End of year Evaluation

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

This year i have greatly developed my illustration skills, using traditional media and my newly favoured media, using paper. I have started to experiment more with paper in my own time as well as creating things for certain briefs, like the O2 YCN brief. I think i have applied these newly learned skills in an effective way as i think the O2 brief was a success, using origami in a useful and creative way. I also think my postcards from the edge were successful as i think they fulfilled the brief in an unusual way that would appeal to my target audience. I feel i have made improvement on my type and layout skills also, through doing the typography elective module and through making myself focus on briefs that are based on type and layout i have faced my weaknesses and have started making an improvement on these.


2. What approaches to generating work and solutions to problems have you developed and how have they helped?

When generating work i have started to illustrate things with paper cut designs or by using illustrator. I have also started to set up separate blogs for each brief, which can be easily updated and are more accessible to the reader, as everything is in the same place. Using paper or illustrator to generate ideas has helped me get my ideas out quicker and when using illustrator in particular, it has helped me to quickly make small test pieces and slight variations., where as using paper has helped me to fully explore a single idea and carefully consider every decision as if i do something wrong i have to start the whole thing again. I think contacting designers for feedback on my work and a work placement was very informative and helpful. I wish i would have done this sooner, that way i could have been more prepared when sending my portfolio out for experience placements.

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

I think my strengths at the moment are my illustration skills, my concepts and ideas, my blog of visual research and blogs that record my development during a project. I have put all these aspects, as well as the briefs i think were successful into a digital and printed portfolio that i can send out to designers and companies to look for work experience. These portfolios will help me capitalise on my strengths as i can get my work out in to the public and get a different, professional opinion on it, that will help me create more professional work and work that has more credibility in the public. A big strength of mine, i think, is my paper cutting skills and i think i have developed these skills greatly. This is something i would like to utilise in the third year and apply to my future briefs.

4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how could you exploit these more fully?

Weaknesses that i have identified are my type and layout skills. I think doing the typography elective module has helped me understand the basics more, i just need time to put these understandings into practice. As i know these are major skills needed for a graphic designer, and this is where i am lacking in skill, i have decided to use my work experience placement to help overcome these weaknesses by getting a placement at a magazine, where i will focus on only type and layout. I think doing this will be of great benefit to me as a designer in the long run, as i will have professional help and opinions on what i am doing wrong and how to change which should hopefully develop my understanding of type and layout.

5. Identify five things that you would do different and what do you expect to gain from doing these?

1. Create more publications in response to briefs as this is something i would like to focus more on in the third year. This is also something i will be looking into when researching my dissertation as i am focusing on the value of handmade publications.

2. Utilise the skills i already have to create work for briefs instead of always looking to develop new skills. I feel this would help me solidify the skills i already have instead of knowing a little bit about everything, as i would like to have a clearer specialism in the third year.

3. I would put more effort into creating my own time management techniques and planning further in advance for things like when to finish a brief or when to have work ready for print, to give me time to rectify any issues that could appear.

4. I would make more of an effort to keep more of a record of my development work as i progress through each brief, this way i will have the opportunity to fully explore ideas and evaluate what works more effectivley than other ideas.

5. I would look more at designs already out there and try to get feedback from professional designers/companies as i think this professional advice is invaluable and will be a great help to get an outside opinion on something i am working on so i can alter and tailor my designs in a more professional manner.

6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas:
Attendance = 4
Punctuality = 5
Motivation = 4
Commitment = 4
Quantity of work produced = 4
Quality of work produced = 4
Contribution to the group = 3