OUGD503: Responsive - Uber Critique

As this was the final point of contact for the first half of the responsive module before collaborative practice began, we were asked to bring along all the work we had produced for the various live and competition briefs for a 'uber crit'.

The feedback from the crit would ideally give us some final amendments to consider for the various briefs before the work was submitted to them formally. As well as the quality of the design itself we were also given feedback on how the work was presented through design boards.

So far I had worked on three competition brief for the responsive module, one significant brief for The Body Shop and two small briefs for the 'Love Your Body' Campaign and Secret 7" therefore I brought design boards which demonstrated the brief, concept and final outcomes for each of these briefs as well as questions which were specific areas I wanted to receive feedback on.

Overall I am extremely pleased with the feedback I received on the work that I presented, which was mainly positive and gave constructive suggestions on how the outcomes could be developed further before I submitted my work to D&AD.

One of the main concerns I had with the outcome I had produced for The Body Shop was whether the online campaign would actually work and be beneficial for the social campaign I had devised, I was reassured by the feedback that it was a strong concept which is appropriate for the target audience.

Although at this stage I had not quite finished the final outcomes for the Secret 7" brief, I brought along my concept board and a range of thumbnails of possible designs. From this the feedback I received was that my concept of using imagery of a 'cocktail' to represent the cocktail grounds for divorce as mentioned in the song was clever, therefore I will now begin producing this idea on Illustrator.

Following in the critique, we were briefed on the second half of the module which is 'collaborative practice' in which we are required to work with a partner on a D&AD or YCN brief. Once we had chosen our creative partner we were asked to choose three briefs to work with in our first session back and to fill in a brief questionnaire about our chosen partner.

OUGD504: Design Production - Module Evaluation

END OF MODULE SELF-EVALUATION

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

Overall I have thoroughly enjoyed the Design Production module, as well as giving me the opportunity to gain more design more in depth knowledge of the processes involved when working to either a print or screen design brief the module was split into three long-running briefs which gave me the opportunity to produce a solid concept and significant body of work. By running the brief in this way I was able to improve not only my time management skills but also being able to juggle several big briefs at a time, which will be an imperative skill in the future.

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

I have thoroughly enjoyed the briefs which we been given as part of the module, and have found them extremely useful in terms of how to approach brief when working to different mediums such as print and/or web.

Out of all three briefs, which I have undergone as part of this module, I believe the 'What Is Design For Print?' brief was my most successful. By taking advantage of the opportunity the brief gave to explore a variety print processes and finishing techniques I was able to not only learnt new skills and useful tips I was also able to apply this knowledge in order to produce my final outcome, which had screen-printed covers.

Another skill I have gained as part of the Design Production Module which I believe will aide me significantly in the future as a Graphic Design is in the Adobe Software Dreamweaver and how to code a functional website.

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

Within the first brief in particular, there was an emphasis on our concepts and ideas, which is an aspect of the design process I have always enjoyed. For my final outcome I explored a range of concepts before deciding to create a range of instructional leaflets, which I personally believe was a strong concept, which gave me a lot of scope in terms of the aesthetic.

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

Although I happy with the useful knowledge I gained during the 'Design For Web' brief I do not personally believe that my final outcome was my strongest work.

Before the Web sessions we had with Simon as part of the module, I had not used Dreamweaver before I knew little about the programme. Therefore after struggling to code the website I initially designed for the brief, I had to use the website we coded as part of our sessions with Simon as a template for my final outcome. This meant that the design was not exactly high quality and the final deign was quite basic.

However I was able to use my original design as a proposal of what I would do should I have the skills in Dreamweaver and the timescale to do so.

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

1.     Improve the professional quality of my work – particularly with the outcomes I produced as part of the ‘Print and Web’ brief I believe a bit more care could have given to the finish in order to be of a industry standard quality.

2.     Be more experimental in terms of format for final outcomes – For the ‘Print and Web’ we were given the opportunity to produce a range of printed material and propose any ideas we came up with which would not be plausible to produce. I would have liked to have taken more advantage of this opportunity in order to propose some really outlandish ideas.

3.     Produce more in-depth research – In terms of the final design outcomes I produced, I would have believed it would have been more beneficial to produce more in-depth research which I could take inspiration from.

4.     Improve evaluation of on-going design process on blog – By evaluating the development of my designs at each of the design process in terms of what worked and what did not I would produce a final outcome, which was more informed.

5.     Improve skills in digital media and Adobe Programmes – I am still not confident in the Adobe software programmes which is evident in my work for the ‘Design For Web’ brief, However If I were to improve these skills I believe my confidence would have a beneficial effect on my final design outcomes as a result.

OUGD504: Design Production - Design For Print and Web, Final Critique

As this was the final critique before our module submission next week the format of the crit was quite formal. Within a group of at least six students we were given a maximum of ten minutes to discuss the original brief we chose, any changes we had made and how how we have approached the brief with the student to our left acting as a scribe, writing down any feedback from the rest of the group.

As well as the design boards to show the context behind my final outcomes I also presented the selection of print material I had produced in response and the website and signage I would like to propose.

As the printed products I produced are for a selective institute the emphasis was mainly on stationery, however I was interested if the group felt there was anything else I could else I could possibly design or even propose.

My Feedback:

By being part of the crit rather than just leaving my work for others to comment on, which we have done in the past two crits was extremely useful on this occasion as I was able to ask the group questions which we were then able to discuss and solve as a group.

Overall I very pleased with the feedback I was given in response to the work I presented, which was constructive and offered effective solutions.