OUGD503 End of Module Evaluation

One of the main things this module has taught me was the importance of time management. The fast pace of the module meant that time had to be balanced appropriately between various different briefs, as well as different modules altogether. This has been a steep learning curve in figuring out ways I can manage and organise my time better, which will be of much help when working professionally, whereby I will most likely be working on more than one brief at any given time. On reflection, additional briefs could have potentially been completed within the given time, however instead I decided to spend my time working on fewer briefs but to a higher standard, which allowed me to continue pushing designs to breaking point.

In taking part in the Panmacmillan award for children's illustration, this provided me with the experience to work in collaboration with someone else. This proved to be an engaging process since there were ideas constantly being discussed as to how the outcomes could be pushed even further and providing a constant form of ongoing criticism and feedback which worked well in this instance. In producing work for this brief, the process was so enjoyable that we went above what the brief asked of us, printing a fully developed book to a fairly professional standard at the end of this process. 

Designing for the brief presented by Whitecoate Primary school which asked of six banner designs to be hung in the entrance hall of their school allowed me to develop skills in working at much larger formats than I am used to. This process had a very big focus on working towards producing something for a really specific audience which allowed me to develop further skills in problem solving, such as working with strict requirements.

The Penguin Student Design award allowed me to take on a similar process in that restrictions had to be worked with. The design for this was embedded within much research into the themes of the book, the author as well as what has been presented before in previous cover designs which all informed the development of my final outcomes. It is felt that research throughout the module has helped significantly in all my briefs to ensure ideas are conveyed both effectively and appropriately.

The Ohh Deer, Pitch a Papergang brief allowed me to work with packaging design, something which I have not done before. This showed the importance of designing for the appropriate formats and if I had the extra time, although the brief did not require it, I would have liked to have printed something physical to show how this would potentially work in real life. This is something I will definitely experiment with in future briefs.

OUGD502 - Shortlisted Design Entry for Whitecoate Primary School

As part of the OUGD503 Responsive module for studio practice, we had to enter various external competitions and briefs. One competition I decided to produce work for and enter was a banner design brief whereby Whitecoate Primary School were asking for someone to design a series of banners to promote their new 'ASPIRE' reward system, which would be hung in the entrance hall to the school. My concept pitch was as follows:

It was eventually found out after receiving an email from the school themselves that my entry had been shortlisted into a final group of designs to choose from. Although I did not win the competition, this was still very exciting for me since it showed that my work had been recognised and considered by someone outside of the university for public use. This experience showed me the importance of entering things like this and in continuing my development as a designer then, I will continue to enter external competitions and briefs like so in order to try and get my name out into the world because potentially it could be recognised and something big could come from it.

Feedback was also received directly from the school, which stated: "We really liked this, and it was on our shortlist, but felt the text in boxes detracted from the overall design".