Monday 28 May 2012

EVALUATION 402


What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?
During this module, I feel that my researching skills have developed strongly , from this i now know a vast array of practicing designers and  agencies, from this module I also feel like I have learnt a lot more about the wide variety of 'what graphic design is'. I can now fully appreciate just how far graphic design spread along the spectrum, and how many specialist areas lie within it. I have also learnt the skills for time management which I really want to get stuck into and start managing my time right as I have now been shown the way and it is possible. 
From doing the speaking with experience brief it has given me a greater understanding of audience type and how you may have an audience like first year graphic design students, but within in that there may be dozens more audiences types, it showed me that it is not an easy job addressing large audience and requires a lot of research and feedback.

What approaches to/methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?
In the speaking from experience brief I experimented a lot with different products and how to apply logos/t make all the products work in unison. I also experimented with trying out new things that I hadn't done before, like making stress balls and candle transfers, I enjoy trying out and experimenting with new things as it ables me to learn something new, even if it is something obscure. I also experimented with making box's in this brief which is something I hav'nt attempted before as I know I am not very good at being accurate and to make boxes you have to be very accurate, but it was good to try it and get the experience.

What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?
I feel like my strengths that lie within this module have been experimenting and trying to think of different ideas, so that my outcome is innovative and exciting for my audience. I also feel I made a successful double page spread showcasing jenna.


What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?
I need to work on 3d design more before I actually decide to go for it, as I know it is something I am not very good at, and if I had of experimented and done more trails for the box's they would of turned out better and neater. I also need to work on the analysis of my own work a little better as i comment on it but I don't feel I analyse it enough in an academic way. I will address this in the future by applying the skill I have learnt to analyse in Context of practice to my own work.

Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?
1.Leave plenty of time to make more trails and mock ups
2.analyse more thoroughly
3.Organise myself better
4.Look at more designers to further surround myself in the design world
5.Create more design sheets for things like layout design for my work 

Attendance - 5
Punctuality - 5
Motivation - 3
Commitment - 3
Quantity of work produced - 3
Quality of work produced - 3
Contribution to the group - 4

TIME MANAGEMENT

The two time management workshops were very interesting and a big wake up call. I never normally think about how much time is taken up a day but these work shops showed me it is a valuable thing to do. In the first workshop we looked at how we individually spend our time distributed between 3 categories 'social' 'domestic' and uni it was really interesting to see how things divide up and to see how much times gets wasted or not properly used. It was also interesting to work out how many hours commuting took up each week and how much time my job takes up.

The second workshop was more about actually planning our time and using it constructively. It made me realise that if I can plan my time efficiently I can do all my work at uni then go home and relax rather then working 24/7 on projects. The time planner is a really useful resource and the act of planning my times is something that i am going to try and incorporate all the time into my practice.









SPEAKING FROM EXPERIENCE FINISHED PIECE



































after the crit I decided I needed to package the products you get in the pack indidualy to make thing neater and therefore read better. I have decided to do this by boxing each thing and also to make things easier to understand I have numbers the boxes from 1-7 in the order that you should open them I have also added some instructions to instruct this. By opening the boxes in this specific order the audience will get the best motivational help.














After the crit I changed the box structure and stock to make it more stable I also followed my peers advise and inclued a the notebook a more graphically directed object I have also included an instruction sheet so that they know what is going on.
I am happy with my final outcome as I feel it meets the brief. Loss of motivation is something that the first years will more than likely experience, and that lack of motivation is stressful and makes you feel awful. This kit can help that and solve the problem.

SPEAKING FROM EXPERIENCE



As this project is all about speaking from experience we started this project by looking at our personal experiences to see what ideas we could generate.



We then had to come up with 3 messages and 3 problems, this was really useful to do as it abbled me to pin point messages and problems that I think would work well.

I have chosen to look into motivation as my problem, as this course needs 100% motivation otherwise you will fall behind.



Statement of intent:


Research:



Above is a selection of the visual research I have been doing. I've been looking into survival kits and found some really interesting ones. I find it fascinating how much stuff is able to fit into each kit, and the variety of items in each kit.


To make sure that what I am aiming to do is relevant to my audience I have decided to do a survey for this years first years to see what their opinions are on motivation,

















From the survey it was clear to see that motivation is definitely an issue and is the start of a slippery slope of getting behind and stressed.


I have also been researching ways of staying motivated, most of what I found online was about how to stay motivated for dieting but what they were saying could also be applied to getting motivated for graphic design. Above is a collection of the research I have done so far.


We had a crit at this stage and the feedback I got on my idea was all good, everyone agreed that motivation was an issue and something that needs to be helped. They said that the main feeling they got from lack of motivation was stress and that stress also bring on the lack of motivation so I know now that one of the things I need to focus on is ways of de-stressing to get the motivation back up.



Above is the further research I have done on ways of relaxing, ways of feeling happier and ways of getting your motivation back up. I can now try and interoperate this things into my motivation kit.

Possible outcomes:


Above is what i imagine my kit to have in it at this stage. Each item has been researched to back up that it will help in someway either motivate or de-stress you which will intern then motivate you.


Crit feed back:



I found this crit really useful as it was a good opportunity to check that the message you are trying to convey is coming across. The areas I now need to address are that the contact may be a little too girly, I have strong research but should now concentrate on experimenting with mockups etc and also need to decided on a method of delivery.

As this is going to be our final crit group here is a list of things we expect to see at the final crit:

1. 5 concept boards
2. Final product/ mock up of idea
3. Clear evidence that you have looked into crit feed back
4.updated blog
5. 5 things you think have worked about your work and 5 things you would improve on (mini evaluation)


Logo/name:



I started designing by looking at what the symbol is for a first aid kit, and emergency services etc and tried experimenting with how I could make the emblem look more directed at design students. I then realise that this is relying too much on the students recognising the logo so decided to move on from this idea.



I then thought about calling the kit 'Keep smiling' as that is what you have to do you have to just keep going and stay as positive as you can if your motivation goes. I experimented with possible imagery, but once again decided this is not the kind of message I want to give as 'keep smiling' could be seen as 'grit your teeth and bare it' where as I don't want people to just bare it I want them to learn to come out of motivation slumps.


I have now decided to go for the name 'MAN UP' as this is how I feel you should act when you feel un motivated, as it may feel like it takes over your whole body, but you just need to man up and put your mind to it and over come it. I also thought that as this name is quite masculine it may address some of the crit feed back about it coming across to girly, I now feel it is more neutral then one gender orientated.

For the logo I have experimented with a few fonts, and have decided to go with Futura condensed medium as it gives a strong bold feel which compliments the title and the imagery.

Design experiment





The colour I have chosen is the violet colour above. I have decided on this colour as it reminds me of the colour of lavender and that is a calming oil and smell and I want my box to have that effect on the mind.

Products I intent to make:

alphabet chocolate
candle and matches
smile booklet
picture frame for inspiration
stress ball
motivational cd
tea bag


Candle


To make the candle I am going to use a transfer paper that is suitable for candles and therefore not going to explode.

I decded to experiment with two candles a large one and a smaller one. The larger one was difficult to apply the transfer to, although I do prefer the dimensions and size of the larger candle the smaller one was a lot more successful the transfer went on without a glitch, and I am happy with the way it looks.









Chocolates:

To make the chocolates I have melted chocolate in a bowl and then left it to set in the fridge in an alphabet ice tray this was the result:


The lettering came out well but the type of chocolate I used did not work out so well as it just kept melting every time your touched it which is never a good thing. When I make the final chocolate I will use a darker chocolate as this will be longer lasting and not melt. 

Stress ball:





Using the same paper as for the candles I was able to transfer the image of the logo to the ball.





Further design development for the rest of the products:











frame:





Matches:


Tea bag:




Cd


To do list notebook




Fnal crit





Products ready for crit mius chocolates as it is is too warm to bring them in they will just melt and make a mess.

Crit feed back:






The crit feedback I got is that I could make something in the content  of the kit more aimed at design, I agree with this feedback and had played with the idea of including a to do list making notebook for designers, and now that I know that it is necessary I will continue to produce this. I also got feedback on that i need a lot clearer design boards, this I also agree on as the ones I had for final crit where very rough I will take on the advise of how I could approach the boards and make them.

In the crit there were no comments about the presentation of the products in the box, although no one mentioned it, I feel it is something that needs addressing as it looks like a mess and makes the content look confusing. I will look into ways of organising the content. I also need to address the box as although the one I presented for the final crit was just a mock up and not the final thing, it did highlight to me how important the right stock is for such things as boxes.