OUGD403 - Module Evaluation

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

- Throughout this module I have developed my skills on Adobe Illustrator. Though I have only learnt the basic skills with the pen tool I have found it a really helpful skill to have.  I have also developed my understanding of type and letterform. I came onto the course with no knowledge of typefaces and I feel that this module has helped me significantly to understand an important part of Graphic Design.

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

- I have further developed my developmental stage of design, I now sketch out a range of different ideas before experimenting digitally. I have found this very helpful as it is a more visual way of documenting my ideas and thought processes. I have also found that asking other people if they understand my message as I am developing my ideas, this is very helpful as it is of the upmost importance that my designs are legible and understandable.


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

- I feel that my strengths lie within the development stages and the ability to self evaluate my work. I now produce a wide range of possible design rather than producing my first idea. I also feel that I am devoted to the course and put a lot of time into making sure that my work is at degree standard.

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

- I think my weaknesses still lie in software skills. I know how to use Adobe Photoshop quite well but my Illustrator skills could be improved. I also feel that by developing my software skills my work an prints will be at a higher standard.

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

- Pay more attention to stock choice and print methods. From doing this I think my work will look more professional and the colours will look how they were intended.

- When producing work to a specific scale (2:1) I will produce my developmental drawings in that format. This will mean that the process of digitally producing my designs will be less complicated as I have already taken the size of the paper into account.

- Use Illustrator when producing anything image based. This would mean that when printed images would not be pixelated and would be crisp.

- Take into account other methods of displaying my designs instead of just print format (designing an app) This will help me to develop my understanding of other technologies.

- Experiment more with type and develop my understanding of type anatomy.

Message and Delivery : Distribution - Changes

After my crit I looked at possible ways I could improve my design outcome. From the feedback I received I learned that some aspects of my design were not up to standard. 

One piece of feedback I received was about the clicker I had used to represent the number of domestic violence incidents last year. I decided to change this idea and use the fist, which I had used in a previous  Message and Delivery brief, and the well known no entry sign. 

I also chose to change the style of phone in the bottom right hand corner, the phone I had used was slightly old fashioned which I don't think worked very well for the target audience and also the rest of my design.

I also updated my envelope as I received feedback that it looked rushed and could have been more creative. I also wanted to make it clear what was inside my mail shot from the first viewing. I am very happy with my updates and think it is a vast improvement on my previous designs. 

Message and Delivery : Distribution

We had to design a mailshot based on the research we collected from message and delivery. I started by researching into mailshots and possible ways I could produce my own.

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From the research I have done into mailshots I now understand their main purpose. My subject is very hard hitting and is not publicised enough. This would be a great opportunity to voice the statistics which people usually dismiss.  

As part of my development for this brief I started by sketching out some rough ideas. I did not have an idea of intended scale but I wanted to get my ideas down on paper.

I had the idea to use the male and female symbols with a larger circle as the centre piece. I would use the drop shadow tool to make the symbols stand out but would use a solid colour in the centre. I had the idea to advertise a domestic violence awareness group in Leeds though I think after further research it would be better to look at the worst hit areas in the UK.

Hands was one of my first ideas. I was going to produce my mail shot on a cut out of a hand but found it difficult to figure out how to have it inside my envelope without folding it.

Simple design is sometimes the most successful way to convey a message, that is the idea I had with this design I wanted to include the information which I had displayed in my posters with the addition of  domestic violence awareness meeting. 

After producing my Message and Delivery posters I noticed that when the symbols were printed at full scale they were pixelated, this is because I drew them on photoshop. I created them on illustrator instead to make sure that my designs looked professional. 

Final Posters : Message and Delivery

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Message and Delivery Development Drawings

 We were asked to produce 60 drawings of our initial ideas for the Message and Delivery brief. 

My first idea to communicate my topic was to produce an ultra simple info graphic with the basic information about domestic violence shown. I would include simple, well known images such as the male and female toilet signs and simple graphs, pie charts etc.

The posters had to be high impact and I found it very hard to try and communicate my message with just image. I wanted to use simple images which were well known and anyone could recognise. The only image I could think of to communicate domestic violence was a fist.

Another part of my research process I looked into stereotypes, people usually associate a thug with violence. After looking through all of the material available for domestic violence sufferers I found that this image was the best to communicate the message.