Monday 21 November 2011

Evaluation


BA (Hons.) GRAPHIC DESIGN
LEVEL
05
 Module Code 
OUGD201               


 Module Title
DESIGN PRODUCTION - PRINT






END OF MODULE SELF-EVALUATION

NAME
William Cotterill
BLOG. ADDRESS
W-cotterill1013.blogspot.com

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

I have developed a broad range of skills throughout this module, which have helped to successfully execute my final piece. The type sessions have been a really big push in understanding layout properly and how type is correctly set out on a page. I have practised this within my work in relation to kerning, working with my logo. I have picked up little techniques in the type sessions that have changed the way I view certain pieces of design, for example learning how to accurately set of a sentence on a page so that the words are read in the correct order is something I find myself constantly noticing. Other than just type based skills, the print sessions have helped me to understand the theory behind print and how the print process actually works. Rather than just going straight into designing on illustrator or Indesign I now know how to set up each document using various colour modes and applying different swatches so that my design is ready to send to print. My understanding of printing techniques and finishes has been expanded massively, before I started the module I didn’t have a clue about spot varnish, foil printing or substrates. Understanding this terminology has helped to acquire a much more fluent way of discussing my reasoning for decisions within my design practice. My technical drawing skills in relation to my logo design have developed over the past 8 weeks, the drawing tasks that we were set really encouraged me to start trying to get my ideas from my head straight down on paper rather than trying to work straight into illustrator or Photoshop.


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

During this module I have been much more experimental in comparison to last years briefs. I have really enjoyed experimenting with homemade varnish and foils to achieve a professional effect but on a low budget. I have printed on a range of different stocks at a range of different formats, this has really helped me in terms of designing my final piece. Having the knowledge of what looks good on what stock helped me to produce my final outcome so that it was consistent in terms of branding. When we were set the tasks to develop our own nets I really got into thinking of my work as a 3d product rather than just a sketch on a paper. When it came to making my final outcome using nets and thinking about what areas of my work would be die cut made me develop much more innovative ways of packaging my products. I decided to make my final outcome out of wood using the same theory as behind my paper nets.




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

It’s always hard to identify your own strengths within your work but something I think I have particularly developed throughout this module is working with type. I have began to appreciate type in hole different light, and treating it in a rather different fashion to prior 8 weeks ago. Learning about kerning, letter spacing, alignments and point size has made me start to develop my work in a much more professional way. These guidelines and this brief knowledge has made me start gaining more and more interest in type and the way type works, I want to develop the skills I’ve learnt further in the optional sign up module.


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

One weakness within my work is my time management, with it being the first term back after summer and it being a completely new brief I found it hard to get back into routine as quick as I would have liked. I found I spent a lot of time of my practical work and less time on my theoretical work, after my PPD session with John I’ve learnt the only way to solve this problem is to pre-plan my briefs using time management sheets and calendars. Another weakness is keeping up to date with my blogging, during the start of the project I found it hard to keep up with blogging and found I wasn’t blogging as regularly as I should have been, After the design for print research task I’ve found myself back on my feet with keeping on top of recording my work online. I think one way to improve this in future is to set aside an hour out of each day or a full day at the weekend to keep my blog up to date and full of the latest information that needs to be on there


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

1. I would change use solely the same stock for all my printed products, the combination of glossy and matt did work to a certain extend but I think in future to make my starter kit that little but better all the print should be in a Matt black stock with a black UV varnish.

2. Making a website for my product to link up with or some more promotional material would be a good direction to take my project in if given more time. I think this would given my practical work much more reference in terms of target audience and where the product would be sold.

3.Next time I would like to complete all 3 of my mini guides, I found that because of my time management and over estimating how much I could produce I only got to complete one. Having all three complete would finish my start kit and give a lot more impact for the messages I’m trying to communicate.

4.I would alter the appearance of my can cap sleeve and cap box, The glossy stock doesn’t do the design justice, I think with an arrangement of layout and some more content these both could be very effective pieces of print.

5.If given more time, I would like to extend the range of products I produced, even though I did screen print during this project I would like to develop my screen printing skills in future, which is something I didn’t achieve during this module. A series of t-shirts or hoodies would be a nice feature to extend the brand I produced.



6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas:
(please indicate using an ‘x’) 

5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor

1
2
3
4
5
Attendance




x
Punctuality



x

Motivation



x

Commitment




x
Quantity of work produced



x

Quality of work produced




x
Contribution to the group




x
The evaluation of your work is an important part of the assessment criteria and represents a percentage of the overall grade. It is essential that you give yourself enough time to complete your written evaluation fully and with appropriate depth and level of self-reflection. If you have any questions relating to the self evaluation process speak to a member of staff as soon as possible.


Thursday 13 October 2011

Target Print - Print visits

A few pictures from our print visits from a couple of weeks ago. Found the visit so useful in relation to practically understanding how print works, Its so different in comparison to looking at pictures or books. 










Thursday 26 May 2011

Tuesday 26 April 2011

What is line? End of Module Evaluation

What is a Line has been a very creative and interesting brief to work on. I am happy with the two sketchbooks i produce and worksheets and found it engaging working with a subject matter i wouldn't usually get to look at.

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

I think i have developed my drawing skills throughout this brief, Ive grown a passion for working in moleskin sketchbooks and have began following blogs and websites solely related to moleskin artwork.  Nearing the end of the brief i looked back at my work and noticed that I'd mainly worked in fine liner pen across all the techniques i tested, I definitely think my drawing in this media has improved, this may be something to work on further in relation to my illustration work.
What approaches to/methods of research have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?
 In regards to research I tried to look at a range of different illustrators and artists that I thought would influence my own style of drawing. Artists like Ward Zwart inspired me to solely work in a sketchbook across double page spreads as a vehicle of recording, his style of illustration is naive and inaccurate and this is something i tried to develop in my own work. 
 
What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?
 
The main strengths within my work have been the prints i produced using black card and white paint. I found that my images were really strong images to work with especially when dropped down to only 2 colours. I think this stencil like effect would be a technique I could develop further and maybe produce on a larger scale or could be used to develop digitally.  Another strength I can identify in my work has been the range of different media I've experimented with. I tried to produce continuous drawings using a range of different wet and dry biased media day to day to record my ideas, the range of media i used helped me to widen my knowledge of how i work best.


What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these more fully?
 
 One weakness of my work is that I didn't get to a stage where i felt ready to produce a final piece. My development towards a final outcome was something I was thinking about right from the start of the brief however when nearing the end I found I ran out of time. This could of been stopped If i had managed my time better and structured the stages of my work along to my time plan. I would definitely like to continue my project and produce some chalk drawings or large A1 prints of the buildings i photographed. This will be something to take up in the near future. 


5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor

1
2
3
4
5
Attendance




X
Punctuality





Motivation



X

Commitment



X

Quantity of work produced


X


Quality of work produced



X








Monday 28 March 2011

Feedback From Group 4- Communication is a Virus

They chose the brief subject "Get people to read more" and had a fluid and concise presentation with an effective outcome- whereupon they used stencils to create a typographic flour pattern on pavements- attracting passers by as a temporary arts piece.

This is a brief summary of the feedback we gave after watching their presentation and analysing their blogs collectively...


-Good research and linking design practice to design context in blogs.
-Existing poster layouts, quotes and type- good considerations for the brief.
-Looked at text within the environment, but would benefit from gauging responses for a more defined view of how effective their outcome was. It was proven to make people read- but did it inspire them to do so more frequently after wards?
-Specific research to product outcome evident on blogs- though could perhaps elaborate on this development a little more- go out there and create the designs as opposed to just talking about them (though we understand time is limited).
-Good planning and research- perhaps, however, a little too negative. Statistics and solid quantitative research would increase the believability and truth that people don't in fact read (if this is in fact the case).
-Good distribution and communication as a live brief, but perhaps make a more permanent source for their project- getting to physically read up tips, advice etc- a follow-on from what you are already doing. Perhaps adding a reading list to create examples of what people could be reading- the quotes were not specifically catered for an audience.
-Good development of work on design practice blogs.
-Consider where you present the work- perhaps make it a little more scenic and less vulnerable to wearing (potentially increasing the amount of people that would see it, therefore, increase it's effectiveness)- a place where people would walk, but not walk over it.
-Good method of delivery with the postcards- a bridge between the temporary and the permanent.

Feedback For Group Five-Communication is a Virus

Group 5 -


James Flanagan
Lewis Francis
Oli Cassell
Chloe Wilkinson

Tell a convincing lie (poker - bluffing)

-Regularly changing concept which wasn't documented.

-No design direction boards?

-Pack of cards really brilliant concept - simple and effective if dealt with properly
Needed to be more evidence to get real idea of aesthetic.

-Only considered cards... possibly needs greater scope - needs to go to print - consider packaging, promotion and variations?

-Questionnaire blogged is the only sign of research methods.

-Limited to no evaluation -presentation did give idea of where it was going.

-We think unresolved as of yet, down to not telling a lie, just teaching other people... possible interpretation of the brief.

-Possibly for audience, look outside of casinos - look at selling them away from the direct audience.

-Needs taking to print to test it's effectiveness.

-apart from the promise of money, never told a lie?

-Needs to become live we feel.

Thursday 3 March 2011

Wednesday 16 February 2011

OUGD102 End of module Evaluation

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

One main skill I have learnt throughout this project is how to bind books, I think this was what influenced my work the most. After learning how to bind books I decided to change the direction of my work to think about an alternative outcome, that being making books. This has been very useful and I really enjoyed learning some skills that I can take forward into my other work. Analyzing my work and other peoples work effectively is something I feel I have developed the most in this module. As we had a series of crits and the project extended longer than any other so far, I feel that I had more time to conclude what I thought about my work. Appreciating other peoples opinions and taking in what they have said properly to benefit my work has definitely been something I've improved doing.
What approaches to/methods of research have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?
I have chosen lots of different approaches to the different ways I recorded my research. I gained primary quantitive statistics and figures from sending out questions for people to answer online, I also gained a lot of secondary research to influence the direction of my work from the library. I found that they informed my design development process in relation to the imagery I was working with, but in regards to the statistics and figures I had collected I felt that information graphics wasn’t something that I wanted to work towards.
What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?

I find it really hard to self-reflect on the my main strengths in my work at this stage of the course but I think that the area that I succeeded in the most was developing the logo's for the front covers of each one of my books. I got really into sketching out the type I was thinking of using, then making subtle alterations ready to be edited in Illustrator. I enjoyed this process, and feel that I recorded the developing stages of my work well on my blog. I feel that this could be a skill to develop, hand rendering type is definitely something that I have developed a liking for and this could be an area to look into for the next brief.


What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these more fully?

I think I have one main weakness within my work and thats keeping on top of my time management , I’ve found that this project definitely need to use my time to more effect. Blogging is a key factor of my time management and I find that I end up Blogging my work all together rather than in smaller posts as I go along. After doing some time management sessions with Joe I think it would be a good idea that the next brief I receive to follow a chart or plan for the time I have to complete it in. This would structure the way I work plus stop me from getting off track. Another weakness I feel I have in my work is the neatness of my presentation, When making my final books I found the process very tedious and as a result the outcome of my work I felt looked slightly scruffy. I think on the next brief I am going to create my work by hand rather than digitally this way I can start to improve the way I present things.


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

1 – Next time I would use different stock to print the inside of my books. Due to having lots of inner pages to print and worrying about cost I used a lower stock that usual. I felt that this didn’t look very professional but if I was to reproduce my work I think that this would be the first aspect I would change. Due to complications this time round I didn’t get to screen print any of my work, which is what I origionally intended. I think that next time I would really enjoying working with screen print and it would of added more to the character of my work.


2 – I would do more research into other vector prints as this is an area I feel I just threw myself in the deep end with. As a result I found it took me an unnecessary amount of time to produce the designs for each of my books. With some more practise or guidance on following a specific style of vector print I think my work could have been much more effective in being visually engaging.

3 – Next time I would explore more than just a couple of outcomes for solving my problem and developing my work. I feel that once I got an idea in my head, I leant more towards going down that route than looking for different ways my work could progress. To achieve this, next time I think that I just need to be more open minded in the sense of direction that my work is heading.

4 – Being spontaneous when it comes to generating ideas. After attending crits I think I've realised that often within design its the most direct idea always seems to be the most effect, and to get a direct idea takes lots of experimentation. I would like to improve on this and try not to think about the outcome of my work before I've even decided on its beginning.

5 – I found that most of the work I produced for this module was made digitally I.e using Photoshop or Illustrator, next time I would like to produce most of my work by hand as this is what I enjoy. I think I could raise the standard of my work if I was to do this, plus this would help to to send my work in an alternative direction to usual.

6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas:
(please indicate using an ‘x’)

5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor


1
2
3
4
5
Attendance








X
Punctuality








X
Motivation






X


Commitment






X


Quantity of work produced






X


Quality of work produced






X


Contribution to the group





X



Sunday 13 February 2011

Monday 07/02/2011 Studio Surgeries

On Monday we had another studio surgery session to help to get our work on track. This involved leaving all mock ups and designs out in the studio for everybody else to wander around and view, then comments on other peoples work were recorded and left for feedback.

Issues Raised:

Have you thought about different colours for the guitar?

What is the relevance to CMYK?

Have you thought about Typeface/Layout


Actions to be taken:

I have thought about different colours for the guitars, each book will be a different spot colour CMYK using no other colours. I think using more than one colour for each guitar will over complicate my design and bombard the viewer with too much information. 

The relevance to CMYK is so that my book has a wider audience to relate to rather than just people with an interest in guitars. By doing so my book can appeal to both guitar players and people with a creative interest. 

Typeface and layout is something i will definitely need to develop. I want to keep my front covers as simple as possible but my plans/nets for the inside of my books will be much more complex and that's something i will need to focus on this week.

Friday 04/02/2011 Studio Surgeries

Today we had to take our idea to a group crit explaining how we are going to move forward and how our idea is going to develop. I found the feedback i got on my project really useful to help me to push forward to producing a final outcome.

Issues Raised:

-Who are my books for?

-Have i considered my Audience?

-Make a clear link to CMYK

-More information and facts need to be included on each page. 

Actions to be taken:

-Plan who the books are going to be viewed by, target auidience.

-Develop designs so that they relate to CMYK and have more information inside for the appropriate audience.



After the crit i found i was asking myself alot of questions than before, this was a good thing because it got me thinking in depth about the concept behind my project rather than just its outcome. 

I have decided that the audience i am going to aim my books at are going to be guitar players or guitar fanatics who also have a creative interest in the prints i am going to produce. I think it would appeal to people of all ages but without an interest in print or vector illustration it may be hard to appreciate. I have decided i am going to make each book a different colour (CMYK) so that it appeals to more of a creative market. 

Monday 31 January 2011

Time Management-Questions

What do you want to achieve by the end of the course?

By the end of the course i want to be in a  position that even if im still no further to deciding where i want to go in life i feel like i have put 110% into this course and got every last bit of knowledge out of it.  
What is your ideal job?

My ideal job would to be the designer for my own skateboard company or to be working within design in the music industry. Otherwise I'm still not 100%, as my mum always says do what makes you happy, so who knows what will make me happy over the next 3 years.

What kind of practice/business do you aspire to be a part of?

Apparel/clothing 

Do you want to run your own business?

Yes

Do you want to work abroad?





The sooner the better, get me out of the U.K and to somewhere that's not run by idiots!

What special interests are important to you?

Special interests that are important to me and influence my work are playing guitar, drawing, print, illustration, metal music, going to gigs/festivals etc