Project Report Within this module I aimed to develop a varied portfolio, showcasing a versatile commercial skillset. I believe that I have been able to do this, from working on a graphic design based YCN brief to pure image and colour compositions for the Colour Block project. I have produced an animation, used Lino print and hand painted ceramics to step away from the computer and see how my designs can be applied physically. I also wanted to showcase my commercial, professional ability by taking on commissions and working freelance. I produced an enamel pin for a client as merchandise, and contacted a retailer to freelance illustrate one of their pin collections. Both were carried out in a style I am comfortable with, which was important to showcase as I hope to be hired to make more. Although I initiated the UK Greetings commission by pitching my own ideas, I had to respond to creative direction, which evolved the visuals, and develop my editorial (humour writing) skills, which stretched my comfort zone and taught me how much consideration goes into every commercial item, from words to colour and composition. On project management I realised that I can’t maintain organisation or motivation when juggling multiple briefs at once, so for the final 3 months of the module I made a timetable which allowed me to not only work on one project at a time but prioritise which projects I had time to complete. I ended up dropping several project ideas such as the Dental brief. Working in short bursts allowed me to maintain focus on the YCN brief and pin commissions and IWD prints, and giving myself several weeks to solely focus on the Colour Block project allowed me to work with a clear mind, for the first time within this degree developing an experimental, evolving project that I wasn’t distracted from. Around February I had a period of panic that I wasn’t completing what I had initially set out to do, but developing the timetable allowed me to assess what was achievable, changing my project aims, and I was ultimately able to follow it. Research into contemporary illustration was at the heart of the Colour Block project, where I aimed to develop an individual method of engaging with the Colour Block trend within commercial products. I continually self curated what worked, developing an intuition for colour proportioning that I hope to not only expand the Valencia collection with but take into my future design work where colour is always an important consideration. A new avenue I will be pursuing further is ceramics, after experimenting with painting tapas plates during the Colour Block project. Cooking is one of my biggest passions, and I regularly share meal ideas on my personal blog, as well as selling the small soup recipe book I created during OUIL505. Creating artisan dinnerware is a relevant and exciting path I intend to take, as well as pitching my existing examples to retailers such as Anthropologie and Oliver Bonas who produce artist collections. My first step will be taking a ceramics course so that I can also play with the form of each item and develop bespoke glazes.
Challenges through the module were a trend of independently re-teaching myself techniques in order to ensure I’m able to continue them post graduation if I work alone. This included animation for YCN where I learned new techniques from online tutorials, lino print and layout design on InDesign for the Colour Block project. The catalogue design was more challenging than anticipated. It involved figuring out how to professionally present the story behind the collection without mimicking the visual journal, while keeping context and humanity. As touched on, my biggest struggle of the module was deciding which projects to take on. I had to remind myself that I will be able to work on them after graduation, as a freelancer who needs to continually update their portfolio. As we learned from the Hanbury talks, design blogs look for artist’s self initiated projects to showcase. The Colour Block, Dentistry and Neighbourhood projects are open ended and waiting.