sort a few things out, particularly the task where we wrote down exactly what we did in a week... I realized I spend far too much time doing nothing/procrastinating. It really helped me get to grips with it.
4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these more fully?
I feel that my weaknesses this brief were definitely down to poor time management, and being ill and stuck for 2 weeks, it really put me behind and made me rush things, particularly my end result. Also the indecisiveness. I could not focus on one idea by the end of it and it really set me back. In a way, i think I may have had too many ideas... all conflicting. I will definitely be focusing on my time management next time, really prioritising the work I need to do.
5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?
1. Work out my time management. Prioritise properly. 2. Work as hard when first set a brief as at the end. 3. When doing group work, communicate the roles and input better. 4. Use a lot more primary research in my work. 5. Stay later in the studio. I feel that the days I stay until 7/8 o'clock I get a lot more done.
Are there any things we could have done differently that would have benefitted your progress? No. I feel this module was really well organized.
6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas: (please indicate using an ‘x’) 5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor
	1	2	3	4	5
Attendance				x
Punctuality					x
Motivation			x
Commitment			x
Quantity of work produced			x
Quality of work produced					x
Contribution to the group			x
The evaluation of your work is an important part of the assessment criteria and represents a percentage of the overall grade. It is essential that you give yourself enough time to complete your written evaluation fully and with appropriate depth and level of self-reflection. If you have any questions relating to the self-evaluation process speak to a member of staff as soon as possible.

COLLECTION 100 - problem analysis - rationale

COLLECTION 100 - rational

COLLECTION 100 - presentation