Visual Language - Evaluation

With this module, I’ve definitely explored around with different mediums a lot more. I’ll looked into the idea of what is a line in a more conceptual way which provided me the opportunity to test out things that I’ve never really got the chance to so far. My approach to this module has been quite flexible and open minded; looking at the topic from different perspectives and narrowing things down through constant experimentation. I’ve also been able to critically analyze my own work and move on with an informed decision, not allowing any particular styles to dominate what I should explore before moving on to a final resolution.

In terms of research, I’ve looked mainly into secondary resources, mainly into different designers/ creative’s of all disciplines to help identify the direction of my studies, ranging from photography to installation designs. Through recording on my blog, it was rather easy and convenient to add to my inspirations for my ideas. In terms of primary research, I carried out a brief questionnaire to identify what people’s first impressions/idea of what a line is, which helped me to identify where my ideas went. Although not much primary research was gathered for this module, I don’t think it affected my work process that much, as I felt that this module was more about constant experimentation and development into what a line is. Although maybe not considered to be research, the constant crit’s we had every week kept me on track to where I was at during the long module. I got plenty of influential opinions and constructive criticism, which inspired and influenced my development process towards resolving the brief.

I think one of the strengths from my work that have been evident from this module has definitely been the way I’ve approached the brief. It might be because of the amount of time we’ve been given, but I feel that I’ve been a lot more open to different ideas with this module. Rather than circulating around a particular idea, style or format I’ve been open to explore different mediums, working from 3D CAD to lego bricks. My final resolutions turned out quite well, hopefully demonstrating the concept and ideas behind it.

For such a long brief, it was difficult to keep a constant workflow and with the other briefs we have to work on, this made it even more difficult. Therefore I would definitely say that some of the weaknesses of this module were the organization skills, time management and keeping myself motivated. Again, I am aware that some areas of this module are a bit limited; it was rather difficult to stay focused with all the individual parts of the module, which I had to make up for towards the end. This has been said already, but I will be responding to these weaknesses by constantly adding to my work for any future briefs, the blog has helped a lot to keep my work organize for this module and has provided a good source of self reflection, this will be something that I’ll use a lot more from now on.

5 things I would do differently.

- Start the work and do something! – It was difficult to make a start on this, despite leaving it as a last priority due to other assignments. I was being quite indecisive to begin with, which I later discovered could have been resolved simply by doing something ad writing thoughts and drawings ideas out.
- Organize and categorize work from the day I receive them. - with the amount of work involved and small tasks to complete, it was difficult to record and keep track of all the work.
- Start work early and note down any thoughts/ ideas. – Especially when stuck for ideas or don’t know how to start, simply drawing things, writing down a few words and getting stuff down on paper really does help make a start.
- Keep a healthy daily schedule. – My sleeping pattern was a disaster for some time during this module, which affected my workflow and general concentration.
- Continue and use my blog more. – This has proved to be useful and I will be using this a lot more to document anything from thoughts, to the new magazine I’ve purchased.