Evaluation: OUGD504

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

I have explored more in this module due to it being largely focused on print. I have developed a better understanding of the process involved in commercial printing, how products are designed before and after the process as well a multitude of other things in reference to print. I believe i have learned how to thoroughly research more, where as last year i sometimes struggled to find the right information or imagery necessary. I have developed a better understanding of Adobe as i have practiced more on Illustrator mainly as well as Photoshop, Indesign and Dreamweaver. Illustrator is my strongest still for design purposes, and Photoshop for editing imagery i have realised. I wish to be able to to join the two and make graphic design work which involves both skill and which looks consistent as a design, as i feel sometimes my vector design if far from my photographic work when put together. 

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

With each brief i have chose or been given i have designed throughly in comparison to last year, i had a bad hobbit of leaving design until last minute due to concentrating on other things such as research and blogging, which let my designs down as i hadn't spent enough time on them. This year i have learnt its best to design the minute i get a brief, even if its just getting my ideas onto design sheets or blogging my conceptual thoughts for a task. I feel this method of development prose worked best for me in the Design for print and web brief - Not just Fleurons, it was a brief we had to re-write ourselves, which i enjoyed altering aspects to benefit my own design. For this brief i explore hand rendered type design, digital type design, screen printing, web design and app design. These are all areas which was never very strong in, however since i have devoted a lot of effort to that brief i believe it payed off as i developed an unconventional choice of design approach with the theme of Pantone and the concept of gardening. Over all i was really happy with the final designs and i could have probably progressed more with them, i believe i should have developed more print based material for the brief as well, this could of involved a range of products such as Plantae Pantone seed, Plant dye etc. In fact these kind of product i might investigate further regardless of the deadline. 

I have practiced new design element such as foiling and screen printing, realistically these are methods i should have already designed in, this is something i will bare in mind this year to experiment at the beginning of a brief to be able to use what ever process i wish. 

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

I believe i have became better at blogging, unlike last year i used to mange blogging terribly, this year i blog in a structured and less time consuming way. I do primary and secondary research for briefs which is really important to gather a different kinds as some times secondary isn't useful enough. I have grasped that working to meet crit deadlines is hugely important as the feedback can give you an advantage to change and make your work better.  

4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?

Unfortunately by software skills aren't great, i really need to be more equipped with photoshop, indesign and dreamweaver as these are all programmes which i need to be able to use with out any trouble. The best way of me learning i find is to sit in the mac suite when designing work i'm a little uncertain on how to do so that the mac suite people can help me on design areas i find hard. 

When designing for editorial i struggle with layout, this is something i want to develop a skill in and be able to do with out the worry of it not look visually effective, this also applies to the presentation boards we have to submit, i find it a little difficult to present my work on paper, knowing whats the correct way of informing others about my designs. This falls hand in hand with my presentation skills, i am not a confident speaker but this is something i wish to over come as i am in my 2nd year now and don't won't to feel the panic next year. 

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

I will experiment with different medias and processes to show a range in my design and technical abilities.

I will book into inductions such as last cutting, book binding and screen printing again to make my self fully aware of how to do things my self.

I will spend more time designing, especially initial designs to show a wide range of experimental ideas.

I will keep up to date with blogging, structure my time effectible and make lists. 

I will be more organised with my work and my money situations for the sake of my work.

6. How would you grade yourself on the following areas:

Attendance: 3

Punctuality: 3

Motivation: 4

Commitment: 4

Quantity of work produced: 3

Quality of work produced: 4

Contribution to the group: 5

What is design for print: Print info/ Presentation boards

What is design for print: Print info/ Final leaflet

Here is my final design printed, i chose to go back to the black, white and process yellow after i realised i only had to make slight alteration to the text, I am happy with the final result, i chose a light grey stock to print on as this matched well with the colour palette of choice. 

What is design for print: Print info/ CMYK Mock ups

A couple of images to show how these leaflets could work as a series of products due to the colours working together as well as form of the folds.

What is design for print: Print info/ Printed mock ups

For my frist print i decided to do a test one in black and white, just to double check the alignment of the text and the imagery all look right when the leaflet was folded.

Here are a few images to show the process of making the leaflet, initially i folded the leaflet into eight equal sections, i then used a scalpel to cut down the inner half of the paper to create a slit for the leaflet to be folded around to open more or less like a book.

Whilst i was printing the mock ups i thought it would be a good idea to try a variety of colours on the print mainly as an experiment with the CMYK colour tones and also to see if all the text was visible in the black, white and yellow print too.

After printing i realised that the text wasn't very visible on the yellow leaflet, in facts it looked best on the pink one (cyan), below are a few images to show the appearance of the final leaflet printed and folded. 

What is design for print: Print info/ Paper mock up

Before i go ahead and print my leaflet i though it would be best to test the folding technique i wanted to use, this being the hotdog fold. It was useful purely because it made it easier to arrange all the pages with in the book to ensure they were in the correct order.

Here are a few images to show each page by number in related order:

What is design for print: Final design

Here are a few shots to show what my leaflet design looks like as a whole. In conclusion i am pleased with the outcome, i think the arrangement of text works well with the imagery and the colour scheme suits the product.

What is design for print: Print info/ Front cover designs

As my leaflet will be double side printing i wanted to design something really simple which was effectively a play with type, here are the cover designs i come up with. They are black and white at the moment as colour may be applied to them before printing.

What is design for print: Print info/ design development

For the design for print brief i decided to stick with the old design plan i originally had, and that was to make a leaflet, i wasn't too keen on making a manual as i prefer products that you can play with such as fold out.

Here are a few shots to show the design development of how i generated my product.

To start with i went back to me design sheets and looked at some of the layout drawings i came up with, here is the template i designed to use for the arrangement f imagery and text.

These are the options for colour palette choice, i thought sticking with a colour scheme would make the leaflet look more appealing and individual. I particularly like a black and white palette with a bright process colour as this makes a product more noticeable. 

Inspired by the original A series paper diagram, i designed my own, its very simple yet still makes sense.

I also designed table which explains the measurements of the series A paper in millimetres and in inches. 

A diagram to show the other series of a paper which are available for printing. 

Here is the first page of my leaflet, lay out wise i am quite pleased with the result as layout isnt my strong point. The colour palette choice i went for is black, white and yellow, this was chosen because i wanted to incorporate a pigment of the CMYK inks as the product is all about print. 

Unlike my original leaflet design i have incorporated photography into this one, i thought having real life imagery would be more useful for the viewer to look at as some of my previous vector designs didn't look suiting enough. 

On pages of the leaflet i made black boxes with white text, this is to make the content stand out and to show that although the text isn't a lengthy paragraph it is an important aspect of print. 

I think having a template to start off with really helped me when placing the text in, really i should of designed this on indesign, but i found it just as easy to on illustrator. 

As my leaflet had a colour scheme i think having anything to garish on the colour page would have caused inconsistency in the over all design, so instead for the colour pages i design subtle yet relevant blocks of colour which demonstrated hue, saturation and value within colour theory. 

The sam applied when trying to involve CMYK and RGB, i wanted my leaflet to be quite simple, informative and educational without being too cluttered on design. 

The second colour page of my leaflet involved explaining how colour works on screen for example when working in adobe photoshop, below are some diagrams i drew to define what dpi and ppi resembles as a zoomed in image.

This image shows the ink options when i photoshop, it shows the choice of colours one can use when wanted o create duotone artwork, this is usually a selection of two colour sometimes even a third. 

For the printing page i decided to keep it mainly information based with only two images, first is a diagram which shows the idea of offset rollers rotating to transfer ink to paper. 

Another is an example images of what a screen printing screen appears like after being prepared and exposed with text, ready to print with ink. 

I think having all the photographs in black and white works and looks consistent, and doesnt change what the image needs to say, although there is now colour it is still clear to see the effects of embossing and debossing. 

An image to show the process of foiling using rollers.

Here i have used the illustrations i designed on my previous leaflet, they show the variety of binding and folding option one can do once they have their final products printed and finished. 

Over all i'm really happy with the style of the design as well as the informative outcome, i believe there is enough information here to improve an individuals knowledge of printing and the process within it.