Wednesday 12 December 2012

OUGD301 - Evaluation

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Mitch Weaver
Evaluation – OUGD301


1.What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them? 

Throughout this module my main skill set that I have developed, is thinking visually. Working heavily on illustration and image-based design has allowed myself to start putting together a thorough strategy for the future. Working within different techniques, and challenging my existing ability has shown me that there is always a lot more to learn. Overall my weakness in this has to be the production side to creating pieces of design that exists physically. Generating work on screen can be easily achieved, but in reality it still needs to be three-dimensional. I feel that however, my type skills have massively improved, alongside my editorial design work. This is something I aim to continue to practice further, as eventually it shows my illustrative work in a more defined body of work.


2. What approaches to/methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process? 

Starting out with the hand drawn approach is something I always try to improve, although at times can be time consuming. There is a raw overall feel to each design/illustration that has allowed myself as a designer to start thinking about this within my practice. Overall production is something that I feel I am massively lacking in, as it seems to show towards the end of every brief. This is down to a few reasons, my financial situation, and personal life. Something, which I constantly try to improve. With that it has allowed me to understand how low-fi DIY can be successful and not expensive at the same time. This is what I want to capitalise on throughout the remainder of the year. Hopefully developing into a successful practice, keeping everything relevant to myself and design direction.


3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?

The main strengths throughout my work are image based designs & illustrations. This is what I feel I am the most effective at utilising within each brief. As my rational states that I want to push this more throughout all of my design work, ultimately creating an almost double skill set. Using design with illustration and not apart.


 4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?

The most obvious weakness is my production process. Automatically I feel that each brief di not reach it’s fullest potential due to the lack of organization, and as already stated financial situation. At times I felt stuck, especially as I did not collaborate with any of my peers, making my work load a lot more difficult to handle at times. Not looking for excuses here, just how I see my weaknesses.

 5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these? 

-       Production: Using this  throughout my briefs, to test my design work in the physical world and not leaving it all to the last minute.

-       Editorial: This is something I feel slightly more confident with in terms of designing work that can be seen through a book., magazine or publication.

-       Digital Illustration: Realistically this is the most efficient method to creating designs to be applied across a number of different platforms. Utilising this to it’s full advantage will allow myself to be more efficient and consistent on briefs.

-       Illustrative Type: This is was something I aimed to practice on, to aid my image based illustrations but I did not. This  seems to be the most effective method of incorporating type with image, within illustration.

-       Questions: Actually ask for advice, direction and help. I did not use the support effectively around the studio. Instead I worried about everything on my own. This is something I definitely need to take advantage of in order to successfully become a better designer within the course structure.

Tuesday 11 December 2012

OUGD301 - Submission Boards

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Final submission boards for all four briefs I have been working on this module. I have tried to keep them visually the same in terms of the bottom text and information, but change the layout to suit the purpose of the brief. These in themselves showcase my design work on almost professional scale, still need for some massive improvements and development in this area, but overall I feel they capture the project effectively. Not stressing too much on unnecessary pieces of design work.



Curses - Printed Vinyl / Poster

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Initial photographs of the printed products for the curses brief. The photographs or prints do not do the project any justice themselves. This is something I need to work on within my own time management and skill set. These photographs are too poor to be put on my boards so I will not be using them. You learn from your mistakes.



Linaker Branding - Photographs

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Branding photographs of the finished product range and printed media. Although I did not have time to professionally capture the design work. I have still managed to get okay images to work with on my boards and show the clients. As this work will be used I can continue to develop the products further and allow Karen & Dave a professional piece of branding they can utilise to their needs.



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K.Linaker - Gift Voucher / Price List

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Extended range, and a printed product that Karen herself wanted to be re-designed. Visually I have kept the same colour scheme throughout, typeface, logo and relevant content. Taking away the clutter from the existing design allows a cleaner, easier to establish piece of design. Suitable for her clients and her own needs as a businesswoman.





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Eyedea - Printed Project + Range

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The printed range of products and publication. Due to financial difficulty this term, I have had to make do with what I could. Limting myself in terms of production however, does have it's benefits. Low-fi, DIY methods of production has allowed me to realise what I can actually achieve on a low budget. The entire project has been printed through my own home printer, applying different stocks to further improve the visual output. All ink was black or grey, allowing the ink cost again to decrease.

Although If I did have a bit more money for printing and time, I would have screen printed these to allow a further increase in potential profit margins.



Eyedea - Digital Range



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BOOKMARKS -

Further developing the product range of the publication and overall brief. I have created a set of additional book marks, with sections of my illustrations created for the brief. They can also be used as miniature prints, allowing them to be versatile in their purpose.





STICKERS - 

Everyone loves stickers, so again I have taken a set of my illustrations and created another addition to my product range. Each publication will come with a set of three, allowing a visual relation to the project and developing the brief further.