SUMMATIVE EVALUATION AMY HILL This module has been a big learning curve. It has been very different to any of the modules I have previously done. I found the module challenging in lots of different ways. But I enjoyed the module to some extent, and I feel that some of the work I created was good, as well as this I have learnt so much from this module and I am happy to have had the opportunity to learn now. The first thing I found challenging was picking the briefs. As I had never really done a competition brief of my own choice before I found this new freedom quite daunting and looking through the main competition sites, that I was aware of D&AD and YCN, there was so much choice. When going through the briefs, looking back I don’t think I took into consideration my own aspirations and my own preferences within graphic design. I think I was slightly blind sighted by all of the language within the briefs, I found it quite difficult to read through them and gather what they where actually asking and then thinking about what I could produce. And so the first brief I chose was the Body Shop, I think that I chose this brief as I felt comfortable with the target audience, and I was interested in the social side of the brief. However upon reflection I felt that this brief wasn’t entirely suitable to me, but I did get to explore a new way of working and so there was good and bad parts of picking the brief. However I think one of the most suitable briefs I picked was part of the collaboration. I enjoyed the sector it was aimed at I liked that it had a lot of type and layout. I also liked this brief as I got to explore design for web, and I really started to think about social media, which I had not previously done. The second challenge was time management. This module required a lot of commitment and motivation; it required that we answer at least five live/competition briefs. At the start of the module I was very slow in choosing my brief and I wasn’t completely dedicated to the one I had for various reasons, it took me along time to start the brief and when I did the way I had chosen to create artwork was out of
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my comfort zone, and it took me longer to create work that I was happy with. Also with the Body Shop brief there where so many other aspects to consider it overwhelmed me and I lost my commitment to the work, and my progress slowed right down. As well as this it took me a while to begin other briefs, and I started mainly all of them after Christmas, as I spent a lot of time doing my other work for a different modules. This meant there was quite a build up of briefs I had to do and complete. But once I felt more confident in what I was doing and I had learnt new techniques such as mock-ups I got on with briefs a lot faster, and my motivation improved. For the future I will aim to respond to briefs and start the module imminently, rather than having it in the background. But I feel that I will now be able to do this as I have more awareness of what I am selecting when I chose a brief and I am now able to create mock-ups and I am now able to think about a range of deliverables, as I have had the experience. When I started this module I had no idea of how to make mock-ups, I was okay on Photoshop but I had never really tried to mock-up. At first I really struggled with this, it took me a while to learn how to use templates. However after more attempts, further into the module I had become more confident and I understood what I was doing, for instance using smart objects and layers, and understanding more about the effects etc. My first real attempt at mock-ups was for the Cath Kidston brief, I tried to apply the print to a range of products, I learnt from doing this that some applications are easier to use than others, for example, the iPhone template worked really well, whereas the notebook template was of less quality and this is purely down to my selection of what to download. As well as this I tried to place my print onto photographed items such as pillows, I think that I did this relatively well but there is room for improvement, and I will aim to improve upon this. However once I had learned how to mock up my designs onto various applications, I really enjoyed thinking about how I could expand my original idea and apply it to product range. I liked seeing my design being applied it made them feel more realistic, for instance the Tigerprint brief was a quick brief that only required me to make the designs, however I mocked them up onto a range of stationary and I think that they looked good and I was more confident in what I had produced. Although I feel that I still struggle with store mock-ups, I found this really difficult for the Body
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Shop brief as I could not obtain photographs of the actual store well, for instance the poster in the store where a different orientation or they had products in front of them, there where quite a few problems to overcome, and using photographs from online was also difficult as they where small resolution and ended up being too pixelated to use, and so for my Body Shop final presentation I did not include examples of the posters in-store as they just where too poor quality. I do feel that I should try to include the distribution aspect for every brief like this in my presentation boards in the future, as it shows the designs in situ. I have also learnt a lot about not only managing myself but working with another person. I think that in the future I need to select more carefully, and as well as this need to be a little more vocal when someone isn’t as committed as they said they would be. And so in the future I will consider not only my brief selection wisely, I will also be carful when selecting another person to work with. The last major thing that I learnt from this module is presentation skills, and creating presentation boards, a lot of them! I actually enjoyed designing boards to present, but it was hard at the same time as having all the other work to do. I think that my boards improved throughout the module, and I went back and improved some of my boards. I gained an important skill from doing this and I think I have grasped the idea of presenting my work quite well. Overall I think that I gained over everything else a lot of experience and knowledge that I can use to my advantage in the future. I have also learnt a lot more about myself as a designer, what I like and what I don’t. For instance know now that I like layout design, and I also orientate towards type based work. As well as this there are areas I would like to continue to improve and explore such as digital/ online design.
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