Final Good is...

Open publication - Free publishing - More editorial
 Logo development for Impossible Skateboards.

Open publication - Free publishing - More graphic design
The finished product manual.

Open publication - Free publishing - More graphic design
Presentation boards for submission.

A few photos of my final produced products. I am pleased with the outcomes of this brief although I know with slightly more efficient time management I could have pushed it further. I am most dissapointed about not being able to screen print some mock up boards, especially after paying for and preparing a screen only to find it wasn't correctly exposed. I think having some mock ups of actual product could have really rounded off the brief. 

Enterprise - Lecture 5 - '10 steps to a future you'

7 Habits of highly effective people
Lawrence Kohlburn

Karl Hopkins - local millionaire > investor in new creative business

1. PROACTIVITY
> natural aptitude of humans. 

stimulus > response - animals.
stimulus > choice > response - humans
Natural aptitude of humans in order to protect/make things easier.

should be looking to expand sphere of influence.
Meet people - talk - keep them interested. Be proactive.
will help to expand your sphere of influence.

> internal environments
- your skills
- your responses
- your lifestyle.

> micro environment (need to work on this)

- Network of friends & associates
- your competitors
- your suppliers.

> Macro environment

2. PROJECT
- Develop a vision of the future
- Create a principle - centered personal mission statement.
- Extend the mission into long term goals.

Tell people about your aims & there's more chance of you finding out how.
"life is what happens while you are busy making other plans"
John Lennon 


3. PROVIDE
- clear explanations to people - concise
- speak in their language
- inspire people with your creativity
offer more than is expected.

say what you can do for a client in order to help change their business

4. PRIORITISE
- put first things first
- keep a proper balance
- stick to your personal mission

think about what you want most and think about how best to apply your time in order to achieve this.

5. PRESENTS
- think - win/win
- seek outcomes and relationships that are mutually beneficial
- do a favour to gain a favour.
> make sure you are working with people that will be beneficial in the long run.
> build relationships & be clear of the benefits.


Carl Hopkins 
networking

Kohlberg's theory.
Pre-conventional
- I want
- Why should I?
- Nobody listens
- short term
like a child
dependent

Conventional 
- I would be happy to
- your needs
- I understand
- Medium term
Starting business
Independent

Post-conventional
- we can
- together
- mutual benefit
- long term
inter dependent

6. PAUSE
- stop to listen - give all your attention - give yourself to the moment.
- emphasise - walk in someones shoes
- Don't reiterate or interpret - just listen
- do you really know how they feel or are you just saying you do...

> seek first to understand ; then be understood
> learn from your differences 

7. PROVEN
consistency
integrity            } they deliver consistency . trust in a business
reliability

you know what you expect to get
chanel > coca-cola > Frank Garey

if service changes it will be the last time you use it.
you seek to achieve consistency.

Steinway & sons > Andrew Goldsworthy > Jimmy Chu

8. PARTNER
synergy multiplies your talents.
work with other experts outside your field to achieve greatness.

James Dyson > Antony Gormley > Michelangelo > Everest expeditions > Damien Hirst.
Greatness never happens without collaboration. 

Have the idea > and find the best specialist to execute the idea.
Hollywood model - 600-800 credits for Avatar
All freelance that come together for one project.

9. PIT STOP
- sharpen up - bolt on, get new stuff
- rest -renew - re-vitalise
- explore - challenge - excite.

Take time out to think, question, improve, challenge what you're doing.

Always look to improve.
- when looking for jobs - always look for how it will better you and be beneficial, training wise.

10. PROPEL
- extinguish your fears
- exude confidence
- instill faith

never use the words 'just' or 'only' when trying to describe yourself
just say what you are and be proud of what you're achieving

Enterprise meeting 1.

Group:

Charlotte Bourke

Strengths: Concept driven; Research; Deligation; Organisation; Motivation; Perfectionist.

Weaknesses: Software skills; Confidence; Pushiness; Indecisive.

Luke O'Brien

Strengths: Motivated; Software Skills; Ideas Driven; Project Management; Organised; Presentation; Decisive.

Weaknesses: Spleling; Financial Management; Finishing (craft quality)

Max Gregory

Strengths: SPAG/proofing (spelling & grammar), Craft and finish,

Weaknesses: confidence, presentation, life; Indecision.

Joe Warburton

Strengths: Software skills; attention to detail; maths; Organisation; Innovative.

Weaknesses: Confidence; presentation; drawing; Indecisive.

We decided to outline what our strengths and weaknesses were as a team and found that our strengths counter different peoples weaknesses.  Thus, we will work well as a team.

Some books Charlotte got out that might help us starting out:

OUGD201 self evaluation

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

Throughout this module I think I’ve developed in my ability to use colour within my design work, applying everything we’ve learnt about production for print fairly effectively in order to achieve some interesting results. I think I have also benefited from the type sessions, the skills from which I have been able to apply to any typographic layouts throughout this module. I think this will prove invaluable as I progress further into the course. Finally, the main thing I can take away from this module is a much greater appreciation for commercial print, both in the preparation of the design for print and in the processes themselves. Another skill I feel will prove invaluable moving forward.

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

I think throughout this module I have had much more of an appreciation for the print production processes that I want to apply to my outcomes. Despite a lot of them not being available in college I was able to propose what I wanted and think about visuals before actually printing.Working with ideas on screen allowed me to be more creative when thinking about the resulting outcomes.

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

I think the main strength I can identify in my work for this module is visual consistency, and in branding this is very useful. I have been pleased with the majority of the artwork I’ve created and in how it has come together to make a whole body of products for the main brief. I think I can capitalise on this for any brief as it is usually important to have consistent visuals for a single body of design. 

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

I think the main weakness I can identify through this module is hand rendered work and my ability to work at a consistent pace throughout. I find that my motivation is unevenly spread throughout the module and seems to come into play towards the end of the module when the pressure is on. If I were working at a more consistent rate, giving myself daily goals to work towards I think I’d more likely get a more rounded body of work. 

5. Identify 5 things that you will do differently next time and what you expect to gain from doing these.

-       Try to stay motivated throughout the brief by setting myself regular goals and things to achieve in a restricted time. This will make me get on with the work earlier as I find that when I write to do lists I have more motivation.

-       Try to be decisive in the early stages to save myself from falling behind whilst deciding on concept.

-       Try to blog as soon as I do things in order to prevent work from piling up towards the end of the module when I could and should be getting on with more important elements of a brief.

-       Plan ahead in order to allow myself time to produce what I want to, for example preparing my screen earlier in screen print so that if anything should go wrong with it, it isn’t the day before the module hand in…

-       Use research more effectively in order to gain more extensive knowledge of printing processes and also processes available around college. This will allow me to plan my time better in order to fit in the processes I want, think before the production in order to book inductions/get drop-in when using college resources. 

   

6. How would you grade yourself on the following areas ?

Attendance     5

Punctuality    5

motivation     3

commitment   4

quantity of work produced     3

quality of work produced     3

contribution to the group     4

Jane enterprise discussion notes.

17th, 24th, 31st January time available for disucussion with Jane.

2. Where are they? where will they find me? 
PEST analysis 
Economic climate? Social standing?
Technology?

3. What do they want to hear?
Visual/Written?
Tone of voice?
> How will you communicate?
> Direct mail
> Letter
> CV
> Turn up in the studio. Keen

4. Who else is out there? how good are they? 
SWOT analysis
- Careful what you're saying about weaknesses of others.
- Think about personal reasons that could be weaknesses.
- Possibly don't note weaknesses.

Who are you competing against? 
Have to be better! 
Try to do the tasks as they are released!

4 more lectures after Christmas
28th February - Enterprise presentations - collaborative
REHEARSE!
Think about peoples strengths within your group
Could be any business idea, doesn't have to be design based.
Remember you're in competition...

Research business plans
In bank > business plan proforma > also info on business accounts.

Do the lecture quizzes! will help to refresh ideas introduced.

> pros of setting up a business
-income streams - anything bringing in money
> where to find funding 
-legal status/organisations etc
-limited company
-putting money away, third of each cheque
-good accountant
-claiming what you can back on jobs, travel etc
> Don't get ripped off.
-copyright - legal property
-patents - licensing
> Contracts 
-tax returns

Enterprise lecture 2 quiz

Good is... rationale, rewritten.

Good is the feeling that nothing is impossible when skateboarding.


Why?
1.Can go into anything without fear
2. It helped man to achieve great things.
3. Skateboarding would not be where it is now without it.
4. It's a natural high
5. Could make you look really cool.


I intend to promote to a group of skateboarders between the ages of 7 & 47 that nothing is impossible. In order to achieve this I will produce...

Product
Branding & promotion/ design and a fictional event for the brand launch/

Range 
Logo/board designs/promotional material for brand & event/stickers/hardware design.

Context 
The brand will exist as a whole, however the event exists as a promotional catalyst for the brand. This should allow it to be seen by as many of my target audience as possible.

Enterprise - task 2 - Where are they? how will they find me?

Although unsure as to exactly who my client base would be and where they'd be based, with aspirations of working within a group of creatives as opposed to freelance. I feel my choice of job will be very much chosen on the basis of the work they produce and who it would be produced for. As mentioned in the previous task I am interested in design for the music industry and also editorial, however branding has become a part of my practice of late, so potential clients will more than likely be smaller independent businesses, music labels, bands, musicians and other creatives based nationally, probably in the surrounding area of where I eventually work. For now I will say this is Yorkshire and the North of England as I'd prefer to stay up here. I think working in larger cities is something I'm very interested in, however I'd much rather work abroad than in London, as I feel it would be more of an experience, somewhere like Berlin or Stockholm I'd be very interested to work in as I think their design industries are booming at the minute. 

Potential clients and employers are now very much based digitally, using the internet as a tool for business, promotion and networking because of the creative opportunities it provides. However musicians and the music industry on the whole are still very much involved in print, although there are online magazines, blogs and websites etc, print is integral to the experience music creates. The artwork that accompanies albums and the campaigns still have a huge base in the print industry because of the amount of physical goods that are sold. Print is an avenue that I am very interested in continuing so it's important that my clients and employers still have a place for good quality print. Despite businesses moving to digital because of accessibility, technological advancements, and increased social acceptance of digital media (facebook/twitter etc), print is still very much a part of graphic design.

In order to promote myself to prospective employers and clients alike I will have to make clear to them my interests within the design industry, the skills I have, and what I have to bring to their business, aswell as my specific interest in their business.  To do this, the best way would probably be to focus on self promotion using online portfolios for accessibility, business cards and paper portfolios. Also it would be beneficial to produce some kind of paper promotion that I could send to employers and clients, tailored to their business so it is evident that time has been taken over it. This could also be used as an opportunity to, 'show them what I can do' as it were.

QUS QUS
A graphic design studio in Russia working with high quality print for publication, type and layout. Despite being in Russia I think this is a really interesting studio, and the fact that the website is all in English suggests they have no problems with communication.

A screen from their website giving information about the studio and practicing designers. I'm most interested in this studio because of the type of work they are producing and the amount I think I'd be able to learn, particularly in terms of work with type and layout for print.

Another thing I found quite interesting was that the studio itself sends out a promotional mailer, so they clearly feel this is a valuable form of promotion, sending them my own mailer therefore would be beneficial, and possibly more effective as they may take time out to look at it.

I am very interested by the fact that there is a focus on print, type and layout, and in sending them something I have produced myself, I can hopefully portray to the studio my own interest and skills in this area.

Enterprise - lecture 4 - How to successfully promote yourself in 6 easy steps.

People take in between 5 & 6 thousand visual messages a day
which makes it hard to get noticed amongst all of them!

Marketing communication mix
(Murray and O'Driscoll 1996)

Communication mix
>exhibitions
>trade fairs
>public relations
>merchandising
>advertising
>sponsorship
>direct mail
>sales promotions
>publicity
>personal selling

Works like a check list of ways to publicise your business

-the internet is not on here because it is merely a conduit for publicity.
Many of these forms of promoting your business can be done online

DO NOTHING & GET NOTHING

1. Get their attention
-memorable business cards - always have some available
-advertising - low key
-events
-interviews
-run a blog - keep it busy
-social media - publicity

2. Build their interest
-website
-portfolio
-information packs
-catalogue
-curation - credited for an event
-exhibition

3. Convince them (you're right to do business with)
-artist statement / value / mission statement
-recommendations - testimonials
-awards
-community engagement - convinces people quickly
-professional bodies - accreditation . acheivement
-Charity events - similar to community , shows commitment

4. Make your offer irresistible 
-value proposition
-pricing strategies - stages/discount etc
-packaging - services - extra stuff on top...
-try before you buy - offer initial work for free, may tip the deal
-recommendations
-differentiation - who you are - how you do business

5. Close the sale (making it as easy as possible for the customer)
-convenience
-but it now
-right place, right time
-delivery - offer to bring it to their door
-personal selling - face to face
-interactive website

6. Reinforce (let them know they made the right choice)
-after sales service - make a point of calling them
-advertising
-public relations
-longevity
-merchandising
-maintaining contact
-building relationships

JOHNNY CUPCAKES
www.johnnycupcakes.com

AIDA // attention - interest - desire - action

ignorance > attention > interest > conviction > desire >    action    > reinforce 
nothing     >    aware  > interest  >     belief    >  need  > aquisition > extension

Who? 
tailor your product for a particular market
people need specialists

Target your market.
really detailed information about the target market... necessary to lock down a market

SELVEDGE - advertising
FACEBOOK - advertising


hyper targeting - using peoples information to narrow down on the market you're trying to tap into.

Market segmentation
media usage
-knowing where a customer goes for information, tells you how to reach them

-newspaper 
-magazines
-radio/tv
-internet 

Business to business - make it something they want to read.
Avoid making it look like spam!

Consumer segmentation 
-demographics 
-geographical factors 
-lifestyle 
-media usage 


Summary 
- The marketing communication mix 
- 6 stages of effective communications 
- AIDA
- Target market segmentation 
- Business to business

Enterprise - task 1 - Who am I? Who are they?

List of possible client groups.
-Small businesses
-large companies
-New brands
-Tired brands
-Websites
-Publishers/authors
-Editors
-Photographers
-Bands

I think bands & people of the music industry are a client area that reflect my interests in graphic design most effectively. Having a passion for music, and skills in layout and editorial design I think relate intrinsically to the needs of the music industry.

Although my interest in this area of design may change as my practice evolves I think the skills I have at the minute lead me to the layout and editorial side. With knowledge of and a passion for music I think it makes sense to look at this because of the cross over between the music & design industry. Obviously there is always room for my skills to develop, and I think there is a huge amount of development to be doing over the next few years of the course. I mainly want to develop my use of type and colour, both at a base level and at a level that allows these to be used for maximum impact when working with editorial design. Skills necessary to work in this area of design I imagine would be an extensive knowledge of music and contemporary design, so that work produced is always relevant and speaks directly to the target market. An effective use of type, layout, colour and a good knowledge of heirarchy of information is also important in this field of design.

Again I think my professional aim leads towards editorial design, working within a small business or group of creatives that will allow me to gain feedback for my work and feed off other creatives in a studio environment. I think this is how I work best. Being able to do this will provide knowledge of the industry and give many different perspectives that all help to give a broader range of approaches that will captivate the target audience.

Task 2 - tutorial prep

What is industrial experience?
- Time spent in a professional envirnoment that provides you with knowledge of how practices work on a day to day basis.

What can you learn from industrial experience?
- Where you would like to take your own practice.
- How a design firm runs on a day to day basis.
- About the people working within each business and how their practice has evolved.


What form/format could industrial experience take?
- Studio/workshop visits
- Internships
- Freelance work
- Summer job
- work experience.

What areas of industry are you interested in?
- I am interested in the practical side of commercial printing
- Aswell as the workings of a professional design practice.
- I would also be interested to see how the design side of the music industry works.
- Publishing and editorial.
- Business side, making profit, being successful.

What are your concerns about industrial experience?
- Being unprepared 
- Not being a good enough designer to fit into a professional practice.
- being indecisive

Enterprise - Lecture 3 - Value

DRUCKER
Innovation is the tool of entrepreneurship, both demand creativity
MIHALY
Creativity is the ability to make or otherwise bring into existence something new.

"it's the act of seeing thing everyone else sees while making connections no one else has made"

KOTLER
marketing man

THEORY OF EVOLUTION

- safety
- social > social strata > heirarchy
- status > biggest horns > wealth > education
- spiritual

Maslows heirarchy of need 
Physiological > safety > love/belonging > esteem > self-actualisation

DESIGN IS APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY
Ted.com

Greatest human need = greatest market potential
Reduced human need = lower market potential

OVERALL AIM
SPECIFIC AIMS > outcomes
OBJECTIVES > outputs

how you're going to achieve

BBC mission statement
Ben & Jerry's mission statement
LCA mission statement

How people spend money
The value proposition.

Good is concept crit

PEER FEEDBACK

Comment on the extent to which initial research and development of the concept demonstrates a significant understanding of the chosen subject matter.
Initial research is good, a lot of content to work with, think the concept needs to be rethought to be more focused, too vague at the moment. Does it need to be specific to skateboarding?


satisfactory - good

Comment on the extent to which the concept proposal exploits the practical and conceptual investigation and application of design for print.
There is a lot of ways in which you can apply print with this. Organising promotion for an event, skateboard designs. Once you have a more focused concept, it'll be easier to find out what you can work with.

good


Comment on the proposed range of products to be produced in response to a clearly identified problem.
Linking to an event is a good idea, (festivals), places where people feel free! ie festival promotions - large scale, applied to various things (pad printing) posters flyers, mailshots...


satisfactory - good


Additional comments 
Focus your design ideas around an event.
Research in depth how to print onto skateboards, wheels etc - if not possible for you to do, mock up on photoshop. Try printing onto vinyl and then sticking on...
Strayed away from 'Nothing is impossible' back to skateboards
Event focusing on that statement - extreme sports - being spontaneous - sports clothing?






Think this was a really useful crit and have discovered I should probably move away from making happy meal packaging and focus on some actual design. I think going with a different colour scheme, one of the earlier ones making use of a teal blue or blue background with grey bolt would be much more effective.

Good is...? concept crit 1

Strengths
Skateboarding - good idea for branding/printing (onto boards etc)
Strong logo.

Areas for improvement
More focus for ideas
Statement and product need to be linked and communicated more securely to the audience. (at the moment, needs to be explained)
Whats your specific audience?

Safety wise
Should you be advertising extreme sports to young people.

Additional comments
Think of alternatives to the product that you can promote - made up events etc...
opens up possibilities for different promotional material.
Look at extreme sports magazines
Look at the strong man competitions, spartan race etc.
Research printing onto boards and wheels etc but just mock it up/ focus on do-able range of deliverables.

Enterprise - lecture 2 - Ideas & opportunities

IDEA (could be confused with a plan)
- Occurs at any time
- To anybody
- Randomly
- Seldom materialise

{ have to be able to back up ideas

OPPORTUNITY
- Environmental factors merge
- The right conditions
- The right place , right time

1.You are aware of what is going on around you and the time is right to take advantage of it

2. You are in an enabling environment

3. You have the resources to make it happen

Wrong time ... Leonardo Da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci had many ideas and inventions but they had no commercial application or need that would enable them to succeed.

P - Politicians could not see any benefit.
E - Economics were fragmented
S - Society had no need
T - Technology was too primitive

Right time ... Concorde
Fibre optic cabling/the internet etc reduced the need for services like the concorde
It was superseded by the internet.


P - Helped cement Anglo - French relations after WW2 
E - Economic development with USA
S - Social demand to travel more frequently > luxury travel > scarcity value
T - Very advanced - Engines from Vulcan bomber > carbon braking system > pressurised cabins

pest analysis (often know as Step > pestle > steep)

P - Political
E - Economic
S - Social 
T - Technological

Economies were growing. More people were making more trade between more countries and their need to travel more often was making travel cheaper. This is known as economies of scale.

Where do opportunities come from? 

•Trends

•Technical developments

•Political change

•Economic boom and slump

•Human need

•Problems

•Research

Sony Walkman - Developed as an experiment in which new technologies were combined with existing ones to create something entirely new.

Nike - Developed by a runner whose university running track was resurfaced, meaning he had less grip, experimented with potential soles that would grip it better // Technological PUSH


Innocent - Starting as a stall at a music festival with only £500 worth of fruit... // Market PULL

Post it - Developed by a combination of two scientists. one that couldn't create glue sticky enough and the other having trouble making bookmarks do their job...

-Technology PUSH means that new products that have emerged through the development of new technology are presented to the market without necessarily knowing how successful they may be

-Market PULL means that products are developed in respnse to market demand for change

The creative come in...

•Project management

•Know how to find the right people

•Know where to source stuff

•Can work with a team

•Gets along with all kinds of people

•Optimistic

•Communicates well

After spotting an opportunity 

Skills > technical > processes

Aptitudes > teamworking > Entrepreneurs don't work alone. 

Predisposition > risk/caution > evolution/revolution > manager/opportunist

Good opportunity or not? 
Look at competitors.
-How many are there?
-How well are they doing?
-What do they do well?
-What could you improve upon

  

How many customers are there – are there enough. How many competitors are there. This known as 

Supply and Demand.

Where are you customers and who are your competitors. Can you choose a location that would give 

you a competitive edge in relation to a target market.

Is anybody else doing this thing differently from you and if so, is their way better or worse than 

yours?

Assessing competitors 

SWOT analysis

S - Strengths 

W - Weaknesses 

O - Opportunities 

T - Threats

Enterprise quiz results

 The results of my attempt.

The question I got wrong...

Enterprise - Lecture 1 - How to get yourself 'out there'

The design council carries out a lot research into the industry and provides reports on issues that affect it. Actively show how design helps the economy through demonstrations and research.

Large agencies - very expensive (to run)

87% of creatives are employed at agencies with 10 employees or less...
11% are at a medium agencies with 50 - 100 employees...
only 2% are at large agencies. 

The design council also reduced funding to the arts by 26%

MARKETING
 "The process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably"


ROLES
1. Customer needs for developing new products
2. Pricing strategies
3. Product promotion - specialising
4. Identify distribution networks - where?
5. Give customers more than they expect everytime
6. Product performance - competition etc.


VALUE PROPOSITION
has to be...
short - specific - in the customers language - pass the gut feeling test

JEFF BEZOS - creator of amazon 
- decided to sell books online because he could provide a larger selection without having to pay for expensive retail space.
- Monitoring peoples purchases allowed him to spot buying patterms and to recommend other books to customers
- Allowing reviews and ratings meant that customers were more informed on what they wanted to buy.
- Offering discount for buying three or more books also moved him away from other retailers on the high street.
- He developed the technology for customers to quickly skim over books so they could get an overview on what to buy.
-Extended the range of books by collaborating with other sellers so he can now offer second hand, rare and antique books.
-He now offers just about everything else.


from peoples skepticism on the benefits of selling online as opposed to in a shop, he was able to counter their argument by providing new technology or additional services.


THE FOUR P's - BASIC PRINCIPLES OF MARKETING


PRODUCT - services // work // input
PRICE - pricing level // daily rate // royalty // free
PLACE - location // sales environment // services 
PROMOTION - marketing methods // branding // value propsition 


You need a point of differentiation...
Something unique
thats puts you apart from other doing the same thing.


PROMOTE!

Wrap it up crit feedback

Strengths
- Good creating quality.
- Carton is well composed, the idea of reversing the orientation really is a different take.
- Logo image is very strong.
- Upside down type is a good idea for helping contextualize the logo.

Areas for improvement
- MacDonald's colour scheme needs readressing slightly.
- Look at the inside of the packaging, how can that be changed?
- Type on carton would work better if it only went across three panels.
- Font is like Macdonalds...

Really useful feedback that helped me to pick out some issues that definitely need addressing.

Good is rationale

Good is the feeling that nothing is impossible.


Why?
1.Can go into anything without fear
2.Gives determination & motivation to achieve
3.Without it, masses of information would be undiscovered
4.It's a natural high
5.Gives people faith


I intend to promote to a group of skateboarders between the ages of 15 & 45 that nothing is impossible. In order to achieve this I will produce...

Product
Branding & promotion for a skateboarding hardware company

Range 
Packaging // decks // product aesthetic // logo // posters // editorial adverts // t-shirts etc

Context 
Skateshops - skate magazines - on products.

Why am I here? - What do I want to learn?

5 reasons I chose to study on the program.
- From open days I was able to see the colleges brilliant facilities, much better than other, larger universities I had been to see.

- I was aware of the courses reputation from my own previous course which had students go onto this program.

- The courses strong links to industry which would allow much greater knowledge of industry and chance of gaining employment.

- The knowledge and experience in the course team which can only improve the quality of the education.

- The heavy workload and amount of tutor time which would help me to develop in my abilities and work ethic.


5 things I want to learn during my time on the program
- Gain a much improved and broader knowledge of type and it's uses in design.

- Learn about the numerous print and finishing processes post design, that I can apply to give my work a much more professional finish.

- Learn how to effectively use colour in my design and how it translates from screen to print.

- How to communicate effectively with design firms in order to gain industry links, hopefully leading to placements and experience in industry.

- How to stop my hair from looking like either Kevin Keegan or a mushroom cloud.


5 skills that I think are my strength
- I think my knowledge of type and ability to apply it in my design are very useful, but these can always be improved on in such a vast subject.

- My ability to work under pressure however it would be useful to have the same rate of production when not under pressure.

- Knowledge of software used on the program gained from workshops and the amount I have used it.

- I think I have a constantly improving ability to draw and visualise things, despite not doing it as much as before, it is changing due to various and changing contextual sources.

- Ever improving knowledge of colour and it's application in print - pantone etc - again, always can be improved on.


5 things I want to improve on
- Communication skills for giving feedback, gaining industry links and communicating ideas etc
 
- Ability to visualise ideas and effectively create design from this.

- My determination to produce work, and ability to produce work at the same rate when not under pressure as when I am.

- My ability to produce concepts that I am happy with and become more concept driven in general.

- My knowledge in Graphic Design as subject, It's history, uses, symbolism etc. I think CTS will be very useful in this area.


5 ways that I will evaluate my progress 
- Frequent evaluation of projects, looking at how they are going, what I can improve on, where my strengths and weaknesses lie etc.

- Make sure to ask tutors advice and keep informed between crits and sessions so I am always on top of my progress.

- Using to-do lists I should be able to track my progress easily, in turn, I should then be able to evaluate how well I am working towards my goals.

- Keeping up to date with blogger I think should be a very simple and effective way to track and evaluate my progress. I can see all my work in one place quickly and ,hopefully (if I'm doing it right) easy to evaluate.

- Peer feedback on my work has proved invaluable during crits however I need to make a habit of doing this more frequently as I think it's very important to have a range of views to allow you to evaluate it yourself.


5 questions that I want to find the answer to
- Where I want to take my design practice and how I want to further develop it leading up to my final year of study? I think this will be the year I really work out where I want to go, third year will focus it.

- Whether I want to go into freelance work or into an agency, a more collaborative process or individual.

- How best to promote myself in order to 'get myself out there' and in turn gain employment. Whether this be through contact with industry or self branding etc.

- Where do I want to end up? is Leeds a good place to stay to uphold a design career or do I need to look further afield in order to gain the best jobs in the field.

- How much does the average graphic designer earn? and how much can I expect to be able to charge after graduation in order to earn myself some kind of living?

Self evaluation.

1.  What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?
 
From this module I think one of the main skills that I developed would have been crafting skills, and the quality of finished product. This gave a much more professional finish and I think it was applied most effectively in the speaking from experience brief. Where crafting was important to give my booklet a quality finish.

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

I think the main methods of research I have used for this module have been questionnaires and surveys and internet research into existing design practice. I found that the use of surveys was very useful in the group brief and in the last brief, speaking from experience, as they helped me to gauge my responses from other peoples experience of the course.

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

I think the main strengths I can identify in my work from this module are the quality of my finished product and my ability to research and blog consistently to inform my own design. I need to push these through to the next modules and beyond as I think these will continue to help inform my design practice. Crafting and quality of finish are important to give a professional finish, which is always important when you want something to stand out.

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

I think my main weakness continues to be the amount of work I produce, especially by hand as this is often a very useful tool for continued development of a project. In the first module I spent a lot of time working on my drawing and developing briefs away from the computer and I think I need to go back to this in order to complete a brief to its potential, and in a way that I am pleased with.

 5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?
 -    Go back to hand rendering and putting my ideas onto paper before moving to the computer as I think it’s always good to have visual reference from hand drawn ideas.
 -    Try to work consistently throughout a brief instead of slumping my workload at points, this will help me build a more thorough body of work for every brief. 
 -    Try to check back on my blogs more often to see if I’m missing work at any point, this will hep in the long run as I won’t have to find out on the day of the hand in that something is missing.
 -    Blog daily in order to stay on top of my work, I think this will also help in the production of my work, as it will give me incentive to aim to produce something to blog at the end of each day. It will also help me stay on top of my research and avoid situations like the one above.
 -    Use a broader range of research sources, such as books, found materials, blogs, questionnaires etc to give me a stronger hold on the subject I am working on for a brief. This will help overall in my development and in the production of a relevant and appropriate outcome. Remember that the Internet isn’t the only source of research.

6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas:

Attendance: 4
Punctuality: 5
Motivation: 3
Commitment: 4
Quantity of work: 3
Quality of work: 3
Contribution to the group: 3

Final Crit feedback.

PROBLEM ANALYSIS

Good development of original concept to something more personal to the course. Good direction from a constraining idea.
Good/Very good

CONTEXTUAL UNDERSTANDING

Good method of delivery. Think possibly of how to package the poster & booklet together. Think about the consistency of the pages, refine the style. 
Very good

RESEARCH


More research from other people's opinions.
Good

Final spreads