OUGD 503 Evaluation

1. What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them:


Throughout this module I’ve learned to see myself as a designer rather than someone who uses their skills to just produce things that look good. The responsive module has taught me to control my design decisions. Instead of thinking of what would look better, I think ‘would it suit the client or contextual purpose?’, After assessing my outcomes it was clear that there had been a big shift in the way I was designing, I wanted to create outcomes that were solving problems, paying attention to their cultural and social contexts. For eample; ZoomRadar was an interactive weather website which I’d re-branded and brought up-to date to fit in with a contemporary culture. But I also looked at how I could do something different for the company, and that’s when I thought about introducing the QR Code scanner. I designed some advertisements that were subtle in their message but also eye-catching and mixed with interactivity would hopefully cause interest among consumers. I made it my mission to use personal photography that really captured the beauty of weather.

I've learnt to co-ordinate myself and respond to briefs in a managed and controlled time frame. I've proved to myself that a group collaboration can create ideas that will make you learn. I've developed my Screen-printing capabilities, extending and re-visiting knowledge about Fabric screens and heat presses. The module has pushed myself down different pathways and given me a more confident footing when it comes to venturing outside of university and using the available resources at Vernon street, In just my two visits there I learnt about letter-pressing, hydraulic pumps, various binding techniques, using a machine motored drill.

Obviously Time managements been vital during this module, a-swell as recognising how far I can push briefs. In order to take the most away from the OUGD503 module, I tried to incorporate a varied amount of briefs; entering competitions from 'YNC', Submitting designs to 'DesignCrowd', Creating T shirt designs for 'Threadless', Completing self initiated briefs, Responding to briefs received through my college email and also Entering the Penguin Design Awards.

This module has been invaluable in the sense that I've made decisions I didn't really think I would, subconsciously and consciously I've focused my attention around a large proportion of Branding & Identity. You could say I've almost found my footing as a designer.

In terms of technical competence and problem analysis, I’d say the group collaboration definately disciplined myself and Luke. It emphasised the fact that we’d have to comprimise ideas just as we had to do with our own. There came times when one of us would have afew ideas, and one would have one good idea, which meant that person had to put aside how much work they’d done and accept the better route despite their emotional input. Working alongside someone else definately benefits, not only did I learn various activities through Lukes design process but I also learned to manage my time and be present when I needed to be, being around one another certainly improved our workflow, it was almost a casual competition between myself and Luke, we were working to prove ourselves to each other and taking advantage of all the processes we could. Designing this way has helped me; Emboss/ Deboss, Bind documents together using professional techniques, photograph in a suitable environment among many other things.

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

My range of deliverables and concepts to a brief have broadened, usually I'd try and develop one concrete concept but this module has taught me to basically broaden my design ideas and start thinking outside of the box. It's always better to do more work, than do less work. More choice...More chance. Presenting our work has also been a big learning curve for this module, it was constantly noticed throughout all our crits and I'd definitely say I've become more aware of what submission boards should demonstrate, numbering each board, titling each & making sure they all follow a consistent layout so the only things that stand out are your products.

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


All in all the Responsive module has ignited my ambition to get my work out there in the public domain, its taught me how to value your market and also highlighted the importance of time management and workflow. Deadlines didn’t really become a big issue for me simply because I’d planned my time and knew what work I had to do first, but also because I knew what work I could afford to do at the time. However my management could of been better, If I hadn’t spent time screen printing certain projects, I could of turned my hand to actually coding a website instead of proposing digital scamps, Or even made sure all of my deliverables were photographed appropriately. But due to circumstances some of these things just weren’t possible but are certainly factors I still need to 
account for. Earlier rather than Later. The responsive module has also lead to further investigation and promoted another self initiated brief, which involves ‘website branding’ for a company based in the Lake District.

I really think my strengths came out during the collaborative process, because we both had different skill sets it became easier to recognise my strengths and capitalise on these, the most obvious of mine was my attention to detail. The same goes for Luke because we both ended up subconsciously taking up roles.

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

My knowledge of all the capabilities in Illustrator let me down during the collaborative process, I felt Luke's knowledge of certain aspects in illustrator overshadowed mine, but this was an easy weakness to solve, which I did, using the group collaboration as a chance to also better my skills.
Although the stress of deadlines didn't really get to me the slowly mounting of briefs eventually took their toll, although I'd managed my time, the workload was daunting, there were times when I just couldn't touch work and it was in these times that the stress of the module would show.

I really felt the only noticeable let down of all my work was the photography aspect. I didn't manage my time a swell as I could of during the last run up to the deadline, because of this  some of my presentational boards were let down by shoddy photography. I know in future I won't even use photographs if they're not shot in the correct environments.

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

Plan how I'll spend my time on each specific brief, noting down when I'll need print slots, photographic resources and a tutors input.

Be wary of competitions, just because someones offering money for what may seem like little work, it doesn't mean it's worth it. Websites such as 'DesignCrowd' are strongly influenced by ranking and earning, the judging is made by regular people and not professionals/ people with an appreciation of design.

Tell the client straight away what information I'm required so there's no input from the client as your nearing the finish of a design/ layout. Keeping a constant communication with your client seems like a good idea but at the same time could just be making your life harder than it needs to be!

Always approach Web design! I highly regret not coding a website, I'd spent a lot of time developing interfaces and understanding what could be possible for websites and none of the time putting the designs into context as you may say.

NEVER take photographs at home, the Tungsten lighting makes all of the photographs lose their sense of quality!

STAY ON TOP OF BLOGGING, because it was a responsive module I concentrated on actually responding to briefs rather than wasting large amount of times blogging, In the case of this module I would say blogging throughout would be a waste of time because during these periods you'd have the time to extend the amount of briefs you'd be doing. However despite this way of thinking, I created a huge workload for myself when it could of been avoided.

Attendance - 4

Punctuality  - 4

Motivation - 5

Commitment - 5

Quantity of work produced  - 5

Quality of work produced - 5

Contribution to the group -5