Design Practice Evaluation

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

I believe that I have definitely improved my time management skills by making full use of the weekly planner timetables and by keeping a 'TO DO' list pinned to my bathroom door. It has definitely helped me keep on track of exactly what I needed to do within the module by the end of the deadline. By using timetables, I managed to allocate myself time for mock ups, and practice final pieces, trying and testing within my projects to ensure that I got the best outcome possible, in my opinion.

I definitely think that I have managed to develop my software skills further, particularly using Adobe Illustrator. The Type and Grid project that we have been doing with Lorenzo has finally allowed me to play around with Adobe InDesign and I believe that I am on the way to learning much more about this piece of software, though I do feel pretty pleased that I have finally started using it.

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

I feel that I have definitely embraced the idea of using mock ups within my work to properly test whether or not a design will work before going ahead with the final product. As I realised my mistake in the last module with the 'Book of 100' when the final outcome just did not work as I had expected it to, I have really realised the value of testing my ideas and mocking up the final product.
I have also really started to research thoroughly into the outcomes of my product, and research into any ideas that I have before working on the product, whereas before, in previous modules, I have gone with an idea before working backwards and adding the research as an afterthought.
. I really see the benefit of researching first and how that can influence and inspire my ideas.

During the collaborative brief, I worked with Carl and I chose to work with him after designing for him during the first module, that I could learn a lot from his style of working. He and I have worked together on several occasions now, and his and my styles(as much as I hate the word) mesh pretty well, and we learn a lot from each other.

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

I feel that a strength of mine is the ability to seek inspiration from the work of those around me. For example, I have recently attempted collage work, especially within the collaborative brief, and also the hand illustrated style which has featured in both the collaborative brief as well as 'Speaking from Experience'.

Both my elective project and the 'Speaking from Experience' brief were based on paper toys, something that I have really gotten into lately and I feel that I have learned quite a bit on the subject already and it is something that I would like to look into in the future and develop further.

I think that a definite strength of mine is not being afraid to try new techniques and outcomes.



4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these more fully?
I feel that a weakness of mine is that I seem to lean more towards the digital side of things whereas I would like to try create more outcomes based on hand drawn and crafting. I really want to develop my illustration skills and this is something I want to work on over the summer as well as in the second year. It's all about stepping out of my comfort zone. Another point is that I come from a very hand crafted background and I really want to get back into it. Before I came to this course I was heavily into realism portraiture and this is something that I would really like to incorporate into my future work.
My annotation and evaluative skills definitely need to be worked upon over the length of this course as I feel that my analytical skills can be much improved. I have never been much of a writer but I still feel that I can become much better at the job at hand. I would really like to be better at analysing my own work and what went right or wrong. I also want to be able to provide better feedback for my classmates during crits.
5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?
i) Explore a variety of outcomes before settling and moving forward with a particular idea. This also involves working quicker and developing my research skills.
ii) Learn more skills! I would definitely like to explore methods of printing more, including screen printing and mono printing. I plan to, if I can, take the print elective in the second year so I can learn much more about these methods.
iii) Improve my illustration skills and include these within my projects.
iv) Become much better at analysing my own work and being more critical. I would like to be able to provide better feedback within crits.
v) I have learned a lot from my Recycling and Sustainability elective and I would like to try and apply what I have learned to my work in the years to come, rather than ignoring where my materials have come from and the like.