OUGD602 - PPP3 Summative Module Evaluation

Throughout this module each year, I am constantly gaining confidence not only in myself but in my work. The more I compare my work to other professionals over the years the more I am able to talk about, promote and have faith in my own work. When I started the course I didn't think my work was professional level, and I never imagined that a client would be happy with it, as I had this idea that it was home-made looking. Although my standards have gotten higher and I can achieve a more professional image, by professionalism within myself has grown with it, too. This year particularly I have developed a better eye for branding which has helped me define myself through my personal branding more professionally. Last year, my personal branding was too complicated and too illustrative to the point where only a year later it looks dated and juvenile. This year, whilst still having the mid-century style through colours and shapes, the branding has been stripped right back and now just lets the work speak for itself.

I have networked an awful lot this year, and considered many paths to take upon my departure from university. Because of this deep investigation I was able to define a structured plan for when I leave, giving me confidence to leave knowing that I know what I'm doing!

Weaknesses in my work I would say this year is not being more proactive in visiting studios I want to get involved in. I kept focussing on the USA, which of course I can't visit so easily when maybe I should have looked at a load of studios in the UK, where I could go and visit properly.

If I were to do this module all over again, I probably wouldn't do it any differently, except look out for more UK studios.

OUGD402 - PPP - It's Up To You - End of Module Evaluation

Evaluation

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

During this module and throughout this year I have developed a range of new skills such as screen printing, book binding and papercraft to paramount self evaluative skills, constructive critique skills and self analytical skills. I have used these new skills to grow and recreate myself throughout this year, and has proven both useful and refreshing. I have widened my design palette and used it to my advantage, only improving on these technical skills in projects throughout the year and I have used my new analytical skills to work out my direction and help others around me, too. It's been great!

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

I have learnt how to take a step back from the page and seen what I am like as a designer and as a whole. This has helped me to gauge my capabilities, design decisions and changed my ambitions for the future (well, created them) For example, I have learnt that I really enjoy designing for children, my seeing that I tend to use a lot of lighthearted themes and bright colours in my work. 

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

I've seen that I am strong in designing typographic (lettering, not necessarily fonts), illustration (digital in particular) and papercraft. I am also 'brave' when it comes to colour, and like to have a broad colour scheme. I will continue to practice and improve this combination, along with my newfound time management skills over the summer, such as setting myself mini projects, to keep design momentum up.

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

Although I would consider it a strength, mostly because I am proud of my improvement, I would also consider my time management a weakness that I will probably forever strive to improve on. I will continue to plan beforehand and give myself timetables and mini deadlines throughout a project to keep up momentum. Time left at the end of a project is better than time left at the beginning!

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

• Show more visually my interests in my final piece for the PPP module so I can exhibit my skills to clients/ colleagues/ tutors
• Make sure I leave enough time to visit critiques and tutorials for the PPP project, and any other project to ensure I am on the right path for my final piece.
• I will continue to explore different techniques/ skills/ interests/ styles throughout the next year to inform and diversify my final PPP pieces that will represent me for that year - I want to be as interesting and diverse of a designer as possible!
• Make something that isn't a book next year - I've done that this year!
• Perhaps try something totally new to the end of year project as a representation of my ongoing experimentation.

6. How well do you think you've done/5?

Attendance   

5

Punctuality   

4.5

Motivation    

5

Commitment 

5

Quantity of work produced

5

Quality of work produced

5

Contribution to the group

5

OUGD406- Speaking from experience end of project evaluation

Speaking from Experience - Evaluation

1. What skills have you learnt throughout this project and how effectively do you think you have applied them?

During this project I have learnt about book binding, and screen printing more independently. I have applied them by making my own book and making a screen for the cover.

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

I have learnt to work a lot quicker by working with Danielle Harrison. Her pace of working is a lot faster than my usual one and so it has made me speed up a lot more and work more efficiently. I have also been more keen to get primary research and trying new mediums. I have considered stock more. Working with someone else helps to enlighten you on what they think about when they design and vice versa. It's very refreshing. 

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

I have discovered that I am not half bad at designing freehand typography, I will continue to practice this in projects to come, even over summer. Might set a little taskette every day to draw a letter or something. I am also good at sewing a book together and making the hardback, I might continue this and design notebooks over summer.

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

Weaknesses I have identified is that I am not being disciplined enough to keep up to date on daily blog posts. I have also discovered that although I have sped up, I am still pretty slow at working, and learning to care a little less will be good for me and will help me move quicker and more efficiently through my work.

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

• Blog everything as I go so it doesn't mount up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• Leave room for things to go wrong - always ask about digital files and printing methods before designing something.
• Do a little bit of work everyday rather than drag it out for hours at night to keep concentration levels up and keep an equal balance between work and social time rather than just work.
• Learn about colour codes in more depth on illustrator so I actually understand warning signs! It was all mumbo jumbo and I started to panic! It turned out fine but could have been something a lot more serious!

• Experiment more with different materials and mediums to add diversity to my designs as opposed to the pen tool on illustrator all the time, although I do love it...

6. How well do you think you've done/5?

Attendance   

4.99

Punctuality   

4.9

Motivation    

5

Commitment 

5

Quantity of work produced

5

Quality of work produced

5

Contribution to the group

5

OUGD404 - Design Principles - Evaluation

Evaluation

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

During this module, I have learnt a lot of the basics and foundations of graphic design, and I have found it quite useful. Its made me observe things differently and more technically and I am able to assess, for example, colours etc more coherently.

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

I have learnt how to work systematically and almost robotically and so am able to complete long tasks successfully such as the colour theory task. I have also learnt how to think diversely in my designs, such as when I was creating my layouts for my 10 things publication - because I created so many layouts I was forced to think more outside the box, which proved to be very successful.

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

I have discovered that I can in fact manage my time correctly and although I didn't blog my sessions daily, I still had them blogged well before the deadline so I was not stressing at all.

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

Weaknesses I have identified is that I am not being disciplined enough to keep up to date on daily blog posts for sessions. This is something that I will definitely work on in future modules. I have realised that I must always ask about tasks, as I may think I have done it correctly but it's always worth an ask, just in case I have misunderstood (I did my birth of a font incorrectly but what I did made sense according to the brief)

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

• Blog everything as I go so it doesn't mount up again!
• Check that what I am doing is correct - ask others! 
• Do a little bit of work everyday rather than drag it out for hours at night to keep concentration levels up and keep an equal balance between work and social time rather than just work.
• Keep learning about InDesign so I don't create a document with broken links etc again!
• Experiment more and put more enthusiasm even into the tasks that I don't enjoy as much.

6. How well do you think you've done/5?

Attendance   

5

Punctuality   

4.9

Motivation    

4

Commitment 

4

Quantity of work produced

4

Quality of work produced

4.7

Contribution to the group

4.5

OUGD406 - Communication is a virus Evaluation

Communication is a virus Evaluation

As a group, we identified that the problem with tea is it is hard to advertise it for what it is or it's physical properties because most people already know. It is a widely favoured drink across all ages except perhaps children because they simply don't like the taste. We figured that, as a group, our market would need a fresh, new motive to drink tea other than the fact that it has health benefits and it's quite patriotic, as this had been done before.

We decided to tie in our tea challenge with Red Nose Day, the motive being that you would drink tea perhaps instead of the can of coke you were going to pick because the money is going to a good cause.

Research

Primary
We didn't really carry out any formal primary research in the form of surveys etc and I wish that we had done because we would know exactly what our audience wants from their own mouths!
Secondary
We looked at several tea adverts that appealed to families such as the Heinz advert and Red Nose day campaign. We found this the most useful as we wanted to appeal to a mass market of all ages and learnt what would appeal to them. 
Qualitative
Because we didn't really do much primary research, I feel like that we didn't have anything qualitative about our research although we found that looking at advertising campaigns and collecting adverts and leaflets handing to us to see how others appeal to the public.
Quantitative
We found that the cafe downstairs charged 70p for a cup of tea so we decided to sell ours for 50p to appeal to those who were interested in value, not necessarily charity.

If I were to do this again, I think I would definitely make sure that more primary research was carried out because it is essential for knowing what your audience wants - and we didn't do that formally.

In my opinion, the way we managed the workload in our group was largely imbalanced. I felt like I didn't have enough work to do, and that I could have easily taken on more jobs to assist with the group - had there been any. If I were to do this again, I would have created more tasks for me to contribute to the group because I also think that in the end, although everything looked great and was of high quality, there were more opportunities for design than we took advantage of and our collection was quite scarce.

I think our group dynamic, although friendly, was kind of dysfunctional in that, we all have leadership personalities and it was hard to manage a project with too many people all wanting to do the same thing.

Overall though, I thought we achieved the task of getting people to drink tea - the £65 shows it!

OUGD405 - Final Evaluation

Design Principles Final Evaluation

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

In this module I don't know if I have learnt any new skills, but I have certainly developed my existing ones, such as time management and research skills. I have found that I have more disipline and motivation to do my work before last minute, and not to lose all hope if it gets that way. I have become less of a perfectionist, but I still really love the work that I produce.
I have learnt that if you can, you must manipulate the thing that you are working on to something that you enjoy, or you will have no motivation to continue. Some things have to be done with no compromise of course, but you must always find a way round it to make it enjoyable.

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

I have found more enthusiasm in researching, becoming almost engrossed at the task at hand, meaning that I have been more focused and aware of what I'm about to carry out. It certainly has made my work more interesting and therefore easier to execute.

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

I have discovered my strengths in illustration and paper engineering. Although I want to be a diverse designer, I have found that the projects I most enjoy should be the ones that I should pursue further.

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

Weaknesses I can identify in my work are inconsistency (of print in this case). I'm still working on my time management, and in this case, I wasn't quick enough in getting all of my artwork completed in time to be printed from the same printer and so looks mismatching. I really want to make sure this doesn't happen again!!

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

• Blog everything as I go so it doesn't mount up again!
• Make sure I'm up to date with past tasks before pursuing current ones - so I don't end up confused as to what I'm supposed to be doing.
• Do a little bit of work everyday rather than drag it out for hours at night to keep concentration levels up and keep an equal balance between work and social time rather than just work.
• Get involved in other styles and lines of work to keep my work interesting and diverse.
• Pursue my favourite elements of graphic design and start talking to designers for work experience.

6. How well do you think you've done/5?

Attendance   

5

Punctuality   

4.9

Motivation    

4.9

Commitment 

4.9

Quantity of work produced

5

Quality of work produced

5

Contribution to the group

4.5

OUGD403 - Final evaluation