OUGD303 Evaluation

My statement of intent has altered as I expected, I hope it will continue to change as I don’t want my design to become stagnant. I still have a keen interest in typography, but have realised I was to be a Graphic Design and not a Typographer right now, so my focus has shifted from making bespoke fonts to using existing fonts appropriately. In the future I do still hope to design my own, but have not had the right brief in my FMP to showcase this skills again. I have used strong typefaces in all my briefs but primarily in Brief #5 Aviva. Utilising great imagery with strong typeface to enhance both elements has allowed me to show that I understand type and its application. I believe type is a part of design which is sometimes misunderstood and ignored, believing any typeface will do, when actually picking the right one for the job is essential. This is a key
skill of mine which I have realised over OUGD303.

Publications have been a very strong influence on my chosen briefs and deliverables over this module. I may have too many for submission and would have liked more scope in my delivereables, however each publication is very different and communicates a different message to a different audience.

Brief #1 Interior Design Yearbook was great to work with a client, however it was difficult to explain specifications such as how to resize images and explain stock and why certain things were not possible such as a spot colour. Sometimes the client was difficult as we had
a lot of work on and it was hard to find times when the yearbook team and course leader from Interior Design were free. This brief taught me when to move deadlines and when to stick to them. We extended the deadlines many times, however in the end we still had to remove many pages as we just hadn’t received the content. I will be firmer in future with clients and stick to deadlines. I enjoyed being the point of contact for all members of our team and from Interior Design, I like to know what is going on and know that something is achieveable in the time. I believe I am a good organiser and like this role in collaborations. Some issues with print were the negative aspects of this brief as we had a few issues. If we had been firmer with our deadlines we would have not been so stressed at the very end.

Brief #2 was a very research heavy brief and one which was initially going to be the strongest. However, even with my organisation and time management, I still managed to run out of time and had to print both elements of this on a digital printer rather than one being screenprinted. I am very disappointed as this could have been amazing and works so well with the concept.

The fashion branding Brief #3 turned out to be the biggest brief in my FMP. I am happy with this change of events and change of the initial brief as it showcases another aspect of design I had not demonstrated before, branding. It was also a great brief for all of my statement of intent and ticks all the boxes, publication, print processes and typography, along with the content being from the culture sector. Laser cutting was a new skill I learnt specifically for this brief, much research was done into stock and finishes to get
the best result for the brand.

Pitches form a small part of my FMP OUGD303 submission. I pitched collaboratively for the End of Year Show with Jonny Finch (Brief #7) and also for the Young Film Makers Festival for an external client (Brief #4). The festival brief could have easily been pushed further, however I wanted to try a new more challenging brief, which in hindsight put more pressure on myself than was needed! I could have expanded this to have some interesting deliverables and ideally this would have been screenprinted and the design developed further to work better with this process. Another mini brief was Brief #7 UTOE for Craig Oldham, which took up more time than I first anticipated. This brief has now been put on hold and I will continue developing
the logo after this submission.

A D&AD advertising brief was undertaken to show a more real life application of my design skills to a more serious topic. Brief #5 Aviva showcases my knowledge of type alongside imagery to compliment each other and also my crafting skills. I would have liked to push this further also as it could have been interesting to make more deliverables different from the norm.

My Design Context publication is a visual documentation of the main areas of design I love. This was great to produce to get across my view of publication design as I think too much emphasis is given to layout and type, print and format are overlooked when they could make a good publication great. By contacting studios and asking for interviews I have a point of contact and also will be sending them a PDF of the final publication. This feeds into my PPD as I am now completing an internship at one of my interviewed studios.

Brief #9 was one which has gone in the wrong direction in my opinion and it could have been so much better if the client had of listened to any suggestions made by myself. This brief has taught me to be firmer and understand the brief before I agree to it. Also I know understand that sometime there are clients who simply want their idea on a page with little to no imput from a designer. I need to become a better judge of character in future and avoid these clients.
I am a designer, and not a Mac operator.

In conclusion, I have learnt new processes and demonstrated new disciplines in my portfolio due to this OUGD303 module. I have pushed myself in some areas more than others and over the time at University have realised my strengths lie in research and organisation aswell as in design skills within typography, print and format.