End of Module Self Evaltuation

Module Code: OUGD101 

Module Title: Design Principles

Name: Marty Edwards

Blog Address: http://www.M-Edwards1013.blogspot.com

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

I have learnt many new skills, these consist of mainly the colour theory and pantone swatches, i am trying to learn more about these. i have also learnt more in the area of message and how to deliver this as it can mean a lot to a piece of design when you have something which doesn't communicate as well as it first should have been. Ive attempted to apply these skills the best i can within my work but i will learn more as the course goes on and i will be able to use all of these skills combined at the end of the course.

What approached to/methods of research have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?

I have always struggled when it comes to research as it never really informs or sways my development process which i decide to use, the best way to make use of this research is when i look into other designers work and see what i can best develop in terms of my work which the concepts of theres. The blog is an excellent way to track this work and make best use of a documentation on what i am wanting to achieve, this way as well i can backtrack over my ideas and this gives me a catalogue of ideas and concepts. 

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

My strength in my work is when it comes to typography, i love the use of it as alone it can deliver a message, or even off one sentence i can make a full decision changing moment in a single moment. I will further develop these skills into a way of thinking and changing the ideas and concepts of what i am wanting to do with how i see things. I am going to make sure that i enhance my skills and make better use of the typography skills that i will be taught over the coming years.

What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these more fully?

My weakness is the i don't note down all my ideas fully, ill do a little sketch for an idea and then think about how i could best change this to make the work its best possibility. If i noted down everything i did and screen shot all the computer based ideas and concepts which i create then i would have a lot more ideas created for when i hand work in for assessment, this is something that i have learnt now and ill change this for the next assessment so that my designs can be clearly seen where they came from.

Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?

1. Note down more ideas and concepts to increase the amount of hard based evidence i have for each piece of  

     work which i create.

2. Try to include more images into my work to increase the range of messages which i can deliver in varies ways.

3. Create all the work in the same style of paper and this could make it look neater in the end product.

4. Increase my knowledge of other work which is out there, including going to lectures and looking at other graphic 

    design work outside of university time to broaden my know how.

5. Increase punctuality towards the course, as there is no excuse for being late.

Attendance = 4

Punctuality = 3

Motivation = 5

Commitment = 5

Quantity of work produced = 3

Quality of work produced = 4

Contribution to the group = 4

Final Design For Alphabet Soup Illustrator Brief

This is the final outcome for the design i had to do for Illustrator. 

Final Images Message and Delivery

This is the final images for our last project which we had to create, 'Message and Delivery'  the outcome shows how the small text is to hard to read without the use of the magnifier glass, the envelope has been stamped with a hand crafted set of wood block print, this gives it the style army official look, it then has the two sides of the story this is shown from how the one side is censored and the other isn't, this gives the way of the two outcomes. this makes you want to look at it more but i think if i had to improve it i would go back and maybe add a spot colour in to make it more effective and draw the attention of the selected more.

Feedback Two For 'No News Is Good News'

What statement / fact / question is being communicated to you?

The fact that so many civilians in Iraq are being injured from violence in the war. I think he hand pouring out the signs represent that no enough attention is being given to calm the problem down. also theirs a spelling mistake 'Civillian'

Is this being communicated in a clear and focused way?  [ Yes ] 

Maybe making the hand in the image + type poster the main focus. The image is really strong and communicates the message effectively so could make the type + image posters more attention grabbing.

Have the posters been kept simple and to the point?, also is this a Fact, Question or statement?  [ Yes ] 

A fact. it states numbers and statistics which makes the message easier to understand. The 98,585 is big and bold which shouts the problem to you.

Has the restrictions of the two colours plus stock been met?  [ Yes ]

Are the two colours plus stock appropriate for the solution?  [ Yes ]

Why are the two colours plus stock appropriate/inappropriate?

Green represents the army. The green and black works well on the simple white stock

Do the posters work as a set or series?  [ Yes ] 

Why do they work / dont work as a part of a set series and could this be developed further?

Maybe a bit repetitive? They all link in with each other as individual posters they really strong and bold but when placed as a set, they become to similar.

Is it clearly evident which poster is TYPE, IMAGE and TYPE & IMAGE?

YES. Theirs no confusion. Stuck to the concept well.

Are the posters "memorable, immediate high impact and clear"? 

Yes. again as individual posters they have high impact but as a set they seem quite repetitive. Having said that i like the idea of feeding the TYPE & IMAGE posters into the combination of the two in the last one.

Do you feel the brief fulfilled to its full potential ?  [ Unsure ] 

I think with a little more work and alterations it can be a really strong visual piece of work. Maybe making the images more diverse and different will make the posters work better and not just individually.

Feedback One For 'No News Is Good News'

What statement / fact / question is being communicated to you?

98,585 documented civilian casualties from violence in the Iraq war

Is this being communicated in a clear and focused way?  [ Unsure ] 

The typography is really nice, the use of the colour and font is spot on. Id like to see the alignment more refunded. I am not understanding the imagery?!

Have the posters been kept simple and to the point?  [ Yes ] 

I can see they are simple but i am not sure it grabs me as i dont understand the imagery. I am seeing anti septic cream? i like the simple look of the set as a whole.

Has the restrictions of the two colours plus stock been met?  [ Yes ]

Are the two colours plus stock appropriate for the solution?  [ Yes ]

Why are the two colours plus stock appropriate/inappropriate?

Colours is very strong in this. The army/health connotations of the green are very well thought of and the black is there to help counter the bold use of green. Also the use of negative to positive space is spot on.

Do the posters work as a set or series?  [ Yes ] 

Why do they work / dont work as a part of a set series and could this be developed further?

The posters are clearly linked using style form, layout and colour!

Is it clearly evident which poster is TYPE, IMAGE and TYPE & IMAGE?

Yes! the simple look of the posters really help to digest the style, Maybe look at an entirely different style from the type and image, break the repeating 

Are the posters "memorable, immediate high impact and clear"? 

These posters are very clear and very memorable, if the text was not there i dont think they would work though, maybe more use needs to be made of strong, simple and effective imagery

Do you feel the brief fulfilled to its full potential ?  [ No ] 

None of the briefs have, they could be better. The only real criticism is that i think stronger imagery could be used.

Final Images for No News Is Good News

Typography Only 

Image Only

Typography and Image Mixed

Self Evaluation - Alphabet Soup

Which personality traits did you choose to respond to and apply the typeface?

- Direction

- Music Lover

- Optimist/Pessimist

- Bold

- Tall

What are the reasons behind the design decisions you have made for the typeface?

I chose to make the typeface based around Helvetica, this was Matt's favorite typeface, this was the starting point for my project, the other words which i gathered from the conversation we had where Uppercase, Lupae Fiasco, Bloc Party, Arctic Monkeys, Prodigy, Modern, Simple, Computerised, Rugby/Basketball , Lancaster, Cheesy Chips, Ticket Seller, Sharp/Witty, Bold, Over Elaborate, Showoff, Optimist/Pessimist. 

All these then gave me a lot of room for experimentation and would give me the chance to be very creative with the outcome i could do with the design, the five words which i picked out at the top are the ones which i picked out to give my design direction so i didn't go to far off the brief.

In what ways are the results effective?

I believe that my designs worked well because they all convey Matt's personality such as him being a music lover and having direction in his life, the way that i showed that Matt was a music lover was through how the lines that portrayed upwards showed three things, he was tall, had direction to his life and an equalizer which you would find in music studios, then i had the bottom part of the letter to show the optimist/pessimist area of things as its the half full, half empty scenario, but then on the final outcome ill keep this crisp and sharp to keep the message clear and defined.

Crit Feedback Alphabet Soup Phase 2

Issues Raised...

- Test Lowercase letters on development sheets 

- Solid bottom looks slightly contrasting to the concept due to me saying pessimist and optimist 

- The badge could lose some detail when point size is smaller but overall works as it still gives enough 

   detail which draws your attention into it and makes you look harder.

- Try creating some sentences to see if it would work as a  type face

- Interesting and has strength from close and a distance, the concept has a strong outcome. change the 

   few issues which has been listed above and overall it will be successful design outcome.

Action To Be Taken...

- Redo the final outcome on the A1 sheet and make it neater, also change the bottom area to a solid   

   black crisp outline and then the lines only on the top area!

- Scale down brackets to fit into the area better so they dont run off the page

- Dont mess up on the colons 

- Test the letter 'J's positioning as it could look better to the right but it then could leave to large of a gap 

   to the left and look more awkward.

Final Images "Alphabet Soup" Phase 2

These are the images that i have created for my final outcome of the Alphabet Soup phase two section. The upper part of the image is created to show that Matthew Chatfield has direction to his life, and also to have the effect of an equalizer. which you would find in the music industry. Then the bottom section where it has been filled in black, this shows the half full, half empty way of looking into things and this describes how he used to once be a pessimist but he is now a huge optimist always looking on the bright side, overall i think that the work worked well and answers the brief. I have had a lot of positive feedback from classmates and my partner, hopefully the crit will go the same.

Problem Analysis - Alphabet Soup Phase 2 Rational

Brief...

Design a typeface that communicates Matthew Chattfields personality 

Who is your audience?

Matthew Chattfield, and also the rest of my classmates.

What do they need to know?

The letter forms that i create for Matt need to be legible, readable and communicate the personality of your partner to the rest of my crit group.

Why do they need to know?

They need to know because the brief demands that your partners personality is reflected within the typeface that you create for them.

How will you respond to this?

I will show Matt's personality and characteristics within the letters and glyphs.

What primary research is required ?

First hand information (talk to Matt)

Jot down characteristics of Matts personality 

What secondary research is required?

Typefaces 

Self Evaluation - Alphabet Soup Phase 1

What is being communicated and how?

My letter forms had to communicate the word "Vanish" to do this i had to range through a variety of diffrent styles and design concepts to try and make the letter forms legible and readable yet still display the Vanish. My first idea was to play around with vanishing points and point size but i needed to be more create than this and make it more appealing to the eye. 

How well does this answer the brief?

I believe that my design answered the brief very well as when the red acetate was placed over the top the letter became visible but until this happened it was difficult to see it as the red pattern which was the word vanish typed over and over, which had a strong kerning and leading on it to create a repetitive pattern to make it illegible. I did this with all ten of the letters which i created and they all worked with each other.

How well has the idea been visually explored ?

I went through a large amount of design research and exploration into how i could make this "Vanish", i had some other ideas which were things such as, having loads of tracing paper over the top of each other until the back letter became invisible. There are many varieties of these in my sketchbooks and i have took some pictures and placed them onto my blog to show this.

What are the strengths of the resolution?

 Overall the whole body of work shows how i went from research to experimentation to development and finally creating my outcomes which i think were strong yet could be improved slightly. 

How could it be improved ?

The ways in which i would improve my final designs, would be to make the letters which were placed in the background behind the pattern to a more relevant choice of letters. I should have written out something which was typographic based, i think apart from that my project was very strong and answered the brief.

Self Evaluation - How To

What role(s) did you take on in the group ?

Poster designer, Group idea generator

How well do you think you preformed in the role(s)?

I believe the posters i created work well in the overall outcome and it all links together well with the packaging and the envelope that was created. All of this links together with the title that we give the project "balance"

How well do you think you worked as a group?

I think the group worked well together and everyone contributed to the final outcomes which all worked well. Each person carried there own weight and made sure that it all worked in unison with each other.

What were the positives of working in a group?

The idea generation process was a lot faster and we got onto designing the products straight away 

What were the negatives of working in a group ?

Harder to get some of the design work done as trying to get the whole group together at the same time to make decisions proved hard and also when you are waiting for certain aspects of the brief from someone who then is late can create a step back in your time limits

What will you do differently next time ?

Create the final outcomes and generate more work 

Where could you have improved your resolution ?

More information and packaging which could help out more 

What were the strengths of your presentation ?

The concept was strong and the speech worked well, this is what created a strong answer to the design brief and made this a successful answer to the problem.

Problem Analysis - How To Rational

The Brief ... (What is the problem you need to solve)

You have a problem to solve. use your conceptual and practical design skills to solve the problem in an appropriate and creative manner. Your solution should take into account the receiving audience and make use of methods of audience interaction.

What do you need to communicate?... (Be clear and specific.)

An understanding of the brief by designing a way to which we could help students new to university concentrate and get there work done in the starting weeks. This could be done numerous ways but our group will find the best solution for this problem.

Why do they need to know?... (The concept of your problem)

This is to help them find simple and easy ways to get the best from the course which they are paying for and also to make them understand what they are needing to complete in able to complete there university course.


What will they respond to? (Will they see / watch /buy / wearing)

The general idea at first is to create a freshers pack which is the opposite to what you would expect... this would then be the anti freshers pack, this would include things such as motivational posters, pens pencils ect, these would all work together as a pack and create a answer to the brief that we believe would be a highly successful outcome.

Where do they go? (how will they access / receive / discover)

These would be handed out at freshers fairs or around the university campus when the new students arrive, they could even be left in the accommodation, this would more likely be a successful way to make sure all students got one and then the students which would be interested in this would put it to best use.

Final Images "Alphabet Soup"

These are image of my final pieces which i created, the top image is acetate which has a red block printed onto it which then gives the vision of making the rest of the red pattern over the top vanish once it has been placed over the top, however i think that the letters which i used could have had a more of a meaningful variety of the letters, but the outcome still worked for the concept which i had created.

Final Images "How To ..."

final image of the logo for our project.

These are the final concepts which our group created. these were made using in design and illustrator. the project was all about helping new fresher students to work hard and concentrate during the hours of the opening weeks at university. our idea was to create an anti freshers pack which was called. "balance" i think this worked well and answered the brief through the idea that it has some motivational material in there which helps things work out better and make more sense for them when they first come down here. I believe that the work would benefit from some sort of contact details so you could call for more help if it was necessary. however this is a good final result which i am happy with.

The ten things that i would like to achieve by the end of the three year course at Leeds College of art, BA (Hons) Graphic design would be:

• To have an internship with a graphic design company
• be in contact with at least five well established company's
• Have a highly professional/polished blog with work i am proud of
• Be self efficient and use my time effectively
• produce at a standard that i would feel confident displaying to clients.
• Have an in depth knowledge of the graphic design industry.
• Attempt to learn the ins and outs of typography 
• Have at least two pieces of work published professionally by the end of the three year course
• Enhance my computer skills to a highly professional level where i can use my skills to create outstanding graphic design
• Improve my technical vocabulary