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.