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

The progress crit...

Notes.
Survey for research // questionnaire // Facebook?

Link specifically to first years coming onto our degree course at LCA.

Gaining motivation from others on the course.


FLATMATES
-Living with people who think that graphics is a fake degree // an 'ARTY' degree.
-They are intolerant? Uneducated in the profession.

Development of new idea.
-Ways to prove the credibility of the course.
-gaining credibility from flatmates?
-ARGUMENTS TO PROVE THE CREDIBILITY OF GRAPHICS AS A DEGREE

WHY?
-distraction from work... not good on busy course.
-flatmates knock confidence...lose motivation.
-questioning graphics' credibility.
-Won't enjoy time on the course.

WHAT?
-ways to befriend flatmates?
-try to know all the answers to their questions
-ways to avoid conversation about graphics?
-excuses to avoid conversation in general?
-ways to 'deal' with them?

NEED TO ASK EVERYONE THE QUESTIONS THEY ARE ASKED ABOUT GRAPHICS...

30 reasons why graphics is important and why couldn't live without it ie. road signage

who might be the cynics?
what you might end up as?
think about noble professions and how design affects the way they work.
looks at the superficial element... why things looking good is important?
humour and its importance.

Ways to describe graphic design and make it sound important... like Fred does.


Revised concept
explaining how to deal with cynics of graphic design as a subject and profession and ways to answer them in order to protect the credibility and importance of design. (and yourself)


Although I came out of the crit feeling I had no clear concept, after discussing after wards with Jo I feel I have come to a much more effective concept and the possible effect will be much greater on everyone, not only first years...

Concept boards.

Project rationales.

THE BRIEF
1-Problematic flatmates
2-Lack of motivation


WHAT DO YOU NEED TO COMMUNICATE?
1-Ways in which you can deal with problem flatmates and all the downfalls that come with them.
2-Ways to avoid lack of motivation.


WHY DO THEY NEED TO KNOW?
1-So they can enjoy living in halls and aren't distracted from their work by issues in halls.
2-So they can keep on top of work and enjoy it. Instead of getting behind and not being happy at all


WHAT WILL THEY RESPOND TO?
1-A book that they can interact with.
2-I intend to produce a magazine and something they can possibly listen to.

WHERE DO THEY GO?
1-Reading the book received through the course or from the library
2-Will be given when introduced to the course in the starter kit