OUGD301

My briefs have overlapped alot on this module, which has resulted in a very jumbled blog. Please use the 'relevant lables' widget on the right hand side of this page to view each specific brief. I am only submitting Brief 01, Brief 03. Brief 04 and Brief 05 as major briefs.

Brief 01 - Exhilaro
Brief 02 - Achitecture publication. Postponed (possible FMP)
Brief 03 - A Type of Show
Brief 04 - D&AD Ministry of Sound collaboration
Brief 05 - The Specials
Brief 06 - Digital print resources. Postponed (possible FMP)
Brief 07 - Louise Tiler (small brief no boards submitted)

There are also lables for Crit/Tutorial, Evaluation and Time Management on this blog.

Here are my final submission boards in PDF form...

Open publication - Free publishing - More design

End of module evaluation

The briefs I initially choose for this submission were all type based, an area I wanted to build my skills and interest. This could have gone badly wrong if I decided I hate type throughout the module, however it has done the opposite. This is the first module  can say I have enjoyed thoroughly and feel I have truly learnt alot about design practices and my own professional place in the industry.

Brief 01 threw me into the deep end, designing a font. This was good for me as I couldn't slack. I pressured myself with an intense brief and it really made me work hard from the beginning. A negative is that I didn't give myself enough time to digitise the letterforms and make them into a usable font. The file is digital, but the kerning is all wrong. Also the finishing of some of the letterforms is a bit messy, which could have easily been avoided.

Brief 02 and Brief 06 were both took big a task to complete for this module and are possible briefs for FMP. I have some research for them already.

Brief 03 focused on identity, which was never a massive part of my practice before, however I like applying one concept throughout a range, and this exhibition design was a high for me. Seeing it come together after hating my chosen stock was such a positive step. It taught me to keep with something and find a way around a problem, don't just give up.

Brief 04 is potentially the one which will change my future... Steph Bourne and I worked so well together, we listened and shared ideas and in the end came up with a product neither of us would have done on our own. There is a possibility of us starting our own practice after university, it is an avenue which I personally am going to think about over Christmas and decide upon in the New Year. Before This brief, I would never of thought about setting up on my own, but the work that both of us have produced this module has surpassed my expectations in both quality and quantity. I am not blowing my own horn, but finally I believe some confidence in my ability is appearing.

Brief 05 has not reached its full potential. This could have been taken so much further, but I ran out of time and, in honesty, patience. I do feel like this could have worked so much better as a bigger range and for that I am disappointed. The typefaces for each song are acceptable, however they could have been pushed further also. As one off pieces, I like them and would have the prints on my wall, but as a range, I believe they are quite weak.

In conclusion and in reference to my rational... My vision of what I wanted to achieve this year has been surpassed. I have produced more quality work than I initially thought I could in the time available. This is down to realistic time management and working with hand-drawn typography. I could draw letterforms all day long, and probably for 20% of this module, I have. Truly believe I have found my place in Graphic Design and intend to stay on course for FMP and my Dissertation.

Huge crit

I felt a bit scared by this crit. I feel like I should be more stressed than I am, and I was not sure if I was kidding myself by thinking I had done a fair amount.

The crit was so helpful and honest. I have let go of pretty much half of my briefs and will push the remaining ones further. This way, the deliverables will be more exciting and innovative (what I want).

My evaluation was good and at the right time for a truthful reflection of my progress.

EVALUATION.

I have had to abandon some briefs as I could push 4 major ones alot further. It will give me something more to aim for and more of a range of deliverables. I need to look at what I am producing for each brief so that I do not end up producing 4x posters or 4x publications.

MAJOR BRIEFS

Brief 01 Push this further, where else can this go? The hard work is done and pretty quickly I could create some really interesting deliverables.

Brief 03 Loads of research done and a clear idea of deliverables and design style. Continue with this.

Brief 04 Need to have this as one of my 4 main briefs as it is the only competition one. Push this further than what is expected.

Brief 05 Make this into one of my major 4 briefs. This could be a great range of deliverables. Think about what else I could make. More typefaces, more songs...

ABANDONED BRIEFS

Brief 02 This could be huge, but I haven't got enough research to make it as good as it could be. Maybe have this as part of my FMP.

Brief 06 This was postponed anyway but could quickly do this over Christmas or as part of FMP.

Brief 07 Leave this... not into packaging and will not get used in the real world.

Ready for the crit...

To be prepared for the huge crit tomorrow, I have organised all of my work to show early. I want to get as much feedback as possible, especially as I was unprepared for the first one and missed the second, I do feel like I have not had as much structured feedback as I should of at this point.

I have basically shown everything which I have done and where I am at with each project.

Evaluation of week 6

Again things have slowed down last week and I didn't get as much done as I had hoped. However the parts that I did get done have been of a very high quality and I am extremely happy with.

This past week I have completed 3 briefs, so this week I need to continue researching and pulling elements together for my final 3 briefs. I have worked out a new time management structure so hopefully I can keep on-top of all of my briefs.

Brief 01 - complete
Brief 02 - to do
Brief 03 - to do this week
Brief 04 - collaboration with Steph Bourne to do
Brief 05 - complete
Brief 06 - postponed
Brief 07 - part-complete

This current week I have a busy day on Wednesday with pop-up shop workshops and dissertation tutorial. Thursday we now have a whole day crit. I am going to stay extra late on Wednesday and Thursday to make up for the time I am unable to do practice work. I am hoping to make a progressive start on Brief 03 and a proper start on my dissertation.

Time management

Another shift in my time management! It is really good that my time is fluid and I am as a designer to make the most of oportunities as they present themselves and adapt to the research and development of where I am on each brief.

Skill set

Reflected upon what I want to get out of each brief.

Tutorial

Had a tutorial with Amber today. Unfortunately I missed the one last week so this was my chance to show that I have actually been working! I took the mood boards for Brief 03. She seemed most excited by Brief 02 and suggested I could talk to Ric Bell when he comes in on Friday. I want to take this brief in a different direction and make it more interesting than another magazine or booklet. I have been looking at different forms of publication so maybe this is the direction it will take!

Evaluation of week 5

Woah, the weeks are speeding by now! Even though my Dad has been in hospital this week, I could not let myself get behind with my work. I was working from back home this week which was hard at timnes, but it was good to research all my outstanding briefs and I feel that I am now in a strong knowledgeable position of how they can all be completed and generally how I will complete these and what the deliverables will be. Decisions that I have made this week are;

• Brief 03 will be printed in black on flourecent paper. 
• Brief 02 content will be gathered from the book 'Windows. Architectural details.' and the style of typography will be collage photographic. 
• Brief 05 is now complete and is being printed this afternoon. 
• Brief 01 will use yellow more in the other deliverables such as back of postcards and the PDF specimen. 
• Brief 06 needs to be discussed with client and possibly started soon. 
• Brief 04 may take the longest and so this may need pushing up on my agenda. 

I hope to crack on this week, however initially I am finding it hard to get back into the swing of things! I am printing my pop-up shop posters this afternoon and hopefully once this is out of the way, I can start designing the next thing on the list and stop researching so much! 

Time management

Another change in my time management! Taking into consideration the amount of briefs that I want to complete and also how long I think these will take me. I have found that I am quicker at creating type, Brief 01 really helped me progress with type design. I think that the competition brief will take me the longest and might be the most stressful so I might push this one forward and do it next week.

Briefs

An additional 2 briefs will be submited for OUGD301. I have updated all of my briefs to the fullest I can at the moment by reassessing the problems in each, and my methods of solving them in terms of deliverables. CLick on each of the links below to see the briefs rewritten on my Design Context blog.

Brief 01 - Display font based on Helvetica
Brief 02 - Publication based on window architecture
Brief 03 - Exhibition identity for 'A Type of Show'
Brief 04 - ISTD competition
Brief 05 - Typographic lyric poster
Brief 06 - Digital Print essential information for students

Evaluation of week 4

Had lots of things which I was going to do over dissertation week but not as many of them actually got done! This past week, I was going to focus on research and PPD, including specific projects such as; visiting exhibitions as primary research for Brief 03, finishing off my website and getting my email working for professional presence, creating an updated portfolio with new projects involved.

Over the past week I have attended the Manchester Book Fair and sold 2 of my exhilaro specimen books. Made steps towards making my website and email working. Looked at old dissertations for inspiration for writing style and more books and resources to research. Secondary reseach into exhibitions for Brief 03.

This week I have changed my time management schedule to accomodate 2 new briefs I am taking on. As these are live briefs, I have to do these in the time suggested by the brief. I also need to do some research into Brief 02 as this is probably my weakest brief currently. I am working from back home currently as my Dad has been admitted to hospital. I can work on my pop-up shop submission, and some online research for my dissertation from here, so I will hopefully not get behind.

Time management

Re-evatuated my time management for the submission of OUGD301 due to the addition of more briefs.

Evaluation of week 3

I have done alot more work which I believe is more relevant to my practice and the final result. Experimentation has been a huge part of this week and it has resulted in me being much happier with the finished product of my specimen book. By experimenting with colour in more depth than the previous week and also correctly creating my font Exhilaro I have produced a deliverable which I am happy to show off and is a better final result and application of the font than I imagined at the beginning of this brief.

At the Manchester Book Fair I asked Jonny, Dutch and Steph for some honest feedback as we found that we had similar views on some peoples work. One thing that some people have said is that the font is a bit messy. I should have paid more attention to the vectorisation of each hand drawn element. Dutch also said that he likes that I have strong opinions and I voice them, even though he may not agree with my point of view, he likes the vocalisation of them.

Even though I started applying my font to postcards, I am leaving Brief 01 alone for now. I need to start working on other briefs and not get so consumed by one. This week I really need to focus my remaining briefs down and make decisions about content for each.

An addition of Brief 05 and Brief 06 have been added to my range. I have been accepted for the pop-up shop and would like this be become Brief 05. Brief 06 is proposed to be a revived identity for the digital print resource. I think it is hard for some to understand what stock they can print on and even though it may be cheaper to use their own stock, it is at the loss of quality. I want to solve this problem.

Time management

The selected briefs can and should overlap. The architecture editorial will take a considerably longer time to produce due to the logistics of visiting individual cities. However, this brief will be more a case of little and often, and then bringing all the elements together closer to submission. I am under no false allusion that this is more than likely to change, but I should aim to keep to this schedule so that I don't get bogged down on one brief and forget about the others.

Brief 01 is structured slightly different to get myself back into the course. By structuring in contingency time into this calendar a week before submission, it means I can address any issues that may have arisen and also, I can afford to spend a day extra on any brief if I need to do so.