HELLO - Overall = a more successful year than last year. - Learnt huge amount; me as designer and also how I work - Now - more idea of the design I like...still trying to brand myself as a designer!
WHAT I WANTED TO GET FROM THIS YEAR - Learn more about the Graphic Design Insustry - Develop style & better quality of work - Improve software skills - Time management - Learn more about what kind of designer I am - undecided if TYPE /IMAGE - incorporate more photography in my work
TRANSITION FROM LEVEL 4 TO LEVEL 5 - Daunted, felt slightly behind after missing so much of 1st year - Last year = left work to last minute - needed to be more proactive - What is good Brief; long time to make decisions & concept -150 logos - set the pace - took a while to get into momentum of work - Design began to have more meaning; designing for concept and purpose rather than idea. - Blogging; taken a back seat after the summer - Talk about work; 1st year = slap dash, unproffessional and no clarity. 2nd year = more consideration and knowledge - MAIN POINT; now developed systematic working method, I understand how I work to a brief
PRINT MODULE; learnt my interstest...only partially successful brief - Lorenzo’s sessions; background to Graphics and it contextualised my design - Enjoyed learning; stock, print processes - it’s huge impact on design - I packaged and promoted a new music device - I spend too long on concept and the idea behind device rather than design development. - Start to identify a style of working; bright bold and use of blue! - what I learnt from this brief; time management, the library, range - First became intersted in packaging and promotion - At the time I thought I had done enough work but now looking back... - Learnt; plan ahead, chose stock before designing
WEAKEST MODULE - MOTION GRAPHICS - Started with high motivation, time management, continuous design development. - Never worked with time, just 2D & 3D...and intro to After Effects - Enjoyed ‘silent movie’ - simple, clear way of working for me - Downloaded After Effects over Christmas to get to grips - Motivated about Top 10 Music Festivals...but too broad subject - Kept changing / redefining concept - wasted time - Research - strongest for brief - procrastinating! - Not enough body of image / text to work with = limited for design - Trouble with drawing idents in sequence; design block for 2 weeks - Frustration with After Effects - came together in last few days - Blogging = non existant = concentrating on getting an idea / design - WHAT I LEARNT; water tight concept before I start the brief
MOST USEFUL MODULE - TYPE - Debating from start of year, wanted to use more photography so debated about image but love for typography won! - Hands on sessions = out of comfort zone & very challenging and also frustrating - Learnt valuable skills that has helped every part of my design since - Type journal; useful = opened my eyes to different layouts. Now have a reference and basis for future work - Now think constantly about; USE OF WHITE SPACE, HIERARCHY, VOICE OF TYPE - thoughrely enjoyed, most useful and insightful part of this course
MOST SUCCESSFUL MODULE - OUGD203 - COLLABORATION - Feel Good Drinks - Francesca - Image module - Valueble, insidteful and helped me manage time - not wanting to let her down - more responsiblity, more continuous development & constant feelback = didn’t loose momentum - how did I feel the brief went overall, what did I learn? - PRODUCT RANGE DISTRIBUTION - struggled with concept AGAIN - problems making decisions of which brief to chose - WHISKY then 17 - early confusion stunded motivation - packaing promotion of new line of Body shop make up = BEAU - applied my work method; research, design, evaluate, develop - poor time management - spent too long on PACKAGING - needed more digital development to have a RANGE - happy with the design outcomes I produced
STUIDO VISITS - Slightly daunted me - still finding out what designer I am - List of contacts; Leeds, London, Cheltenham & Oxford - Drafted emails but yet to send them out - Made by Analogue - most interested in; print, photography, promotion and branding - like their style of work - bold use of colour, type and image - Hesitation, slightly duanted by not knowing what sort of designer I am yet - Travelling for summer but will arrange visists for when I am back - ASIA - Bangkok & Changmai - studio visits
SUMMER PLANS - Travelling in Asia - experience different culture, people and style of design - Arrange studio Visits in the UK and abroad - Contacts; increase list and meet people / network! - MY WORK; live briefs, self initiated work, develop more of style, photography - Freelance; earn some money after travelling - SOFTWARE; photoshop, dreamweaver - still pretty poor - MY WEBSITE; design it, buy domaine, and upload to Tumblr - Build portfolio
NEXT YEAR - Aim of this year was to use more photography - love work that uses photography and type. Learnt to use type...now need photography - WEB DESIGN; want to master coding - very interstested in this area of design - Master time management and organsiation - Build a strong Portfolio...naturally - Industrial Experience in a range of design studios; specialities, size & location - Design for digital & promotional / publication- this year = packaging based.