Wasn't sure where to put this so I've posted it here as well as design practice blog and domain blog.

1. What skills have you developed through this year and how effectively do you think you have applied them?
Over the past year I feel that my skills involving type and layout have vastly improved which was my main aim for this part of the course. Doing the type module was a particularly important part of my development in these fields. I have applied these skills very effectively in all of the briefs I have undertaken since the completion of this module. You can definitely tell the difference in my ability between the publications I designed in the design practice module from the things I was doing in the design for print module.

I also managed to improve my illustration skills although I had pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I cannot draw very well. I had to draw a lot of storyboards for the design for digital media module and I did quite a few illustrations for my growing vegetables booklet. I definitely would consider illustration to be one of my weaknesses but feel that I have successfully developed my skills in this area and have vastly improved from last year.

The O2 collaborative brief I did with Emma was also important in terms of my development as a designer. The construction of our device was very process driven. I further developed my skills in screen printing and learned how to set up artwork to be laser cut as well. It also made me feel more comfortable when it came to negotiating a brief with another person because we had to make sure we were both happy with where we were taking the brief and what each of us was going to contribute.

2. What approaches to generating work and solutions to problems have you developed and how have they helped?
I think that working through many design sheets has helped me to get down all of my ideas and explore them before moving onto something else. In the past I would probably just have brainstormed an idea and left it there. Research has been an important part of the design process for me. The research I undertook for the good project and the gardening project really helped me to develop the work well and in turn, generate more ideas as to what I could do with a brief. Talking through my ideas with my peers and tutors has also helped with problem solving. Especially when the laser cutting went a bit wrong during the O2 brief, if we had not talked through everything properly and rationally, it could have gone horribly wrong.

3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?
I think that my strengths do lie within typographic and layout design. Next year I’m hoping to carry on with more publication design and am hoping to spend the majority of the time playing with type and layout on booklets, leaflets, magazines, posters and more. Because of this, for my work placement I applied to lots of design companies that deal with the design of this kind of literature. I have now hopefully gotten a place at Purpose in London. I feel that I come up with strong ideas and concepts quite swiftly which means that I can move onto fully researching a subject and developing designs with minimal fuss.

I feel that there is a strong correlation between my portfolio of work and my ambitions as a designer. Most of the things I have included in the portfolio demonstrate my abilities in publication design and how well I can manipulate type and design layouts. My portfolio is also very colourful which I think reflects me as a person and my eye for design.

My interest in layout design led me deciding on the topic of grids for my dissertation. I plan to look at whether they are relevant or redundant. My proposal is based around the question ‘is design ruled by the straight line?’ and will be examining how people adhere to or rebel against grids looking at all forms of design from city planning and architecture to painting. I admire the work of designers such as Josef Muller-Brockmann and wish to gain a greater understanding of the use of grids in all forms of design. I have already completed a module in typography which has helped to further my interest in the subject. Much of my work in the Design Practice module has been focused on publication design and so I have had to work mainly with grids and type. In the third year I wish to carry on with designing booklets, magazines etc. and so will again be working mainly with grids and type meaning that I will be able to use any contextual research I do for my projects as research for my dissertation.

4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how could you exploit these more fully?
I feel that I can manipulate body copy well. In the type module I learned about fitting copy into a grid and making a viewer want to read lengthy bits of text. I now know about the importance of line length, point size and leading in the development of a successful layout. However I feel that I could be more experimental with type and if I were to design more display style type work that would be beneficial to me as a designer.

Illustration is probably my major weakness but its not really relevant because that is what collaboration is for. I do feel that my skills in the area have improved somewhat but it is not something I will be pursuing in the future.

Time management is also something I feel that I need to work on. I used to think I was really organised as I am always punctual and in attendance and on top of my work. But doing more than one brief at a time during the design practice module showed me how much more I need to organise my time so that I can complete the work to a high standard as well as have a social life.

5. What will you do differently next year?
In future I plan to keep an up to date diary and blog every day to make sure that I am working at a good pace. Next year I plan to focus on publication design and will aim to do that for the majority of the time. I think I need to look at more contemporary practice as that is something that I have not done as much this year. However I have bought my own domain and have set up a new blog on there for next year. I will be updating it throughout the summer with my own personal work as well as anything that catches my eye.

6. How would you grade yourself on the following areas:
Attendance: 5
Punctuality: 5
Motivation: 4
Commitment: 4
Quantity of work produced: 3
Quality of work produced: 3
Contribution to the group: 3 0 comments