OUGD505 - Evaluation

This module has been the first opportunity where I have explicitly had to focus on the ethics behind design and production and how to make work which is 'designed for good.' Ethics is something that I had never really associated with graphic design however it has been beneficial to my practice learning about how design can influence our community in a positive way. 

Studio brief 01 allowed me to research into the history of Leeds as a city and discover an array of multicultural and exciting events that has shaped Leeds into the city it is today. As traditional print isn't one of my strongpoints I wanted to use this project as an opportunity to create a piece of design that was really fun, bold and humorous, something that I would enjoy working on and look forward to printing. 

I really tried to push myself in the idea generation process by coming up with at least 10 individual designs and ideas for the poster that could each work in their own right as a stand out and vibrant poster. I'm really glad I did this as my final idea of merging a pigeon with a flamingo inflatable only came at the very end of the idea generation process after combining a range of my initial sketches into one humorous and clever concept. This has taught me a valuable lesson in the importance of brainstorming and not just going with the first idea that pops into your mind. All my peers thought it was really clever but light hearted design which is what I was aiming for. 

Although I went for screen printing again in my traditional print this year rather than lino or mono printing I tried to push myself and learnt how to make an image half tone to create depth and shadows, which was a new skill for me. 

I definitely struggled with my time management for this module as it initially overlapped with COP and Responsive during its early stages, therefore I ended up putting a lot of my time and effort into those briefs, which resulted in me neglecting this one. Unfortunately my preferred way of completing work is to focus on one project at a time however I know this will not be a realistic approach when it comes to 3rd year and after I graduate so this is something I will have to try and improve on in the coming months. That being said, as the year has progressed I have found myself being able to undertake and ultimately produce work a lot faster than I could in 1st year without the quality being affected, which is something that I'd initially hoped to improve on at the start of the year. 

Once I got into it I particularly enjoyed studio brief 02 and the idea that you can find an issue whether that be political, social or ethical and resolve it through the use of design. If I had applied myself sooner I feel I could have come out with some more unusual and refined ideas and designs however I'm happy with what I produced and think the entire range of products looked really smart and cohesive when gathered together. If I had not been so pushed for time I would have liked to make an animated video showing the benefits of a lending library as part of an advertising campaign and would have animated my screen based designs to showcase the user experience.

 The lending library idea has a lot of potential to be made into a reality, therefore it's exciting that I had the chance to explore this concept while it was still relatively new.