Friday, 13 February 2009

Evaluation

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

Working on this module, I feel that I’ve developed my both my crafting and software skills. Although I have used Adobe indesign a few times before, I’ve never made a book for as many as 32 pages. The main problem I found was that there was a lot of information to be gathered and organized into a book format. This became apparent when sorting the layout design and making each page flow like a book as opposed to being separate pieces of work forced into a book format. Handcrafting is another skill that I’ve developed over this module, by making all the mock up and trialing different materials and folding techniques for my book design.  

 

I finally got the chance to learn about book binding by making a Japanese binded book as part of my development work on my book of 100. Although I didn’t eventually use any form of binding techniques, I’ve learnt and can now appreciate the delicate aesthetics and quality to book binding.

 

The skills I’ve developed in this module has influenced the way my book turned out. I have a better understanding of the construction of books and hope to work on this further as a personal interest.

 

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

Throughout the ‘Book of 100’ brief, I’ve constantly had problems identifying which direction to take on my ideas and concepts. I’ve been able to solve these issues by brainstorming different ideas and the ways I could develop that, made mock ups, drawn out my ideas and general experimentation with materials and playing around with different ideas. I’ve also used my research to help drive my ideas, talking to people,  and starting a group on Facebook dedicated to the idea of a wish list of 100 has provided an interesting and helpful overview of people’s opinions, ideas and thoughts related to the topic. The crits and blog has also been helpful for feedback and a general reflection on my progress.

 

 

 

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

I think one of the strengths about my work is that it’s quite minimal yet effective. Although it may not seem a lot, I feel that I’ve been working at a totally different way compared to when I was in my Alevels/ ND last year. I’ve constantly been more aware of the context, materials and target audience, the research that’s involved and the way that influences my ideas. From someone who often used to churn up with a final piece and work backwards to fill in the gaps, I’ve now started to enjoy the process of developing my work from my idea rather than having the final piece shaping the development work.

 

What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these more fully?

The main weakness I can see in my work is the experimentation with my ideas and concepts. Although I did have a few ideas and different directions to go towards, I didn’t really experiment with them enough to justify a reason not to go with it. I found that I might have stayed on the safe side a bit with my ideas, with the time given and a bit more effort from the beginning, I could have developed something a lot more ambitious that challenges the idea of what a book is. I found it difficult to find the motivation at the start of the brief. This eventually lead to rushing a lot of the work on the last week, which didn’t provide enough time for my to explore my ideas in more depth. For the next module, I will aim tom start the brief the day we’re given in, even if its such a few rough sketches or research.

 

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

- Start working on a new brief the day I get it.

- Generate research but also consider ideas as the sametime vice versa

- Experiment with ideas and concepts more, especially with materials/stock and print methods etc.

- Be more organized and update my blog more often as this will help when it comes to reflecting on my work and identifying my direction.

- Try to be more ambitious with my ideas, try not to go into one idea so early

 

How would you grade yourself on the following grades:

Attendance: 4

Punctuality: 4

Motivation: 3/4

Commitment: 4

Quantity of work produced: 3

Quality of work produced: 3

Contribution to the group: 3­­

 

 

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