OUGD301 Evaluation.

This module has been a Achievement in some area's of my design practice and a unfulfillment in others. I started this module with the aim of completing 4 comprehensive briefs and within this focusing my development on my design software skills. This would then lead to a more focused FMP and a more consistent portfolio.

I'm slightly disappointed that i was not able to complete all my briefs that i had set out to do. This is mainly due to mumps that i contracted during the end of the module that effected me longer than i had anticipated. Even though i had an extension to this module my body was not feeling 100% mentally and physically. However some human fault must be included in this. My management of my briefs was poor during this module. The studio brief ran over the allocated time limit of about 3 weeks. This was because i wanted to do too much with the brief with little time and that i was learning how to use illustrator at a more advanced level. Tutorials with tutors/ colleagues suggested that i reduce the amount of work i was doing for the brief and propose some of the work i was doing. Me being me i felt that i could get it all done and in the end couldn't. I should of been more realistic on what was achievable and what wasn't. I should of stopped putting deadlines back and finished the briefs at their current state.

Apart from this i was happy with the quality of the work produced and the skills i have learnt in the process. Attending indesign workshops have helped, however not all the skills learnt from them were put into practice until later in the module. Skills like baseline grids and style paragraphs have been very useful and will allow me to be more effective with my time in my FMP. Shortcut keys have also started to occur when i have been designing. Both in indesign and illustrator but more apparent in illustrator.

Illustrator has been a problem in the past for me, especially using the pen tool. So when this module began i specifically wrote in some briefs that would require vector graphics. This allowed me to get plenty of practice in using the pen tool and with some help from friends began to understand what i was doing wrong.

Overall this module has been a very interesting experience for me. I have learn't more things in 3 months than i have in the last 2 years. Mainly because i've worked the hardest i have ever worked before and because i had plenty of time to reflect when i was ill. The execution of my work has also improved. I began to get interested in minimal design at the end of year 2. You can now see this transition and how its effected my "style" of work.

In-terms of my progression of my design practice, the direction i want to head into has become much clearer. I want to design industrial graphics that require clear and detailed information. The next briefs i produce will reflect this more and with everything i have learn't in this module will be much more of a success. The quality has greatly improved and so has the understanding. Its just the focus and decision making that i must improve for FMP. Something i'm confident can be done .

Action Plan For FMP:

1. Be realistic with work that can be done and cannot be done.
2. Stick to deadlines. Can always come back and improve the work later on.
3. Get into a pattern with doing research then developing, doing research then developing etc. Not; doing all the research and developing at the end.
4. Be more decisive with planning and development. Work Faster.
5. Constantly re-evaluate the work being done with the brief. What is needed and what isn't.
6. Continue the development of indesign and illustrator skills. Especially shortcut keys.
7. Get myself into some workshops for finish's and process's. Use some finish's for my pieces
8. Collaboration with someone with opposite skill sets.
9. Blog daily or have a specific day of blogging and keep to it.

Week_002.Project Management.

This week doesn't seem very productive, however it involved a lot of annotation of my context blog, rewriting of my briefs, a crit with fred about my rationale/ briefs, more blogging, a visit from Jonathan Smith of Glue Marketing and final started to research and log the studio's. All very long and time consuming.

Briefs_Revised.

Below are my revised briefs. The only adjustments are that i have added some extra information to all the briefs mandatory requirements, added "proposed websites" to the identity brief deliverables, "propose three additions" to the mandatory requirements of the Minimal Design brief and finally edited some of my spelling and grammar mistakes.

Briefs_Adjustments.

Below is some notes i took after having a critique with Amber. She said that my briefs that i had chosen were very good however i needed add "ongoing documentation on my blog" to my mandatory requirements. Also i got some advise for some spelling and grammar mistakes that i had made.

Proposal Crit 001.

Rationale: Clear and concise - Good Starting point.

Statement of Intent:

Hannah: Straight forward, to the point, you know what exactly what you want to cover.

Adam Townsend: You need to know what particular skill you want to learn and what knowledge can you gain from it. What software, print process's etc. Non of this was mentioned.

Fred: I agree with Adam. What workshops do you need to attend? do you need to build your digital print skills, screen printing skills etc. What research do you need to do, what do you need to find out? Do you need to visit printers to find out what formats the work to normally.

That was the gap in you statement of intent that you need to cover.

A statement of intent is: what are you going to do to achieve you rationale and why. i.e your going to go along to the design for print workshop. Why: Because you need to develop your illustrator skills for information graphics.

Project Management:

No sense of when it will be completed. You need to review where you need to be for each brief. You need to factor in when the workshops are. In regards to your statement of intent, what are you going to do and when are you going to do it by.

Briefs:

The briefs are pretty straight forward, set of four briefs related to the rationale. Good focus.

Minimal Magazine: The focus is to develop a publication and to look at print. Design one complete thing with the promo, packaging and layouts. Suggest you do one and propose three others. Design the covers and a couple of layouts. That will push the promo. If the focus is to produce a body of primary research then you should worry about using secondary research. However, thats being achieved in the Studio brief so you shouldn't worry about getting penalised with marks. If you wanted to you could identify a load of minimal objects and send it to a load of designers, And say, give me a quote about what you think about this design. Then you could put it amongst everything.

Primary and secondary research for this brief.

The focus of the brief is on print, layout, publication and promo.

Industrial Identities: Straight forward, however spin it across to online. Everyone wants a website. FUN BRIEF.

Studio: Really good brief, research driven. You need to crack on with it and start putting it together quickly. All depends on the quality of information. Is it just about the graphic design department and all 4 studio's?

National Electronics Week: Really like that one. Quick brief. Taking this minimal, industrial design and applying it to a different context. Thats about promo and events. Good for D&AD briefs. Quick turn around briefs will add some diversity in what you are doing.

Final Comments:

All of it is achievable if you organised.

As a plan, as a statement i have no problem with it. Whether you can achieve it or not will come down to decisions and how quickly you start it. At some point you might have to drop something or restrict something. i.e I wanted to do the entire graphic design department but actually i can only do one because of other briefs.

Its all going to come down to PROJECT MANAGEMENT.

Proposal Form 001.

Below is my first draft of my Proposal form for my Design practice three module.

Proposal Crit 001.

Feedback Sheets From Fred Bates, Hannah Jackson, Mark Redhead, Rebecca Liggins, Luke Hallam and Adam Townend.

Week_001. Project Management.

Monday 27th - Sunday 3rd September/October

Below is my diary for the first week. Included in this diary is my business card development, PPD presentation, Dissertation times, Contextual referencing, Contextual Researching (blogs), Organisation of my bookmarks for design studio's etc and write ups of my briefs. All achieved however i found that some tasks overrun by a day or so. Need to make better use of my time.

Briefs.

Below are the four briefs i will be doing until the 15th of December 2010.

Each Brief focus's on the following:

• Editorial and Publications
• Identity and Branding
• Research Driven Design
• High End Print
• Exhibitions
• Conferences
• Industrial Sectors
• Type and layout
• Minimal Design

Business Card 001.

Stock: 790gsm Mount Board
Dimensions: 85mm x 55mm
Colour: Cyan 40%, Magenta 0%, Yellow 0%, Black 100%

The business card i have temporarily developed for wednesdays lesson is fairly ok for now however the logo i have created is off centre by 4mm and the details on the back are a little hard to read due to the bleed of the stock. The 100% black on the front of the card has come out as i intended it to be, this is due to using 40% Cyan instead of making it registration. The whole look of the card is very professional and has some substance to it. It expresses my feelings, personality and my design practice. My personality is very simplistic and organised, i love minimal design and i like pastel colours.

This is the first card i have produced and i do expect it to change over the next couple of months. Ideally i would like it to be professionally printed off however the cost of lets say 2000 on the same thickness of stock with the logo spot varnished would be roughly £2000. A lot of money and this means i need to get friendly with some printers fast.

Considerations: Have 2 different types of cards. One on thick card that has been professionally printed off with all the finishes. And one card that is much more simpler. The reason for this is because a 3mm thick card in my wallet would result in me only carrying a few cards. Having a much thinner business card would be more practical for giving out when lets say on the tube or in a bar. Don't have your address on the card just incase i move house. Have a valid email address that is only for business and have plenty of white space on the card for people to write notes on the back.

Feedback:

Jonny Packham: "To the point, well designed logo and good layout."

Matt Milner: "Clean, simple and nice."

Martin Woolley: "Looks important."

Kate Fenton: "Simplistic and legible."

Liam Hine: "Very meticulous approach to layout and well displayed information."

Dan Boome: "Type too small."

Business Card production 001

Below are the files of my business cards before i sent them to print. The format is on A3 however i wish i had done them on A2 because it would of reduced cost and time. The cards should sink together pretty well because i have measured each document to a fraction of a millimetre however the process will be ruined if the mount board isn't square which i'm expecting it not to be.

Business Card Development 003.

Gone back to having the logo in the top right and it still looks like a postage stamp even though i have got my name beneath it.

I think there is a massive improvement with the legibility of the logo. Don't think i need my name beneath it because once you flip the card on its back you see my name and have a direct connection with the logo.

Business Card Development 002.

I have kept the coloured lines but just removed the "A" initial from the logo. much more legible now. Not too sure if you see the "R" first or the "A".

I've begun to add colour to different parts of the logo so that it helps with legibility. It is working however the "S" initial is the first thing you see followed by the "A".

Some people i spoke too said that they couldn't see my initials in the logo. R, A, S. Because of this i have begun to develop the legibility of the logo through colour and by extending the lines. Here i have made the "A" much more visible. However do you now look at the A first before the R.

Thought my logo was a little too simple, even though thats what i'm after so i thought i might as well add a circle that had no meaning to my name. More of a aesthetic thing and the fact that everyone is putting things in circles nowadays. The result it something that doesn't mean anything and give an impression of don't go here. Like a stop warning sign. Not good.

Don't like all the details on one page and centralised. Looks very cluttered and not very professional. The back of the card has remained white so you can write notes on the back.

Business Card Development 001.

Think this looks too commercial and not well designed. No longer has that wow factor.

I thought it might be a good idea to see what my card would look like on a pastel colour instead of being totally on white or black. A bit more variation. I wanted to use the front colour on the type on the back however i feel that it wont be legible. However i feel that what i am after with the professional, architectural and minimal look will look much better on white or black.

I like the look of this card, the logo looks good centred and it gives off a feeling of importance. Might be tempted to make the lines of the logo thicker and to make the logo slightly smaller. The back of the card looks great also. Simply positioned into the bottom left corner. Very professional.

I prefer the black card to the white one, it has more substance and look more expensive. The fact i have removed the "T" and "E" looks much better also. The only problem i have with this card is that it looks like a envelope and not a business card. The back of the card will remain black.

Umbrella statement.

Editorial, branding and research driven design via high-end print.

This statement fits well with the industrial design process i feel that i am leaning towards. Now i need to make sure my briefs are moulded around this statement.

Wants/Needs.

Below is a list of things i want to do and don't want to do within my design practice. By doing this list it has clarified and focused the work i want to do for my portfolio. Because of this, some of the briefs i have written will need rewriting and possibly scrapped.

Open publication - Free publishing - More graphic design