OUGD406 Module Evaluation

Each of the briefs within OUGD406 I have enjoyed equally, I think 406 has been my most successful sets of outcomes compared to all of the previous projects because I have applied my own personal style of work to each brief and set myself no limitations. Studio brief 1 was something which I really enjoyed doing, I have always had a keen interest in book designs and layouts so when I finally had the opportunity to complete a brief which meant I could design a children’s book cover, I was extremely happy and at no point stuck for ideas. This was something I struggled with in previous briefs, which meant my outcomes were not as strong as those completed within this module. I was encouraged by Ben to work in a more illustrative style after completing the music themed zine for the object brief; this is strongly shown throughout this module and my ideas and outcomes are a lot more confident and well thought out because I have enjoyed doing them a lot more. Having the opportunity to finally do screen printing for brief 2 also meant that my work had some variation to it, the print room facilities were something that really drew me to attending Leeds College of Art, so finally completing the inductions meant I could begin to produce work using various techniques. Although the screen printing took me a while to get the hang of, I do think it will be something I will go back to within Level 5 because it will add a lot more variation to my work outcomes and I will be able to expand on the style of work produced as I think some of my previous designs would have worked well as screen prints. Moreover, although group work is something that I usually find quite daunting and would rather work on my own, the exhibition branding was a brief that I surprised myself in how much I enjoyed it. Having a group of other hard working, creative students meant the whole process was enjoyable start to finish and I would be really keen to take part in more group projects next year as it has really boosted my confidence and allowed me to get to know other classmates. After completing all the briefs for this module, I can confidently say my work has improved a lot more and the confidence I have gained can be seen within the final outcomes. Although it has taken me almost the whole of first year to properly settle in and really take advantage of the course and the college’s facilities, I do not see this as a bad thing as now I can carry on with this mind-set into level 5 and produce even more work that I can be proud of.

Studio Brief 04 Evaluation

Overall, the final studio brief of first year has been really enjoyable and successful, the final outcome that I have produced answers the brief really well and would definitely be something that the first years in September could use and hang up in their rooms to add some humour or to try and settle their nerves. This has been a really open brief which meant there were no tight restrictions in terms of final outcomes, however the response needed to either make a statement, comment, observation or give advice to first year students coming from our own experiences. This meant the brief was open to almost any kind of outcome and could be produced in anyway we wished. Choosing to produce my final outcomes in the digital print room meant the facilities of the college were being highlighted, another point the brief made. Although producing 6 outcomes cost me £9, I knew the quality of the prints would have no faults to them and I would rather spend a little extra money to know they are of the highest quality so a student would want to hang it up where they desired. The final outcome is also successful due to the fact students can interact with it using the various stickers provided with the poster, hopefully it will encourage them to attend each timetabled session, highlighting the importance of inductions but to also provide light humour by including the various nights out alongside jokes about having fresher’s flu instead of going to the fresher’s fair. This brief has also allowed me to work in a style of design that I am a lot more comfortable with and by including illustration on the poster I hope it would show to the first years how open the course is and how no ones style is the same, with encouragement from tutors to work in your own personal style (while still exploring others in different kinds of briefs.) As the brief was open to work individually or with another student, I am happy with the decision I made to work individually because it was the last brief of first year it was more comforting to know all of the work would be completed in time instead of the worry of relying on another student to complete work towards the developments and final outcome. Within the feedback I received on the final crit of my finished outcomes were positive, the concept was well liked and the overall finish of the outcome was received as high quality. The improvements that were suggested to me were that students might like this as a yearlong calendar instead of just one month. This would be a good idea however, the brief was focusing on students being fresher’s therefore choosing September 2017 seemed the most appropriate idea. If the brief was on for a longer time then creating more months on the calendar would of been a lot easier to do.

Studio Brief 04: Final Crits

Feedback:

• Great idea, but I think it would be better if the calendar can be smaller so that the student could stick it in their notebook/sketchbook.
• Really nice idea, would of been nice for it to be double sided.
• Good idea and nicely polished outcome. Scale is large, how would they hold or keep it hanging on the wall possibly.
• Would be nice if it was a full calendar and made with a paper they could write on their own events. Although you might be able to use a whiteboard ben.
• It would be nice as a year long calendar and add every major night out (Wednesday student night).

The feedback I received was positive and there were suggestions of how I could improve the outcome, however as the deadline is tomorrow this would not be possible. I like the idea of creating a year long calendar that students could use throughout the year, this could be an idea that I revisited in another brief.

Final Poster and Stickers

Stickers

Printable sticker paper from eBay arrived the next day which meant I could produce the stickers in plenty of time with no stress or worry if something went wrong. 

The sticker paper printed really well and I was really surprised with how they turned out. The only downside is that the colour on the 'too hungover' printed out differently than on screen but the colour isn't too off and still goes with the other two sticker sets. The next step will to be cutting out each of the stickers because they don't have an outline to peel around, this is something I tried to find online but couldn't unless it was a company like vista print but one set would of cost me £4.99 and there would of been a risk it not arriving in time. Despite this I think the stickers have worked out really well and fit nicely in the boxes on the calendar. 

Posters

I was most nervous about getting the posters back from the digital print room incase there was any faults with them, but I was right to trust the quality of the print room to produce perfect A3 glossy posters. I'm glad I chose to have the posters in glossy print because they have come out with a perfect effect to them and will work well with the stickers compared to a matt effect or by using card. If I were to be given this when starting uni then it would really excite me to put up in my accommodation room or even be sent it before starting uni as I have included the week before.

Screen printing for the print exhibition invites

The group that were chosen for the exhibition branding we 'RA UM', as the exhibition is only a short time away from opening, they needed all the help they could get to get everything ready they needed in terms of their branding and curating of the exhibition. Their invites were letterpress on one side and screen print on the other, I helped with the screen printing of the invite. Despite not initially having a role in helping the group, I did not mind doing this as there were 4 of us screen printing which meant they got done a lot faster, being a big help for the group. Although everyone is busy with other deadlines, I did not mind helping out because if our group were chosen we would of appreciated the same help from other students, also my screen print is going to be shown at this exhibition so it would be nice knowing I helped with the invites so people were made aware of the exhibition itself.

Studio Brief 04: Poster and Sticker Printing

For the poster:

As the brief asks for 6 copies of the final outcome, I am going to use the digital print room to print out the calendars A3 size, glossy print. I thought about bringing my own paper and printing on to A3 card however I want these posters to be kept on a wall and there would be a risk of the card getting damaged, along with having the stickers to put on the poster too. Although this will cost me £9 to print out 6 copies, I know the quality of the prints will be to good standard instead of relying on uni printers.

For the stickers:

After spending some time considering how I could print the stickers, I found x20 A4 sticker paper on eBay for about £2, this meant each student would get a full A4 page of stickers to put on the calendar. The paper is also printable which meant I can print the designs straight onto it and print multiple copies.

Studio Brief 04: Sticker Developments

Things to put on the stickers:

• Success
• Fail
• Happened
• Didn't happen
• Too hungover
• Went out last night instead
• Got up on time
• Was late
• Watched Netflix instead
• Did all the work

These are all of the possible things I could include on the stickers, I was aiming to create 3 different ones so students have a variation of them without having too many and they become pointless and unused by the students. They need to be able to be used on each day depending on what happens to the student, whether they attend the timetabled session or not.

I chose to create stickers using these 3 few words, I wanted to keep the writing on the stickers to a minimum to ensure they would fit and also be readable as I am unsure how big they will need to be, this will depend on the size of the boxes when they are printed to A3 size. I like how simple the stickers look and the colour choices as they will be visible on the poster itself.

Mock-up in Photoshop showing what the various stickers could look like once stuck on to the calendar, I think these work successfully because the colour is shown against the background and there are 3 different sticker choices for the student so they are not limited.

Studio Brief 04: Initial Designs

In Photoshop I designed a basic calendar grid that includes everyday in September 2017, I ensured the boxes were large enough so I could include text within them about each day so that the student can interact with them and easily read what is on each day.

This is the first couple of weeks that were timetabled in September for us last year so I have taken some of the events from these and put them onto my calendar as I feel like some of the inductions will be exactly the same like principles talks and library inductions.

These are the final blank calendar designs I am going to use for the final outcomes, on the right is the filled in calendar with the events that I have included so that students can interact with the poster and make their own judgement to whether they have completed what was timetabled on each day or not. Taking events from the uni timetable and adding in the night out events that usually take place on that day means the student can also still enjoy freshers but at a limit because they need to prioritise the event at uni. They can make their own judgement from this by using the stickers provided with the poster.

Studio Brief 04: Design Development and Colour

Keeping the poster black and white would make it very dull looking and wouldn't be appealing for a student to hang up in their halls or room. As the poster is designed for both male and female I did want to keep the colours very neutral and un-biased- having a pink background for the poster may not appeal to the male audience and I want the poster to be appreciated and used by both genders. So far I am leaning towards the third poster design to be the chosen colour variation because I think it works best as a background colour and with the illustrations included. I was keen to include some form of illustration on my poster design because it is my preferred way to work and my work rely's heavily on illustration, even though I am on a graphic design course I wanted to take it as an opportunity to highlight the variation of the course and how it allows you to work in any style, there are no limitations. 

When it comes to printing my outcome, I am going to use the drop off sessions within the digital print room because I know this will give my posters the highest quality as I will print them with a gloss finish. This will also work well alongside the stickers I am also going to print to go with the poster.

Exhibition Branding Evaluation

As this brief was a collaborative one, it meant that the work load was spread accross the seven of us and we were able to work as a team in order to respond to the brief. At times it was challenging when there was a lack of communication between the group and multiple pieces of work were being produced, this was fine in the very beginning of the brief when we were just brainstorming our ideas. However, as the deadline became closer and we were recieving lots of feedback from group crits, it was then we needed to come together to finalise ideas and this is where I think the group really came together. Working as a group will always have its negatives, especially when working with a group of creative people who all work in different ways, at the beginning we all sat down and discussed each others strengths and weaknesses so that no one would be given a job that they weren’t happy with and felt like they would not be working to their true potential. 

As a collection of work put together in the end, it was clear the group communicated well to brand something that was not always designed when in the studio together, although at times our ideas did clash and we did not always agree on how the design should look or what the exhibition should be called, attending group crits and getting feedback from other peers meant we could see which ideas worked more than others. Although our exhibition did not get chosen, most of the team worked hard in piecing together each bit for the final outcomes. To improve this exhibition further or if we were to complete a similar brief in the future, having a good solid idea at the start works so much better so the designs and ideas can remain focused throughout the whole brief.

Exhibition Branding: Presentation to L5

Feedback from L5 on the final exhibition, although our exhibition was not chosen, it was nice to get feedback from another year group to see what they thought of it. The main consensus was that the receipt idea worked really well and it was a strong solid idea that was carried through successfully. To improve it was suggested that our exhibition should interact with the public a bit more through the receipt idea and to make sure the public are aware that it is a print exhibition.

Design Principles Module Evaluation

Overall, I have really enjoyed the design principles module; each brief has excited me and allowed me to work in a style I have really enjoyed. After not being aware of this module at the start of the year and it beginning around October/November time I thought it was going to really impact on the workload along side the other modules, at the start it did not do this as it was fairly easy to keep on top of the workload. However, when the sessions stopped, we were only introduced to the module again a lot later on, closer to the final deadlines. This meant I began to struggle with the work load, alongside the confusion of what needed to be produced and handed in for the module, if spoke about a couple of months ago I think this module could have been a lot less stressful. Despite all of this, I have really enjoyed creating the outcomes for each brief as none of them have been at all repetitive and have required various skills and knowledge. In terms of knew knowledge for this module, I have learnt a great deal especially about layout and colour. The first couple of sessions of this module when we were introduced to Pantone and what needed to be included in the booklet lead to extensive research and reading into texts by Josef Albers and Muller Brockman about colour and grids. A lot of this I was not aware of before being introduced to this module and I have been especially interested in Pantone colour swatches because I have always found colour inspires the majority of my design work and now can use these various colour swatches within my work outside of design principles. Each page of the booklet lead me into various research, mostly colour like Klein Blue and the difference between RGB and CMYK, something which is incredibly important within design and the work I will produce in the future because I will need to know the differences of colours when it comes to print and screen. Moreover, the penguin book covers introduced me to Marber’s grid and the importance of the grid and layout when it comes to putting together a design, this has encouraged me to create my own grids for work produced in other modules. This module has been really enjoyable and I have learnt a great deal from it, this knowledge will come in use for future modules and briefs and can be applied to multiple things.