Elliot McKellar - OUGD301 - Evaluation

This module has definitely been the most challenging yet in terms of the work load, managing time, printing but i’ve learnt a lot from these experiences. this module has definitely been more insightful in terms of a more professional design practice. This module the most interesting part was tackling my own briefs I had written, there are aspects of writing my own briefs that I really enjoyed but I also felt that I struggled at the beginning to find a problem to solve, I was designing what I wanted without any real direction. When I had re-written my briefs it made this module a lot clearer in terms of my deliverables and what I was getting out of each brief. At the beginning of this module I really wanted to have some decent pieces of work for my portfolio and I feel I have achieved that, starting with the briefs I had written, I felt they had a distinct design direction which I wanted to pursue which was driven by type and layout for printed media. These briefs developed throughout the module which I think shows a good understanding and will only help me write better briefs for the final major project and also recognise and re-write briefs which are given by clients. In my rationale at the beginning of the year I put ‘A print based investigation into publication and Identity with a focus on Typography and layout.’ I feel I have definitely stuck to this during the production of and development of my briefs, and I still feel this is the direction I want to continue to go in for the final major project. I feel that I would like to be more specialist in typography and look in to producing bespoke typefaces for my work which I did a little bit of for the Klaer brief. The main problem I think which occurred in this module for me was the Klaer brief (brief 1) I found myself wanted to make and design t-shirts but with no real context in which to put them in so I was just faffing around wasting time and design without a purpose. Which raises issues with my time management which I think could have been more organised. Having said that I do feel there are aspect of the way I handled this brief which can be taken in to consideration in the future, I had to re-write this brief a few times to give it a strong, meaningful context and doing that I feel shows my commitment to the work I was producing in trying to make it work. The brief I enjoyed the most was brief 4 (ISTD competition) as I was feeling time was against me and I wanted the brief to be a quick turnaround. Because of that I had to make decisions fast and be more decisive which are could definitely have done with more when working on other briefs. I really enjoyed this brief as well because the body copy was there for me to use, normally on any sort of publication I find myself having to gather content but it was nice to have the content there and be restricted to using that. In this brief I felt I handled it more professionally, the stocks I used were sourced from Fredrogni and the publication was mixed stock (something I definitely want to experiment more with). The Our Legacy brief (2) I feel was the exact journey I wanted to take in this module and the layout was exactly what I was going for, but having said that I feel having worked on that brief for so long my skills and knowledge in this area have grown a lot and my ideas and thoughts to editorial design have become stronger and changed and this really excites me in the progression of this course and future briefs I tackle. There are certain conventions I feel I would like to start challenging as I strongly believe that readers aren’t as dumb as people think and its almost quite patronising the way people design in terms of navigation on a spread. My third brief was really enjoyable as it was heavily researched to gather content but and because of the nature of the publication and it being about emerging talent in graphic design I was looking at work which I should be producing and the level I could be at. I wish I had actually produced the series of magazine which I proposed as opposed to the first issue because the issues I proposed and the content for each are true to each issue so could have been developed in to a series of physical publications. The Woven brief (5) was a great opportunity, on reflection I wish I had made it one of my main briefs at the time perhaps in place of the Klaer brief. I ended up spending a couple of days on this brief which is definitely not what I had hopped to do after the briefing. however, I feel that what I had produced in terms of the concept and ideas were something which may have made me stand out in terms of the bigger picture of the brief. Generally I felt like I skimmed the brief and should have delved in to it a bit more. Overall even though this module has had its ups and downs I feel it has put me in a strong position going in to the final major projects I feel I have developed skills in writing briefs meaning they have more

of a purpose and direction. I also feel my work ethic and direction has become more professional I want to produce work to a professional standard and I feel I am progressing in this area. I feel after this module I will plan my time better for the final major project in that I will give myself specific deadlines in which I have to produce my deliverables by and then I can put that brief to one side and have it finished, as opposed to stringing briefs out which could have been finished a long time ago. Generally I am really excited by my progress in this module and am looking forward to working on multiple briefs in the next module as I feel this has been a stepping stone and a platform to introduce me to the final major project whereby it will be more demanding and the lessons I have learnt can be applied to this module so I get the most out of it.