Visual Language

End of Module Self-Evaluation
VISUAL LANGUAGE

1. What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?
Th first set of skills I have developed through this module are very technically based, the type and grid sessions gave me an insight to how work that is similar to mine is done professionally and technically, I have since used these skills within other projects and have made a large impact on my personal and professional development within graphic design.

The second area has been based around visual thinking, the early sessions while cutting up letters and exploring different ways of representing different words was really interesting and again has had a large impact on my design practice as well as personal development in graphic design.

2. What approaches to/methods of research have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?
During the what is a line brief I managed to go to a few museums and spent a lot of time drawing / researching visually. This gave me an interesting body of work to start analysing and thinking about graphically but I also found it very hard to focus on designing something. The museum also gave me reliable and interesting research that would have been far less inspiring had I found it all out online. The museum also allowed me to see the bikes and really expanded my knowledge of what they actually looked like in relation to size, textures and materials.

3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?
I think in the studio sessions especially ones that I had a previous interest in I really

4. What weakness can you identify in your work and how will you address these more fully?
During the end of this module my time management has been apauling, I was not able to focus on an idea and my research was very direct. I think through my work I need to take a range of different paths to explore and really take my ideas in alternative directions.

Within the what is a line brief I found the information I was trying to work with was not particularly interesting to me which made it hard to make it interesting for someone reading / looking through the zine. Another issue within the what is a line brief I didn't complete much primary research (quantitive / qualitative) and I think this had a large impact on my personal interest in the work.

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

1. Get a much better idea of target audience, I expect to make a piece of design that is more specific and relevant to the chosen people reading it and hopefully making it more interesting for them.
2. When researching take my work in a range of directions and really explore every possibility within the chosen theme before focusing and developing one idea. This will leave me with better informed and  unique designs
3. Really push my final idea and not be afraid to make mistakes - hopefully learn from these mistakes and utilise things that have worked and apply them to other projects
4. Improve on my time management and juggling of different briefs, help me prepare for second and third year as well as the real world.
5. Make sure I pay attention to my blogging for visual language, give me a better informed knowledge and understanding of visual thinking. It will also go towards my time management and will avoid me having to do any last minute blogging.

7. How would you grade yourself on the following areas?
5 = excellent  4 = very  good  3 = good  2 = average 1 = poor

Attendance  - 5
Punctuality - 3
Motivation - 4
Commitment - 3
Quantity of work produced - 3
Quality of work produced - 3

Zine

This was supposed to be a mock up of the final design but because of my laptop screen I couldn't access the files and make the foolish mistake of not saving the files onto an external device. The final book was designed to be printed on newsprint.

The design is very basic and after looking back through the sketchbook I think some of the visual work in there is far more interesting, I have had some major time management issues through this brief and Im not pleased with the final design at all. I needed to pay far more attention to things such as tone of voice, target audience. I think many of my problems lay with the concept of a sketchbook - I find it extremely hard to make progress while working like this, I think as part of the research its an interesting visual method of working but I need to make sure I blog consistently and explore a wider range of initial ideas so I don't limit my work in the early stages of the design process.

Bike visuals

Sketchbook work - focusing on the history of bikes to make a visual zine representing this timeline - focusing on the quote

"A connected series of events, actions, or developments."

Sketch Book

My laptop screen broke so its been hard to keep my sketchbooks up to date on my blog, this post shows a selection of the early pages from my sketchbook (before I focused on bikes)

Bookfair Misprints

Designs that weren't as successful / had mistakes, bleeds etc. I printed the green on top of the pink bear and it gave it a really nice final effect but was hard to keep consistent so I decided to use the design with only 2 layers for my final design.

Printed

Finished 10 books, really happy with the prints.

Printing

Screen printing my bookfair design, I think screen print makes the designs more personal and help sell the books. I decided on an A4 format because I think it was far better suited to the design.

The main issues were with the screen getting blocked up and bleeding from taking to long, but after cleaning it out a couple of times the prints came out really well. The second issue was with the initial prints were pink on green which didn't show up, but when swapped round I was really happy with the final designs. Unfortunately I didn't get to take many photos of the process but I am familiar with how it works and looking forward to producing more screen printed work.

Finally the back of the design has two colours faded through the circle and different coloured circle on the back.

Bookfair Designs

Final designs for book fair to be screen printed. Undecided colour scheme, going to print on stocky newsprint.

Bookfair

Idea of journeys, the salmon run, I don't know if it needs the text, maybe just keep it visual. I like the colours but need to think about relevance.

Alpine

Places beginning with A - Alpine, Alps etc - images are visually striking could work well for a poster, bit of a lack of context thats all. Also Albert Einstein but again I think its a bit random and far fetched. Created on photoshop playing with layers and changing the colour balance one I have changed the format from greyscale back to CMYK.

Book Fairs

The Brief: "Visually and contextually exploring the letter A"
After thinking about my book and how I am going to relate it to the letter A the main areas I am thinking about at the moment are -

- Things/places/people beginning with A
- A-B - Journeys / Mapping
- History of the letter A

I think journeys could be an interesting route to take but I don't want to over complicate my ideas I want this project to remain simple and visually appealing so that the books sell.

Considerations: Consider size and scale, colours, composition, etc.
Sizes available: A3- folded down to A5, or A4- folded down to A6.
I am undecided on my format at the moment, I think it depends largely on the amount on content within the book. Also A4 will probably be easier to sell because its

Target Audience: Students, young people, creatives
Tone of Voice: Witty, playful - fits with with my target audience
Background: visually explore each idea then focus down on a specific choice.
Mandatory Requirements: Edition of 10 hot dog fold books.
Deliverables: Edition of ten hot dog fold books. A3-A5 double sided / poster on flip-side

STUDIO DEADLINE: Tuesday 8th February 2011 studio deadline.
Tuesday 1st March 2011 final deadline.

Bookfair

Just a simple idea, thinking about a concept of A-B and journeys as a starting point. Nice idea visually but nothing more than a starting point at this stage. I think something along these lines would sell though because of its aesthetics, also ideally I want to screen print this project but I will have to see what I can do in the time available.

Folding

Experimental book folding / design ideas for visual language task.

Final Layout

Using my favourite design from the last 6, scaled to A5 and with labels on specific typeface, point size and image choices.