603: Summative Module Evaluation

End of Module Summative Evaluation:

The briefs I’ve submitted for 603 reflect who I am as a creative and explore interests of mine in relation to design, but also to aspects of my personal life. I’ve produced outcomes to a high standard that can be collated into a strong portfolio. I’ve learnt about myself as a creative and have applied this to my practice throughout the module, I believe there are clear signs of growth from my earlier briefs to my final briefs as I developed more confidence and skills throughout the module.

I believe my time management and organisation has been consistent throughout the module, I’ve been able to develop systems for planning and organisation that compliment my way of thinking. This is something I’m particularly proud of as I struggle with dyslexia and have worked hard to develop a system that works for me. I would still sometimes get caught up in a brief and run over schedule a little, however, the tools I’ve employed with Notion have encouraged me to stay on task and not spend too much extra time on briefs. This is something I will continue to work on as I progress into industry. 

Working around the restraints of the pandemic was a second hurdle to overcome when it came to time management and organisation, as my practice involves physical work and incorporates materiality as a key principle I needed to plan my time according to when I had access to facilities. Due to some unexpected circumstances in the 3rd lockdown I used my resilience to rearrange my schedule to allow me to work on projects in an order that was best suited to the situation. I believe this adaptability will bear me well moving forward with my creative career. 

With the 10 briefs I’m submitting I believe they capture me and my practice, whether that be through a focus on research, a conceptual approach, experimental outcomes or a challenge for me creatively. I found the briefs that were slightly out of my comfort zone were approached as an opportunity to learn and develop new skills. During this module I’ve been able to change the way I view mistakes into a positive outlook, by making mistakes I can learn from them and create better content next time. I’m pleased that I have been able to truly apply this to my practice this year as in Levels 4 & 5 I would frequently struggle with making mistakes.

The collaborations I’ve undertaken throughout the module have been something I’ve really enjoyed, in particular B8 Social Media. I have approached collaborations with confidence and spoken openly about my ideas and opinions, and in turn this encouraged those who I was working with to do the same, resulting in honest communication. This allowed the development of a project to run smoothly, resulting in an outcome that all parties contributed to. By embarking on these collaborative projects I’ve found that this is something I want to continue to do after University and embed into my practice. 

By working on briefs such as B7 Research Brief (Sudoku) and B8 Social Media I’ve been able to explore topics more conceptually. This is something I really enjoy doing and have been able to expand on during 603. Starting a project with a rough idea of the direction you want to take it and then allowing the research process to decide the rest is something I’ve found exciting to focus on. I feel it is in these situations where I thrive as I can introduce new ideas and processes, it pushes me to think about design differently, thus resulting in an outcome that encourages the audience to think in a new way. 

I’ve been able to explore a passion for publication making alongside developing other areas of my practice. By actively engaging in live events throughout the module from panel discussions to interviews, I’ve been able to apply the advice, methods and techniques passed on from others to my practice.I really enjoy learning from others so implementing this into my practice was a strength of mine throughout the module. It encouraged me to think widely about my practice and the different ways of approaching topics that I hadn’t thought about. 

Overall I have put a large amount of effort into this module to create outcomes I’m proud of as well as develop a range of skills that help me and my practice. I will be leaving LAU with a more refined understanding of what graphic design is and how I fit within it. 

603: Timetabling and organisation

 I initially organised my timetable by placing briefs over a calendar to see what I was wondering on when. 

When alterations happened I would go back a replan my time to stay on top of things. However, I realsied this was too time consuming and wasn’t easy to change. I couldnt add notes as to what was happening when. 

So I went back to a tool I had used for cop or manage my time and organise my projects, Notion:

- I have a hub to contain all my tools for Level 6

I used their database features to make a document where all my briefs were kept, the dates I was working on them were logged as well a how I was progressing through the projects. 

Each brief has it’s own page where I could document the project, any to do lists or research was kept here. 

I used a monthly overview planner to stay on top of all the tasks for the different briefs.

I was able to break down my tasks into monthly, weekly and daily.

The digital platform would allow me to keep everything in one place and prevent me from losing any info on loose sheets of paper. 

It made time planning so much easier as I could add in a rough outline for the week and then fill with daily tasks.

A colour-coded system for deadlines, blog tasks and outstanding work was established to help me as I'm a visual learner

(B10) Curate.TV: Summative Evaluation

 B10 Curatev.TV:

Feedback from the client (Angus): 

Angus said that he could use our proposal for his next event, it felt just like Curate, this demonstrates a good understanding of the brand and that we achieved the brief. Angus also commented on the details added to the flyers highlighting specific information saying they added a thoughtful touch. A piece of feedback to work on was when the lightweight fonts were used in white over the green it became difficult to read, this was remedied when working on the project post feedback by altering the weight of the type to ensure legibility. 

The feedback from Angus was great, it was helpful to hear the different ways a client critiques work and what they focus on. Something I learnt from this process was about pitch presentation, Angus complimented the arrangement of our pitch but stated at 16x9 aspect ratio is more appropriate. This is something I have implemented throughout the rest of the module when presenting work. A secondary comment was made about the pace of a pitch, considering different background colours to prevent the experience becoming repetitive, again this was something I hadn’t considered at this stage of the module so was really helpful feedback. 

This project was collaborative and our group was rather large consisting of six individuals, this was difficult to manage at times as we had more thoughts and ideas to balance and refine, however, this was also an advantage as we could use our range of perspectives as a way to explore ideas quickly. I felt we worked well as a group, regular video calls allowed us to share our work and provide feedback, these were really helpful at increasing morale during a difficult time of the year, and kept us on track. We also used WhatsApp to stay in contact throughout the day as this was the best platform for all of us as it worked smoothly with those living overseas. 

(B9) Home: Summative Evaluation

 B9 Home:

Time management of this project was good, the original dates for the brief we rearranged to best suit the different stages of the project. The photography took place over the last few days of Easter break as I was in Sheffield and then the design and development took place while in Leeds meaning I could access printing facilities. This alteration to the timeline meant I was able to incorporate materiality as a core principle of the project. 

The collaboration element of working with a photographer was great, it allowed me to see someone else's practice and understand their way of thinking about projects. It also was great for my professional development as I needed to stick to a level of professionalism and good communication in order to succeed at the brief. 

As this project took place at the end of 603 I was able to apply techniques I’ve learnt throughout the module to this brief. Since the timeframe for designing was fairly short I drew on techniques I had developed during B6, A Book A Day, to encourage idea generation as well as employ quick decision making allowing more development to be achieved in a shorter space of time. I was able to draw on conversations I’ve had with book makers and practitioners to develop the project, in this brief in particular I felt I was able to combine a lot of what I’ve learnt throughout the year and apply it practically. The final outcome is a contemporary publication exploring a subject I’ve been wanting to comment on for a while. 

I still have space to learn and grow, I feel the presentation of the final outcome could be improved more, as the 3D folder was successful but could’ve been explored in more depth. I want to research deeper into other ways of showcasing books and revisit this brief after submission to strengthen the final outcome even further. 

I’ve learnt that leaning into topics of interest are a great way to apply and develop skills as personally I sometimes fear the content and this results in questioning the direction of the project. But I found that by trusting myself with the decisions I make I can produce work that is successful to the audience as well as to myself. 

(B8) Social Media: Summative Evaluation

 B8 Social Media:

Peggy and I worked really well together throughout the project, we incorporated frequent video calls (around 1 a day), initially these were to discuss the research we had done, as well as emerging ideas. As the project progressed these were used as a way to check in with each other, share work and delegate roles/jobs to be completed. We worked side by side for the initial ideas and starting developments and as the project progressed we would work on our own spreads for the publication but would check in regularly with each other to provide feedback. Since we were able to communicate openly with each other we could play off one another's strengths throughout the project. 

Our time management was good, we designated a week for initial ideas, a week for development and a final week for refinement. We stuck to this schedule which prevented us from spending too much time on ideas and experiments that weren’t working. As the submission for the module is digital we didn’t dedicate time to making the publication, however, we decided to print the book allowing us to gauge the success of the project. This meant we spent longer on the project that originally anticipated, but it was for a valid purpose.

By printing the book physically we could see that the production considerations such as french folds helped emphasise the idea of rabbit holes, they concealed the information well and incorporated a level of engagement from the audience. There were some pages that could’ve been explored further and present more of a digital tone, however, the experience as a whole was really successful, it made you think and question the purpose of the object and I believe the final outcome is successful in answering the brief. 

During this brief I was drawing on contemporary research and I’ve found there’s a wealth of creative people who work in experimental publications exploring a vast range of themes, this was really inspiring throughout the project and encouraged me to think more openly about my designs. 

I really enjoyed working on this project with Peggy. It was great having someone to bounce ideas, as we have a similar approach to working both creatively and practically we complimented each other well. I hadn’t enjoyed many collaboration projects pre-level 6, and I learnt this is because the collaborations didn’t run as smoothly. From collaborating with Peggy I learnt that being honest is better than trying to please the other parties, it encourages open conversation and allows for a project to develop as best it can. 

(B7) Research Brief: Summative Evaluation

 B7 Research Brief:

My time management for this project went well, I was able to spend enough time developing the topic (sudoku) for the research brief as well as spend time delving into research surrounding this topic. This period of time allowed me to explore the content in depth and find a direction to expand upon using my creative skillset, as I really enjoy the research process this was something I took pride in during the project.

Throughout this brief I was able to trust in myself more as a designer, as the direction was tailored towards an area of design that I really enjoy, meaning I was able to make decisions I felt were right for the brief. The original brief evolved into a passion project of, exploring a topic through conceptual visuals and presenting these in a publication for the audience to view and interpret as they chose. I felt as though my criticality and analysis of content was strong throughout this brief. I was considering how the different graphic experiments would impact the reader, in particular the orientation of the photographs and how this changes how the audience connects to the content.

I am very pleased with the final outcome, however, I could have experimented more with the physicality. Reflecting back on the project after completing it I would’ve liked to expand on the concept of a book as see how the content could’ve worked when breaking the rules of traditional publications. Even if the outcome were to be the same I think this would’ve been an exciting piece of development to have explored further. 

By working on this publication alongside attending events at Printed Matter’s Virtual Artbook Fair I was constantly inspired by the work being showcased at the event. Not only was there such a range of content to draw inspiration from, but hearing the creative speak about books and publishing provided extra insight into the different thought processes. This encouraged me to think in new ways about what the purpose of a book is and I implemented this attitude throughout the design process of the project. 

(B6) A Book A Day: Summative Evaluation

 B6 A Book A Day:

Along with the practical outcomes of the project I had gained a lot of skills and techniques as a result of having to create ideas and develop a book so quickly as I established a rhythm for the different steps of the process. I felt as though I had more freedom when designing books during this project. Since the outcome was the result of one days work there was less pressure on it being polished as the focus was on idea generation and creative thinking. This encouraged me to take more risks and continue with an idea to figure out if it worked or not, rather than going with something I knew would work. 

When the topic was less interesting it was harder to pull ideas from, however, I found a way of combining the medium of Twitter and the physicality of print to develop concepts relating to materiality, rather than using the content for imagery. I would hit points where I was caught up in my own ideas, when talking to my peers this introduced a clean slate with new thoughts and was a way for me to regenerate and reconsider the direction of a book. 

Monday was a slower day compared to the rest of the week as I hadn’t developed a rhythm for the project. At the start of the brief I could’ve been clearer in terms of what systems would be beneficial to put in place, allowing the whole week to run more smoothly and prevent any time being wasted. 

I’ve learnt to have more confidence in myself as a creative, and if an idea doesn’t succeed it’s an opportunity to learn, it’s not a failure. This is an important lesson for me as I’ve been concerned about the appearance of my outcomes throughout my degree, this brief has broken down some of the preconceived ideas I have about creativity and shown me I can develop strong ideas quickly.