PPP: May 2014

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

To identify all the skills I have learnt this year will be difficult as there have indeed been many. I must begin with the skill that has taken most of the year to master and a skill that is a life saver in the life of graphic design and in life in general. That skill is time management. Through first year and second year we had to be in everyday, because of this my time management wasn’t of my own doing, I had to be in college so I would be in and from there I would work.

In third year we had the freedom to do as we pleased, the demand to be in wasn’t there so naturally the course became very relaxed. It was no entirely up to us to get the ball rolling and for me, this task was very difficult. As the year went on and we approached the Christmas hand in, I found myself becoming stressed for the first time that year. This I needed, I found that I was working twice as much and I was in college regally.

It was this Christmas hand in that put me into gear, my daily routine became normal, like it was in the past and I found my work load increasing, increasing in a good way. I was meeting my own deadlines and I felt my confidence growing. Printing down with James was a huge issue last year. I never booked slots in advance so I never had slots, and in a result I had to wait around for drop in all the time which was a waste of time a highly uncomfortable. In terms of how well I have applied my time management, I feel once you have learnt how to mange your time by yourself, you become a more organised and professional individual that longs to succeed.

The next lesson that springs to mind is checking everything before it goes to print. When it came to sending my Amsterdam Zines to print, I forgot to check probably the most important thing, the resolution of the images. I sent off the zine with all the photos at a low resolution. The error almost cost me £100, which goes to show its good this happened this year and not when I was working for somebody. Its mistakes like this that you’ll never ever forget.

Aside from the last two points brought up I must say that all the other skills come in to the adobe suite and using it so much. Fellow students around the studio are always so happy to help if you need it. The skills I have learnt this year have really taught me a hell of a lot which will be very useful in the years to come as a graphic designer. Time Management is a skill only you yourself can learn from determination to get things done, when you have this determination you will find your daily routine fall comfortably into place.

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

Considering that we had to go out on our own and find briefs to complete throughout the year my method was at first inexperienced and at the end of the day wasn’t working too well. I always said that I am not the one to come up with briefs on my own, so I decided that I needed to come up with a new idea.

A friend of mine suggested that I contact studios to look for briefs, which was a very good idea. I emailed around and most studios didn’t have anything. Then, Innocent drinks got back to me. Claire is the senior designer at Innocent and she said I should have a go at designing some back of backs for their juice cartoons. This filled me with joy and excitement. This would be the first brief I would do for someone.

In terms of other briefs I had to find, I went about looking on websites. I did find some I was interested in on YCN and D&AD, YCN I didn’t follow through but Luke and I did WPP for D&AD. Again, the task was to find 10 briefs to come back to college with, out of those 10 briefs I found I only did 2 of them. This shows that throughout the year was when I found my briefs. I liked how studios came in to introduce briefs to us.

My design development process has been the same since I started the course and I think is pretty standard in that it is everybody design development process. I begin by reading the brief and writing down ideas that come to my head, of course it is always a good idea to get what is in your head into paper. From there I look for inspiration, whether that be looking on the web or seeking it from elsewhere.

I don’t always use design sheets, I find I sometimes get an idea and get straight to the computer to play around. I always blog my process and I consider this to be part of my design process. I think this is a real important process and you get to follow the whole brief. It’s often a pleasure to look back at the work I have done through the brief, I like to look at previous designs to see if they might inspire the latest design. It’s an odd process but It seems to work for me.

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

I have to say I’m happy with the work I’ve produced this year. My main weakness that has been with me for as long as I can remember is spelling and punctuation. This really brings down the quality of my work sometimes and despite looking very closely at my work, I always seem to miss the errors. I seem to go to print and look for the mistakes, seeing that there aren’t any, I proceed and print my work. Once it’s printed is somehow when the spelling mistakes turn up.

It doesn’t just effect my design work. It also effects my blog massively. This is such a shame as I spend a lot of time trying to perfect my blog and there are mistakes everywhere. In terms of this self evaluation I am trying my hardest to spot them out. I don’t know to well what I can do to address this problem in the future. Probably the best idea would be to get people to check over my work and see if they can find any spelling mistakes. In the studio this is always impossible.

I said earlier that my fellow peers on the course are always happy to help when it comes to a problem with design, but when it comes to spelling it’s a different story, looking for spelling mistakes is quite a long process and also takes a lot of concentration. Considering this is the last year of my time as a student I guess I’ll have to figure something out when it comes to printing in the real world of design. I am aware that this is some ones job in the world of editorial design so that in some ways is a relief.

Another weakness that I can identify is the lack of design sheets I have. It does worry me that I don’t have many but at the same time I haven’t felt the need to do them and they haven’t always helped me.

Finally, my primary research this year has been next to none existent. Firstly, when it comes to looking for inspiration in design, I honestly see no need in buying a book when there are tonnes of examples of design on the internet. In terms of surveys I could have constructed I never had the need to produce one.

Looking back at my weaknesses in second year it’s such a joy to see it was time management. Time management is probably the best skill I have learned this year, it’s times like this you really realise how much you have learned.

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

The main strength I can locate in my work is my attention to detail. Since first year I have treated the blog as the heart of the course. The main thing that must have absolutely everything about everything on it. In terms of improving this It hard to say as I won’t have a blog that I religiously turn to everyday. I can however say that I will continue to keep my attention to detail the same. Making sure that everything is legible and easy to understand.

I feel the above is the biggest strength and without falling too much into what I said in my skills I must say my time management. My time management has been the most important part of this year and what has made me into the designer I am today. I has been so important in my work, from creating it to blogging about it.

Time management is always something that anyone can improve on and the only way you can improve on this is by making sure you stick to your work schedule. If you make your you stick to this to are guaranteed to become better and better.

I feel that I have covered everything within these four questions and they do fall in hand in hand. These three years have been such a thrill. They have been extremely difficult but that was the only way any of us were going to learn. The long hours the course gives us is something that every university course should have.

To become a Professional in any given filed requires daily practise. It was so fantastic to have a course that offers this to you. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at LCA and it is a real shame that my time has come to an end. I can only give all my thanks to my tutors that have spent a great deal of time making the course what it is today. All I can do is put all I have learnt here and apply it to the real world.

Out of FIVE

Attendance : 4

Punctuality : 4

Motivation : 4

Commitment : 4

Quality of Work Produced : 4

Quantity of Work Produced : 3

Contribution to the Group : 5

Process

Final Photos

I am extremely pleases with the outcome of my business cards I just wish there could be more of them. Triplexing is a technique I found out about earlier in the year. I wanted to use it to make my business cards. This is done by layering 3 pieces of card on top of each other to create this sandwich of paper. The overall outcome is very striking.

I simply used the printer in the studio to make the back of the card and then with my stamp, stamped the front. The front was done after the cards where cut out. When it came to sticking the card together. I was told to use a gluestick, this seemed a bit risky but I trusted to advice and moved forward. I left the 3 pieces of card to dry under a large piece of wood over the weekend. This really did the job and the paper was glued perfectly together.

Cutting was the next job and despite not knowing what to expect found this an easy process in which I experienced no mistakes. This did take a while but once it was done I was very pleased. I do however find the corners quite sticky from the glue but I'm hoping this will go away after time.

Stamping was next and this went very well. I love how grainy and smudgy the effect is. It really feels hand made and indicates more that I am a graphic designer that works in design for print. The final photos were easy enough in there was a space for me to use. I decided to make them black and white as the the only colour is the wood on the stamp and that's no exactly very important.