I have learnt how to successfully develop a brand
and identity for a concept from scratch and the processes I need to go through
to achieve this. From this skill it has meant that my hand skills have greatly
improved and my ability to produce thumbnails of logos at speed. My software
skills have greatly improved. I am now able to use the Adobe programs in a more
professional manner; colours, layout and pre-flight checks. My research ability
has improved, I have learnt to think beyond the main subject that I am
researching to all the different surrounding subjects (strands of information)
that are connected to my ‘good’, hence having a broader understanding and a
better ability to develop a successful idea. I have a better skill designing
for print and talking to printers; through visiting the printers, Lorenzo’s
seminars and producing the Top 10 Manual I have a clear working process and
understanding of what you need to consider and know before you even start
designing for print e.g. stock, printer type, number of copies, bindings,
finishes and costs.
What
approaches to/methods of design production have you developed and how have they
informed your design development process?
I have a better understanding of the process and
elements I need to talk about and plan before I start designing for print. I
need to know where I want my design to be, how many copies I need printed, what
print process it is going to be printed through, the costs, the stock and the
finishes. I have learnt that all of these factors will greatly affect the
outcome of your print e.g. the stock can make or break your design, it is one
of the most important things to plan before you start designing. I have learnt
how to make your concept and rationale watertight; this makes your design
process more effective, direct and well planned.
What
strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalize on
these?
Through the studio tasks I have learnt to research
and evaluate more effectively. Last year relied heavily on information and
designs from the Internet but this year the majority of my design for print has
comes from various books from the library. This has greatly increased my
awareness and knowledge of print and their processes and techniques have really
helped my design strategies. My development of branding and Identity have
greatly improved, throughout this module I was constantly making changes and
improving my brand design and logo until I was completely happy with it and
content that my brand was appropriate and accurate at representing my Good. I
have really enjoyed every part of this module, I have become really motivated
in my work and as a result I am producing a much better quality and quantity of
work.
What
weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the
future?
I still feel that the tone of voice and content
of my promotional work can be greatly improved. I think that I need to condense
the information and make it more appropriate to my target audience.
Furthermore, although I had a target audience, I still feel that it was too
broad and I constantly need to make reference to who this audience is, where I
can target them and how I can make my designs successfully stand out and catch
their attention. Although I feel my time management has vastly improved since
first year, I still have found that I need to plan daily targets and then
evaluate how well I have conformed to these.
Identify
five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to
gain from doing these?
1.
Planning ahead – at the start
of the module I didn’t plan ahead enough in relation to what I need to consider
before I start designing.
2.
Target audience – although I
initially felt that I defined my target audience, I feel that for the next
module I need to clearly define this, and how other designers have caught their
eye in terms of design materials, language and context.
3.
Resources – I need to make the
most of the college resources earlier on in the module e.g. screen print and
letter press. I think that this would have provided me with more opportunities
and exploitation of print processes.
4.
Time management – this has
greatly improved since last year but I feel that I spent too much of my time
researching which ate into my designing and process experimentation time.
5.
Blogging – this is another
area where I have improved in however I need to make sure that I evaluate and
write down every part of my thought process. As a part of the evaluation
process, I feel that I need to talk to the tutors more about my work in the
studio development sessions.
6.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
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1
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2
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3
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4
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5
|
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Attendance
|
x
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Punctuality
|
x
|
||||
Motivation
|
x
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||||
Commitment
|
x
|
||||
Quantity of work produced
|
x
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||||
Quality of work produced
|
x
|
||||
Contribution to the group
|
x
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