BA (Hons.) GRAPHIC DESIGN Module Code
OUGD601
Module Title
Context Of Practice
LEVEL
06
END OF MODULE SELF-EVALUATION NAME Melissa Hardcastle
1. What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them? Throughout this module I think that my skills have developed, and in particular my research skills. Carrying out the amount of research necessary to inform my writing and practical elements, has encouraged me to take on a deepened sense of exploration within my research. I found myself going from source to source and researching topics and themes as much as possible. Developing my research skills has certainly helped me in terms of the requirements of this module. Heavily informed written work helped to influence my practical and made it clear how much the research helps to create and achieve the synthesis.
2. What approaches to/methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process? One method of design production that has developed in this module is my craft skills and in particular, my packaging. Improving my craft skills enabled me to produce a hand cut and bound publication that documents the design decisions and synthesis between theory and practice. It was a good opportunity to explore different methods which include Japanese binding. Creating a box for the publication to go in was also a good chance to display craft skills as it proved to be a successful packaging experiment. The above have informed by development process as they helped me to conclude the work for the module and will be likely to inform my design development process in the future as they have taught me better ways of working.
3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these? Within my work I think that the main strength that can be identified is that the work is all well rounded in terms of the synthesis. I feel that the practical works well with the written element and the two go hand in hand with one another. The publication accompanying the adverts that I produced is also something that I am proud of as it provides a detailed documentation of the design decisions and justifies why they were all necessary in achieving the synthesis required for this module. I am also really pleased because the practical element required a lot of thinking and therefore allowed me to explore my way of conceptual thinking. It also showed that I am capable of thinking in a certain way and forming a practical response based on a research project.
One major strength within my work has been my time management as I have kept on top of my mini deadlines in terms of having my dissertation written in time for all of my tutorials and printing and binding the final copy feeling relaxed and content that the written element was how I wanted it to be.
4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future? A weakness within my work is perhaps the printing of the publication that I produced to accompany the adverts. Unfortunately the ink did not settle well on my choice of stock and as a result the ink rubbed off in certain places. This mishap did not interrupt the overall aesthetic of the publication too much, however, had I have been able to reprint on a different stock I would have done. There was not enough time towards the end of the module for me to reprint so another weakness could perhaps be my time management. I feel that for all of the module I have been on top of my work, but the last stage that includes the printing is always something which I would have preferred to have been able to do sooner.
5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these? Time management concerning printing and making towards the end of the brief – better quality results in terms of practical. Even more research as I think that you can never really have enough because its main purpose is to inform and the better informed you are regarding your area of work, the better outcomes you are likely to produce. I have managed to keep up with the majority of my blogging, however I would like to have completely finished at an earlier date leaving me to do design boards and evaluation. I would have perhaps begun work on my practical a little sooner to avoid time restraints towards the end of the module. I am happy with the work I produced however not having to work at such a quick speed would have made the work more enjoyable. I also wouldn’t have left my design boards as late as I did, although they were done in time, I would have liked to have felt more content towards the end of the module with the speed at which I had concluded the work for this module.
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
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X 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.