I aimed to create briefs that would take me out of my design comfort zone. I wanted to create a portfolio that had depth in terms of audience and showed I could work professionally for a number of clients, which I feel is more useful to a future employer. I feel that this is apparent within my current portfolio and have had positive feedback from industry professionals.
The Mart brief went well in terms of identity design but I felt I could of pushed the identity across a number of products and made these products rather just create the artwork. If I was to do this again I feel that action planning and time management would help me massively if I were to stick to deadlines. I felt that researching into things like different stocks and print methods would of taken this brief further, but this is something that at the time I didn’t feel would make any benefit.
Again with the Kestrel Film Works brief I was more interested in creating the idea than the actual product, the newspaper came out well but there were things I would change, the size of type was unexpected and some layouts could have been better in terms of eye for detail. Producing to scale mock ups would have solved this problem and I could of made amendments.
Within the Sarah Walton brief I feel that more documentation of development would of helped me gain more marks in terms of ticking boxes and would of maybe created more ideas of how to push the brief. Again creating more mock-ups and proofs would of solved problems like the type being too close to the gutter and too close to the page edge.
I also got use to working with clients rather than with my self with this module, the Maxwell Rushton brief helped me deal with a client and also made me work to a professional time scale sticking to deadlines the client set (although I did not document them). The downside to this is that I did not document my development and thought process. I felt the outcome was of a high standard but again could have been polished off a little more.
It seems that over all my practice needs that little push where I take what I think is a finished product to the next level, This was evident within the Hannah-Rachel brief where I felt the idea was good but the outcome could have been pushed a little more and developed to a point where it became a stronger idea.
I felt my design work and ideas generally solved a problem but I did not document and plan enough of my practice. I found it hard to step back and take a look at what I was doing as I felt this would stop the flow of work. This was also apparent within the later stages of the mart brief where I had the entire asset’s to design but didn’t really try and test different methods of products etc.
To progress in the future I need to do the following things.
- Once an idea is thought to be finished, step back and evaluate and then try to push the idea or design further.
- Create action plan and stick to them, in terms of the module I would make the action plans and document them so it is evident that I has stuck to them.
- Create more products to a proof standard this would mean that products of design would be produced with a high standard of detail.
Within this module I feel I have progressed my own practice and found an area of design in which I sit. In the past I have investigated with a number of design disciplines but feel that the areas of identity design and branding is where I want to work. Through – out the briefs I resolved in the FMP module I felt this was evident. I think I have learnt a lot about what a brand is in researching for my design context investigation, this has helped me realise how to design for a brand or create one. I feel I still have a lot to learn in terms of industry but I have gained a good platform of learning to progress into a professional enviroment. This was evident on my placement where I understood what was expected but learnt a lot about doing work that isn’t self initiated and has to go under a large amount of development with a client. I felt at times this is where my work within FMP declined, as I was the client and didn’t have that opposing view to bounce off. This was probably most apparent within the Warp Records secret brief where I developed ideas but did not develop (in depth) the execution of the design.
