Module 301 Design Practice - Evaluation

During this module I aimed to develop my skill in print design, focusing on stock selection, how to print technically accurate pieces. I feel I succeeded in this to some extent however I could have pushed my self further. I could have researched into a large quantity of different stocks to show how my pieces would be printed to an industry standard. I also developed skill in typography. I spent a lot longer choosing fonts for specific pieces of work like the Leeds City Council brief, where it was important to get the personality through the type. This is similar to how i chose the typeface for the British Library brief. I think spending more time improving my type skills through researching how other designers have used type within publication design has helped me considerably in my own design practice. Working on my type skills fed through to developing my layout skills and using image and type together, arranging these elements to communicate the concept successfully. I have definitely developed my skills in the conceptual approach to my design practice. Working on strong concepts allowed me to create stronger visual pieces that fulfilled the briefs creatively and effectively. I wanted to improve my skills within branding. I hadn't produced much logo design before and it is an area of design I want to get more into. I spent a large amount of time creating the logo for the British Library brief, having tutorials with Joe Gilmore help me see that the skill in developing a strong visual identity for a company is more than just making a fancy looking logo, you need to have a strong message behind it, it needs to be conceptually sound.

Researching has been a large part of building my concepts, as well as conducting general research for projects i have took the time to research existing contextual pieces more, this has helped my own design practice. Working to a specific audience also directed my research more, which resulted in more successful resolutions. Researching the client i found is also important. Knowing what a client wants from the outset is key, without this it can waste a lot of the designers time and end up heading in the wrong direction. I found this as in the Leeds City Council brief i didn't clarify the title of the document so ended up designing something which was not what they wanted.

I think I have strengths in my concepts and research within my projects, this is the driving force of my design practice, I think in the future i need to really get down into considering the audience and use this as a key driving force of my design. I need to develop my weakness of staying in my comfort zone and really push my ideas further. My interest in print and paper is important to me and i could really boost my designs with more consideration to these areas when linking them to audience interaction. I aim to research more into audience interaction over christmas ready for when tackling my FMP.

Improvements to my design practice can come from using my blog more. I feel like i went through phases of neglecting to update it so had a back log of things to post at the end of the module which would have been more useful to me earlier.
I feel i have improved my time management skills, developing a timetable to stick to and keeping my action plans etc in one folder really helped my design practice, rather than an improvement i just need to remember how useful this was and keep it up from now on. I don't know how i lived without a diary before!
I need to experiment more with print media and stocks where it is appropriate to enhancing the message within my design resolutions.
I need to make faster decisions with research and concept ideas so i can get onto experimenting more and testing different areas like formats and layouts.