Wednesday 7 July 2010
Tuesday 27 October 2009
Wednesday 16 September 2009
Monday 8 June 2009
Sunday 31 May 2009
OUGD103 Evaluation
1. What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?
My project management skills have definitely kicked in for this module especially for the final brief, it might have been the fact that it was our last module, or most likely the fact that we didn't have any other work overlapping any current briefs, but I do feel like i've had more control with the way my work's developed and my working methods towards resolving a brief. For the first time this year, I wasn't one of the last ones to hand in my work! From managing my blog more effectively to being a lot more motivated to do my work and passionate about whatever brief I get I've gradually been able to work at a more progressive pace.
2. What approaches to/methods of research have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?
I think one of other key points that lead to the smooth work flow was the subject I was working on, as I was looking at student cooking, my main area to research directly into was food. Although I am not a good cook myself, I like to learn and travel to eat as much food as I can, therefore it made this brief so much more enjoyable. I started off my gathering some primary research, mainly off the course students as we are ultimately the target audience, being first year graphic design students ourselves. This helped me to determine the direction of my study, which lead me to refining what the actual problem is and what type of outcome I would be considering. Aswell as this, primary research gathered by emailed questionnaires allowed me to build a clearer understanding of student's understanding and ability to cook; from this I gathered that surprisingly most student's were quite good with cooking, but the main problem was time management along with the course, being inspired to actually make an effort and the problem of not having all the ingredients. I didn't really want to limit my research too much, therefore backed up my problem and idea by gathering secondary research, looking at recipes, case studies and other existing websites/ communities that target the student cooking problem. As a whole, the research processes throughout this module played quite a major role towards the development of my work, I feel like i'm finally getting used to the research process and can now understand the importance of research and knowledge that would eventually contribute towards a well informed resolution.
3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalize on these?
After the long thought process and the constant research/ analysis procedures I think the strenghts of my work especially the 'What to eat' pack of cards would be the fact that the idea would ideally work and would be of interest to the target audience. I think the pack of cards demonstrate a simple yet easy to understand design format while still carrying alot of information. One thing i'm not entirely happy with now is the visuals. As more a visualizer before I came to the course, I feel like I've been working totally different lately and have therefore substituted my visual flare for a more generic info graphic - like approach. This I intend to look into and will definitely spare more time experimenting and looking at in the 2nd year..... if I get there.
What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these more fully?
Again as stated above, I personally don't really like the visual of my finals lately. It might be due to the restrictions of what i'm trying to communicate and the considerations of the target audience, but I feel like I need to work more on the visuals next time. Hopefully I'll achieve this by spending more time experimenting and contintue to improve on my project management skills.
5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?
- Generate more ideas and test a few out before going straight final idea
This will obviously allow me to test out the possibilities of potential ideas, somethings are best learnt by trial and improvement
- Challenge myself whenever I get to choose my own subject to study by picking something other than food!
I don't feel like I took any major risks for this module, I've stuck to the safe sides of my ideas and I think the visuals of the final is a reflection of this.
- Different format other than digital
Again back to the visual appeal of my final piece, I think I could have improved this easily by looking at more different stock materials, print methods etc. This would also enhance the interactive appeal of the design.
- Do some drawings + colour + textures?
My work's been pretty info like lately and I'd like a bit more colour in life.
- Take risks!
My project management skills have definitely kicked in for this module especially for the final brief, it might have been the fact that it was our last module, or most likely the fact that we didn't have any other work overlapping any current briefs, but I do feel like i've had more control with the way my work's developed and my working methods towards resolving a brief. For the first time this year, I wasn't one of the last ones to hand in my work! From managing my blog more effectively to being a lot more motivated to do my work and passionate about whatever brief I get I've gradually been able to work at a more progressive pace.
2. What approaches to/methods of research have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?
I think one of other key points that lead to the smooth work flow was the subject I was working on, as I was looking at student cooking, my main area to research directly into was food. Although I am not a good cook myself, I like to learn and travel to eat as much food as I can, therefore it made this brief so much more enjoyable. I started off my gathering some primary research, mainly off the course students as we are ultimately the target audience, being first year graphic design students ourselves. This helped me to determine the direction of my study, which lead me to refining what the actual problem is and what type of outcome I would be considering. Aswell as this, primary research gathered by emailed questionnaires allowed me to build a clearer understanding of student's understanding and ability to cook; from this I gathered that surprisingly most student's were quite good with cooking, but the main problem was time management along with the course, being inspired to actually make an effort and the problem of not having all the ingredients. I didn't really want to limit my research too much, therefore backed up my problem and idea by gathering secondary research, looking at recipes, case studies and other existing websites/ communities that target the student cooking problem. As a whole, the research processes throughout this module played quite a major role towards the development of my work, I feel like i'm finally getting used to the research process and can now understand the importance of research and knowledge that would eventually contribute towards a well informed resolution.
3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalize on these?
After the long thought process and the constant research/ analysis procedures I think the strenghts of my work especially the 'What to eat' pack of cards would be the fact that the idea would ideally work and would be of interest to the target audience. I think the pack of cards demonstrate a simple yet easy to understand design format while still carrying alot of information. One thing i'm not entirely happy with now is the visuals. As more a visualizer before I came to the course, I feel like I've been working totally different lately and have therefore substituted my visual flare for a more generic info graphic - like approach. This I intend to look into and will definitely spare more time experimenting and looking at in the 2nd year..... if I get there.
What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these more fully?
Again as stated above, I personally don't really like the visual of my finals lately. It might be due to the restrictions of what i'm trying to communicate and the considerations of the target audience, but I feel like I need to work more on the visuals next time. Hopefully I'll achieve this by spending more time experimenting and contintue to improve on my project management skills.
5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?
- Generate more ideas and test a few out before going straight final idea
This will obviously allow me to test out the possibilities of potential ideas, somethings are best learnt by trial and improvement
- Challenge myself whenever I get to choose my own subject to study by picking something other than food!
I don't feel like I took any major risks for this module, I've stuck to the safe sides of my ideas and I think the visuals of the final is a reflection of this.
- Different format other than digital
Again back to the visual appeal of my final piece, I think I could have improved this easily by looking at more different stock materials, print methods etc. This would also enhance the interactive appeal of the design.
- Do some drawings + colour + textures?
My work's been pretty info like lately and I'd like a bit more colour in life.
- Take risks!
Final resolution
A pack of 24 cards containing a compilation of student recipes that can be made from the essential 16 ingredients. Aimed at next years Graphic design students written by current graphic design student's. This is my final resolution in response to student cooking as being a major problem throughout the first year of uni life.
Thursday 14 May 2009
Work flow
MOTIVATION!!!
Just a simple time lapse of me working! Thought I'd find a way to motivate myself so decided to record my work flow, hoping that the idea of being observed might make me more aware that i'm wasting time when i'm procrastinating!
Wednesday 13 May 2009
Less than 3 weeks left...
Mood board for proposal on current ideas and direction of study
A review and reflection on where i'm currently at with this project. So far, I've gathered some primary and secondary research, looking at the target audience in more depth and identifying the issues within the problem of student's not being able to spend time cooking good food. More than 70% of the students questioned confessed that they often cook the same meal within the same week, proving that their seems to be some kind of limitation in student coooking. I wanted to find out the cause, by gathering a substantial amount of information from the current first years of the course. In general I'm able to confidently say that majority of the student's have a good understanding and experience on cooking, the challenge for most is often managing the course work and their social life without allowing any particular side to dominate. The other main problem that I found was that many students seem to think they lack the ingredients to cook something good, which often means that they'll cook something twice a week.
From the data collected the majority of the students spend an average £20-£30 per week on food shopping, yet surprisingly some have also stated that the reason why they don't put more effot in cooking was due to no money to buy food! Are students spending too much money shopping at the wrong places and overspend? Also from the research, I've gathered that over 80% of the people spend more than 10-20 mins cooking each night, mor e than enough time to coook up many healthy dishes!
With less than 3 weeks left for this project, I have now finally decided to work towards a final resolution. As determined by my research, student's studying Graphic design at LCAD find it difficult to manage their time, and often cooking or getting the take away due to the amount of work they have to do. Therefore, rather than coming up with a conventional student's cook book, I will devise a set of cooking/ recipe packs that will help student's identify how a simple collection of ingredients can be used to cook several different dishes. A lot more research on recipes's will now need to be gathered and arranged into a colour coded format. Depending on how this week goes, I have plans to further develop this by creating a set of these packs, that will be filed together in it's own box, allowing student's to pick one up and circulate around them.
Thursday 7 May 2009
Things I want!
Just a selection of books that i'm saving up to get!
Stereographics
Graphics in new dimensions
Published by Victionary
Design + Taste
Graphics + Interiors for Cafés, Bars and Restaurants
Published by Victionary
Stereographics
Graphics in new dimensions
Published by Victionary
Design + Taste
Graphics + Interiors for Cafés, Bars and Restaurants
Published by Victionary
FUN
Bumped into this nice little game during my research into infographic and interactivity. I'm liking the simple vector graphics that resemble the Royksopp - Remind me music video.
Go Play!
Effing Hail
Don't blame me if you don't get any work done!
Go Play!
Effing Hail
Don't blame me if you don't get any work done!
Format / interaction
Working on my concept and ideas for the 'From Experience' brief, I've started to develop and look into the types of format i'm looking to work towards. Whether it is a poster, interactive piece, website, pack of cards or a book etc.
Some inspiration...
Muji
Colour guide for the selection of gel pens available from the muji stores.
Helmo
Pack of interactive inforgraphics cards.
Hakuhodo
Act Now Campaign
Featured in Japanese Graphics Now!
Jamie Wieck
A few examples of the conceptual ideas that have developed into some fun interactive products.
Business card design by Jamie Wieck in an attempt to make it last on the client's desk rather than being placed and fortotten about in a pocket or the bottom of a bag.
BisonArt
A couple of rather aesthetically appealing pieces of type work by Cape Town based BisonArt. I've always had an interest in typography and image, which these two example sum up quite well.
HELMO
French based design agency who focuses on installation and exhibition work.
Personally, I just love the use of colour, composition and the blend of type and image with these poster designs. Looking at the pieces in more depth
Lux2 Project
Rock'n'roll
Exhibition space design by Helmo.
51japanesecharacters.com
An interesting pack of cards, that contain the information of 51 characters that reflect the japanese culture.
Something similar that I might be considering for my own project. I like the idea of how something suddenly becomes interesting purely from the first impression of the aesthetics. Something that I could possibly adapt with my problem of student's not cooking properly.
Vinyl will kill
A pack of 36 webcards cards as part of the Vinyl will Kill book, containing visuals and contact information of 36 designers, artists and illustrators.
Some inspiration...
Muji
Colour guide for the selection of gel pens available from the muji stores.
Helmo
Pack of interactive inforgraphics cards.
Hakuhodo
Act Now Campaign
Featured in Japanese Graphics Now!
Jamie Wieck
A few examples of the conceptual ideas that have developed into some fun interactive products.
Business card design by Jamie Wieck in an attempt to make it last on the client's desk rather than being placed and fortotten about in a pocket or the bottom of a bag.
BisonArt
A couple of rather aesthetically appealing pieces of type work by Cape Town based BisonArt. I've always had an interest in typography and image, which these two example sum up quite well.
HELMO
French based design agency who focuses on installation and exhibition work.
Personally, I just love the use of colour, composition and the blend of type and image with these poster designs. Looking at the pieces in more depth
Lux2 Project
Rock'n'roll
Exhibition space design by Helmo.
51japanesecharacters.com
An interesting pack of cards, that contain the information of 51 characters that reflect the japanese culture.
Something similar that I might be considering for my own project. I like the idea of how something suddenly becomes interesting purely from the first impression of the aesthetics. Something that I could possibly adapt with my problem of student's not cooking properly.
Vinyl will kill
A pack of 36 webcards cards as part of the Vinyl will Kill book, containing visuals and contact information of 36 designers, artists and illustrators.
Sunday 3 May 2009
New Obsession
Been experimenting a lot of stop motion, video and time lapses lately so thought i'd put a few up on here.
Friday 1 May 2009
Past, present and beyond
Who were you as a designer at the start of the course?
Who do you intend to be as a designer in the future?
Before the course, I studied A Level in Photography, Fine Art and worked on a 2 year BTEC National Diploma specializing in 3D design and Graphic Design at Peterborough. Back then I worked mainly digital; merging the disciplines of photography, fine art, illustration and graphic design. I was very experimental, but also very software based, which meant that I often approached a brief by going with my initial ideas without much development. I was a more of a visualizer for the past 2 years before this course, mainly working on the aesthetics of the final piece, rather than looking at the focus of what the brief actually addresses. As a whole, I was a very visual driven designer, I felt that my outcomes looked good, but the aesthetics didn't reflect much thought to the ideas.
Who are you as a designer right now?
Since I started the course up until now, I have abandoned my usual approach with design. Rather than sticking with the digital format, I have began to experiment with 3D materials and hand crafted areas of design. I feel that i've thrown myself different challenges for each brief, allowing myself to explore the various approaches and issues within graphic design and other disciplines. I've started to see graphic design as more a method of visual communication rather than a certain format/style. I do feel that my working method's have been more refined and generally feel that I have a clearer way of solving problems. During the course so far, I've also rediscovered areas of design that i've grown a huge interest in lately including; installations as graphic design, paper, video, books/ editorial and typography.
Who do you intend to be as a designer in the future?
1. I want to refine the way I work as a designer, a lot of the times, I've struggled to get things completed to the standard that i planned it to be. I want to develop a smooth work flow in solving problems, manage each brief professionally, keep things organized and resolve them to the best standard.
2. Presentation skills; something that I feel I need to improve on as quite often I'll just forget everything I planned to say the minute I start and end up throwing all kinds of thoughts out without any particular order. This often confuses the audiences as what my idea/ concept is and can therefore be misinterpreted into something that it's not, which has happened a couple of times. As a whole, I believe that a good designer should hold good presentation skills to be able to communicate their ideas effectively to the client/ audience; something that I aim to work on over the 2nd year.
3. Finally, I want to be an all rounded designer. I don't want any particular style/approach to affect the way I work or who I am as a designer, but focusing rather on idea development and being able to identify good concepts.
Tuesday 28 April 2009
From experience - what I'm going to do...
What Am I Going To Survive On?
Starting Uni/ College can be a daunting experience to begin with. You've left your friends and family at home to live with total strangers, thrown yourself into a completely new environment and signed up to an intensive BA Graphic Design course. From experience, one of the things that I did not prepare for was what I was going to survive on. For a lot of students, instant mash, beans of toast and instant noodles seem to be the way to go. (The rest being thrown on booze and clothes!) There is a sense that student living is all about eating crap all the time, which I personally don't agree with but don't do enough to prevent from happening from time to time.
What am I going to do about it?
Well to start with, I will identify the main areas that relate to this problem: food shopping, budgeting, places to shop for good deals/ fresh produce, recipes, sustaining healthy diet, saving time etc. I've never seen so much food being wasted/ thrown away either being they've gone off or i've cooked too much or because it was disgusting, so I will look into ways to combine left over ingredients, the timing of buying new food and easy student recipes, that share a simple batch of ingredients.
These issues are often caused by:
- People who can't be bothered
- Skint, spent all the money on booze and clothes!
- Don't know how to cook (Or simply too lazy to try)
- Not enough ingredients
- Not enough time
In terms of ways to respond to this, I am thinking of methods to educate, inform, advise or instruct the new first years on how easy it can be to cook good simple food at a low cost while still being able to manage the course and student life.
Although not entirely decided, I intend to produce something that would become a beginners guide to surviving as a student.
Starting Uni/ College can be a daunting experience to begin with. You've left your friends and family at home to live with total strangers, thrown yourself into a completely new environment and signed up to an intensive BA Graphic Design course. From experience, one of the things that I did not prepare for was what I was going to survive on. For a lot of students, instant mash, beans of toast and instant noodles seem to be the way to go. (The rest being thrown on booze and clothes!) There is a sense that student living is all about eating crap all the time, which I personally don't agree with but don't do enough to prevent from happening from time to time.
What am I going to do about it?
Well to start with, I will identify the main areas that relate to this problem: food shopping, budgeting, places to shop for good deals/ fresh produce, recipes, sustaining healthy diet, saving time etc. I've never seen so much food being wasted/ thrown away either being they've gone off or i've cooked too much or because it was disgusting, so I will look into ways to combine left over ingredients, the timing of buying new food and easy student recipes, that share a simple batch of ingredients.
These issues are often caused by:
- People who can't be bothered
- Skint, spent all the money on booze and clothes!
- Don't know how to cook (Or simply too lazy to try)
- Not enough ingredients
- Not enough time
In terms of ways to respond to this, I am thinking of methods to educate, inform, advise or instruct the new first years on how easy it can be to cook good simple food at a low cost while still being able to manage the course and student life.
Although not entirely decided, I intend to produce something that would become a beginners guide to surviving as a student.
Saturday 18 April 2009
Show & Tell
http://www.showandtell.tk
'To lie convincingly'
This was a collaborative project and I got the chance to work with Sam Reynolds for this. We approached the task by looking at different definitions of lying and actually getting some real deep thoughts as to what it is, why people do it, reasons for it, situations etc.
We ended up looking at lying as a fictional thing, the fact that people write in stories in a way that makes it seem realistic. As this brief was received straight after the 'How to...' brief, neither of us wanted to go towards the instructive/informative approach again. Instead we opted for a more creative/ project type of approach. As we also had to demonstrate how 'Communication is a virus', we looked into a way of distribution through the use of the internet, which lead us to the idea of making an interactive website, that would provide a space for creatives to collaborate and network.
Final design boards with concept explained and functioning resolution examples.
Some of the print based resolutions I developed to help advertise and promote the idea of Show & Tell.
Previously developed website layouts that I experimented with, but abandoned due to the lack of time we had left.
'To lie convincingly'
This was a collaborative project and I got the chance to work with Sam Reynolds for this. We approached the task by looking at different definitions of lying and actually getting some real deep thoughts as to what it is, why people do it, reasons for it, situations etc.
We ended up looking at lying as a fictional thing, the fact that people write in stories in a way that makes it seem realistic. As this brief was received straight after the 'How to...' brief, neither of us wanted to go towards the instructive/informative approach again. Instead we opted for a more creative/ project type of approach. As we also had to demonstrate how 'Communication is a virus', we looked into a way of distribution through the use of the internet, which lead us to the idea of making an interactive website, that would provide a space for creatives to collaborate and network.
Final design boards with concept explained and functioning resolution examples.
Some of the print based resolutions I developed to help advertise and promote the idea of Show & Tell.
Previously developed website layouts that I experimented with, but abandoned due to the lack of time we had left.
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