Evaluation for Design Practice 3.

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

One of the main skills I gained from this module is working for a client as I did with the Green Gigs live brief I took on. I was approached by a friend to design a logo for him as he was setting up a business called Green Gigs. At first I was told I could do whatever I wanted with the logo but as designers we know this isn't the way it works. So I went back and had a chat about the logo and received more direction in what exactly the client wanted. Which helped me a lot and I the designs I sent received positive feedback. Also from completing this brief I've found I quite like designing brand identities so this is something I'm defiantly looking in to doing for one of my FMP briefs.

Also I feel I've improved with my software skills too especially within indesign as I feel I have more confidence using the program now. From completing the faber and faber brief I think my layout skills have also improved too. Which has also made me consider taking on more briefs to do with layout for publication for FMP. Also within taking briefs on like this I really feel that it's pushed me out of my comfort zone which allowed me to experiment more.

2. What approaches to generating work and solutions to problems have you developed and how have they helped?

I've also tried to make more use of the workshops and the processes they have to offer. Such as foiling this has appeared in two of my briefs one to achieve a spot varnish effect for my book covers and then again for the Occasions brief. I found this a useful process to learn and also just finding out about the different processes that are available at college.

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

I think that within this module I've looked in to the use of different processes such as foiling which allowed me to experiment more with my designs. Especially looking into the methods of how a spot varnish can be used effectively on a book cover.

4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how could you exploit these more fully?

Within this module I've learnt that one of my weaknesses is that I don't make enough design decisions early on within my work. From doing the faber and faber book brief I realised that within layout you can spend ages just tweaking the layout. I found myself just continually developing the book covers but just producing design after design and not actually getting anywhere with it. So after realising this I stopped and got feedback on the designs I felt work. Then from doing that I could make the decision and actually produce the book covers. For the next module I really need to make sure I don't fall in to this trap again.

Also I set out to achieve more screen printing for this module but due to how time consuming the process is I didn't manage to print much. This was mainly because of things going slightly wrong when setting up the screens, such as putting the coating on the screen on too thick then having to start again because it all peels off. So after all this I made the decision to next time really think about whether its the right process to use within a brief.

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

• update my blog more and add links to my design context blog so that its easier to refer back to where I sourced the imagery from.
• be more decisive early on within a brief.
• to make sure that if we need to print presentation boards to get down to digital print early and book in advance.
• not to spend too much time developing ideas and to focus more on production.
• to try to organise my work at the start of a module and not leaving it all till the end.
  

6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas:
5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor

Attendance - 4

Punctuality - 4

Motivation - 4

Commitment - 4

Quantity of work produced - 4

Quality of work produced - 4

Contribution to the group - 3

Final Boards for Headline.

Final Crit Feedback.

After the final crit on my mock up boards it was suggested to me to change the title a bit, as it was too bold and distracting the eye away from my work.

It was also raised that I need to number my pages e.g. page 1 of 4

Mock up boards for Headline.

Headline Evaluation.

Final Headline Poster Design.

headline development.

Just experimenting with different layouts for the type at the bottom and overlaying an offset white outline on selected birds. Also cropping the background colour to add another layer and adding afew more lines to the composition.


The above design is just too plain and I don't like the layout of the type. But I think the colour for the background is appropriate as parakeets are mainly of that colour. Plus this would only produce a one colour screen print and I'm wanting to achieve either a 2 or 3 colour print not including the stock I use.

Above is just a simple layout from one of my design sheets.

Headline with colour.

Another headline....

New birds.

Iv decided to scrap the layouts for my poster designs and start afresh with a set of parakeets but still just using the silhouettes, as I can now layer these birds up to create more impact as an invasion.

Crit.

After the crit yesterday things I need to address are:

Faber&Faber

• front cover, spine and back cover layouts.
• how does it work as a series.
  
• consider the use of different imagery.
• more research into the imagery used for the titles.
• look at the layout of book covers (more research)
  
• move ideas in to indesign.
  

Headline:

• don't over think it.
• colour investigation.
• generate ideas in illustrator.

Occasions:

• experiment with visuals and generate more ideas.
• will know more after briefing.
• processes???
  

Mock Birds.

After initially drawing up my ideas, I then scanned them into illustrator and pen tooled the outlines.
These are just a few design ideas I had but now I've put them into illustrator I'm not keen on the layout or design. I don't think that the hand drawn type works that well either so I'm going to have another go at that.

The simple outline of the parakeets works well though I think it would work better with a splash of colour.

Headline.

Headline: 'Invasion of the Parakeets'

This is just a layout page for my headline, I'm looking in to the use of hand drawn type within this brief as its a process I've not used before.
I'm wanting to keep the imagery of the birds quite simple so that it can just sit nicely within the background to let the type lead.
However I feel the type isn't really working within this design and I'm considering going back to using ready made fonts instead of my own. But I will keep experimenting with hand drawn type throughout this brief and hopefully find a type face that works.