End of module self - evaluation / Design skills

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

I have learned how to use software’s such as adobe illustrator successfully in order to help me design digitally instead of hand rendered. 

I became a lot more organized and focused in the work I’m doing, where as previously if I weren’t too keen on brief I wouldn’t put effort in.

I have also learnt a new way of producing work from scratch, going back to basics on a design sheet with a sharpie instead of doing detail drawing, which I’m most used to.

What approaches to/methods of idea generation have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?

I have learnt that it is hard to produce successful work without design sheets, research and developed ideas as a starting point before feeling comfortable enough to go with an idea, there has to be a lot of initial starting points before a design fully works effectively.

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

I do feel happier and comfortable with my design work now than when I first started, I didn’t know anything about typefaces, typography and a lot of graphic design, I’ve now realised that I really like working with type and I should continue to develop in producing work with it.

I believe I’m getting better at documenting my work more through blogging, before enrolled on this course I was studying BA photography which was nothing like this, it was very practical and I had to write a lot of essay, whereas I much prefer graphic design as there is a mixture of workloads within the course, and its full time which is more worth while as I feel I’ve learnt more in one module than in a full year on my previous course.

What weaknesses can you identify in your work an how will you address these in future?

I find it hard to generate a lot of idea quickly. I find myself spending a lot f time thinking about the brief rather than getting the ideas on to paper, force of habit that I need to get out of.

I’m not as advanced as a lot of my class mates when it come to design work of illustrator and photo shop, therefor it takes me longer to develop a good body of work to present to the group as well as a final design. However I do feel I am getting better and learning a lot by practising on the software and with help from technicians.

I also struggle with research, I find it hard to grasp what is necessary to look for and what will back up my ideas, I need to work n this by always keeping my self visually aware; looking through books etc.

At first I wasn’t very confident in showing my work to my other peers even in small groups as I felt I was of a lower standard compared to most, especially in front of a large group because I have major stage fright, however I think I’m gradually overcoming this as the crits and presentations go on weekly.

Identify 5 things that you will do differently next time and hat do you expect to gain from doing?

- Organise my time more effectively, design myself a work timetable so that I get everything done on time.

- Blog more, keep up to date with work and do set tasks on the day instead of leaving them until later.

- Design and produce more ideas for each brief o back up my work, and flow with a mixture of ideas until they work successfully.

- Try harder on researching, work with what’s relevant and read a lot more. 

How would you grade yourself n the following areas:

1.  Poor  2. Average  3. Good  4. Very good  5. Excellent

Attendance = 4

Punctuality = 4

Motivation = 3

Commitment = 4

Quantity of work produced = 2

Quality of work produced = 2

Contribution to the group = 3

Alphabet soup / Illustrator workshop

Final design:

To generate the full alphabet i took sections of my initial practice letter H and used them several times for developing the alphabet. To make the C,D,G,O and Q i made the curved part once, and slightly altered them to make them a legible and fitting letter form, others i had to rearrange a shape to recreate new elements of the letters.

Over all i'm really pleased with the final designs, i think the letter forms work well as a typeface and i believe the resemble and grasp the word condense generally, the use of small shapes create clear yet compact letters.
Above i printed the typeface on A1 white stock, i feel the large scale print highlights the letters making them very bold and clear to read.

Proverbally yours/ Message and delievery

Here are my final mails shot designs, i tested printing on two different stocks, white and grey, i chose to print on grey because at the time i felt it looked more suiting, and once received by the recipient in the post it would look dirty whereas it most likely would on white.
now overlooking the designs and receiving feedback i believe the mailshot would have look more clean cut and neater on white stock.

Here is the crit feedback i received:

My feedback was useful and constructive, i believe i didn't receive much positive feedback because of the lack of supporting work i showed for the crit to back up my ideas and reasons.

Proverbally yours / Message and delivery

Here is where i started designing, i didn't execute a final design, i just had a few ideas and began on illustrator.


I found this brief difficult, i didn't fully understand myself what message i should be sending to the target audience, i understood why i should, but not exactly what to say.
I Started by measuring a 16x11cm rectangular house shape (measurements altered through out the process), eventually tripled it across the art-board and flip/rotated it so i had 6 different faces of the mail shot to work with for it to be a double sided print.


Here is an initial sketch i started from:

Below is a little character i created, he isn't a serious person, just a funny plumber.

I haven't designed many things on illustrator, so i'm pleased with this design because i feel i can work less hand rendered. The idea behind the mailshot is that fixing a problem sooner rather than later is surely better, before a problem gets twice as bad. The motto 'react repair resolve' is a persuasive message from the plumber to the audience telling them, if they are aware of a problem for example a leaky tap, to do something about is sooner rather than late.

final design: overall i'm really happy with the designs, i think they are simple yet informative.

Above are the stickers i designed on illustrator, as a small reminder to to get a problem fixed.

The far left section has a sticker designed as a little reminder for the recipient to place the sticker on something with a fault, reminding them to get it fixed.


The top middle is the interior of the house, displaying a pipe system with icons i designed of the most often household problems, for example rattling pipes, a leaking tap, no hot water etc. There is also an individual pointing towards the the system, he is a generic plumber, not meant to be serious, just pointing you in the right direction, i got the idea from 'plumbum', quite often you see a plumbers bum when they are at work


The far right section has a large bold tap and text in the space, i wanted the message to stand out, and i thing the image of a tap spilling out the words gives it an element of surprise.


The bottom right section has the individual again pointing inwards to the envelope and also at the website offered as advice or for information if a problem was to occur/happened.


The bottom middle section is something simple, being the back of the house to incorporate the overall design, stating my original proverb, unsure if this work or has enough impact.


The bottom right section has a space for the recipients and for a stamp.

Below is my final mailing list, a list of recipients which were relevant to my mailshot, Leeds college of art a requirement. The other four were general households, people with old houses, those with new fitted fixtures which may have went wrong or have continuous problems with plumbing systems.

Proverbally yours / Message and delivery

A few Design sheets and a quick mock up of my house mail shout idea!
These are very basic ideas, but i wanted to see would would look and fold up/out best as a mail shot. I've chose a house as the shape of the body because a larger target audience are house hold residence, and i think a house shape envelope seems more inviting to open.

I presented my progress work the crit, and recieved some helpful feedback as i was unsure where to go with my idea. I dont think my designs are strong, they are very basic, however they are suitable for what i am wanting to do.
Here is the following feedback:

Issues raised:
what is the message, and is it clear
tone of voice and format
recognizable link between proverb and occupation
research more
colour theme seems appropriate
appears directed at the correct audience

Action to be taken:
important message
research
pantones, crafting, over all design
printing slot
5 final prints
mailing list

Proverbally yours / Message and delivery

Our new brief is to develop a message/ opinion to a previous brief. Linking the proverbally yours- message and interpretation posters i designed to now create a mail shot for a given occupation (plumber)

Starting off with some thumbnails:

Here is a typeface i font from dafonts.com, i applied my prverb and occupation to it, printed and drew it myself to see how legible it was, and to see if i wished to develop it further:

From this i intend to create a mailshot/envelope which combines my proverb to my occupation and delivers a message to an appropriate audience, i have to create 5 mail shots, a mailing list and one of these should be delivered to Leeds college of art.

Here are some quick mind maps i did in the studio to help me get an idea of what i'm planning to do:

Alphabet soup / Illustrator Workshop

Initial Design 1.


I started with something simple, the helvetica font in black. In the back ground of the alphabet i created some bubble like shapes, i done this because the word condense means 'to reduce smaller' therefore the almost see-through droplets are in a lower concentrate than the bolder letters.
Theres nothing much to the design, but it's a start.

Design 2.


I wanted to develop the designs more by taking sections of a previous design and placing them onto the stems and serif of the letters. Here i changed the opacity of the alphabet letters to 20%, i was unsure whether the colour was then still classed as black or grey, never the less i continued to make the develop the set of letters to see what the final outcome would be.
I liked both colours, mint green and pail blue, i thought both looked appropriate for the theme of the alphabet. I went with blue a i felt it looked more suiting.

Here is the final outcome:

Alphabet soup / Illustrator workshop

In a previous brief, visual thinking, I was given the word 'condense' from the randomiser. From there i had to design 10 letter forms all of which resembled, explained or showed 'condense'. I found that brief challenging, never the less i completed the letters and got positive feedback in a group crit, i just felt i should have explored more ideas and tried to understand a way of working with type which could of incorporated my given word more.
For this brief i am set to create a full alphabet and glyphs using one of the letterforms i designed in visual thinking, and to work with the original font i first produced that from (helvetica).


Firstly i designed a 4x8 grid on illustrator to fill 26 letters and glyphs, i started with my original font to work form - helvetica.

I these were the best letter forms i should work from as they identify more elements of the word 'condense' in than the rest.

I used my initial letter H to experiment with illustrator and to get an idea of what shapes, colours and scale i wanted to work with. 

I then explored with a range of colours, and ways of presenting each letter. I'm unsure whether the bubble like H's are legible, especially as a full alphabet or when composed as a word.

Proverbally yours / Message interpretation feedback

 Crit Feedback:
two anonymous individuals gave me positive and useful feedback about my designs, which i'm very happy with. The comments and reactions were similar which is a good sign as hopefully that means there's only certain elements i should change about my designs to make them more suiting. 
overall feedback:
-statement was communicated clearly and in a focused way

-posters have been kept simple and straight to the point, leaving message left clear
-color pallete restriction has been met and chosen colour work effectively
-memorable design work and would suit being in context 
-final poster is executed well and more so than the solely type and image posters, however the posters look well as a series due to colour choice and image. 


-development to the sole type and image posters, to make them flow more in a series instead of individuals.