OUGD405 - Collect, Categorise, Communicate - The Importance Of Research

10 Reasons Why Research Is An Essential Part Of The Design Process

1.    Allow you to feel inspired.

2.    You can gain a much more informed opinion.

3.    Leads you to more creative/ innovative outcome.

4.     See where others went wrong, and learn from their mistakes.

5.    It allows you to receive an understand and grasp of certain media to use.

6.    The more you research, the more you can feel motivated to work.

7.    Build a strong concept.

8.    Find factual and quantitive data that is true and from a good source.

9.    You can always go back to it to inform more ideas and better development.

10.  Find out the audience, what relates to them, and apture their attention. 

10 Research Methods That Could Be Used In Order To Affective Generate a Breadth of Source Material

1. Questionnaire/ interviews/ opinion polls - directs your specific audience for qualitative and quantitive data. 

2.  First hand photography - taking your own photos, so you know the source and trust the photo. You also hold more information: where it's from, when you took it etc.. 

3. Design related sources - These can be in the form of a blog, a magazine etc.. These can help you formulate your ideas if someone has already designed something existing, and feel inspired by them. 

4. Relevant books - Much more reliable source than the internet as it's published, and can be in more detail and specific than the internet. 

5. Information/ imagery from the internet, but reliable sources - eg google scholar, a trusted website. 

6. Going to visit exhibitions/ events for a wider range of materials: it's current, first hand, and must have a level of success in order to be shown to the public in the first place. 

7.  Watching motion picture/ film/ documentary - lots of different information can be taken - quotes, imagery, themes..

8. Collection the media you're looking at, or verify an existing one you intend to work with. 

9. Observation of real life - Considering what you see in an everyday. 
10. Knowledge - Your own personal knowledge or common knowledge. 

5 Types of Source Material That They Would Generate (from the above)  

1. Questionnaire/ interviews/ opinion polls

 - quantitive - more collective data

 - qualitative - detail 

- specific opinions - ideas to target audience

- word stimulants (a word may come up in an interview which inspires you to change your direction) 

- first hand accounts - more emotional / relatable

2. First hand photography

- an un - copyrighted source

- information is given about the time/ source/ date

- visual inspiration 

- photographs remember an experience

- more specific to what you're looking at and what you want. 

3. Design related sources 

- look at information that is appropriate to your to topic eg. a certain era. 

- see where people have gone wrong or right

- up to date source 

- the physical stock/ print quality 

- opinions of other designers could inform yours. 

4. Relevant books 

- A well documented source

- Text source 

- Visual source 

- First hand experience

- Creative inspiration 

5. Information/ imagery from the internet 

- facts/ figures
- informed opinions
- imagery from both design sources and image search
- social networking
- marketing information 

6. Exhibition/ Events  

- First hand experience 

- collect photographs

- collect materials eg. postcards - inspiration 

- receive other informed opinions 

- a specific informed opnion from a high position - eg an opinion conveyed by the TATE gallery. 

7. Film/ documentaries/ motion picture

- Quotes - written 
- Quotes - verbal (to use in motion itself)
- Certain scenes
- Screen shots that identify a certain idea. 
- A certain theme or feel may be conveyed. 

8. Collecting the media you're looking at

 - different methods of drawing manually
-digital print
-manual print
- digital software
- 3D

9. Observation of real life 

- Knowledge
- Examples
- Experiences 
- The observation of others
- The evolvement of non - visual senses

10. Knowledge 

- Own personal resources - eg. books that you own
- Own knowledge of facts - Any source  in your mind
- Personal experiences
- Personal Interest

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Research Methods - Entire Class Summary

1. Visiting exhibitions to identify trends, competition and influence. 
2. Setting up focus groups to gain feedback on products/ concepts. 
3. Questionnaires to gather facts/ figures/ opinions. 
4. Interviewing specialist/ professionals. 
5. Experimenting with media or production. 
6. Reading design publications/ web. 
7.  Photographing - behaviour/ architecture/ documentation. 
8. Observing real life/ the universe/ everything - passively watching
9. Watching a film. 
10. Collecting current or historical examples. 

Researching is done through VERBS, not NOUNS. A process not an object. 

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Types of Source Material - Entire Class Summary

1. Quotes 
2. Opinions
3. Statements
4. Facts
5. Statistics
6. Feedback
7. Analysis 
8. Images - Visual material
9. Information 
10. Data
11. Knowledge
12. Examples
13.  Samples
14. Documents

These are all NOUNS. 

The difference between information and data: Data are facts and figures. Information is something that is useful. 

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Come up with a list of however many things that stop you effectively researching a subject: 

1. Copyrighting
2. What area of research to go into eg. primary, secondary or more specific. 
3. Difficulty of going to a certain event: distance or time barrier. 
4. Motivation - If you don't like a certain topic then you find it difficult to work.
5. Audience engagement - Getting people to want to partake in your primary research. 
6. Not knowing the right people - communicating with professionals can be difficult. 
7. Legal barriers - confidential information/ taking photos of the general public. 
8. Communication - research in a non - English speaking country may mean that finding out about certain thing's could be difficult. 
9. Limited resources - this can be because of access or just not enough information can be sought or produced yourself. 

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Our groups current body of research methods: (there are 7 people in my group): 

Visiting: 0
Setting up: 0
Questionnaire: 6
Interviewing: yes
Experimenting: 2
Reading: 7
Observation: 1
Photographing: 4
Watching: 2
Collecting: 7

Our groups current body of research source material (there are 7 people in my group): 

Quotes: 4
Statements: 1
Facts: 4
Statistics: 4
Feedback: 5
Analysis: 4
Photographs: 6
Data: 6
Knowledge: 6
Examples: 0
Samples: 0
Development: 6
Opinions: 5


List 10 ways in which you can improve a a group the research processes and the product, from your research? 

- Visits to places

- Focus groups

- Interviewing

- More feedback on each other's research

- Collecting physical things

- Observing people's reactions

- Book/ journal sources rather than the internet

- Watch "body confidence" programmes

- More first hand photography

- Experimenting with outcomes

OUGD405 - How to - A3 Research Sheets

The research for these A3 sheets can be found on my Design Context Blog, here. 

OUGD404 - Design Principles: Who are you Pre - Lesson Task

For our next session, Fred asked us to bring in either a Gothic or Roman font in light regular and bold, in 24, 36, 72 and 144pt. 

I chose Helvetica. 

24pt, 36pt and 72pt:

144pt:

OUGD403 - End Of Module Self Evaluation

BA (Hons.) GRAPHIC DESIGN		LEVEL	04
Module Code	OUGD403
Module Title	DESIGN SKILLS

END OF MODULE SELF-EVALUATION

NAME	Joe Leadbeater

1.  What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?
Research: I have learnt much more about how to correctly research. My knowledge of design blogs has expanded, and I am much more aware of current designer’s work. I have also learnt how to reference work properly. Analysis: I have learnt to analyse my work much more critically and become less vague with my opinions. I feel as if I write in a much more informed manor, which in turn, sends my work in the right direction. Evaluation/ Critique: I have learnt to provide constructive and informed criticism to others, as well as receive feedback from others and respond positively.
2. What approaches to/methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?
Adobe Illustrator Understanding: I have previously never touched Illustrator. I still feel as if I have much more to learn, but I have learnt some basics. Having received tutorials, I now feel confident with producing and tracing images with the pen tool. I am also extremely happy to learn to use the “image trace” tool, as I sometimes feel by using Photoshop that my work isn’t quite crisp enough, even at 300 PPI. Files are also much easier to work with as they are much smaller! Illustrator has obviously helped in my Illustrator typeface, but also helped when producing my “Love Drunk” work, with both the 3 posters and the envelope. Print: Having received tutorials in both monoprint and letterpress, I feel much more confidant using different media. I intend to use letterpress much more, as I love the unique quality it can give to your work. Unfortunately I am yet to use it in some final work, but I definitely intend to in the future.
3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these? Research: I think one of my main strengths is that I have learnt to research in the right places. If I am looking at designers work, I am slowly building up a library of resources, from Creative Review to certain designer’s blogs. Obviously as I become more aware of different resources I will find work by more and more designers. Concepts: This initial part of a project is possibly my favourite part. I love gathering as much information about a certain topic as possible and considering ways in which I can communicate it. I have learnt to come up with many different concepts, as well as analysing them to realise their strengths and weaknesses.
4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?
Visual Development: I think my design sheets are of poor quality. I understand that they to put your ideas down in thumbnails they should be simple ideas and not with much detail, but I struggle to communicate my message visually by hand. To address this problem in the future, I intend to spend more time on them. I also intend to buy a variety of pens to work with, as I have poorly made the choice to use a sharpie pen with most of my ideas. This means ideas have lacked detail, simply because of the thickness of the pen. I intend to buy more coloured pens too, in order to communicate how some of my work can shown in different colours. There is no way I can suddenly become better at drawing, but I’m sure with time and more development this will improve. Software Knowledge: As previously mentioned, I am new to Illustrator. I am keen to learn much more about how to use the programme, and in the future intend to use the programme whenever possible. I have been lucky enough to be given a Wacom tablet too, which so far I have not been able to use. IN my spare time I hope to learn to design on it. I also have no knowledge of any of the other programmes on the Adobe suite (apart from relative confidence on Photoshop). I intend to buy InDesign when needed, and learn to use that for editorial work.
5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these? -       Blog everything on time. I have been very unpredictable with how I have blogged. Sometimes I will blog everything straight away, and sometimes I will leave up to a week or two before I upload the work. I think it is extremely important to keep on top of things, as the longer work is left, the harder it is to remember what you intended to say about it. One of the worst feelings is when you have multiple things to blog, and not know where to start! I expect to receive far less stress, and retain an overall happiness by the module deadline. -       Much more development. As my design sheets have lacked detail, I have lacked confidence in producing them. I need to rise above this, and create as many detailed visual responses as possible. I feel my work is normally conceptually strong, but in the future I hope to spend more time considering expressing it with a visual outcome. -       More risks. I sometimes feel as if my work can be too safe. I stay to the media I am used to. Next time I hope to experiment with different methods of production, as well as trying out different stock. -       Use a selection of different typefaces. I use common gothic typeface’s way too much. Obviously sometimes they have a perfect usage, but I feel like I should consider much more type before deciding on something so simple, and intend to explore more type for the next module assessment. -       Present my work on my blog in a clear manor. Next time, I hope to have learnt to use ISSUU, in order to make my blog posts easier to read, instead of constant scrolling down with photos. (This can be seen with my posts that include a typeface I have created, as I tend to post each individual photo of each letter in order to see all the detail)
6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas: (please indicate using an ‘x’)  5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor
	1	2	3	4	5
Attendance				X
Punctuality					X
Motivation				X
Commitment				X
Quantity of work produced				X
Quality of work produced			X
Contribution to the group					X
The evaluation of your work is an important part of the assessment criteria and represents a percentage of the overall grade. It is essential that you give yourself enough time to complete your written evaluation fully and with appropriate depth and level of self-reflection. If you have any questions relating to the self evaluation process speak to a member of staff as soon as possible.