End of Module Evaluation - OUGD203

This module has really tested my time management, motivation and patience at times. There are both good points and bad points to self directed briefs and I have seen both sides to that. My hesitance to commit to a project and write a brief at the start made decision making difficult, as I had lots of ideas for what I wanted to do but nothing really concrete in mind. Once I had got on track with the brief and was happy with what I was doing I started producing the goods. I feel like, this, along with all the other modules this year, they have provided a different, unique experience. The fact that I had to manage my own time appealed to me, and I think I coped with it well but there is room for improvement, as I could have taken this further than I did.

My research was less of a focus for this product as it was a new product. I could only gather information relative to the brand on the internet, so I decided to concentrate on the visual research. I did a lot of the visual research along the way, which allowed me to develop my work in lots of differing areas week on week. The visual imagery that I found was diverse enough to gain some different design direction approaches but focussed enough to give me an idea of how to go about creating the right look based on the Swiss graphic design movement. This made it much simpler to chose appropriate colours, layouts and typefaces.

Once again my work varied in terms of both quantity and quality. My initial layout work on paper left a lot to be desired, and my digital work was of a high quality throughout. I was happy with what I came out with and it was pleasing that I still got everything done that I wanted too. I changed my tactics after the first or second crit as I had more or less done what I intended. I then worked beyond the briefs requirements to challenge the brief and myself to come up with something memorable.

This proved to be the right decision for me, as it created more work but not that many problems. My concept was in hand so all I had to do was open up the range and make it appropriate. I don't know if this is my favourite resolution to all the briefs I have done so far but I do know that branding and packaging is not something I want to do for any length of time. In the end I could have used my design direction and applied it to many other forms of promotional material and the range could have grown and grown.

The next step for me is to continue to experiment with type and layout over the summer. I plan to have a few briefs running over the summer to keep my design brain ticking over. I definitely want to come back with a plan and a range of briefs I want to undertake which means that I will have made the difficult decisions earlier on.

If I could go back, I wish I had experimented more with the type and layout once I got the typefaces and colours right. I felt I made the right decisions but I may have missed something which could have taken my product further forward. I wish I hadn't started trying to design an identity, as I didn't have the mass of ideas I was supposed too, although it fit the bill for me and I was happy with it once I had smoothened all the edges of the existing typeface I used.


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This is post 200, which underlines my progression as I posted just 52 times to my design practice blog during the last year.