BA (Hons.) GRAPHIC DESIGN Module Code
OUGD505
Module Title
Design Practice 2
LEVEL
05
END OF MODULE SELF-EVALUATION NAME Ellen Setterfield
1. What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them? The skills that I have developed through this module would definitely be my crafting skills; though some of my final pieces are not perfect I feel that I have improved massively since the beginning of the year. I have also furthered my knowledge of some finishing methods such as foiling, as I chose the Oscars as my research project I knew that the work I produced would have to be very high-end and look the part, in order to do this I sent off my work to be professionally foiled. Though I did this I did try out the foiling myself and hope to be able to improve on these skills in the future. I have also been introduced to branding guidelines this year, which is something that I know I am very interested in. I thoroughly enjoy making brand guidelines and plan to use them throughout the third year. I have also improved my confidence skills when it comes to web design, in the past I have been quite apprehensive about designing for web without knowing how to code – since visiting Numiko I was introduced to a program called Axure pro which I have found to be incredibly helpful within this brief.
2. What approaches to/methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?
Research – I spent a lot of my time for this brief doing research, this is mainly down to the fact that the Oscars and film is something that I am very interested in. I watched the live stream of the Oscars in February and was able to take first hand research from the ceremony to feed into my own practice. I also carried out a lot of visual research to help me with my design practice; I think that doing this has allowed my work to look like it fits into the existing branding whilst also standing alone. Crafting – I made several mock ups of my packaging for studio brief 1, this is because my crafting skills were not the best so I worked with the theory Practice makes Perfect. I do not think that my crafting is perfect but I do think that it has improved massively. Commercial printers – Over this module I have worked with three different commercial printers to print off my final submissions and mock-ups. I found that by doing this I have improved my confidence with design for print and also with talking to industry professionals. I also approached a printers about gold foiling which added the high-end aesthetic to my final pieces.
3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these? Confidence to learn would be the biggest strength in this module, I think that my confidence has improved and I am now happy to say that I do not know something and would happily go away and learn about it. I also think that topic choice is something that I have learnt a lot about this year, in the past I have chosen topics because I felt I had to but this module allowed me to choose something that interested me. I am a fan of the Oscars and films so this topic choice was great for me.
4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?
Time management has definitely been my weakness in this module, I have struggled throughout the year to keep my time equal to all briefs and I think that, although I was constantly researching, my practical aspect suffered the most. Saying this I am very happy with the outcome of the 505 module and feel that it looks high-end and fits the brief.
5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these? Manage my time efficiently – Don’t leave blogging until the end Spend more time working on the things that interest me - web Give myself more time to learn new software – Axure
6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas: (please indicate using an ‘x’) 5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor 1
2
3
4 X
5
Attendance X Punctuality X Motivation X Commitment X Quantity of work produced X Quality of work produced X Contribution to the group The evaluation of your work is an important part of the assessment criteria and represents a percentage of the overall grade. It is essential that you give yourself enough time to complete your written evaluation fully and with appropriate depth and level of self-reflection. If you have any questions relating to the self evaluation process speak to a member of staff as soon as possible.