Graphic Design 2.1: Professional Practice, Project 10: ‘Refining Your Professional Practise’ Research points
Reading Task 1: Reviewing your Feedback
Following each of the projects you would have received formative feedback that outlines the strengths and weaknesses of the work you have produced. Critique, as already discussed earlier in the unit, is an important part of your development. Of course, feedback needs to be constructive and provide genuine objectivity. Alongside tutor feedback, you will have no doubt received opinions from people you may know, friends or family for example. This can often be subjective and based on simple personal preferences. You need to be able to make this simple distinction in order to develop your work further.
Identify key words and advice from the feedback provided by your tutor(s). What are the main strengths and weaknesses? What actions have been suggested to improve your work? Are there any recommendations that are along the same lines?
Once you have done this, collate the data and produce asimple two page spread, using theleft page for strengths and what you enjoyed, and the right page for weaknesses or what you could improve.
Research Task 1: Online Portfolio Platforms
You may or may not have an online presence, so it is worth reviewing your current options. There are many platforms available, offering different levels of interactivity and functionality. Increasingly, the importance of being ‘smart’ on how you share your work on social media platforms is also key.
Below is a list of some of the better known platforms. Do some research on these and then review the pros and cons of each platform. For instance, Instagram may have a huge number of active users but is rigid in format and is perhaps more geared towards photography (or pictures of your dinner). If you are using a different platform then also include this.
Behance:
Behance is a great website to research and find inspiration. Behance, alongside Pinterest are my ‘go to’ websites. I love Behance because you can be very specific with your areas of research, look for specific types of projects or designers. They also have a really good curated page which takes projects you have looked at and related projects, combining them into a feed to look through. The feed is always a great place to start if stuck on idea generation or planning.
Pros:
Exposure to large audience
Networking
Community
Integrates with Adobe
Professional portfolio
Cons:
High Compeition
Dependency on platform for views/work
Limited integration for links to other portfolios, website, store etc
Fees for analytics
Dribbble:
FIGURE 2:
Dribbble is a website where designers display their work through ‘shots’. Its a community for designers/creatives to share projects, gain inspiration, receive feedback, and connect with potential clients/employers.
Pros:
Global network, like social media but for creatives
High visibility
Professional portfolio display
Networking opportunities
Varied works, good inspiration
Cons:
Paid pro version
File size limits
High competition
Limited customisation options
Little/no integration with stores or websites
Adobe Portfolio:
FIGURE 3:
I had heard of Adobe Portfolio, solely from updating creative cloud, but still hadn’t looked into it. I host on Squarespace which is paid but works very well. After reviewing Adobe Portfolio and watching some Youtube videos (figure 4) it has pros and cons to using it as a portfolio/website host.
Pros:
Integrates with Adobe creative cloud and Behance
Easy to use templates
Free (if on creative cloud)
Custom domains
Cons:
Limited customisation
Paid for creative cloud subscription
Not good for large or in-depth websites
Lack of analytics
No Eccommerce or links to Shopify etc
Coroflot:
FIGURE 5:
Pros:
Designer ‘showcase’ showing a small amount of designers to front page
Direct to employer
Free platform for creating portfolio
Easy to use
Used by many companies globally
Cons:
Limited customisation options
Limited reach
Needs subscription to search
No built in website or ecommerce
Less networking with other designers, more direct to employer
Portfoliobox:
FIGURE 6:
Pros:
Customisable templates
Integrated ecommerce
Free plans available (limited)
Custom domains
Blogging available
Cons:
Limited free plan features
Subscription fees
Limited portfolio size, doesn’t work well for in-depth portfolios
Limited images for free plan
Instagram:
Pros:
‘Unlimited’ global reach
Community, can reach out and speak to people
Easy portfolio curation
Engage
Reach out to almost every global company or employer
Brand building
Following, can transfer to email or text lists
Analytics for free
Free to use
Cons:
Paid reach (as Instagram is more popular, showing to followers lessens to promote paid advertisments)
Spam
Algorithm changes, directly effects exposure
Copyright issues
Limited click through rates (to ecommerce etc)
Resources:
Figure 1: Behance (no date) Behance.net. Available at: https://www.behance.net/onboarding (Accessed: 15 August 2024).
Figure 2: Dribbble - discover the world’s Top Designers & Creative Professionals (no date) Dribbble.com. Available at: https://dribbble.com/ (Accessed: 15 August 2024).
Figure 3: Adobe Portfolio (no date) Adobe.com. Available at: https://portfolio.adobe.com/start (Accessed: 15 August 2024).
Figure 4: Showalter, J. (no date) Adobe portfolio. Youtube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4Z-Yqo24v8 (Accessed: 15 August 2024).
Figure 5: Design jobs and portfolios (no date) Coroflot. Available at: https://www.coroflot.com/ (Accessed: 15 August 2024).
Figure 6: Portfoliobox - portfolio websites (no date) Portfoliobox.net. Available at: https://www.portfoliobox.net/ (Accessed: 15 August 2024).
Figure 7: HelloCharlie (no date) Creating a Website for your Portfolio - (Portfoliobox). Youtube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sbaw75fu8IA (Accessed: 15 August 2024)
Final Reflective Statement:
When you have completed the assignment, take some time to write a 750-word reflection about your experience of this unit as a whole so that your tutor can see it before you include it in your assessment submission.
If it’s useful you could reflect using these questions as a starting point:
What does Graphic Design mean to me?
How did my creative approaches to graphic design develop over the course?
Did the use of creative strategies like mind maps and spider diagrams help the development of my ideas?
What do I feel and think about the processes of experimentation I have undertaken with a range of materials and technical approaches ?
How has looking at other creative practitioners’ drawing and design and reading about their work expanded my understanding of visual communications?
Graphic design to me is ever evolving. As I work through each project my interests and influences expand and change. I noticed the largest change when working through these 10 projects, related to the areas of design I would like to explore and practise further.
Up until this section, I was more interested solely in the illustrative area of graphic design, until properly being introduced to branding and completing various challenging tasks related to it. Project 1 was very reflective, helping me consider the areas of design I was interested in with research tasks and exercises. Looking back at research task 1: New Directions and considering the areas of design that interest me, they would remain the same, but I would now add branding/logo design into the mix.
Assignment 1 was a huge learning curve for me. The brief was daunting as it required various forms of promotional media to be made for a ‘careers in graphic design’ event. Despite there being a few logo and branding design tasks within the first section of this course, this brief required more of an in-depth approach. I was not pleased with my outcome, conceptually it was interesting, but the execution was poor. I reflected upon my research and really considered what I could do to improve. This task sparked my interest in branding, and I was determined to seek improvement.
The next branding task was project 2 exercise 1. Here I slowed down more at the logo design process stage, considering the concept for my designs. The results were an improvement on the last, but the branding still lacked personality and individuality. I felt that assignment 3 was a massive improvement and it was due to my design process. After researching brand designers and their processes, I put more work into the mind-mapping stage where I used word association and multiple rough sketches to work on my ideas.
I continued to work on my logo design and branding skills throughout the project and look forward to any further related design tasks where I can expand upon my design process.
When I began this section, my creative process was quite linear, I would reflect, but only at the end of tasks. I would have blinders on and aim to complete the task, only properly considering my work after its completion. As I progressed through this section, I began to reflect more as I worked, altering and changing designs whilst referring to my research. Assignment 6 was a good opportunity to reflect on my design process. Here, I developed various mind maps and sketches, producing a few book cover designs. I reflected on each design as I moved through the task, pausing, coming back to and improving the designs. There was still a lot to improve on this task, but I felt pleased with my process and persistence.
Throughout this section there were lots of opportunities to experiment with various processes, materials and techniques. I feel as if I did a fair amount of experimentation, but there is way more room for exploring different areas such as physical mock-ups and other printing processes. Assignment 8 was a particularly fun, but challenging task which was open to lots of experimentation. I took this as an opportunity to explore different tactile design techniques to develop my calendar design. Looking back, there is a lot more exploration that could’ve been done, particularly within the second section of the task where you work from the client’s response. This reflection has reinforced the fact that I need to slow down and reflect more during the design process.
Researching and studying the work of various designers and artists of all forms has been crucial to any improvements I have made. Throughout this section I have come across some great branding designers, illustrators, type foundries and creative agencies. Some particularly influential designers include; Abi Connick- who has great content across social media demonstrating her branding design process, Mike Mcquade- an illustrator who continues to inspire me with his blend of physical and digital design processes, Grilli Type Foundry- a Swiss type/graphic design company who produce great social media content on their typography design process and Latch- a creative agency who creates some really interesting work for global brands.
Looking back at this unit, I can see how my design approach has evolved, but also where I need to improve and the steps I can take to do so. I look forward to the challenges and learning opportunities to come with future tasks.
