Assignment 2 Tutor Feedback and Reflection:

Assignment 2 Tutor Feedback and Reflection:

The exercises in this section are meant to help you experience the invisible work that happens before bringing a piece of design into existence. 2.1: Working to a Brief [Read and analyze] You were asked to read and analyse a number of briefs, identifying what you are being asked to do, any keywords, and how a client would judge a successful outcome. You have provided a very thoughtful analysis and your personal reasons for choosing the brief you would most like to work on are well supported. There was no right/wrong answer in this exercise, so my comments here are just things to consider further. You selected brief two because, as you explain, it is the brief with the least restrictions, leaving more room for creativity. Although unrestricted creativity can be satisfying this might not lead to a successful project outcome when working with a client. This is a good choice of brief, but you will have to really take the lead as the designer - this means asking questions of the client to get more clarity, this means explaining your ideas and design decisions so that the client understands how the solution you come up with is the best way forward. In other words, you need to set the criteria by which the outcome is judged.

This is a very interesting point made about the ‘freedom’ this choice of brief would give, I hadn’t thought of the other implications this would have. It is definitely something I will be be more conscious of with future projects and hope to learn more about the designer/client relationship/ what is required of each etc.

2.2: Researching and developing ideas [Book cover design] In this project you were asked to reflect on different ways of researching and developing ideas, and to put these into practice by designing covers for three HG Wells novels. Some of the things you did really well, and documented really well, for this exercise include the research and early sketches. The diverse references in your research really helped to strengthen your ideas. You included visual references beyond just book covers (the documentary, Russion revolution/dada) and references to books/readings beyond what was directly asked of you. Keep this in mind as you continue to work on the next section. Look at both breadth and depth when conducting research. The mind mapping stage could demonstrate more of the uncertainty - the questions you have, the things you don't know, the avenues you want to explore. Perhaps this is the case, but since your mindmaps are predominantly single-words/statements this seems like you are mapping how it will be visualised.

I will continue to reference research/read book and others etc that I find interesting/helpful. I will also show my uncertainties and questions I ask in future planning stages as there is a lot of it/many questions I have about moving forward with each section of the given brief. There is a lot more I feel I can include in these mind maps, but as they were references for myself (a word meaning multiple things/creating and reminding myself of different ideas) I didn’t think about documenting further initially, which I now will do.

2.3: Visualising your ideas [Leaflet] This project explored how to quickly visualise ideas through thumbnails, mood board, mock-ups and prototypes. You were asked to explore different ways you can fold paper to make a leaflet for a voluntary organisation. The idea visualisation techniques explored for this exercise are diverse and interesting. I wonder if you would have focused on different directions if you included dummy text? or if you had a specific charity in mind? Might the logo influence how you present the content? The content can influence the form. This may become more evident as you begin to work with specific content. The two leaflets you identified as the best to attract new volunteers to work in a charity shop are both rather small. If the amount of information that these need to include is sparse these might work. There might be additional considerations in terms of typesetting on the pentagonal shape, the different orientations and the line length. It is important to consider practical factors as well, for instance the pentagon would need to be die cut (custom shapes can be expensive and charity shops don’t have unlimited resource). The practicality of how these would be displayed/distributed. A unique shape would require a unique holder. Would they fit into a business card holder? The measurements would need to be very specific. You suggest these might be posted - there are additional practical considerations for posting (it would need to stay closed, the postmark needs to be clearly visible). Try to incorporate practical considerations into your decision making, often the practical considerations outweigh the aesthetic and you need to find a way to design within the constraints.

I didn’t have a specific charity shop in mind when testing with the leaflet layouts, I just knew that I wanted it to be a ‘typical’ charity shop as I had been to a lot recently gaining old books/imagery material there. I feel like my final idea would’ve taken a different direction if I had produced dummy text or decided on more specific information. I was of course considering the text, but was more focused on the visual appearance of the leaflet, which may of been impractical, in future this will be something to really consider and question how the information/sizing of the leaflet will work/should visual style be sacrificed. I didn’t consider pricing into my designs, again this is something that I will now think of, especially as it was a charity shop, as you say they don’t have unlimited resources. I will definitely be considering these practical issues with further projects, especially if they have more specific information/function. I feel like I was trying too much on the visual side and not thinking as much regarding the practicality.

2.4: Critiquing your work [Too much or not enough information] The critique is the process of being self-critical about your work in order to achieve the aims of a brief. You were asked to put this into practice by designing two posters and reflecting on whether they had too much or not enough information. The research and initial idea development for the poster is thoughtfully conducted. You demonstrate resourcefulness, critical thinking, and a desire to engage with the content on a deeper level. Please keep in mind that the final designs are not the purpose of the exercises. The process and the challenges you work through are where the learning happens. It seems that some of the motivation and self-critique is focused on reaching a certain outcome as opposed to understanding why something works or doesn’t work to communicate a certain message. It was really brave of you to share your work with other students on the course and solicit a critique of the posters. If there was someone whose input you have found especially useful it would be worth engaging on an ongoing basis - perhaps offer to help them if they need a crit? I find that one or two really helpful individuals are much better than putting work out into the world and opening it up to unlimited critiques. In response to some of your thoughts on the composition and placement of the elements. You mention that removing the logo/quote seemed to take away from the overall look and information gained from the poster. Did you consider using the space around the poster? What I mean by that is there is a fair amount of margin outside of the scanned/crumpled paper part of the poster. Could you use the space around this image of a crumpled page to place some of the information? It may add some dimensionality and also give you more negative space while still including the information?

I do tend to focus/be self critical about my final outcomes, but will aim to focus more on the process, learning/developing/documenting a method of tackling each brief. The idea of posting my work to be critiqued was daunting but very helpful. There are a few people who seem to go very in depth when critiquing others work, which is very helpful. I will definitely reach out in the Graphic Design Google chat again, and have began engaging with others work there. I didn’t consider using the space around the poster, that would’ve been a great idea, and would of opened up the poster and taken away some of the sizing issues I seemed to have (with filling the page with the needed information, whilst not making it look overcrowded.) This would also of made the image more interesting visually. I will definitely consider these ideas in future projects.

The changes you made to your learning blog work well to highlight your research and idea development, and clearly communicate the process. The sections are well organised and easy to navigate. This should scale well for the remainder of the course, and should you choose to continue using the same blog for any subsequent courses. One of the Research Points asked you to reflect on how familiar you are to graphic design software, and identifying what you might need to learn. You mention making it a priority to use InDesign for the next project. As much as I encourage you to learn the software, the decision on which software should be used for a specific project should come from the project requirements. It is important to understand what the software is best suited for and if this fits with the project then select it. It will make your work much easier if you use the software that is best suited for your project.

I will keep this in mind when approaching future briefs. I felt as if it is a programme I should get familiar with and will be, but will definitely use the suited programme for the task.

Assignment Two, Thinking of You, asked you to create a range of cards for sentiments or events not currently catered for by card manufactures. The journey of creating your cards is well documented - from analysing the brief, initial sketches and first prototypes. It seems like once you decided on the idea and layout you kept moving forward without slowing down to reflect. It may be beneficial to revisit the brief while you work through a project and ask if the place you are at still meets the criteria the assignment sets out. In this instance the three cards you designed are for a specific individual (Mr Trump / Dear Greg). Keeping in mind that these cards would be distributed by card manufacturers to customers it would not make sense to include the specific salutation. All the obscure celebrations you decided to focus on are, in themselves, good subjects for the cards. You would need to adjust the message to something more applicable for the purpose the cards are meant for. Hence, I would suggest revisiting the brief as you work on your assignments to ensure you are meeting the criteria.

I do take time to reflect on what I have done, but I definitely should do it more. With future projects I will take the time to analyse what I have done so far and reassess the brief, this could lead to improved or different outcomes. I should’ve rechecked during the planning stages with this and considered the specifications of the criteria. I will definitely be reading more closely and referring back in the future.

The decisions made for the Mr Trump visual are well documented and well supported. It appears that the cards were worked on sequentially (as opposed to simultaneously). Which means that certain decisions you made when working on the first card were taken for granted on the next cards. It may be valuable, to at some point in your process reflect on all the elements together. Some of the exercises coming up will ask you to create a series or set of things. While you work on them consider if going through each piece start to finish individually or designing them together would be a better approach?

I will take time with future tasks to reflect on them as a collective and will definitely try and work on some simultaneously. I feel like it could open up different ideas and improve my work, as one element I do that I like on one image may work well with or cause me to change/improve another.

This is a fantastic occasion to celebrate! You mention wanting to create a surreal landscape looking ‘dream like.’ I think at this point it may have been useful to do some research on surreal landscapes and dream like imagery - what has been done historically? What social/cultural significance do they play? Perhaps looking into daydreaming as well and how it is often represented (the kid in school drifting off and being punished by teacher?) Research the historical or cultural meaning and significance of visuals to inform your work.

That would’ve been a great idea to do. There are many surrealist artists who I like and I could have found more. This could have lead to improvements in my work and looking at it from a different perspective. I will keep this in mind with future briefs and try to delve deeper into more areas/ideas.

It feels as though you were a little less certain with the decisions on this card. Compared to your other reflections, it seems that the next steps were not as obvious to you as you tried to work out the composition. This may be uncomfortable, but it is a good place to be because it requires you to rely on creative problem solving. 4 The way in which you use creative problem solving and research to generate visual ideas works really well. From the documentation it seems the process flows quite organically. It does leave me to wonder if you encountered any major obstacles? This may be partially due to your comfort and familiarity with the medium you are using (photomontage combined with some hand rendered elements and blocks of colour). Having a familiar process and style can serve you well (as a professional you might be sought out for your particular look/style). The downside of this during your studies is that you do not put yourself in a position to learn. The hangover card begins to explore this with screenprinting. What would happen if you approached a project from a different starting point? What if you decided not to include any imagery and used only type? What if the imagery had to include colour - no black and white images? When you try stepping outside of your comfort zone you may realize it is not for you, you may learn something new, or you may see things from a different perspective. In terms of the assessment criteria this will allow you to demonstrate your use of materials, techniques, technologies, and visual language to communicate ideas and information.

I was less certain about how to move forwards with this card because it was something new. I completely agree and think it would be very interesting to approach a task in a different way or adhere to self given ‘guidelines’ such as only using typography. I feel like this would push me to improve in other areas of design and create something different and interesting. I really am interested in screen printing and look forward to testing with it further, combining it with other physical/digital techniques. I will aim to test myself further with future projects!

I think an interesting area for you to explore might be hand-rendered typography and hand-lettering artists. I say this because you include sketched elements in much of your work and you also have a very playful approach to typographic layout (cut/paste, unusual baselines, positions on the page). You can find lots of examples online. One book that comes to mind is called Hand Job: A Catalog of Type.

I look forward to researching and exploring this more. The book looks very interesting and has been ordered!- I saw that there is an e book option but prefer a physical copy, look forward to viewing it.