End of Module Evaluation

Self-Evaluation

This responsive module has taught me a lot as a designer and as a professional. Throughout this responsive module I feel that I have developed as a designer in more then one way. I have started to tackle personal and proffesional problems that were arising within my organastion and design skills. 

My aims for this responsive module was to tackle my illustration skills. Throughout my time on the course I have always been intrested in developing  these skills as I have always ‘doodled’ and i thought it was time to apply these skills to see if I could gain any improvement.

The modules I am submitting I have tried to variy in skill set so i can achieve more confidence within specific areas.

Confidence when submitting designs I feel, has always been a low point for me. I would always be consious of my designs and what people would think of them but I feel that within this module I have become slightly less paranoid and started to think of the real issues behind the briefs so that my designs benifit.

My skills with digital aspects of design were also lacking. Throughout this module I ave tried to devlop my skills on illustrator and indesign. Mocking up boards has taught me about proffesionalism  and layout, and has also benifited my selction process of design.

Selecting the right designs to be taken forward and portraying the designs in a clear contextual format has given them a sense of proffesionalism in itself.

The responsive module has simpily given me a cahnce to select and  explore a selection of different briefs that I will probably never get the chance to do again. The selection process has allowed me to pick briefs that best suit my time manangement, design skills, and genrally the way I work. I was quite aprihensive when first starting this module, due to confidence and technical issues, but since undertaking briefs at my own pace and selection it has given me encouragment. 

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

Throughout this module I have developed skills both technically through research ability, illustration design and programme development. I have also developed confidence skills and professions' skills that can be pushed forward into other aspects of my design career. These skills are probably most important to be as they have allowed me to devlop and because more open to certain things. Creating a sense of professionalism in order to recieve and give critical constructive criticim is ideal. Also skills in working as a collabrative have also devloped. Listening to what people have to say and taking on board design decisions  and concepts is useful process.   

Learning about how to respond to certain briefs, and idea generation was also a useful skill. I believe that I have also learned and develop new skills in the adobe suit.

I had to tacle using illustaor and indesign for the first time with these projects. I can't use these devices so it was very difficult for me to get to grips with the systems and working within teh specifc artboards. It was a major challange for me as i really do have to persue new design skills in these area but i feel that I have devleoped futher with these skills escpeically carrying it on through illustraive techniques and how to adopt me designs from hand rendered to digitally enhanced. 

Learning how to select briefs has also been an extreme learning curve. I find it very difficult to adampt to new situations and devices so i feel that with more pracice i can enhance all the teh skills os brief selection and idea generation.

I feel that i have applied these skills in a very basic way, as i have been learning and developing, if i had more tiem i feel that i could push the boundaries futher to enhance my designs and design skills. The briefs I selected were based mainly on short - term complitemnet and a few long perios deisgns to keep my time managemnt organised. 

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

My design approach has been different for the specific briefs I have undertaken. The short term design briefs I have used illustrations and hand rendered mock up designs for final pieces. 

The approach and perspective of this project has been different to any one I have done before. I have never made an application before and very proud of my self for doing so. It is alot harder tehn i first thought it would be but i think with more practice i can devlop this futher. The deisgn mok ups and fucntioning and working out of scales etc was quite hard to devlop. Thinking about the user activity and various other formats also made me devlop the designs futher.

The approach i have had this time has been quite developmental for me. I have approached the adbobe suite with extreme caution and was always worried about using teh software. Most things i have done within this topic is brand new to me, and seemed hard to get to grips with, therefore my method of production has been slower and more bsic compaed to what i feel confident in producing. Certain aspects of illustration and are new skills, from developing images of 'doodles' to final designs.  

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

I think one my strengths is learning new techniques and skills. I now have confidence in my designs skills and feel that adapting my new found skill set will be less stressful.

I will develop these skills so that my designs can become more enhanced and devloped and will ultaize this on my own work also.

From this process, I have discovered that the best way for me to work on briefs, is if I can control time scales. The briefs that worked best for me included the Threadless T-shirt brief and the It’s Nice That brief. These two briefs allowed me to explore a range of products and devlop ideas futher then specified. The Its Nice That Brief I found enjoyable because it encourged me to actually think of how the user will interact with the product. I know we have discussed this in sessions, but this brief gave me the opetunity to actually figure out how to do this, why I am doing this and who it is actually being produced for. Exploring a range of ideas and tackling the issues that came with the project really inspired me in other aspects and modules of design. Co-ensiding with this brief, the Threadless competition was a new and exciting competition, and something I had never really entered before. Using refreshing and creative illustration that I liked as a designer gave me the oppetnity to focus on something I really wanted to focus on. I explored methods of devlopment, such as adding colour to hand rendered illustration and experimentation with different styles of illustration. I found out that I liked designing for varied age groups when it comes to illustartion. For instance, the Whittlebee competition allowed me to deisgn for a very young age group. I had to simplify designs and characteristics in order for the audience to relate and understand the illustrations. And for the Threadless competeition I could create more detailed or ‘stylish’ illustrations that related to a specfic ‘student’ based audience.

I feel however, that some of the briefs I selected did not work out well for me. This was because I felt that the final products did not reflect the input or that by the end of the brief I felt that the time management had be ‘dragged’ out.

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

With these projects, i feel that i have felt in some cases out of depth, because of this my time managment and finshed products have not been upto the statntd i would ave liked. 

I feel that all the desigsn i have created do not look as vsually pleasing as i thought because i have been trying to get to grips with software, equiment etc. 

I feel that i could improve my final designs and generate a lot more idea generation. I could of also rpinted off my final designs and worked across media to devlop the designs and techniques.
For instance i could of devloped my Threadless brief by screen prnting the T-shirt. This would of devloped my experience and would of giving me knowldge on the asthtics.

I feel that in the future i will be able to contribute more asthticlly pleasing deisgns, though the medium of the above techniques. Although i experimented, the experiments were miniamal and i feel i could devlop this.

I feel that the research i undertook dint quite relate as much to the ocntent i produced. I feel that with more time and motivation I could express ideas through extensive research and get a broad range of products. 

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

Next time I will try and make sure I stick to a proper timescale in terms of balancing out research time and designing time. as it  will hopefully give me a more reliable and valid outcome and my desigsn will be of a more aesthetically pleasing layout. 

Also now I have seen a different approach to a project I can take what I have learned and apply it to the next one. I think I will experiment more with different outcomes of design as I really enjoyed the construction side of my products, which isn't something I often do. 

Hopefully by doing this I will broaden my knowledge of design and it will also test my composition and printing skills. Next time I want to do even more screen-printing, as it will improve the outcome whether it is paper or fabric. 

6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas?

Attendance- 5

Punctuality- 4

Motivation- 3

Commitment- 3/4

Quantity of work produced- 3/2

Quality of work produced- 3/2

Contribution to the group- 3/4

Report Book - Responsive Module + Evaulation

Project Report:

I produced this project report evaluating and portraying my briefs and decision making throughout the responsive module. 

Final Submission Boards for OUGD503

It's Nice That D&AD Competition Brief: This brief has taught me to apply my designs to different formats and to present the final products is a clear and professional manor. The brief was an 'open craft' brief to aim its nice that back its creative DNA target audience of students. I decided to create an application for users. The aim for my designs was to create a fun, eye-catching and 'experience' for the app.

Hellfire Creative Network Brief: This brief allowed me to tap into using symbols and patterns to create a unique beer label design. The brief was to create a Hellfire Design that included all the desired information. It had to appeal to shop goers and use the correct imagery and logos provided. 

Ted baker D&AD Competition Brief: I used this as a collaborative brief with Beth Hayden. This brief brought out more - hand crafted - designs and skills that I had not yet experienced. The brief was to create a 'British' theme in a new opening store in any city of your choice. We decided to base our theme as a 'British VA-CA' based in New York store. We had to split the tasks and designs to our specific strengths and its was a useful experience learning how to interact and bounce ideas of a partner.

Whittlebee - Designing for children. The designs needed to be fun, develop a sense of learning and make mums say 'awwww'. I feel that doing this brief really helped to develop my illustrative skills. The competition closes on May 25th.

Sound channel - To create a recruitment Poster for Sound Channel. The poster had to appeal to students around the Leeds area. Creating briefs and talking with clients was something that worried me, but i feel that my confidence has developed and my presentation skills both in design and verbally have also been enhanced.

Threadless - T-Shirt Competition. To design a Tee that will be printed. The competition runs on a voting basis. So i felt that this design had to be of a high standard as it was difficult to please all audience it could appeal to a selection in a really forward thinking way.

Design Crowd - Create a T-shirt design that evokes the message of 'street Pirate' and encorparate a logo to co-enside or be the design. The use of a rough design was highlighted as specific. 

Final Individual Presentation Boards - Collaborative Brief - Ted Baker

Presentation boards on my individual input into the Studio brief 2 - Collaborative Brief 

My Input:

* Designing illustrations for gift wrap / store features
* Receipt and Gift Card Design (front and back)
* Look book Design
* Poster Design for 'Phonebox' section of Ted Baker store
* Designed presentation boards for final submission.

Evaluation from Report - Responsive

Throughout this responsive module I feel that I have developed as a designer in more then one way. I have started to tackle personal and proffesional problems that were arising within my organastion and design skills. 

My aims for this responsive module was to tackle my illustration skills. Throughout my time on the course I have always been intrested in developing  these skills as I have always ‘doodled’ and i thought it was time to apply these skills to see if I could gain any improvement.

The modules I am submitting I have tried to variy in skill set so i can achieve more confidence within specific areas.

Confidence when submitting designs I feel, has always been a low point for me. I would always be consious of my designs and what people would think of them but I feel that within this module I have become slightly less paranoid and started to think of the real issues behind the briefs so that my designs benifit.

My skills with digital aspects of design were also lacking. Throughout this module I ave tried to devlop my skills on illustrator and indesign. Mocking up boards has taught me about proffesionalism  and layout, and has also benifited my selction process of design.

Selecting the right designs to be taken forward and portraying the designs in a clear contextual format has given them a sense of proffesionalism in itself.

The responsive module has simpily given me a cahnce to select and  explore a selection of different briefs that I will probably never get the chance to do again. The selection process has allowed me to pick briefs that best suit my time manangement, design skills, and genrally the way I work. I was quite aprihensive when first starting this module, due to confidence and technical issues, but since undertaking briefs at my own pace and selection it has given me encouragment. 

From this process, I have discovered that the best way for me to work on briefs, is if I can control time scales. The briefs that worked best for me included the Threadless T-shirt brief and the It’s Nice That brief. These two briefs allowed me to explore a range of products and devlop ideas futher then specified. The Its Nice That Brief I found enjoyable because it encourged me to actually think of how the user will interact with the product. I know we have discussed this in sessions, but this brief gave me the opetunity to actually figure out how to do this, why I am doing this and who it is actually being produced for. Exploring a range of ideas and tackling the issues that came with the project really inspired me in other aspects and modules of design. Co-ensiding with this brief, the Threadless competition was a new and exciting competition, and something I had never really entered before. Using refreshing and creative illustration that I liked as a designer gave me the oppetnity to focus on something I really wanted to focus on. I explored methods of devlopment, such as adding colour to hand rendered illustration and experimentation with different styles of illustration. I found out that I liked designing for varied age groups when it comes to illustartion. For instance, the Whittlebee competition allowed me to deisgn for a very young age group. I had to simplify designs and characteristics in order for the audience to relate and understand the illustrations. And for the Threadless competeition I could create more detailed or ‘stylish’ illustrations that related to a specfic ‘student’ based audience.

I feel however, that some of the briefs I selected did not work out well for me. This was because I felt that the final products did not reflect the input or that by the end of the brief I felt that the time management had be ‘dragged’ out.

Briefs such as Design Crowd gave little oppertunity for diversity. Strict guidelines and very short time frames I thought worked for me, and in most cases they do, i just felt that this brief was slightly forced. The research I undertook, I belive, was to minimal and therefore my designs suffered. I feel that the final designs look slightly ametur and do not reflect me as a designer. However, taking this into consideration, I did use illustrator. I am still learning skills on illustrator and it took alot of time to figure out aspects of the package such as selecting the right tools to do the job. I do feel that my skills in illustrator have devloped, but I need to spend more time tackling this, as the course requires a high level of technical proffesionalism that I need to grasp quickly. 

The Hellfire Brief was also a brief that could of been developed futher. My time managament with this brief was quite poor, and I feel that this is reflected in teh final designs. Although i got my idea across (I feel), the designs seemed to have suffered some level of proffesionalism.
When creating teh final boards for all my briefs I used a template. I wanted to keep all the boards simular in order for them to look like a module set and portary proffesionalism. The boards are kept simple, with minimal text, however I find slecting the right images a difficult task. I tend to upload most designs to prove I have done the work, but this module has helped me to home in on specifics and highlight the main aspects of my pieces.
The boards helped me to detect weakness in my designs. Putting each brief in context and devloping starting points has been a challenge but I have enjoyed working cross-media to enforce tatical decisions.
Working collabrityly has also been an enjoyable experience which has taught me a lot about myslef and as a designer. When developing ideas on your own you can get whisked away with things, but as a pair, you have to combine ideas, listen to others and still maintain your own perspective. I found that I balanced this quite well. I was open to hearing critisism about me designs and would ive constructive critism to work on ideas. I felt that as a team we responded to the task quite well. Setting boundaries for each person and mini-deadlines allowed us to hand in on time. By working so close to someone you start to learn alot of design skills and Beth was great at passing on tips on illustratior and other techniques that pushed me as a designer. I felt that we worked well together to achieve an outcome that contributed our two diffenrt design skills. 

Thoughout this modue I also started numerous briefs and chose to move on from those briefs. In perspective I should of stuck with orginal briefs to push me futher, but this responsive module has allowed me to push myself in ways I have always wanted to with teh designs in this report.

I have enjoyed this module, The main things I have gained:

- Recognising own interests

- Articulate your own concept

- Professional Collaboration

- Time/Project Management 

- Creative compromise

- Presentation skills

- Professional Confidence / Professionalism

- Working as a team

- Idea generation

The main attribute though, personally, has to be confidence. The confidence to submit deisgns, teh conficede to hear criticism, the confidece to push my weaknesses and to talk / undertake proffesional tones.

I still feel that there are areas for improvement that would allow me to devlop futher. Such skills in technical aspects, such as programmes eg. illustrator. I think I need more practice in mocking up designs also. How can I achieve this? In what way would it be best for the audience. And of course my time managment skills. Short briefs do work best for me, but i need to explore ideas before i jump into designing etc. 

I think if I  really get stuck into future designs, this responsive module will help me cope with my design load and design managemnt.

Overall I have found this module very benifical as it has allowed me to introduce and selct designs I like but also puch boundaries. I have found that the collabrative brief with Beth Hayden really taight me a lot. 

Responsive Final Crit / Submission Information

Discussion:

Quality and Quantity of work being produced was perfected around the class.

Present boards to a very high quality for all crit's - Level 6 especially 
Should be bringing together conceptual presentation and design skills in a body of work. 
Expect to be shown high quality - keep on that level.

Presentation / Communication 

Does print pixilation effect you?
Quality of photographs
Typo's 


Key Submission formats:

Put together a project report:

- submitted as a PDF
- reports back on an introduction to what you've done / why?
- Information on briefs
- overall evaluation
- 10 double page spreads minim - well designed publication, professional and walks us through what youv'e done.
- things that sell / select key information
- print out project report 
- 5 presentation boards of individual contribution to collaborative brief 
- submit them in appropriate format - A3
PDFs of all boards you have done for the other briefs. 

Blog fully labelled and organised.



General Areas / Submission Discussion: 


Minimun of Key things that you have got out of this module?

- Presentation skills
- Professional Confidence / Professionalism
- Working as a team
- Idea generation
- Conceptual development
- Confidence to take risks
- Learning to compromise design / ideas
- Working on live briefs professionally
- Range of products
- Range and distribution 
- Pushing the boundaries 
- Recognising own interests
- Articulate your own concept
- Professional Collaboration
- Time/Project Management 
- Creative compromise



5x Presentation Boards - Printed

1 x Project Report (minimal 10 dps) - PDF

All Presentation boards for Briefs

Clearly Labelled blog / blog posts 
Research development / on going evaluation.

PDF's on Disk
+ Final entries for responsive 



Report : Intro / briefs / Summery / List of what you wanted to learn & learned. 
Select main / important aspects you want to draw to tutors attention. 
Things you got out of it. Could of gone wrong - what you learn from it. 
Illustrative documentation. 

Whittlebee - Final Designs

My final Designs:

Deadline MAY 25th

For my final designs I wanted to create a range of products and methods of distribution which would puch the conpect of growth through my design. The idea of starting with a baby grow - to a t-shirt - to stationary develops the idea.

The giraffe i feel works as a character and suits the idea of the brief to bing a learning style and a 'cute' chacrert.

SUBMISSION:

Image in Context of T-SHIRT & BABY GROW:

Choose the file(s) to display your design. Use up to 3 images in GIF or JPG format (RGB mode not CMYK), 845 pixels wide x 445 pixels tall. If you upload multiple images, they will display as a slideshow. All three of your slides combined should be under 250 KB.

Design in form of stationary:

I feel that this brief had been sucsessful in determining the age range of design. I have deisgned for an age range whcih i don't usually design for and i have used illustartion techniques that i have devloped from uk greetings to enter a design that could be used as part of a range.

The illustartion aspect of deisgn has taught me a lot, and using skills on illustaror and buildig my cofidnce has really encouraged me to devlop more designs/solutions like this in the future.

WhittleBee - Design

Using the 'vibe' of UK greetings i deciede to follow that project and use / take inspriration from UK greetings. 

I created this cahacter and selected a charcater from the uk greeting brief i didnt end up entering:

The whittlebee:

I have decided to build the 'charcter' them of growth and devlopment as well as learning. 

The age group i am designing for is 2months - 3 years. Mixed gender. The giraffe design at the moment looks move appealing as it represents growth and images can be maiipultaed to respresnt this in scale.

Whittlebee - Kids Clothing

Create a Wittlebee + Threadless Kids design.

Tyke, nipper, moppet, bambino. Wee ones are called lots of cute names, and they deserve to be outfitted in equally adorable wardrobes. That’s why Threadless is teaming up with kids clothing club Wittlebee to help put darling duds on stylish kids.

Your challenge is to design a unique t-shirt or one piece to be included in an upcoming Wittlebee subscription box.

Each month, Wittlebee sends a mystery box of kids’ clothes to members based on their little one’s age, gender, and dress-up style. Your job is to create a design that brings oohs and aahs on that very special mail day. Design something to fit itty bitty babies or boy or girl tots. We’ll keep this challenge open until May 24th, but designs will be chosen each month, so the earlier you get out your crayons and start drawing, the better your chances of landing inside a Wittlebee package.

Threadless - Final Designs

Final Designs:

Outlined illustration

Submitted 

Choose the file(s) to display your design. Use up to 3 images in GIF or JPG format (RGB mode not CMYK), 845 pixels wide x 445 pixels tall. If you upload multiple images, they will display as a slideshow. All three of your slides combined should be under 250 KB.

The final designs presented here I feel work to fit the brief. The illustartion is simple and can easily be transfereable to patterns.

Having a time limit on the design effected how i worked with this brief. The illustations took me the longest to get down, and experiements with fill and colour also added extra time, but in the end i went with the designs from my design ideas / sheets.

Responsive Collaborative

Creative Collaboration

Ownership Rights

Crit-ing 

TASK 1: LISTEN TO BRIEF FROM

Sam and Chris:

Design 4 different packaging for 4 different sense based on human feelings.
£8 - simular original style, old aged

brief need new lease of life.

Human feelings - medical route - spraying 'human feelings' onto you
make chemicals in brain into  spray

emotions : passion desire, sex lust, pride, excitement
research int chemicals that give these feelings 
fear thrill - Adrienne 

Medical Packaging
swallowable perfumes



TASK 2 :  

Identify 5 Key Questions that they have to go away and awnser
Costings? Audience? Products? 

Things that that partnership are going to need to do?
What do they need to do? research? How? Why? When?


Feedback from Chris and Sam:

- Audience :

If new york shop that set up in london; Class, Research New Yorkers like about London. 
What they like, Royals - Upperclass: 

Cheesy; Gentlemen, Tailored suits, Don't Cheapen the brand
Look at Ted Baker started out : Background

People that would not go on seaside holiday: are sea side holidays still? Beer Gardens : Link it more to twitter

# thats so British : make it more social > creates a vibe > Phone box idea is effective > Yellow Pages in box also

- what does audience think of london
- what they think of British sun, sea. 
- Raining 
- Pubs
- Random showers in audio - FLASH SALES when it rains: all staff put up umbrellas  etc 

FUN AND EXCITING 

- British summer

- rain would be effective

- has there been any new york brands set up in london and push new york theme
- Find out more about the Ted Baker heritage. 


Questions  Concerns 
Pitch ideas Identify what to produce and propose
30 minute Session 

Threadless - Design Development

I am once again going to make the design time quite short so that i can focus on one t-shirt design. 
Doing this T-short design is something different from any of the briefs i have done, as of yet, and i want to put some of my illustarive skills to the test to see how they can be best developed.

I scanned teh images of my desigsn, but wanted to add colour. I researched this and some of the easiest ways to get your submission ready for print or for threadless competiotion is by using specific stages of photoshop to help make the image print ready.

I quite liked this duo image i had sketched out and thought that it would look effective as a patterned print or stand alone mage for the competition so i decieded to go with this design.

The first optoin was to views the image and change the levels so that the black lines where still effective and clear, I then chose to add a colour overlay on my design so that i could see teh definate lines.

I do however really like the design as a simple outline, with the blue as a main section. 

Changing the levels on the design:

To change the colour to a colour range I had to select sections to make the design fit with the background. I had to inverse so i could select the white section.

The outline was then removed from a background onto a new layer, which could hen be edited, painted and overlayed as any other layer and each section could be separately ' coloured in'.

Adding colour at this point was something that I didnt want to do. I quite liked how simple the design was created, and it's hand drawn lines etc. But i thought that i could try and add colour to see how the design could look.

This process was a long process. I created a new layer for each section filled in with paint. I then realised that the colour fill was definlaty not working for the type of fianl finish i would of liked. 

The design looks effective as one, but maybe as a pattern? on a white t-shrt and outline? 

Or as a full colour or a grey t-shirt.

The designing of the illustration, i therefore felt was better produced when it was outlined.

FINAL DESIGN:

Threadless - Design Ideas and Concepts

I decided for this brief that i would work on my illustrative techniques. I feel that the design i want to portray could be quite quirky and i could use some of the 'doodles' as actual pieces of work.

From the research i have collected and seen from the threadless website, it is common theme of illustartion and quite moden designs. The designs all take a 'funny' tone of voice and seem quite illustartive digitally and hand rendered.

Here are some of the sketches:

I decided to start creating some simple illustrations by hand, and to devlop these onto the computer. I chose a style of design that is quite common nowadays and allws for expression and creativity.

The sketches are created with either fine liner, of pencil and have a sense of 'charcter' about them.

If i was to devlop these i would chose to keep some of the deisgn as simple outline, or worki into the design to create a full colour product.

Sound Channel - Final Designs / Mock Ups

The final poster designs - and flyer designs for the client. 

Numerous poster designs:

Poster design in Context - Poster signage:

I am happy with how the final designs look, and i am glad i literally went ack to the drawing oard to change the direction of the design. I feel that the designs work better in teh format and the colour scheme is more effective. The very simple exacustion of design would print effectively and could be screen printed if the poster was needed for more imprtance.