OUGD503 Responsive: Summative & Module Evaluation

Summative Evaluation

This module has been hugely beneficial to my practice. For the first time on my degree, I felt actual physical responsibilities for the work I was producing, and in many cases had to consider far more constrictions than with any other modules. One example of this was when working with Louise Leadbeater, who needed business stationary made. She obviously wanted printing costs as low as possible, and it was great to find out places to print at mass but still at a good price. 

I really liked interacting with clients, and trying to convince them of my ideas. It was satisfying to take them through initial ideas, and see their happiness (most of the time). Unfortunately there were times I despised some of my clients. One of my clients was a good friend (who I shall not ever work with ever again), who doesn't plan on paying me until October, the fee only being £50. Another client, I had been working with for quite some time, with plenty of interactions. Half way through the project, he decided he did 'need' the branding, and therefore did not want to pay me. After making a mistake with one of my friends, this client signed a contract, to ensure I get paid no matter what. Sure enough, this second client has now been forced to pay me. This reinforces the importance of using contracts, and I also intend on asking for a 50% deposit up front, to scare away the people who don't take my practice seriously. 

Working on two fashion branding briefs (one live, one competition) has made me consider the type of work I want to do in the future. It was great to work on both of these, and made me want to work on fashion branding much more in the future. 

I have much more confidence in myself as a designer. When starting this module, I was scared to work with clients, and scared that my work would not be liked. After working with initial clients, I realised that I shouldn't be scared, as clients will see the doubt in your work. If you're confident in your own abilities, then clients are much more likely to trust you. 

One thing I need to change is the way in which my business is shown to the public. I think due to the fact that I only have Behance as an only presence, clients have taken my work as seriously. I intend on designing my own website, with a custom URL and email address. This will be a much better way of contacting clients. 



Module Evaluation Form

OUGD503 Responsive: Interim Evaluation

Overall I have found this module to be exciting, as it's create the step up from student into being a professional. It's a good feeling knowing that people enjoy my work, and would like it to brand, sell, etc. 

Saying that, so far this module has been put as less of a priority, due to module hand ins. Now I have more time to work on my live and competition briefs, I intend on giving them the effort they deserve. After all, producing good work for clients now could lead to a larger network of clients I could work with, through recommendation. 


Live Briefs
At first, I found these were difficult to find, and did not know of a way to solve this. However, I found that by promoting my work on Behance, I had a few people speaking to me about doing them some work.  

I have also learnt to not be ashamed of asking people if they need work done for them, as it will help me gain experience. 


Competition Briefs
Having analysed competition briefs in a few of the studio sessions, I have started to dislike competition briefs much more. They are often way too open, making me feel drowned in ideas, with no idea of what to produce. However, I think it's been great to learn how to analyse the briefs, and find out exactly what is wanted. 


Charging For Work
This has been an issue for me, as I haven't been sure exactly how much to charge. One project will give me 15% commission of the prints (I have designed) when they're sold, which I think is fair. I have also done a lot of work for free, which isn't what I wanted to do. I plan on charging a set price per hour in the future, roughly £15 an hour. 

Size of Brief
This seems to be an issue that has been difficult to solve. So far, most of the live briefs I have been working on have been relatively small. I intend on trying to find larger live briefs to work on, or possibly larger competition briefs. 

Blogging
Due to being so busy with other modules, I have spent very little time blogging my live briefs. I intend on catching up on this now, since I have more time. 

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.