module evaluation

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

This module has allowed me to focus on the areas I am most interested in within graphic design. Therefore the skills I have developed and evolved will be key to my future work and focus for 3rd year.
I believe the skills I have utilised and grown include drawing, screen-printing, layout design, my computer skills and how I record my thought processes and development. I had an understanding of all these elements, however I now feel much more comfortable with them and have a greater knowledge of each. Screen-printing has become a real interest to me, and on future projects I would like to experiment with more than one colour as I believe the results can be better than when printed. The layout design came into play when I was re-arranging the Wagamama menu information. I had to grid it up so each side was the same as the previous one.
However, overall I believe my biggest improvement and skill was the recording of my thoughts, trials and development. This is best reflected in my Wagamama brief. I now realise how important it is to show how I came to my final outcome. I will definitely record my thoughts more in the future as I think it allowed me to analyse and evaluate my work and progress more.

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

Overall I am pleased with this module. However, as always there are areas I could developed more. I believe my strengths for this module include, the back-up work, organisation, commitment and determination. I realise these last 3 ‘strengths’ are not directly work base, but I feel that without these qualities I would have struggled with the last 5 weeks.
My organisation led to me being on top of everything by the final week and gave me time to focus on each brief. I also became more organised in my life; more time efficient at home, whether it was cooking or allowing myself time to see my housemates.
I really enjoyed this module and am pleased with some of the results and I think this fed directly into my commitment. I realised from an early stage that if I wanted to be successful I had to work hardly than the first term, and I learnt this could be achieved by arriving at college early and not leaving until I had finished that day’s to-do list. Yes my social time with my housemates was cut down, however I have the whole of summer to catch-up with them. The last ‘strength’, deermination, came from realising that a good grade and portfolio is what I want to get out of this course.

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

My main weakness is not taking risks. I seem to develop existing skills instead of acquiring new one. This is not a bad thing, however, as I mention in the next question, if I do not experiment now, when will I?
I also found it quite hard to juggle 3 briefs at one go. I definitely became better at this towards the end of the module and I believe I will be better equipped in the future to deal with multiple briefs. However, I did prefer working on one brief per day. (You can see my timetable on this blog)

4. Identity 4 things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?

1. I know recognise that working in the college environment is more beneficial to my development as a designer. Therefore, in the future I will work from the studio and computer rooms more. I started to do this at the end of this module and really noticed the quality and quantity step up a level.
2. I will use lists a lot more for the next module as I found this a very effective way of keeping track of what I had to do. For the last week of this module I had a different list each day and I found I was much more efficient.
3. Be more adventurous. I realise that this year and the next is about focusing on the key areas of graphic design I will use in the future, however I still believe I should experiment and try new things (if I do not do it now I never will).
4. Alex, Sara and I had an impromptu crit with John one day and we all found this very useful. It was at a point where we all needed other people’s opinions on our work and it was beneficial to hear other people’s views. Therefore, in the future I will make more of the people around me.

5. Please rate yourself on the following areas.
5=excellent, 4=very good, 3=good, 2=average, 1=poor.

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