Abbas Mushtaq _ OUGD502
MODULE SUBMISSION
Abbas+OUGD502 Evaluation
31/05/13
1 _ What Skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?
I feel one of the skills I’ve definitely developed throughout this module is my presentation skills in terms of design work and also presenting myself and talking through a project or a concept in front of a large group of people. Almost all the submission points of the module deal with presenting in a professional manner, this was the case with the Group creative practice brief where we branded ourselves as Asssk, I feel our presentation was succesful and taught me a lot of key skills. I feel my time management skills have drastically improved, especially after Easter. I approach briefs and workload in a different way now and I’m better at looking at a brief in a sort of tunnel vision. I look at how I want the finished work to be like and work backwards - this way I don’t envision any negativity or problems, and instead focus on what I need to do. Then I focus on each task at a time, everyday until the sum of all these parts takes care of itself - this leads to a lot less stress and worry. In the past I’ve overthinked and worried about little details too much. My finishing skills have also improved, I’ve learnt the importance of concept and presentation and I feel I’ve done the concept justice in the presentation of my selfbranding concept. My networking skills have come a long way from the first year, I’m now no longer working in isolation and am fairly active in the design scene in Leeds and my work has been displayed in locations around Leeds which is a great boost. I have made important and useful contacts, I’ve realised contacting designer or studios isn’t as daunting as it seems, they’re the same as us, just a little further in to their career than we are.
1 _ What approaches to/ methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?
I approach briefs and workload in a different way now and I’m better at looking at a brief in a sort of tunnel vision. I look at how I want the finished work to be like and work backwards - this way I don’t envision any negativity or problems, and instead focus on what I need to do. Then I focus on each task at a time, everyday until the sum of all these parts takes care of itself - this leads to a lot less stress and worry. In the past I’ve overthinked and worried about little details too much. My finishing skills have also improved, I’ve learnt the importance of concept and presentation and I feel I’ve done the concept justice in the presentation of my selfbranding concept. I also have started to realise the importance of finishing processes especially in terms of promotional material such as business cards where the look and feel is vital. I now draw a lot more, I still feel a little at odds with design sheets as much as I try to open up on them I can’t - I still draw and brainstorm really small and roughly - it’s what works for me and I’ve decided to just stick with it. I work within my moleskine and write to-do lists within their too, my brain is basically within that book and it’s everywhere with me. It’s efficient and time-productive to have a realistic list to tick off and I also use the book as a space to scribble down thoughts and thumbnails which I take forward. I now feel a lot more concept driven, it’s all about the big idea, this needs to be clear and concise from the get go as a sort of umbrella idea you can apply across a variety of products. It gets to a point where everyone can design well and make things look nice, what seperates nice looking work to fantastic work is the idea and concept. I still have a long way to go in this area but I’m improving.
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Abbas Mushtaq _ OUGD502
MODULE SUBMISSION
Abbas+OUGD502 Evaluation
31/05/13
3 _ What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?
I feel my presentation skills have been strong, it gives me confidence amoving forward, concept pitchig and presenting is a key part of a designers professional life, especially when trying to win a brief. So the experience gained in this module has increased my confidence and made something I wouldn’t class as a strength, into a strength. My work finishing skills have improved a lot and I wanted to go above and beyond simply making business cards as I enjoyed branding myself so much and I feel this attitude towards a brief - going above and beyond is a positive way to approach anything so I want to keep this up, especially going into third year. I have developed my networking skills in this year, especially with my clothing label side project allowing me to work with and meet people I wouldn’t normally come across. Moving into third year I want to make all my briefs ‘real world’ in the sense that they’re not isolated or gimmicky like a pretend restaurants branding, all briefs are planned on being live or at least have a strong purpose and means of real-world distribution so making contacts this year has been key and I plan on taking this even more further next year, organising events and launch nights for whatever I end up doing.
4 _ What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address this in te future?
Although I now realise how important a concept and all the little details are now, in the past I’ve given it less importance and instead relied on what I call visual concepts, I’m very visually driven, why I love posters so much and I’ve been drawn towards capturing a certain piece of design in a certain way, which works for poster but for a large branding and promotional brief an overarching concept and big idea is key. I know I can be creative and successful in thinking of unique and exciting concepts, I just haven’t given them as much importance ,in the next year I plan on working on this more. I’m weak at thinking of taglines for advertising campaigns, I’m very much a designer, and not as strong at thinking of campaigns and overarching key titles for the concept, so next year I plan to collaborate more and a key thing to do is to work with people which fill your own weaknesses and vice versa.
4 _ What 5 things will you do differently next time?
1: I will manage my time all throughout next year and approach the briefs and workload in the same way as I have in the last semester of this year, with less worry about all the little details and instead to tunnel vision on all the small tasks one at a time, so the finished article takes care of itself when the finishing tasks are done. 2: I will spend more time on concept generation and useful and efficient research, so I can start designing and thinking up solutions to the overarching concept which can be applied across a range of products. This is key, creative and brilliant ideas are more important than the design. You remember the idea more than how nicely the type is kerned. 3: I plan on collaborating more next year or at least arranging direction when working on a brief as with self-initiated briefs the brief, it can sometimes become daunting and overwhelming as yours alone, everyone is working on something different to you. contrast your approach and concept as much.
crits to give me focus and and working on your own on the problem is yours and So you can’t compare and
4: All of us in our creative partnership feel optimistic and confident in our abilities together as a branding and communications agency and I feel next year it would be an exciting prospect to tackle big briefs together as good practice and a sort of test run to see if we really could set ourselves up professionally after college. We didn’t do that this year as we planned to. 5: I’m weak at thinking of taglines for advertising campaigns, I’m very much a designer, and not as strong at thinking of campaigns and overarching key titles for the concept, so next year I plan to collaborate more and a key thing to do is to work with people which fill your own weaknesses and vice versa.
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