End of module evaluation OUGD 203

1. What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have

applied them?

Through out this module i felt i have learn't a lot about my design practice in general and feel like i have decided who i want to be as a designer. For me the biggest set of skills i have improved on is effort and idea generation, although i still need to document my ongoing idea generation by maybe using a sketchbook of some sorts. I also felt my skills in process improved looking at a number of process's rather than sticking with on and also experimebnting within that process using different techniques and stocks etc. I think this was evident in my screen printed mail pack, posters and record sleeves, i felt this was the best option for a small niche market, giving the products a little more aura. I also felt i gained skills in planning and time management which is something i need if i want to be a freelance designer.

For me though i felt producing a neat non evolving time table was a waste of time as things oftened changed at a fast past resulting in a messy planner which probably only i can understand. I suppose i proved this worked as i managed to get everything i needed to do done and did'nt have to make any compromises within my design decisions due to time managment.

2. What approaches to/methods of research have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?

For me this one was tricky as i kind of knew about the audience as i am part of the audience. I suppose a method of research that i haven't done before is on a personal one to one level talking to the cleint one to one made it clear for both of us, giving us chance to make changes as i went along and trying to fit new ideas into the brief which met the requirement of the brief better. Obviosuly the above informed my design decison's as leon ( mitternacht ) had the final say, I also felt that client education was present, i was comftable enough and confident enough to say 'no' thats wont work and explained why which leon was kind enough to say 'yes' i trust you, your the designer. I feel this is something that will be present in my practice when working as a free lancer.

3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?

I felt that my overall finishing skills and photography skills were something that can be identified easily, i shall capitalize on these by using them more often. I feel that if you are operating as a freelancer you have to be able to use a number of mediums and a number of ways of presenting your work so i think keeping my photo skills up to date will not only help me present my work better but also offers a skill to potential customers that other designer's may not have.

4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these more fully?

I felt a weakness in my practice is documentation, I have improved vastly on documenting but i am still not happy with the amount of documentation of evaluation, crit and time managment. I need to come up with a system of working where i can constantly update my planner and evaluation to my blog maybe a seperate blog for the two areas, as i seemed to update my image blog as it was not involved with my major work blog.

5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing

these?

1. Set up a blog for documentation keeping things clear and not mixed in will help more than a lost evaluation on my DP blog..

2. Be more creative, use extreme materials and concepts i felt that I maybe played this brief a little safe at times .

3. Create more design directions, this will help me get to grips with how much work i have to produce to impress cleints, offering a couple of design desicion's give the client more choice and makes them feel like they have control which is often what they want.

4. Get 3rd party impartial feedback, i started to feel like the timetable crit's were more of a hinderance than a development, its hard to get the truth out of people as some dont want to offend or others just can't be bothered, which is massivly frustrating when a large amount of effort is put into a brief ready for a crit.

5. Use more colour, im not a fan of colour but i think its because i dont practice there for my colours skills arnt the best. Hopefully this will enhance my design practice and lighten up my black and white work.

Attendance 5

Punctuality 5

Motivation 4

Commitment 4

Quantity of work produced 4

Quality of work produced 4

Contribution to the group 4