I can't believe 2nd year has come to an end. Time seems to be passing by very quickly at the moment. I seem to be constantly questioning my self as a designer and where my skills lie. From 2nd year I have learnt that my passion lies mainly in design for print and I want to become a better illustrator and image maker. I have enjoyed creating my own illustrations this year and have tried to develop a style I can call my own. I have been challenged and worked harder than ever. I have found myself struggling at times to keep my head above water, with the pressures of modules, critical studies, enterprise and innovation and PPD to juggle. At times it has been overwhelming but has been a big learning curve for me in how to manage my time. I have taken away with me a lot to reflect upon over this summer.
I am more aware of my strengths, my weaknesses and what I want to strive to become. I'm ready for my 3rd year and eager for it. I just know I need to keep this enthusiasm and thirst going over summer so I'm going to try my best to keep active in my practice, even if it's just a little here and there that keeps my ticking. I'd like to try and do some t-shirt designs over summer. Some friends of mine on the course have expressed an interest in wanting to produce some and I think it'll be a fun little project to become involved in over summer so when we get back we can hopefully get them printed up. The printing process too will be a learning curve for me and I'm excited to see where that could take us. Next year I would definitely like to do screen printing. It has been something I have wanted to do all this year but never got around to doing. Next year even if i don't use it for a course project, I will definitely give it a go. There is something about print that I have taken a shining too this year and want to become more involved in. I want to know more about it and become better at it. I have managed to try out digital printing, which is a process I will use again. It was very enjoyable to experiment with and very satisfying to see an end result.
I have realised that I would like to become more involved in the corporate side of design and try my hand at letter heads and logo design more. I feel my designs have been too fun and I have been too precious about them this year. I need to push myself until things go too far so I know I can develop my work better. I find I often have an idea, stick to it and then don't explore it enough to get the most out of it I perhaps could. From that, I know I am lazy and need to push myself harder.
I would like to develop my skills in InDesign so that my layout skills are better. I am still very much a novice to InDesign and only know the bare minimum. Summer is my chance to play around with it and test my hand to it.
I have been lucky enough to do a work placement at the end of my 2nd year with a print and design company however I am currently on the look out for a couple more and are in touch with some designers. This is all still very much in the process however. I gained an awful lot from doing a short placement with them. Just a few of the things I did for them were, help design a double sided business card, deliver work to clients, sit in on client briefings, give my opinion on page layout of a 200 page lighting brochure and help in and around the studio. I was able to speak to all the team and shadow them. I learnt a great deal from just talking to them and being able to observe what they were doing. Watching how they manage their time and the pace they worked to was a big eye opener and I didn't have to make tea or coffee! My time there has really inspired and informed me and kept me eager to find more and learn more over summer.
I hope 3rd year isn't going to finish me off, however I can feel the stress and soul ripping of it brewing already...
Quite what my plan for 3rd year is going to be yet I do not know, though this summer I am going to try to maintain my design practice through, type/visual journals, live briefs or independent practical research. Hopefully by doing so my plan will be ready and prepared to get the ball rolling as soon as I'm back in September. I just need to stick to it!
Tuesday 9 June 2009
Friday 5 June 2009
Work Experience
For the past two days I have been having some work experience at a graphic design and printing company in Leeds called Print Ideas and Printing.com. Both have been really useful I have learnt so much over a short space of time.
Sunday 31 May 2009
Evaluation
Module Title:Design Practice 2
Module Code: OUGD203
1. What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?
Time management has always been a battle and I feel that knowing I had three briefs on all at the same time and all for the same deadline made me very much more aware of the fact that time had to be managed. Deciding how long to spend upon each brief was the hardest. I didn't focus upon them for the time allocated for each at first and struggled a little to get all projects back on track. I feel I have got a better understanding of researching through this module and really researched thoroughly in the time I had. This is a skill I feel lax with at times and have always wanted to work upon. I also feel I am more focused with where I want my work to go and that I am still enjoying working illustratively. However, saying that I did try my hand at using type in my Street Talk Brief, how successfully it came out on the other hand is left to the viewer...
2. What approaches to generating work and solutions to problems have you developed and how have they helped?
I have learnt with my Don't panic Brief to work faster and be less precious about my work. I did get good feedback from my crits on how I could improve upon my resolution but felt that it was best to utilize the time I had left to try and resolve the Street Talk Brief the best I could and tie up any loose end on my Sainsbury's brief. I found myself trying and testing my illustrations and layout more in my Sainsbury's brief and really trying to develop my ideas. I experimented with stokes, colour out with text and reversing my illustrations. Perhaps i spent a little too much time on doing this however as I found it difficult to make a decision on the final one after all that! I definitely need to work upon sketching out my ideas and visuals quicker though, like I did better in my last Feel Good collaborative brief.
3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?
I feel my strengths lie in image making, illustration and layout. I will capitalise on these by focusing my work practice on these skills in future projects. I will carry on working in an illustrative and image way and try to develop the strengths of my illustrations. I would also like to develop a style that is recognisably my own. I felt that the resolution for the Sainsbury's brief worked reasonably well. I have kept my canvas digital print and need to go back and steam it, however I would like to mock it up into a bag for life eventually and try to incorporate that into my portfolio. I would also like to try and develop it further and perhaps try screen printing the design onto canvas. The canvas I used for the print was as near to a real canvas material that I could find and i felt the final one used worked really well. The size that the illustration came out on the required canvas size looked ok too as the strokes looked strong and didn't get lost into the bag as I originally felt they would. Making the stroke of all the animals varied and bolder worked far better than had I left them all the same weight. That was through experimenting with my illustrations and good feedback in crits!
4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how could you exploit these more fully?
I need to address how well I work to a timescale and become more focused in my way of working. I also feel that I need to practice my illustration skills. I don't draw enough outside of projects and modules in my spare time and would like to begin a notebook of my own illustrations and sketches.
My development work needs to be organised better and I also should continually evaluate my work as I progress. I don't do enough of this and will start to put more work on my blog showing my development and how my resolution takes shape.
5. Identify five things that you will do different next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?
1. Try and stick better to my time organisation for each brief. I found I didn't stick well to the time I had allocated to each brief.
2. Motivate myself better at the start of each brief and steadily work through each to start them off rather than neglect one or two and find I've lost interest.
3. Try screen printing or other print processes.
4. Don't spend too much time on researching and distracting myself from getting ideas down.
5. Be more experimental with my illustrations and not too precious about them. Show development of them and explore stroke, layout, tints etc.
6. How would you grade yourself on the following areas:
Attendance - 4
Punctuality - 4
Motivation - 3
Commitment -4
Quantity Of Work Produced - 3
Quality Of Work Produced - 3
Contribution To The Group - 3
Module Code: OUGD203
1. What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?
Time management has always been a battle and I feel that knowing I had three briefs on all at the same time and all for the same deadline made me very much more aware of the fact that time had to be managed. Deciding how long to spend upon each brief was the hardest. I didn't focus upon them for the time allocated for each at first and struggled a little to get all projects back on track. I feel I have got a better understanding of researching through this module and really researched thoroughly in the time I had. This is a skill I feel lax with at times and have always wanted to work upon. I also feel I am more focused with where I want my work to go and that I am still enjoying working illustratively. However, saying that I did try my hand at using type in my Street Talk Brief, how successfully it came out on the other hand is left to the viewer...
2. What approaches to generating work and solutions to problems have you developed and how have they helped?
I have learnt with my Don't panic Brief to work faster and be less precious about my work. I did get good feedback from my crits on how I could improve upon my resolution but felt that it was best to utilize the time I had left to try and resolve the Street Talk Brief the best I could and tie up any loose end on my Sainsbury's brief. I found myself trying and testing my illustrations and layout more in my Sainsbury's brief and really trying to develop my ideas. I experimented with stokes, colour out with text and reversing my illustrations. Perhaps i spent a little too much time on doing this however as I found it difficult to make a decision on the final one after all that! I definitely need to work upon sketching out my ideas and visuals quicker though, like I did better in my last Feel Good collaborative brief.
3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?
I feel my strengths lie in image making, illustration and layout. I will capitalise on these by focusing my work practice on these skills in future projects. I will carry on working in an illustrative and image way and try to develop the strengths of my illustrations. I would also like to develop a style that is recognisably my own. I felt that the resolution for the Sainsbury's brief worked reasonably well. I have kept my canvas digital print and need to go back and steam it, however I would like to mock it up into a bag for life eventually and try to incorporate that into my portfolio. I would also like to try and develop it further and perhaps try screen printing the design onto canvas. The canvas I used for the print was as near to a real canvas material that I could find and i felt the final one used worked really well. The size that the illustration came out on the required canvas size looked ok too as the strokes looked strong and didn't get lost into the bag as I originally felt they would. Making the stroke of all the animals varied and bolder worked far better than had I left them all the same weight. That was through experimenting with my illustrations and good feedback in crits!
4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how could you exploit these more fully?
I need to address how well I work to a timescale and become more focused in my way of working. I also feel that I need to practice my illustration skills. I don't draw enough outside of projects and modules in my spare time and would like to begin a notebook of my own illustrations and sketches.
My development work needs to be organised better and I also should continually evaluate my work as I progress. I don't do enough of this and will start to put more work on my blog showing my development and how my resolution takes shape.
5. Identify five things that you will do different next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?
1. Try and stick better to my time organisation for each brief. I found I didn't stick well to the time I had allocated to each brief.
2. Motivate myself better at the start of each brief and steadily work through each to start them off rather than neglect one or two and find I've lost interest.
3. Try screen printing or other print processes.
4. Don't spend too much time on researching and distracting myself from getting ideas down.
5. Be more experimental with my illustrations and not too precious about them. Show development of them and explore stroke, layout, tints etc.
6. How would you grade yourself on the following areas:
Attendance - 4
Punctuality - 4
Motivation - 3
Commitment -4
Quantity Of Work Produced - 3
Quality Of Work Produced - 3
Contribution To The Group - 3
Friday 29 May 2009
SAINSBURY'S - Final Designs
The two below are the full and final illustrations that I have produced for the Sainsbury's brief. Above are photographs taken of the illustrations printed onto canvas material for my mock up.
Thursday 28 May 2009
STREET TALK - Final designs..
The following are my final designs for each of the 3 drugs. ECSTASY, CANNABIS and COCAINE. They will go in the upper part of the telephone box advertisement.
The following are the 3 final images I will use for the bottom half of the telephone box advertisement for FRANK.
DESIGNS IN OTHER CONTEXTS
DESIGNS ON TELEPHONE BOX CONTEXT
The following are the 3 final images I will use for the bottom half of the telephone box advertisement for FRANK.
DESIGNS IN OTHER CONTEXTS
DESIGNS ON TELEPHONE BOX CONTEXT
Tuesday 26 May 2009
Monday 25 May 2009
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