BA (Hons.) GRAPHIC DESIGN Module Code
OUGD301
Module Title
Design Practice 3
LEVEL
06
END OF MODULE SELF-EVALUATION NAME
Francesca Pecqueur
1. What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them? I think this is the module where I have developed the most as a designer, within my skills and methods of design. I have developed skills in each of the briefs that I have completed, in the Inpress brief my print skills have developed greatly, especially in traditional printing methods, I learnt how to make and print copper etchings, which was a whole new skill, I also improved my screen printing skills, my accuracy and speed has improved greatly. In the cookbook and stationery brief my illustration skills have improved, also looking at how I apply my illustration to my design work, which is an area I wanted to work and improve on. Also all my briefs my software skills have all improved, consideration to layout and type came from working with strict grids with the Inpress promotion and the Precious branding.
2. What approaches to/methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process? As I said in the previous section I think my methods to design have developed a lot during this module, they could still be improved but they have developed from how I approached work in the second year. Consideration to time and how long things will take has improved, I try to be realistic about how long part of a project will take and leave myself enough time to complete it. With my live briefs, Precious, Neon Cactus and Inpress I have developed my approaches to working with clients and other designers. From the Neon Cactus brief I realised you can’t always design how you want and you have to make compromises for what the client wants, even if it means you are unhappy with the end design. Also planning out each day, knowing what I need to get done and planning out my time has definitely helped me to improve how I approach my design work in regards to getting my briefs, live or not, complete by the deadlines.
3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these? With each of my briefs I feel that I have explored the range of products that could be produced, and how designs can be used across a range. I think the range could always been pushed further but I have explored some of the possibilities in each of my briefs. I also think my strengths lie in applying my illustration and surface pattern designs to my design work, I am not just drawing for the sake of drawing but considering the content or concept of the brief. From working on all my briefs but in particular the Inpress brief I feel that my are strengths in my print making skills, I want to further this in my FMP, improving the skills I already have and also learning new technique’s such as lino and mono printing.
4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future? Some briefs I spent to long on and didn’t move on fast enough, such as the stationery brief, I wanted to produce a larger range for this brief and also work on the retail graphics side of it, this is something I need to consider in the future and know when its time to move a brief forward. I also think I focused too much on the print side of the briefs and didn’t look into the design for screen side which I had originally planned to in my rationale, I am annoyed at myself for not leaving time to do this so it is something I want to make sure I focus on with future briefs, to put time aside to work on the parts of the briefs that I may find more challenging. Even tough I feel like my type and layout skills have improved I still feel like they are a weakness in my work, I think it is just a lack of knowledge that lets me down, so taking some time to learn more about it and getting fellow designers with the skills I lack to help me is something I am going to consider for my FMP projects.
5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these? 1. I want to focus more on the design for screen part of briefs, it is something I wanted to do for these briefs but I ended up neglecting the screen based design and focusing too much on the print side. This will give my briefs more of a range of outcomes and improve my design for screen skills. 2. I have put a lot of time into the briefs in this module during the last few weeks and it has paid off but I feel that if I worked this hard from the start the amount and quality of work I could produce would be improved a lot; this is something I want to do for my FMP. 3.When working on live briefs, like Inpress, they often seem to take over and take away from all the other briefs, at points I felt like Inpress was the only brief I was working on and had no time to do anything else, if a brief is live I just need to consider the time scale and start well in advance so it doesn’t take over. 4. Having actual mocked up work for crits is something I want to do in the future, when I had actual products in my crits I got much better feedback, I know when people have stuff I can actually pick up and look up I engage with it more so I want to try and bring as much as I can to crits to get the best feedback so it will help move my designs forward. 5. Overall time management is something I always say I need to improve but with each project
I do it gets harder and I realise I need to plan my time better, I have improved my time management since last year but it could still be better, especially with the added element of a dissertation, balancing time between practical and written work is something that needs improved.
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 5 Attendance x Punctuality x Motivation x Commitment x Quantity of work produced x Quality of work produced x Contribution to the group x 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.