Evaluation: OUGD103 Design Practice

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

I think for once I can say that I’ve improved on my time management skills, they are still not perfect but I feel that they have come a long way since previous modules. I feel this has affected my overall mood in a positive way, not having the feeling of being swamped by work because I’ve not managed my time well has left me with a clearer head and I think the quality of my work had improved because of that.
In terms of design skills I’ve become more comfortable using illustrator both in terms of layout and creating illustrations. I feel as if I capatalised on this during the ‘speaking from experience’ brief, I’ve always had an admiration for vector illustrators and I felt that this brief was the perfect time to try my hand at it.
I started out looking at other illustrators and trying a few sketches in my sketchbook to try and come up with a style that was unique and had my own personal style to it. I felt as if my hand-drawn illustration attempts were weak which was frustrating me, so I hopped on the PC- learned some new skills from tutorials and I was away. Overall I’m quite happy with the illustrations that I produced but I think it’s the start of something that’s going to improve over time.
During ‘How To’ brief I learnt a lot about flash based web design – I had used Flash before to create a game in 6th form and animations during my foundation but this was my first attempt doing a website. It was also my first time using Flash CS3 which uses a completely different Action Script than any previous versions which is overall a lot more complicated and less user-friendly so I had to learn most things from scratch.

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

I think I approached each brief in a different way, for instance the ‘How To’ brief required a very linear approach in terms of content. All the information I needed had already been researched thus my research was heavily secondary; all I needed to do was go out and find where the information was.
In comparison the ‘Speaking from Experience required a lot more primary research, for instance I didn’t know my target audience thus I created questionnaires (both online and paper based) to collect qualitative and quantitative data. This is something that I had only done for one previous brief and I actually wonder why I use this method so rarely as it’s such a valuable source of information.

Doing collaborative work with Ed for the ‘Communication is a Virus’ brief has really been beneficial as we have managed to collect loads of primary research through means that I normally wouldn’t have the confidence to do on my own, for instance going into clothing/CD shops and asking staff if we could walk around taking photos. This was a great way to inform the directions we were taking in terms of context and really helped when trying to communicate our concept to the ‘panel’ we were presenting to.

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

I think overall I’ve been a lot more focused. Instead of waiting around for a great idea to come, I’ve been more active – doing research during the ‘transition periods’ between coming up with initial ideas and developing the final resolution. I think before I suffered from the mindset where I would think, ‘well I don’t have a good idea, so why should I do research and development if it’s not going to lead anywhere?’ – since abandoning that mindset, sure, some of my research has been irrelevant but in most cases I’ve stumbled across something that has informed my resolution, even if it was in a very small way.
I think I’ve also taken more of the key aspects of what needs to be included during the design practice into consideration. Instead of diving into producing visuals first, I determined audience, tone of voice and context and let that inform my resolution.

I think that I explored a fair amount of options to begin with before I settled on something specific, this definately informed my final outcome.
I think I explored quite a few unique interpretations of the 'what is a line' brief and I think my concepts were quite strong.
I think also from the technical aspect I think I proved to be quite capabale, I still have a lot to learn but that takes time.
I think I'm more of an idea generating designer and I think I need to capatlise on that and explore that more, and in terms of actual production just keep exploring new areas - I really want to do motion graphics and I've decided to teach myself how to use Adobe Aftereffects over Easter.

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

Something that cropped up quite a few times when people were assessing my work during crits was that there was too much of my development work was written and that there weren’t enough visuals. This is something that I’ve struggled with for a while as I naturally I tend prefer words over thumbnail sketches - I personally am ok with this as I understand what I’ve written perfectly but when it comes to crits, assessments, or even future clients, if there aren’t enough visuals it will be difficult for them to visualise what has gone in within my mind.
My Type and Grid work was very weak, I was away for my dad’s wedding during the week that Lorenzo led the inDesign workshop. When I got back I was more focused on getting work done for the ‘Speaking from Experience’ brief than anything else and because I normally adapt to software pretty quickly I thought I’d leave it till after everything else was out the way – this was a very bad idea, as it wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be and the resolutions look very amateur.

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

1. Be more visual in my development work, sketching out ideas, thumbnails etc. I think taking some time during the summer holidays to improve my sketching and drawing skills will be very beneficial and will make me more confident to draw instead of write.

2. I think although I’ve been more organised overall, both in terms of time management and how I organise my work I think I need to pay more attention to brief and module outcomes. I’ve stuck them up on my bedroom wall but still only look at them from time-to-time and this is something I really need to address.

3. Broaden my research, try to include as many sources of primary and secondary research as possible rather than sticking with what I’m currently comfortable with.

4. Look at more work from past and current designers; I think I touched on that for the ‘Speaking from Experience’ brief but not so much on the others. I found what I did do to be very beneficial and something I should capatalise on in briefs to come.

5. Form a better balance between working in the studio and working at home. I feel that I don’t spend as much time in the studios as I should outside the timetabled sessions. When I work in the studios I do find that I get a lot more done, especially If I’m generating ideas, however when it comes to developing visuals, especially digital work – I prefer to use my own computer with everything set up the way I want it and also having my own space where I can put my music on in the background and just get on with it. Getting a laptop/iPod would solve that… if only I had the money =/
5.b. Get a job and save up for a laptop/iPod

How I'd rate myself on the following aspects:

Attendance: 3
Punctuality: 4
Motivation: 4
Commitment: 4
Quantity of worm produced: 4
Quality of work produced: 3.5
Commitment to group: 4

"Speaking from Experience" - Final Resolution

Here are a few photos from my final resolutions, mounted on a wall as it would be in a year 1 Graphic Design students bedroom.




Here are a few of the vector illustrations that were created for the calendar:

Final Resolutions: Why I did'nt use the stickers

My original plan was to have stickers attached to the area on the calendar where you would write the time you have to be in college, the user then had the option to peel these off and put them on a keyring (which would initially be attached to the ringbind in the middle of the calendar) so you can take it with you as a reminder.
However, after printing out the stickers in the print room and cutting them out - the first thing I noticed was that the colour was slightly off (unfortunately you can't see that very clearly in these images) and they were also too large and I ran the risk of doing a bad scalpel job due to estimating the right size, therefore I decided to abandon them.
I also forgot to put dots (......................) on the stickers, which wasn't clever.

Overall this could be considered positive as the stickers would have be slightly raised from the rest of the page making it look un-professional, also its doubtful that people will forget the time they have to be college after looking at their calendar in the morning, so would the keyring really be all that necessary?

Below are images that compare the prints as they are, next to what they would look like if the sticker was attached:

Speaking from Experience - Tone of Voice

I think these videos have a similar tone of voice to what I'm trying to achieve for the 'Speaking from Experience' brief.

I'm quite shocked that these were actually shown to American teenagers in the 50's - such rigid social rules would drive me crazy... I'm glad that I live in a time where I can have more freedom to express who I am.
The amount of pressure put on those kids must have been immense.

I'm here saying all of this is bad yet I'm comparing its tone of voice to my own work.

Yes, I want my work to be patronising, maybe slightly demeaning but it will all be tongue-in-cheek, good clean fun - a type of humor, similar to sarcasm that is easy to recognise and meant to be taken light-heartedly. If I succeed in lowering someones self-esteem I'd be failing to answer the brief.

Character Design - Jans Feliks Kallwejt

Heres another designer who has some amazing vector work. His work seems even more simple than Christian Lindemann, less accented lines and bolder and more contrasting colours... nice stuff.

Character Design - Linde Design

I really love this style of vector illustration Christian Lindemann of Linde Design has achieved, using simple shapes shapes with minimal amount of detail. Technically, theres hardly anything too them, yet they speak volumes.

I think I often get too carried away, trying to make my work too technical or complicated and it ends up looking too jumbled and messy. I think I want to approach this brief in a very minimal style, using bright, quirky colours - I think it will fit right in with the tongue-and-cheek humourous tone that I'm trying to achieve.

What I also really love the lack of outlines - in nature, there are none.

Character Design - Jeremyville

Apparently 'Jeremyville' is a household name amongst graphic designers. To the shock of many of my fellow students I only found out about him two weeks ago.
I found about about him when doing research for the 5 examples of interactive design that we had to collect.
I was in the library and found the 'Jeremyville Sessions' book and it caught my attention, possibly because its got a very shiny cover and i'm a magpie.

I took the book out because he has done a lot of clothing, toys, skate decks etc. but I have found that the rest of his work relates a lot to what I plan to do for this current brief. I'm looking to create a character/s to communicate a series of narratives and I find his work very inspiriation especially when it comes to character design.

Heres a few examples of his work:


Various characters he has design for diffirent projects:

The book came with a DVD and it featured some live footage of him creating his characters, I've managed to find a couple on youtube:





Look who it is

Heres another:



When asked, 'What advice, tips or tricks do you have when creating your work?' - his answer was, "Look at what is out there, then forget all about it, and do it diffirently" - good advice... sort of. I think for me, I'm going to definetly try and create my own unique style but I don't think theres any harm in borrowing from 'what is out there' until you find your own voice.

Vectorfunk

At this stage I'm still quite stuck for ideas - taking a week off for my dads wedding in Cyprus has really taken its toll, most people already seem to be finalising their ideas and I've only just started mind-mapping, I better get a move on!

One of the ideas I've had is to create a deck of cards that could go in a 'freshers pack' and each card would have a tip on how to avoid being late, replacing the normal imagery. I was doing some research into how other designers have approached the design of playing cards and I came across this:


Its a nice approach, really simple vector artwork but the aesthetics are appealing. I think that if I go with the deck of cards idea I'll also use vector graphics but I think I'll include a lot more colour in my work.

After viewing that piece of work I decided to check out the rest of his website and I was really taken back. He has 2 main portfolio sections, one for 2007 and one for 2008 but the amount of work that is in each section is incredible! It makes my work ethic seem terrible in comparison.
Nonetheless theres some ace stuff on there and heres some of the things that got my attention:

He uses a technique which he calls the "vectorfunk" style. I'd attempt to put the description into words but thankfully he has already done that on his website... this is what he has to say, "I have worked in this style for years, constantly evolving and expanding my visual vocabulary. Shapes, textures, patterns, colors… The viewer’s eye will dance. Whether it is a realistic rendering of a car, a stylized portrait, or a psychedelic abstraction, I will deliver a unique illustration with just the right amount of "whoa" and “crazy"."

Mountain Dew bottle design to celebrate 4th of July (Independance day).

Manifesto - Reflection/Evaluatoin of myself as a designer

Who I used to be:

Someone who used to have a very closed-off approach to work practice. I would come up with an idea in my head and go down a very linear route and because I was such a control freak I wouldn’t pay much attention to input from others. My art teacher in 6th form would often tell me that I was a perfectionist and would spend way too much time doing exploring one idea in my sketchbook in every possible detail rather than making quick sketches from many ideas or trying out new methods then filtering them out and going with what was best.
I also think that because my 6th form was really limited in terms of resources and under-staffed, and my foundation gave much more attention to fashion/fine art students and not much to graphics I had not been able to explore all that is available bar what I could teach myself and I came into the course with a limit on the amount of ways to approach my work.
I was also very un-organised, this is something that’s always been a problem for me – I’ll freely admit that I’m not the most practical of people and often daydream, lost within my own thoughts and sometimes forget about what’s important and therefore don’t always have my priorities set.

Who I am now:

Someone who is a lot more open-minded. I tend to explore a larger range of options now before settling on one idea however I still think I have a long way to go – I think I’ve personally made an improvement but I still get a lump in my throat when I look at how much visual development others do. I think I sometimes throw away ideas that I have to easily sometimes and don’t document them like I should as others do, even though they might be irrelevant in the end, they may be something I’ll look back on and be inspired.
I feel as if I used this year to really explore a range of approaches to my work, being in an environment where there are so many talented designers working in their own unique methods has been such an inspiration to me and a driving force for me to develop my own unique practice.
I’ve tried my hand at print, crafting, video, stop motion, web design, photography (digital and chemical) and my software skills have improved greatly. I still kick myself for missing that book binding workshop though.
I feel that even though I’ve achieved this, I’ve gained a lot of skills in various approaches but haven’t developed any particular speciality approaches.
I feel I’m a lot more organised, I feel that the sheer amount of work we are given plus being away from home for the first time initially stressed me out incredibly and I really struggled to cope with it all, but I think it’s forced me to adapt and without realising I’ve become a lot more focused. On a more negative note, I think I’m a very introspective person and I feel as if I’ve lost touch with myself a bit as I hardly have any time to myself anymore.

Who I intend to be:

Someone who exhausts all their options is constantly looking various sources and artists for inspiration and is always evaluating and documenting their work. I aim to be a lot more visual with my development.
I want to continue exploring a wider range of approaches to my work, for instance I still want to better my screen-printing skills, explore more traditional methods such as letter-press and learn how to use Adobe After Effects. At the same time though, I want to develop a speciality style. I think a future employer will prefer someone who is a master at a specific style/skill than someone who is a jack of all trades but a master of none.
Somehow become more organised, I’ve tried to better this so many times and I think although I have made an improvement I still have a long way to go. Its something which I do not find easy at all but I do aim to manage my time in a way that I can set a routine get my work done without stressing too much and set aside specific times where I can have time to myself which I value.

Magazine Layouts

I've been doing some research into creative and interesting magazine layouts to inspire my Type-and-Grid work, these are a few of my top picks from my internet research.

I like how they headline is at the bottom of the page. Normally your eyes scan a page from the top-left to the bottom right.

Not the best example of the use of a grid, but the layout is really unique. From first glance I thought there were two seperate pages which made me look at the details... really eye catching!

I think the position of the columns in this layout is awesome - really good use of space and very aesthetically pleasing due to the uniqueness of it. It reminds me a bit of the Black Flag logo, if it had 3 bars instead of two.

Communication is a Virus

I really enjoyed this brief, I normally approach collabaritive work because I've been known to be quite a control freak in the past - but I think I managed to put that aside.
I was working with Ed, who was very motivated and driven, yet very laid back at the same time. It was good working with him for this reason as sometimes I get really stressed over work but because Ed is always so level-headed and pretty happy-go-lucky (no offence Ed, thats a compliment!) it really made me wonder why I get so worked up in the first place.

Anyway... we chose 'get people to try something new' as it was very open, we thought this was a good choice as any of the other categories would fit under it - so why choose any of the others and limit yourself?

I think we had a really good oppurtunity to do something fun and enjoy ourselves and I think we naturally went in the direction of choosing something that we both enjoyed and had in common, music.
Our first idea was to try and get people to try new types of music, but why? We needed a reason, so we researched into music corporations and how they scam the artists on their labels, so we went along the lines of promoting independent music in Leeds specifically because we could actually promote it then.
Ed did some great context research and went out to a couple of places, taking photos of potential places we could promote our music. This would target our audience of people involved in the 'indipendent music scene' who would pick up a demo CD containing tracks from indipendent artists and then pass it on to, or make a copy (due to the tracks having no copyright) for their friends who listen to mainstream music.

I e-mailed loads of indie bands asking if we could feature their music on our disc and got loads of positive replies.

After swapping briefs with Ollie, Liam and Emma they refined our brief to only electro music. This posed a bit of a problem as all of the replies I had received up till then were from indie bands... so I spent another couple of hours e-mailing electro groups in Leeds. Fun times!
They did give us a really cool name though, 'Hidden Tracks' which is edgy and also sums up the purpose of our work.

We both then worked ont he designs, I came up with these:

And Ed made a couple of variations along the lines of this:

We both preferred the look of Ed's - it had that really gritty cheaply-made design that most guerilla-style CD packaging had.

We worked on a few designs and here are the illustrator files that we used for our presentation boards to display how it works. (The colour is diffirent because when its printed on brown stock it darkens)

Front of CD

Back of CD

As you can tell there is in inlay, when you pull it out the side of the sleeve the track names are revelead through a hole cut out the back of it.

We needed a few images of it operating in context, so we went to the shops we had identified as potential distributors of the CD and asked them if we could take a few photos of the CD at points in the shop where similar material is displayed... most of them said yes.

Ed had gotten to know the manager of White Label Clothing and he said he would be willing to distribute our CD if it were an actual product - so if we wanted to, we could actually have a real crack at this and see if it would work!

One more thing, we also created a Myspace page to serve as a community where people can discuss independent electro music in Leeds and listen to tracks that would be featured on the disc (we got permission from the artists before uploading the tracks): heres the link:

http://www.myspace.com/hiddentracksleeds

Hidden Tracks

I was experimenting in Illustrator, trying to create a good image for the CD that Ed and I are producing for our partner work and I created this completely by accident.
After creating the cover and thinking how well the lines go with each other (I should be using this for the 'what is a line brief'!) and how they disguise the words 'hidden tracks' I decided to experiment more with lines for the back of the CD and created a really crazy optical illusion.

The first is a screenshot direct from illustrator (I do a lot of digital work and I don't think I post enough images of the process) and the second is cropped image showing just the cover and back in diffirent colours.

Finished Website

I think I've resolved the website as much as I can, heres the link for the final resolution:

http://timetriptothailand.tk/

I wanted the website to be in a standalone pop-up window with no browser toolbars, however it all seemed very complicated so I've settled for just using a center html tag to center the website.

Its almost finished...

I've found a way to upload the website, unforunate about the ad at the bottom of the page but I'm sure I can get around that somehow. This is what it looks like at the moment:

http://www.freewebs.com/wakethesilence/New25.html

I still need to

• Proof read, there are lots of spelling mistakes and text mis-alignments
• Change the colour of the provences when they highlight to match the overall red/blue colour scheme of the Thai flag.
• If I have time before submission date, include information about how to time your trip to include public holidays and festivals.

Any feedback would be appreciated!

Map Glyhps

I've drawn a small image to go with each city/town on the interactive maps on my website that represents one of the main attractions in the area. I think its a lot more interesting and communicates more than just having a solid object has a glyph.


Heres how they look on the website at the moment. In practice, whenever you 'hover' your mouse over one of the towns/cities, a circle underneath highlights it and information about the area appears at the top right and bottom right of the page. I might be changing the colour scheme to make it a bit more vibrant and fit in with the colourful Thai culture.