End of Module Evaluation

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

I have learnt to organise my thinking better through diagrams and other visual methods that make it easier for me to interpret. Time management is another skill that is still developing, I wouldn't say it is perfect, but it is certainly much better than at the start of the course, which I already knew was one of my flaws, but I expect this will continue to improve as I become more used to the pace. I also think I have learnt the skill of producing designs in a short amount of time, as usually, there would be a time period of weeks/months to develop ideas, but this module has forced me to think and design much quicker, but still to a good quality.

My initial idea development has developed a lot more, as instead of racing to a computer with a few rough sketches the minute I get a brief, I draw until I can look at an idea and think yes. If there is any doubt at all I carry on sketching until I reach the potential final, I have done this at the initial stages of my briefs and you can see how my thinking works, and it helps me progress.

What approaches to/methods of problem solving have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?

One of my main methods of solving the problems, is through mind maps, I use them to break down the idea, and organise information. For example, in the How to... brief to go into detail in a visual way, and in the Alphabet Soup: Visual Thinking brief, I used a thesaurus to help me come up with a variety of words, set out in a mind map to help me start thinking visually, which proved to be very helpful towards the design process. In the No News Is Good News Research brief, I wrote 20 words, and 20 images in order to kick start the process of visual thinking.

My response to a brief has developed as well, when I receive a brief now, like Irma Boom once said, 'I try to answer the commisioners request by raising a new question', for example, with the Alphabet Soup: Visual Thinking brief, when I received it I began asking, What is exaggeration? How much or how little of a change is exaggeration? How can i test exaggeration to the limit? How can this be represented on paper? I always raise questions now with a new brief which help me to look at different perspectives of tackling the problem.

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

From what peers have said during crits, I do a lot of research into what my brief is on to really make sure I fully understand what I am doing in order to attempt to successfully communicate the message, especially with the No News Is Good News brief, as I researched a lot into the Stephen Gately story, which lead me on to investigate heart conditions, which lead on to looking at Diabetes, so this made my work look better as I could discuss everything I had done into fine detail.

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

One thing I do notice when looking at my work, is that my work does not appear adventurous enough, now for some briefs it would not be appropriate to do something avant-garde and radical, however for some briefs I look and think, maybe I could have pushed myself further, for example my Alphabet Soup: Visual Thinking, I could have done something that really pushed the boundaries, afterall my word was Exaggerate. Therefore, I need to build up confidence to do this, and the way I gain confidence is in group crits.

A weakness i noticed in my Alphabet Soup: Illustrator brief, is again, the lack of excitement, mainly due to the program being quite alien to me, I will address this through experience and use of the program, as i have never been taught how to use Photoshop but over the past 4 years I have picked bits up as I go along.

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

1. Working directly into my sketchbook - I work into a rough book then organise my thinking and designing in my actual sketchbook which is neater in terms of interpretting, as at the start of a brief I doodle and write odd bits down that make sense to me but not to anyone else, this will not waste as much time if I work straight into the book.

2. I will trial ideas better before I assemble my final piece, this mainly applies to Illustrator, as I didn't experiment much before I produced my final A1 trace, which didn't look as good as it could have done, from this i may get a better standard of finish for my final resolution.

3. Book earlier for printing, it was incredibly hectic in the print department, and again, this could have bought me extra time if I had booked more than a week in advance.

4. Evaluate my work better as I go along, some of my evaluations are too brief, which may inhibit how I continue to develop my ideas, this will be addressed by taking more time with each design idea.

5. Blog my work as I go along, to begin with, my blog was always updated, but as the work load got heavier, i stopped doing it as much, which has meant i have not remembered things as clearly as I would like, so the blogs aren't quite as detailed as I would like.

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

Attendance: 5

Punctuality: 4

Motivation: 5

Commitment: 5

Quantity of work produced: 3/4

Quality of work produced: 3/4

Contribution to the group: 5

No News Is Good News- Message and Interpretation

Overall, for my text only poster, I feel I completely answered the brief, it was high impact, clear and served its purpose of informing and persuading, however, I disagree with some of the comments that were made during the anonymous crit about this poster, as the person had said it was too sinister, but then suggested I used a 'dripping blood font', which is contradictory and also would move away from looking like a public health campaign to an invite to a Halloween party, so the person had not understood what it was about, the other person thought that it worked well as the colours worked well and I think this is because they were used in the correct weights and quantities, as there was only a small amount of red to make it the first noticeable element of the piece which then leads to the bright white text.

Looking back at the potential final 2, the black and the white, the white could be used as well, maybe in a hospital, as the white indicates it is clean and clinical, whereas the black is more likely to symbolise death.

My image only poster was incredibly weak, I think in theory it worked well, as the message behind it made it highly significant, but to other people, they did not see the question mark hidden within the heart, I did try other methods such as using a red question mark but it was too obvious and looked slightly tacky!

This weakness was picked up on by the comments from the crit, and it a was suggested I used a heart symbol, which is what I had done in the first place but received extremely negative feedback form peers as it seemed to communicate love rather than health. Even now, I am still unsure of how I could have improved on this.

My text and image together was average, the heart image was backed up by the text, but the text was not as effective as it was not on its own. Also, the image had to be made smaller, to allow room for the text, so the question mark appeared even more unnoticeable.

Again, due to the weakness of the image, I am unsure of how I could improve this, other than scrapping the heart altogether. Maybe the ECG line showing someone alive then dying could be used underneath the text, however, it does not really communicate undiagnosed illnesses.

In terms of answering the brief, the three posters stuck to the 2 colours plus stock guideline, they were in the format of 2:1 at A3 scale, the message was simple and to the point and finally, the three were visually consistent.

Alphabet Soup: Visual Thinking

I was pleased with my final resolution, I think from my first thumbnail to my end result the work has improved considerably, to start with I seemed to restrict myself, and then I decided to think out of the box and try working in relief. When the whole classes letters were lined up on the wall, a few people commented that my letter was the first one they were drew to due to it's three dimensional and bright appearance. And it's due to this different but dynamic appearance that I feel it communicates exaggerate quite successfully.

In terms of durability, the letters won't last long due to some elements of the letters being stuck out at odd angles, however I had them photographed so there is evidence of how they were originally.

Ellis evaluated my set of ten letterforms, I was pleased with the feedback, as it was constructive, on the whole it was positive feedback, she felt it was a creative idea, but wondered how the letterforms would look if they were all in one colour, rather than multi-coloured as if they were all the same it would make them look more uniform. I agreed with this comment, but felt it would lose it's fun feel.

She also felt I could have experimented more with materials, this is entirely true, all I did was construct the letterforms out of coloured card I already had, and there was no consideration into other materials. What may have worked is coloured foam, if I stuck with the polychromatic scheme, as this would be easier to manipulate and wouldn't crease as easy, however, it is not a particularly sturdy material.

I was quite surprised that I had designed a style of type that would only work by handcrafting, as normally I would use a computer to get that absolutely perfect finish, there were a few areas that let the design down due to parts of the card fraying, and some of the foam squares were exposed and so it looked a little untidy at times.

Referring back to the brief, I think the brief was answered, as in the mandatory section it specified that each A6 should contain one letterform but all ten should demonstrate a range of possible solutions, my letters do this, as the letters have been exaggerated in different ways.

Alphabet Soup Final Evaluation

The personality traits I responded to was Maya's background as up until last year she lived in Dubai so I chose an Arabic style font, which needed softening up as it was a little harsh to start with.

The result appears to be effective in the fact that the typeface is related to Maya on a more personal level as it focusses on her background, and represents her as an individual, the typeface is just a stroke as if it had have been filled in it would not be appropriate and would lose the femininity.

Some of the people in my presentation liked my end typeface they thought it was completely different to other work on the walls, someone did pull my idea apart about the way some of the letters were, this is something I had picked up on earlier, but to change it would have lost the Arabic feel.

My tutor, liked my idea, she said it was ambitious and inventive, however, she felt it would be better as a brush stroke rather than trying to draw it, as it doesn't give much freedom and fluidity. The action points I were given were experimenting with solid colour, uppercase letters and maybe re-working some of them.

One of my main weaknesses, were my glyphs, in the Afarat font the glyphs were quite strange so I found it hard to work with them, another particular weakness was quality of line.

I thoroughly enjoyed this brief, it was interesting and challenging, and helped me to realise an idea can be good and seen through to the end with a pleasing outcome, even if I don't think it will.