Evaluation

Design Practice 3 Evaluation

BA (Hons.) GRAPHIC DESIGN – END OF MODULE SELF-EVALUATION

Module Code – OUGD301

Level 03

Rationale

Over the course of this module I want to develop my illustration style focusing on delivery for print – particularly screenprinting. This is an area of focus and delivery I am interested in and have a lot of fun working to the restrictions associated with them. I also want to gain a better knowledge base of different stock options and prining materials. This is a great opportunity of printing with different inks.

An underlying interest in type and small editorials such as zines, pamphlets and small booklets is another area of delivery I wish to explore.

The majority of briefs I have selected allow me to investigate social and political themes, which is something I am drawn to as of late. “I don’t want to change the world, I just want to vent.”  Who said Graphic Design had to be work? It can be my therapy.

Statement of Intent

Three of my briefs focus on social and political themes; which I am going to explore through illustration – vector or hand drawn and delivered in a printed format, such as a t-shirt, posters and small zines. I will continue to work primarily in Illustrator and Photoshop. These are the two main pieces of software I will continue to use and hopefully become really experienced in using.

One brief allows me to create a range of t-shirts I want to make and explore different printing methods in regards to t-shirt and clothing design. A promotional piece for this brief is a small zine that comes with each t-shirt,which allows me to develop my skills in editorial/layout design, indesign software and type skills.

The exploration of type and layout continues into my next brief, with a series of informative posters for ActionAids Bollocks to Poverty campaign.

Small amounts of photography will be involved to contextualise my work and for a photo shoot for the t-shirts I have produced.

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I started out this module wanting to focus on design for print primarily screen-printing. However, i didn't get to produce as many screen prints as i'd of liked to. This is due to the actual process been time consuming and in particular briefs it would not be appropriate; (such as the YCN - Action Aid brief.) However, screen-printing is definitely something i want to continue doing throughout my FMP. I'm hoping the selection of briefs i am going to choose will allow me to explore digital and manual printing evenly. I was particularly pleased with my work been chosen for the Headline brief and definitely gave me a boost in confidence towards my work. I enjoyed how simply i communicated and delivered the headline. Over the last two years i've constantly over complicated my designs and finally in my third year i think i've started to identify simple solutions quicker and produce some stunning work; but there is still alot of room for improvement.

I also said i wanted to focus on stock options and different printing materials which i didn't really do other than the trip to Gatsby's in Leeds. Over my final major project i definitely would like to experiment with a wider range of stocks and increase my knowledge base of design for print. I'll attempt to do this by producing resolution designs quickly and have time to explore different stocks and work with the best one.

During this module; i've seen myself become more and more attracted to type and appreciating a strong layout. I think this is evident in some of the briefs i've undertaken. For instance, the ActionAid brief enabled me to not only work with imagery but continue to explore type, grid, layout and experiment with the boundaries and restrictions of indesign, as did the sleaze brief i set myself. Over the final major project i would like to produce some small screen printed zines for the Leeds University Book Sale and i believe i've appropriated a useful skill set over this module to do so.

The sleaze brief was my biggest let down over this module and i restricted myself with my theme. However, i did learn alot for the future if i get round to producing my  own t-shirts. I was able to find a supplier for american apparel t-shirts wholesale and found a company based in Leeds who can produce labels of a high quality. I think my time management skills were also a factor in the poor quality of the t-shirts produced; I didn't leave myself enough time to shop around for good t-shirts and enough time to experiment with packaging ideas. This is something to be mindful of in the future and although i made good use of ical i still feel i restricted myself too much and didn't plan efficiently.

As of now i definitely have started to see more clearly where i fit within design and the work i've produced over the course of this module has shown me where my strengths and pitfalls are and given me a few ideas to explore different mediums and experimenting with hand produced work and digital. I also need to be more critical of my time management and efficiently plan my days. I also need to continue to keep my ideas and executions simple as i feel i still try and overcomplicate my work and dither around ideas and don't make decisions. 

How would you grade yourself on the following areas:

(please indicate using an ‘x’)

5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor

Attendance 5

Punctuality 5

Motivation 4

Commitment 4

Quantity of work produced 3

Quality of work produced 3

Contribution to the group 4

YCN- Actionaid Evaluation

I started out this module heavily interested in producing image based work and over the course of the module have moved closer and closer towards type, and have a strong interest in that too. Its one reason why i decided to undertake this brief. It gave me an opportunity to work in indesign and expand me knowledge of type, grid and the software itself.

It was an interesting brief to undertake and a subject that i'm not entirely sold. This made it a particular challenge for me to produce a body of work for something i don't entirely believe in. I did however, make a few changes towards the typefaces used, but i did stick to the colour palette supplied by ActionAid.

Overall, i am pleased with this brief as i was able to use it to gain the experience i wanted with in design and type and layout. I may take the opportunity of YCN not finishing until april to change the typefaces and work with the ones supplied. I would also take the opportunity to explore more stock options and customising the mailout box.

Mailout

Since i designed the Action Aid brief around a mail out explaining what they do, where they operate, why they do it and how they do it; specifically explaining how each donation is distributed.

Prototype box i made for the mailout.

Anyway i found these a6 sized postage boxes from the post office. I was thinking about customising them so it's obvious that its from action aid. However i then thinking that people will just throw it away when they see its a charity.

They cost 99p

The complete package.

My Grandad used to say "charity starts at home." I guess thats why this brief was a particular challenge for me and i had to come up with a concept that would engage me enough to consider donating to charity. Its also why I spent around a two full weeks working on this brief Although i initially started it last month it took a back seat but i really got stuck into it and made quick decisions about what i wanted to produce and what information needed to be included.

Over the last few years i've struggled with letting ideas go and i continued to do that up until this brief. Its something i need to get around but i still feel i've improved.

I've said for a while that a limited colour palette and i limited myself to 4 colours for the action aid brief. This is something i will continue to do. Using this brief as an example a limited colour palette has enabled me to create different informational leaflets/flyers/posters that work together as a set without been exactly the same.

A few aims for my final major project i want to be able to stop dithering and arrive at my resolutions faster, which gives me more time to explore different stocks and make more time for screen printing as i want to do this more and didn't get to do as much this time round. This taught me several things - that i need to take more control of my time management and get stuck into briefs more quickly. I definately started juggling my time better towards the end of the module as you can see from the screen shot of my ical

I reshot my photos for my boards, as the images above we're abit too dark.

10 actions to end poverty

Originally i had a run down of action aids 10 actions to end poverty were featured on the poster i designed.

I used the colour palette sent by action aid to create a series of cards to be included in the mail out.

The mailout i'm creating focuses on Action Aid and the bollocks to poverty campaign. In order to get people to join in and raise money, i think you need to tell them what it's all going towards - goals.

When i received the annual report from Action Aid the contents page comprised of ten actions to end poverty, i thought this was an interesting set of goals to include in the mail out.

Printing double sided is difficult with the printers at university. It works out best to have the document set a paper size up so you can get everything to line up either side.

Intro Pages doubles as a flyer

Bright colours to get peoples attention

Used the colorise tool only with the yellow pantone from action aid.

I think this works well with the other poster.

Printed

So i printed the pamphlet i'd been working on for ActionAid off only to fall at the last hurdle. I guess its because i was rushing.

The way i'd set my document up meant that when opened up the type was upside down.It was a shame because the stock i printed on was the last sheet and the shop didn't have anymore. Lesson learnt and it is something i will be mindful of in the future and i must remember to proof and take more care when producing mockups.

Over the course of this module i've been moving closer and closer to type based work than image. I think at the moment in time i have a good balance between type and image.

I said at the start of this module i wanted to learn indesign and get to grips with type, grids and layouts. I've learnt a great deal but still have a long way to go.

I sorted out the layout of the booklet by flipping the front 2 panels around

I wanted to keep the same aesthetic as the stock before so i printed it on news print

Its abit too thin is the newsprint but when pinned up you can't really see through the paper.

I didn't feel as though just the leaflet was enough to entice people enough.

Booklet

I wasn't happy with the darkness of the poster so i went pack and messed around with the brightness of the image



I'd also added the caption for the photo credits.


I also added this logo, as ActionAid's booklet they sent to me contained this logo

I continued the work on the reverse of the booklet aswell, trying to replicate the imagery used on the poster side and after the crit was trying to incorporate mad colours into the products.

I wanted to use the pantones ycn supplied but the only one that remotely worked was the yellow and even that looked weird against the red.

Got the image to work, but was a different red to my front image i had previously created, and it made it harder for the white imagery to stand out.

So i tried messing around with just the colour, with no image. It went a pastelly orange colour.
I tried lowering the opacity of the photograph, but that made it harder to see which i didnt want to do. These are real people and their real stories, can't hide it fully behind another illustration
I also got the yellow boxes to an opacity i thought worked, but this is wasted as the paper i want to print on is an recycled colour anyway

Not too sure about the imagery, reminds me too much of a bank diagram or something.

I took the contact form off the back to leave it blank, as i felt there was too much text.

I added some text on the back outlining the different ways to go about donating, as i thought this information was lacking from the rest of the leaflet.

I also created this as a welcome note/small flyer to advertise action aid and bollocks to poverty more. It will go into my welcome back.