End of Module Evaluation

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

I have gained and devloped alot of skills in this module helping me in my design choices and my practice. I have managed to keep fairly focus by following my aims set at the start of this module by my rational. I am am please to say i have met them too.
This is the first module on this course where I am proud to say that the work that I have produced is mine, and has been completed to a professional standard in my opion.
The main skill that has enabled me to achive my goals which i set out to was my time management. When i started this module i only took my time managemtns into little consideration - as i normaly do which is my downfall. However roughly halfway through this module I really took this into account and started to push myself. I created tick off lists for each day’s production the night before which enabled me when I came into the studio next day I had a clear plan allowing me to tick off jobs when complete and bin the list at the end of the day which I found rewarding.

By planning my time in advanced I moved the deadline date in my head to a week and a half earlier, this allowed me to ad extra pieces and tweak part of my designs which I was still not satisfied with. The main benefits that I found from this were I could photography and present my work now at a professional standard. This to me made all the difference to my designs, adding value ad creditability instantly.

By far the skill which has took me by storm and I want it to be play a predominate part in my FMP is the design process of 2D-3D and then back to 2D using photography and hand crafted illustartion. This process has surprised me at how much I engaged & enjoyed it, making me ask why I didnt start it earlier.

It was by using this process in the IKEA brief when it started to really become my work. In my rationale for this module I did not intended to use or develop this 3D model process, however after reading ‘Stereographic's’ this sparked of an interest in the ascetics. I realised that this would be something I could easily achieve with my style of illustration suiting perfectly.



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

I have become confident with my style as a designer, now knowing that what I am producing is not simply cut of bits stuck down like a GCSE collage which i previoulsy had thought. This has all fed off my research in the design field that I am interested in and the designer Owen Gildersleeve who I am inspired by.
I talked with Owen Gildersleeve whose work is on my context blog who inspired me to design the IKEA brief in the 3D cut out paper format. He was very insightful, encuraging me to have confidence in what i was doing and do not think that because you are not following the current trends in graphic design, hand rendered it has any lower value. If anything it has more due to the laborious hour put into to making all the elements for it.
From this I was set on knowing what I wanted to achieve from each brief which I took on. I wanted to use the module to use these specific and new design process and gain confidence in it.


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

Linking back to my rational I stated that I wanted this module to help me become designer lead in my own work. I have achieved this in my opinion, this is evident form my peers on the course as whom ever i have asked say that my work is always recongisable as well as it is clear.

A new strength is now i have become more independent, having more confidence within myself and who I am as a designer I have developed a clear design process. It revolves around photography acting as the basis for each project then as it goes along I incorporate my hand rendered illustration with college. I have realised only now what works for me and how I can take it into other contexts such as editorial. This is why I chose the penguin brief, even though there was little text involved I still managed to combine both text and image successfully.


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

For the first half of the module, I was fairly slow on the uptake as I was still confused at what I should be producing as my style of my work differs so much from my peers on the course. Initially I thought I should be more type driven which has hindered me in the past.

This became apparent on the strangeways brief; I trailed 3 different styles of posters for it before reaching the final one. In crits I was given such mixed feedback it was hard to gain anything from it apart from that my layout skills with type needed work on. This is what delayed me in making my design choices, my peers would like my work and give me positive feedback where as in crits I did not. The again in my tutorials with Joe he gave me all positive feedback and encouraged me to go with what I knew - as it was apparent I was confident in my collage style. I found it very confusing and wasted a good three weeks of my time trying to please everyone with my designs - which now i realise it is very hard to do as all work is subjective.
When I did finally chose a style to stick with I produced all parts of it form start to finish within two weeks, which demonstrates how quickly I can turn briefs around once I have my mind on the right track.




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


1. Continue using day plans with tick off lists and extend these to weekly plans and targets to achieve to know exactly how much time is allowed for each step of the brief – enabling me to push myself and get more done.
2. I would like to stick to my guns more, when I think a design is working and is effective I will take the criticism on board and adjust where necessary but I will not let it hinder me or confuse what I have set out to achieve.
3. Start work instantly and to pick a brief that I engage with to start, reducing the time wasted.
4. Once I get on the right track I can produce and knock work up fairly quickly, I would like to continue this and make my production levels even faster.
5. Allow more time at the end of each brief to present and photograph the work at a professional standard – producing more context shots of where my work will be placed.

Final Shop window design

Final design set for the Ted Baker shop window display pictured above. All I need to do now is photoshop the set into context and demonstrate the scale of it - so how it will work and be viewed. See my final boards for this.



Documenting the making and constructing of the installation. Similarly to the Ikea brief I used an old shoe box cut out and extended. This gave me a nice space and frame to work and design to. Cut out pieces were suspended nd fastened onto the top of the shoes box - this gave effective shadows demonstrating to the viewer that the piece was 3D.

Type experiments

Experimenting with the change of slogan after my last crit from Tally Ho to It's Spiffing. This is a pun to emphasis the bad weather us Brits have, as in It's Spitting. I used the foiling technique in gold however i chose to keep to my guns and use a hand render out out type face traced around Georgia font in the British flag colours to convey the patriarchy.

Shoes box set up!

The above documents the initial design set up for my installation. Playing around with the layout of the set pieces I slowing started to decide on the final arrangement - and add any extra little details to the set. The set pieces were then attached to thread and suspended inside the shoe box.

Ice Cream model development

Here i was trying out different stocks and different ways of producing the ice cream cones and the whipped texture of the ice cream. I trailed various processes to match a realistic effect and to make the pieces tactile.

New Concpet

I decided to change my concept yet again, as I thought my previous concept was not playful enough and overly British. I wanted to capture the British humour in a more subtle comic way - to do this i chose to focus onto he weather for my theme. the change of seasons from summer to Autumn and how the classic summer is already dull and dreary.

I thought the idea of an ice cream van or an ice cream struggling in the rain was perfect to represent British summertime culture.

Ooooh some classic british icons

Change of idea yet again to take past classic British icons and put them in the modern day context. icons such as Churchill and Queen Victoria and popping them in modern dress such as Ted Baker attire to change there character. I could even extend these icons to modern days ones such as kate Moss as these are all great British attributes.






I still wanted to use my hand rendered cut out style to this brief so below starts to show my workings using mixed media and collage.