Core Concepts- ‘Problem Solving’ Research Points:
Research point 1:
What sort of items have you collected so far? What was it that made you want to keep these items? Make notes in your learning log.
For a long time I have been collecting visual media, writing down quotes etc, without any ‘formal’ intention of doing so, just because I like them, to inspire personal work and to refer back too. From beginning this course I notice myself more and more looking at things differently and collecting them with more of a purpose. I have loads of screenshots from Instagram, Pinterest, website posts, and book quotes. I store these both on my phone and laptop and have began to refer to them a lot more.
I have also started to collect many books/magazines/posters, new and old for visual reference and to use images/type from. I take fonts from them and try and find similar ones to use, I have found this the best thing to do when looking for new type to use.
Below are some examples of the items/files that I have that I use/am constantly adding too for inspiration:
Research point 2:
How do you approach being self-critical? What issues does it raise? Do you have friends, family, colleagues or a group who will critique your work for you?
I feel like I am constantly self critical in all respects. This can sometimes be a hinderance to me because I sometimes pre judge my ability to produce a piece of work, and therefore struggle to start. I am learning to just continue with trying and testing and developing a method of working that is good for me.
When critiquing my own work I begin by looking back at the brief (or if it’s personal work, the idea I had etc) and see if the work I have produced presents this brief/idea. I will then think about style, whether I have chosen the correct media for the piece, judging what format it is presented in/what it’s intent was. I usually then compare to other artists works and am very critical at this point. I find comparison very helpful as it makes me push to become better at communicating my ideas, but it can also cause me to feel less confident in the work I have produced.
I have a group of friends who will critique my work for me, there is also a good Graphic Design google group I am a part of where people have given some good in depth feedback. I must start utilising feedback and be less afraid of negative reactions in the future, and aim to do so.
Research point 3:
Identify the software you have available to deal with desktop publishing, image manipulation and graphics/illustration. How familiar are you with it? What do you need to learn?
I am familiar with Photoshop/Lightroom from a passion for photography since I was 13. I seem to learn/get to grips with it more every day, through Youtube tutorials/creating and playing with personal work, and I look forward to getting better at mixing medias digital/physical. I feel as if Photoshop is something you can constantly discover something new with whether it’s a completely new way to gain a certain visual, or just to a quick key or quicker method of creating a certain affect.
I have started to use Illustrator more recently to create illustrated versions of my own photography, pairing it with Photoshop to add texture to the image. There is lots for me to learn with Illustrator and becoming more confident/quicker at working between the two (and other) programmes. I aim to create some more illustrations of drawings/photos in the future, and again watch Youtube tutorials/people working to gain more insight into how best to use the software.
For publishing I am aware that Indesign is the go to, to create multiple documents that are the same etc. I have never used Indesign, which is something I will change and look into. I will make this a priority for the next project.
I also have some experience in using Premiere Pro, again photography related and from some short videos I have created. Maybe this could be incorporated in the future depending on the task in the future.
