What Skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?
One of my strongest skills that's developed this year is my ability to undertake more than one brief at a time. This has at times been difficult as I've had to break the creative process and return to a different stage of the creative process. However this has also been beneficial because it's allowed me to test my capabilities and realise that I'm able to juggle various things at once and still produce high quality work at the end of it. It was things like this that provided me with a real boost of confidence as I felt I was ready for the industry.
My skills within 'Indesign', in relation to, exporting my documents straight from Indesign into a PDF avoids the tedious procedure that I usually go through in Illustrator, by this I mean I have to usually compress files through Adobe Acrobat X to then put on Issuu. You can see examples of this through my Cath Kidston mid-boards in which the designs are disjointed, this degrades my work quality and solving this issue and learning this skill has definitely aided me in presenting my work effectively.
Collaborations, as each module has passed I've realised the true value of collaboration. Great things can happen that wouldn't be expected and I suppose that's the most gratifying aspect of a collaboration. As well as the workload that can be achieved in short spaces of time. Proof of this was Sunset cottage and Cath Kidston, Gregs web knowledge and Joshes commitment combined with my skill set created successful pieces. On the topic of collaborations, I found it quite hard at times because I'd have other priorities and when peers are wanting to just consistently do the collaboration I'd have to put things to one side and leave some things which was aggravating. The most important thing of a collaboration I've learnt is to ALWAYS, keep a dialogue. There's nothing worse when you need a file or photograph etc.
Perseverance, the more work I do, the more I have to document, blog and design. To me this was ironic because someone could spend ages on a brief and document it to perfection, ticking all of the boxes and in reality this isn't practical to do. So I always expect to be working up until the last minute heavily. During the near end of my FMP I was overcome with emotion but I soon realised that this was clouding my thought process, I learnt to control the emotions and really think I've learnt to manage my worry and direct it to helping me start and finish the work.
Importance - Because I'll be leaving the course to then go into the working Industry, it was time to prioritise my money and figure out what I needed to buy, order and find. I worked out the costs of what I needed and I had to sacrifice such things as printed evaluations and cover sheets etc. This was because I'd bought an embosser and had a 3D model of myself made for my personal branding & Also had to save money for ordering business cards, I'd already spent a ridiculous amount on printing and the college giving everyone £50 was nowhere near covering the expenses. I was glad I did this because it sets me up after University.
Professionalism. From my boards through to my work, through to the way I communicate with people. I've noticed my grammar and language I use when talking to other professionals makes it clear to communicate my ideas and also gives off a sense of knowledge.
What approaches to/methods of design have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?
- Always have multiple briefs on the go, this avoids the design process becoming tiresome or stagnant and allows fresh ideas, realisations and peer reviews to aid the process.
- I've developed my skills in indesign as a result of seeing the industry use it quite a bit.
- I've developed the way I communicate and collate my research, only highlighting key findings for tutors and showing inspirations.
- I've learnt to recognise that everyone has different ambitions and to appreciate a wide variety of design, this has informed my design process because it allows me to take into account a wider variety of audience in terms of who I'm designing for.
What strengths can you identity in your work and how have/ will you capitalise on these?
- Consistent standard of work - exploit quality and conceptualism through portfolio work
- Clear conceptual thinking, clever approach to design
- Strong use of colour, bold design
- Conversational with professionals - build relationships.
What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?
- not finished to how i want them for my portfolio and looking back i regret not doing this prior
- some more experimentation could be introduced through the design process
