Interim Evaluation

Evaluate the problems that you identified and had to resolve within the brief.

Overall I didn't have any problems that effected me massively but there have been a few things that have slowed me down or had me stuck for a while. The biggest error I seem to be making are my typos. Typos seem to be the bain of my design practise. They are so easy to miss too. For example, for the hotdog brief I finished it in good time and went to digital print and printed 10 hotdog books, folded them, cut them, reviewed them, showed fellow peers on the course them and then handed them in. It wasn't till I sent my brother my blog for him to have a look and he was the one who noticed that 'Environment' on the front cover had no 'N'. Its amazing how this kind of massive mistake can be so invisible to so many people including me who happened to design it. That typo was sitting right in front of my and I didn't even notice it. In conclusion to these mistake with typos, I have most defiantly learned from them. Every time I come to the end of a design I check it over and over, taking letter from letter apart to make sure its right.

Evaluate the key considerations that you had to take into account when investigation the brief.

When reading the brief and jotting down ideas I had to think about the idea against what audience I was trying to target. I had to think about colour and type of design. Stock became a big topic of error too. When it came to folding design you would have to think about what card/ paper would fold best. Towards the end of 403 in the project 'Proverbially Yours' we had to make envelops and I bought a card that was too thick. It ripped straight aways and I had to go back down and print. I also had to think realistically and ask myself whether what I wanted to do was possible in the time that the brief was giving me.

Evaluate the research activities that you had to undertake in order to resolve the brief.

After every brief in studio 3 I would always have ideas in my head and these ideas would then be put into paper. After I had an idea I would then get into researching. Some brief required a completely different research pattern, for example '100 Things' from 405. I had to do tonnes of research which towards the end of the brief turned out to be useless. However, as I was doing info graphics I had to really get involved with facts and figures to do with slavery including making my own questionnaire which I sent to the whole college. In all honesty I didn't to a lot of primary research this year. It seem some what pointless and I could always find the answers on the internet. Then again the projects and briefs we were given to me didn't demand secondary research. I always got the impression that it was an optional way to research.   

Evaluate the example of secondary research that informed your design decisions.  

I am still a young designer who is still looking for his 'style' in graphic design. After I have written up some ideas and know what publication I want to make and what look I think I am going to go for, I get straight on the internet and go to blogs like 'Designspiration', 'ffffound' etc because these sites are regally updated with new and interesting design which always gets me inspired to get out and create stuff.  I also look into sites dedicated to type like 'Losttype' which is this lovely  with only 20 odd fonts on it, but each one is stunning. I don't find myself looking through books and magazines that much as it takes longer and your not always guaranteed to get what you are looking for. I do though look through them if I am looking into page layout design. For 'Who are you?' in 406 I began paying attention to how a magazines had been put together and I was also looking for inspiration. Its nice when you begin to look at an everyday objet like a magazine, take it apart and start thinking inside the head of the designer that did for ideas. You begin to identify whats conventional and what looks legible.


Evaluate the examples of practical research that informed you resolution. 

Practical research came along in quite a few briefs. The first example which I still remember as it was terrifying was the very first day at college. Here we had to get into twos and interview each other, we would then get up in front of the whole year and recite what we had learned about each other. The next example with in 403 for 'Alphabet Soup'. I had to interview Jack Fower and from the information I received create a typeface. For 406 'Who Are You?' I had to interview Sam Hoh and again from the information I received make a double paged spread. Its quite a nice way of working and it was quite easy to design from the information gathered. I found that group crits helped massively as well. During the two week projects we would get into groups of about 4/6 and talk to Amber & Joe. This was a good time to have positive and negative feedback from tutors and peers. I found the more negative feedback I got the better. I learned that they are not having a go at you but helping you make your design better and more appropriate to the idea. 403, 'Alphabet Soup'; I spent a long week designing my typeface for jack and at the crit I was told to scrap it and start again. And I thank them for saying that as the next week I started again and created a font much nicer and a font that actually suited Jack more as a person.

Evaluate the breadth of initial ideas that you generated in response to this brief.

I would often get an idea when we would all be getting briefed of an idea or ideas. To me it is always to important and of course every other designer would say the same to put your initial ideas straight onto paper. I would make a spider diagram and this always got what was in my head onto paper. It would make things much clearer and I would then know what I wanted to do. I am not a massive fan or design sheets though. Thats something I have been missing out on this year. I usually know what design I want to make and go with the flow. I'm not sure whether this is a bad thing or not but it seems to be working. I am good at figuring out a look and working with it. You can see on my blog that I am good at documenting what I am doing on a design. I frequently screen shot my work to show my progress and I can then relate to this when I look back at my work. Those are my design sheets. I think its the same thing but just not on paper. I am terrible at thumbnails and I mean terrible. If I can't make something the same on paper as on the computer I don't see the point! In Lorenzo's 'Type & Grid' 404 we had to make at least 2 design sheets on designs that we wanted to maybe go with. This was a way of finding a good design that you could then go with on InDesign. I could stand it, I was rubbish at it and it didn't help me with my final design.

Evaluate the breadth of visual investigation that you explored before deciding on you design direction.  

This was a large part of my investigation before the design direction. However, sometimes when I had a design direction I would change half way though like in 404 'Who Are You?'. I decided to look at a different approach when I though it wasn't working. Decisions like that are hard but they always pay off and you feel better about what you have produced. Back to the point and question. I can relate this question to the question about secondary research as a lot of my secondary research has been design. It was how I found the look I wanted to go for. I'm at a stage where I am still looking for my own look and once I have found that I think that my visual research will become smaller. I would still think that the best designers still look at other work to boost their thinking. I think you can relate visual investigation to design sheets also, which I have also talked about and I haven't been that proactive with them. In conclusion to this its my secondary research related around designers that decides my design direction.
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Systematic, Stimulated & Intuitive Approches

I would always start with a mixture of Stimulated Approaches to a brief and Intuitive Approches. But If I had to put it order from the 2 week brief I have just finished it would be in this order

Stimulated Approach
Intuitive Approach
Systematic Approach.

For 'STAMP IT!' 406 was clueless after the crit to what I was going to do or in fact what I had to do. It was one of those briefs where your mind is woundering. So I read the brief again and as it was a subject I hadn't been in before I got straight on the computer to research designers who had designed stamps that were relating to recycling or reducing global warming. This being a STIMULATED approach. Once I had a good idea of what I wanted to do I took the INTUITIVE approach to get my thoughts onto paper and I finished it off with the SYSTEMATIC approach. Playing around with my designs, looking at possible ways of presenting until I came up with the design(s) I thought were best.