The Final Major project has been a steady learning curve for me and has pushed myself to develop a design practice in unexpected ways.
At the beginning of the module, it felt like a slow start, I felt perhaps unsure of my work and how to approach the briefs, but soon after refining my contextual research and picking up the pace of my design practice I started to become more focused and enjoy it.
I think my strengths became apparent upon answering the Mogwai brief, exploring and experimenting with the possibilities of Photoshop, which I developed on and used to a confidant level in all the other briefs. Producing a piece of work that I liked boosted my motivation and confidence in my design practice. I think it was this that coursed my professionalism and standard of work produced to improve a grate deal after, such as in the ISTD and Adult book covers briefs.
To show that my design practice and illustration style can be versatile. I chose to answer a variety of different briefs for different target audiences, but all tied together with a focus on portraying an image and narrative. The briefs i chose to do this where; book cover design for two different target audiences, promotional/branding for a band, poster promotion for a film, Image as type that developed into product design. These allowed me to create a selection of designs and outcomes, very different in style and method but still illustration based and I am happy with some of the outcomes I have created. I feel throughout this FMP I have allowed myself to develop my own personal ways of working with illustration and accept using different stylistic approaches for different briefs to produce the most suitable outcomes.
Looking back at my work and seeing how I have progressed has given me confidence and the drive to do more and better work. I feel I now have a series of pieces and outcomes that will add towards my portfolio, displaying me as an illustrator/designer, but an applied illustrator who can work to many different types of briefs in a manner of different styles and techniques.
Unfortunately the outcome of the design context publication I feel does not reflect how much I have gained from researching and speaking to other designers. By reading and learning about their design practice I think has improved my skills and knowledge of the industry which is starting to reflect in my own work. Particularly in the penguin book cover brief.
Blogging regularly has helped keep myself organized and see the progression of my work I have been consistent particularly with the design context.
My biggest weakness was the lack of decision making about the design directions of each brief up until April. It was time pressure that coursed me to finally pick and stick to design solutions for each brief. Although type layout and photography are not my main strengths I am very aware they are needed to be a graphic designer as I have used them in every brief. I am using them more and in doing so I feel more confidant, particularly with photography, which I have come to find can create new possibilities in my work.
Looking back this module has helped me see my strengths and highlight what areas I still need to improve. It has helped me become more confident in my design skills, which I'm happier with now since my lack of confidence in my design practice I feel has held me back.
I feel I have pushed my designs and worked well towards the end of this module, and the course and finally feel more confident in my design abilities and how my design practice may be applied in a commercial industry.
Thursday, 2 June 2011
Wednesday, 1 June 2011
ISTD Final Boards
The turn out of this brief was quite unexpected. I initially wanted to apply my illustration to a typeface and produce a Type as image set of posters. However I struggled and failed to develop a range of type designs. So designed a very basic type based on one of the photographs from my research of branches. The brief was then put on hold for a while to think of a relevant context. Which then lead to a applying the type illustration to product design. Photography became a large part of this brief and enable more possibilities with the design direction. On the whole I'm satisfied with the outcome but perhaps could have done more with it and applied to a wider range. With more investigation into colour and layout.
Mogwai Final Boards
I approached this brief initially as a simple poster design brief, but I realized that the poster aspect would just be more of an outcome, so I decided to turn the brief into an event branding based brief that can be applied to multiple outcomes resulting in merchandise. I enjoyed working in Photoshop and experimenting with the image design and almost regret not producing more of it. I felt confident with the initial design direction due positive feed back from peers who enjoy the sort of Music I was trying to visually portray. I have also investigated how the design can be adapted for different printing techniques and forms. From A2 digital poster print to screen printed onto fabric with hand mixed pigments. The printing methods worked but I feel the T-shirts didn't come out as textured as I hoped based on the poster turn out and digital t-shirt mock ups. Overall I felt this was a successful brief and reflects my ability to create diverse imagery to suit different briefs and outcomes.
Puffin Prize Boards
This was the longest of all my briefs chosen and perhaps the one that was exploited the most. However I still don't think the design is completely finished and could have been developed more with a more polished set of illustrations working more coherently as a set and applied to a larger range of titles. The layout and choice of font should have been more considered.
However I do feel I have achieved what I set out to do. Focus on image and develop and illustrative style to reflect a narrative and writing style for a child audience, in this case Roald Dahl.
Adult Prize boards
Out of all the briefs I think this one has the best outcome, I enjoyed the development process and experimentation with layout and colour pallet. I feel I was able to successfully utilize my illustration skills regarding hand rendered vector images. The time spent on doing this has paid off with what I think is a high quality outcome. I feel the end result works well as a set with a suitable style of outcomes which has great impact and may appeal to a contemporary, discerning, literary readership. I feel that this brief has allowed me to develop skills in working with a set of outcomes for creating images to reflect a narrative and writing style applied to book cover design and further promotion. But above all I can see a line of professionalism and this design perhaps being used in industry.
YCN final Boards
Advertising and promo is something I was very interested in and new a bit about from a placement I had in August. However I ended up putting this brief on hold (thinking it could be a quick turn around) while focusing on the others and so I feel this resulted in being my weakest brief.
I am interested in film and cinema and wanted to see if I could successfully apply my illustrations to advertising and promotion for a movie and how strongly they would work, I am not happy with the outcome, I think I perhaps could have pushed the designs further, I realize I perhaps lost 'passion' for this brief and subsequiantally lost interest within it. I do feel the final pieces were successful and fulfilled the brief but I did not exploit the brief to its full potential. Overall, I think I can apply my illustrations to this type of brief, yet I must push the designing aspect further rather than rushing to develop the final outcome to produce a more susccessful brief.
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