Evaluation - OUGD406

Evaluation

Through on going practice I’ve become better at responding to design problems through gaining a better understanding and ability to construct and interpret visual language.

                        

Working both independently and in group discussions amongst peers, it caused my work to be continuously critiqued which has helped achieve much more refined and successful outcomes. Working collaboratively worked much better in ‘speaking from experience’ than the ‘exhibition branding’ this could be because of the group. In choosing who to work with I was more comfortable in discussing ideas and putting myself forward, making the project include more of my own input.  

Each brief requires a self-evaluation in relation to initial ideas, development and production. By repeating the same requirements, it has become much easier and clearer to me as to why I have made certain decisions and the impact they have. Time-management has also become less of an issue because of practice.  

New graphic design mediums have been introduced to me such as screen-printing and book binding as well as tools used in digital design software. Workshops at the start were really helpful and I look to try more workshops out next year if possible, in order to extend my design into new mediums.

The briefs all speak to different audiences, being able to adapt my creative decisions to target these different audiences is something I believe to have done well in this module.

Professional practice was a brief that required this skill.  engaged me in that it took me out of the classroom and shed some light on how throughout course I should be entering competitions and putting my work out there. This brief gave me the opportunity to design for a specific target audience which will be useful in future projects.

I found ‘Leeds public spaces’ the most enjoyable brief as it had a lot of freedom allowing creative decisions to be very personally directed and most strongly encouraged individual interests to come forward. This brief also introduced screen-printing and is a practice I look forward to using again.

The collaborative practice challenged communication still both design based and within working with members of my group. As a brief I thought it worked well however within the group I felt I should have pushed to have more input in design decisions.

I would have liked to have more time spent on the reflective practice brief as our final outcome was rushed to some extent. However, working with a group of my choice, I believe communication was much easier and it also made suggesting ideas between us more relaxed and therefore lead to a very honest content.

To conclude, this module has introduced me to a variety of different principles such as typography, layout and colour as well as introducing me to different types of design such as information graphics and editorial. It has challenged me and pushed me however as a result I feel much more confident.