OUGD103 Module self evaluation

List five things that I have learnt about design process over the last module


1.Time management is essential! As we've had five weeks on this project it was important that I made sure I managed my time reasonably. As we had a fairly long time to do this project, it is easy to leave things to the last minute. however, I managed my time pretty well, I would like to think and I managed to spend a reasonable amount of time researching, generating ideas, experiementing with appraches and leaving enough time to produce the final products.

2. This is the first project where I started to realy use design sheets. I really didnt want to to it before ( using a layout pad) as I had a thing about using good paper in my design process but I have learnt that I was wrong...about myself. I used a layout pad for this project and I found it to be a much more effective way for ME to generate ideas. I wasn't bothered about making it all look nice and pretty, i jus produced ideas as it came. It was very fluent and quick and useful. I ws able to do sketchsed much quicker as well. Layout pad...

3. Asking more questions in crits! Ive always found crits very useful but for this brief, as we had so many crits i was able to ask more and specific questions than usual. Its good to listen to what people have to say but asking them more quesitons back was so effective in perfecting the idea. products.

4. BLOG!! I've blogged...and blogged and blogged for this brief. I took on Amber and Fred's advise about writing everything down on the blog and, yes it is what i have to do any to get the grades but i actually found it to be so useful. Id create something on Illustrator or Photoshop and I would immediately save it as JPEG and blog it and write something about it. Or if i had a crit then I would blog it, name the blog as whatever it was and its an effective and organised way for me to document things.

5. TALK to people...even when they don't ask you. This is actually what I put down as one of the advices for the 1st years on my project but I think it applies to everyone. Approaching someone who doesn't know what I'm doing and explaing the project is so useful. Its just like having a quick, fast, mini crit. 1. saying it out loud somehow helps and 2. getting a different response is always great. I hav'e found that for this project, you work on it one your own for so long that sometimes you get really absorbed into what you're doing and forget to look at it objectively, therefore talkin to someone helps ( especially someone who is blunt and direct)

List five things that you would do differently next time

1. BOOK print as early as possible. I say...the minute you kind of know what you want to do, as soon as you know its print based...book a time for the deadline. I'be managed to do it for earlier briefs but for somehow for this one i was stupid enough to leave it for the week before , especially during this time of the year!

2. although I've been pretty good at using sketchbooks and designs sheets and blogs for this brief.... I've not done enough of continuous evaluation for everything I've done which I think would be very useful.

3. make Design Context'ing' more of a habit, at the beginning of the project I've looked at designs and designers who would be useful and inspiration to me for this particular project and the idea generation process but I think i stopped doing it when I started to really get into the design part of the project ...may be its not a bad thing??

4. Plan my day. Some of the days i've just ended up wasting deciding what to do. I should plan my day ahead the night before so I know exactly what I need to do. I think this would be a part of a better time management.

5. Think about the distribution of the products earlier on rather than at the end of the project and having less time to think about it. ....again, this might be part of time management..?

This is what I put for my evaluation for this last project ( speaking from experience) but after reading over it i think that it still applies for me over the past term.

As a designer, i think that over this past year I have developped in many ways and there are still many things that i still need to develop.

I've become aware of a lot of things now that I would never have been aware of at the start o the year. Every design process that I carry out, I go through a certain checklist in my head which has only just existed this year!

for example, i ask myself how much time I have and how much would i be able to get done in that amount of time and how far i can push myself/ and the time given to produce the most thought out and well crafted finished piece.

Idea generations have become more of an instinct and more natural. I enjoy the process more and more everyday and its very satifying to be able to fgure out the best resolution for each problem ( although Im still never a hundred percent sure its the right one but its the one where I most confident on taking a risk on ! )r

There are still things I need to learn to become better of, As said, i enjoy idea generation and i think that I am quite good at it. I also enjoy the designing proces but I feel like I'm still a little weaker on that side. Therefore I would still like to learn a lot more about using the right colours, layout, type and etc.

I wuold like to understand the connections between these things within a piece of design better and I think that this is what I would like to focuss on next year as well as what kind of desginer I would like to become. (Illustrative, type based)

Although I am keen on recognising the type of designer I would like to become most I still really like to become better in the areas where I am not was comfortable at doing. eg, film, 'proper' type etc.