OUGD406: Evaluation

OUGD406: Brief 4: Final Piece

Concertina book:

Posters: (size B7)

The final crit went really well and the group as a whole complimented my work and idea. Some of the compliments were based on the use of tone of voice within the book, I worked really hard on that so I was really glad that it came across friendly. They also stated that isn't wasn't too formal or "in your face" due to the use of font which is quite childlike. They also said that it was good I took a risk and did something different with the overall aesthetics as stating that "its okay to be different" and then using conventional graphics would of really contradicted the purpose and concept of this brief. I really hope the new students next year appreciate the reassurance through looking at this book and talking to myself- although I won't know the affect it has on them until the new term. 

OUGD406: Brief 4 Development

After the interim crit I really began thinking about how colour schemes can work and found an incredibly useful website that gave me choices. Yellow is the colour of self confidence and even though the group felt that the colour was too strong I wanted to find a way in which I could incorporate it into my designs. 

I did look at colour schemes for blue/green/teal because the group at interim crit suggested these colours, however I really don't feel these are vibrant enough to match the aesthetic of the font Ive used. 

I really liked this colour palette of purple and yellow which are two colours I initially thought about using. From taking part in colour sessions with design principles OUGD404 I have learnt that when using complementary colours they need to be in proportion, so therefore that means there needs to be a large amount of one colour to allow for the other to stand out. 

Within my colour palette I am going to use a darker purple, lighter purple, yellow, white and black. 

Pages changed after the interim crit:

Changed Ive made: 

Added a margin so that the folds of the book will be catered for. 

Kept a consistent colour palette throughout.

Changed the point size of some of the words to draw attention to them. 

I have also created a poster including a few different elements of the book to give out to the first years:

I changed the placement of the persons head until I felt it looked right aesthetically, however I think I will change the thought bubble to white and so it matches "the"

I added some of the stationary into the background to make the piece to fill in the negative space in the background as it does't seem to work with this piece. However the fact that the stationary seems to run through the vector of the head doesn't seem right so this is something I will fix. 

I had to close off the bottom of the head to fill it with the purple and bring it above the background, however I think this looks far better. 

Concertina book:

I began looking at how the pages would be printed as I initially thought that I could print my book double sided but as I found out its really difficult to align. 

I found that the best solution would be to print two panels and stick them together.

I tried this onto a small A4 print but thought it would be better to see if it worked on A3 (even though the final print will be A2). 

I also figured out the point size I should use for my book:

Making the final piece/printing: 

Prints down in digital print- 

8 x A3 Matt 

2 x A2 Matt (one thick stock, another slightly thinner).

Constructing the book:

Glued and folded.

Creating the hard backs (black).

Overall I'm quite pleased with the final outcome, there are a few mistakes I have made and I would of probably spent time on trying to find a suitable thin matte stock, in my final piece you can see some creases which shouldn't be there. I will take this design to the final crit and I'm hoping that the class like it, although I know the colours I have chosen are quite bold and not necessarily everyone will like them. 

OUGD406: Brief 4- Interim crit

The interim crit was a small group discussion where we spoke/presented our concepts and what we have started to create including our ideas. Ive summarised the problems which were raised at the crit about my work. 

The main problem was the need for a consistent colour scheme to be created- the group mentioned using blue and green because its quite calm. However I'm not really sure on using those colours because they are quite pale and subtle, I really wanted the book to be quite vibrant and fun. The group really liked my concept and the ideas I was working on and commented especially on the quote "creatives are persistent". Because I don't have much time left before this brief needs to be completed I have created myself a checklist to ensure I manage my time correctly: 

OUGD404: Evaluation

Level 04 BA Hons Graphic Design

OUGD404: Design Principles

Melissa Morris

What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?

Throughout this module I have not only had the ability to gain new skills but also put these skills into practice in other modules. This especially has been useful when learning about grids and page layouts, this knowledge from research and taught sessions not only meant that I have been able to complete Brief 2 What is a book but also page layouts in other design modules. On a general scale this module has given me skills to improve my design work as a whole, which includes a greater understanding of the fundamentals of design and has changed my overall approach to design too.

What approaches to/methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?

As stated above my approaches have changed because of the amount of knowledge I have gained through not only taught sessions but also through ordering books and reading these and also books available in the library resource. Before this module I didn’t know any of the knowledge that I do now and it has been incredibly useful and enlightened me to how detailed and complex Graphic Design actually is.

I personally found the colour sessions really useful because beforehand I was unsure on how to create colour schemes and why colours look good together aesthetically, this gained knowledge has really helped my design work and through looking back I can see how knowledge has imputed to my design choices and I seem to consider “why” more often.

The type journal I find has also changed my overall outlook on design that I see now as through understanding origins of type it makes me question if my design decisions are well thought through but also of other work. This definitely has had the biggest impact on my work because I have been actively trying to open myself up to viewing more design work and type in particular.

What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?

In terms of strengths I found that perhaps my research skills were quite strong within this module and it really helped when it came to blogging and collecting knowledge together for the double page spreads. As stated above I also really enjoyed the type journal and feel this was a strength in its content (written). This module has definitely improved my analytical and critical writing skills in terms of my own work but that of others (type journal).

What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?

I personally found the font family incredibly difficult to create because I was unsure whether I was being bold enough with my changes in the typefaces and perhaps I should have experimented more with other forms of type including serifs, block and script. I think this would definitely of improved my confidence with changing letterforms. Another weakness I have found is that I only seem to keep and blog the work, which I think, worked well instead of stating how I have improved also through mistakes.

Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?

Blogging- I need to blog my mistakes as well as my final pieces and clearly explain these.

Experiment- Especially with the font family I could of really experimented more with serifs.

Type- I could really of blogged more type for my type journal, I seemed to look at and comment on more type than I have blogged. My blog only really shows a small proportion of type that I have looked at/been exposed to. This probably will not benefit me as much as taking the time to blog all my work. Therefore next time I need to take more time each week to blog for my type journal, as this will really benefit me for inspiration in the future.

Layout- I think if I were to do this again and had more time I could of experimented with many different layouts and possibly cut down the amount of body copy to a minimum.

Strive for perfection/ Motivation- This is something I really need to work on, I think I need to push myself with my work and do more than is expect because it will benefit me in learning more within Design Principles. All the information taught to me within this module has been completely new and I need to make a conscious effect to do more.