OUGD203 Module Evaluation

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

During this module I attempted to do another animation piece for the Together brief. The last animation module wasn’t much of a success for me, but it was something I enjoyed doing and wanted to do again. For this I had to build on my animation skills refine the way I keyed in movements, making them more smoother and natural, aswell as timing this to background music. I feel this shows through well in my animation for the Together brief, it is much more refined and enjoyable to watch, than what I had acheived previously.

I also worked with experimental hand-drawn typography for this brief too. For the ISTD brief I created a set of 2 typographic posters that work very well as a set, especially the ‘One Love’ poster. For this I had to use knowledge of type that I had picked up when learning about set and compter type, and apply this to illustrated type. This involved measuring up and splitting shapes into grids to draw the type into. Overall I am very happy with that project.

For the Faber&Faber brief, I had to design book covers for a collection a film orientated line. For this brief I had to blend visually engaging design, with certain elements of practical design, such as the design for the front and back versus the spine. The front cover is something to grab the audience’s attention what at a book store, to get them excited about a book, but the spine is a practical element that needs to show it’s users what it is on a shelf full of other books. I also had to take into account more practical sides of design. Because I was desiging a wrap-around covers, things like bleed for the edges when cutting and trimming and leaving extra space for the extra milimeters or so that corners cause so the jacket fitted correctly had to be accounted for.

2. What approaches to/methods of research have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?

For this project I was looking at research from various different source and using design principles found in all of them to help design something for a brief. For instance I was using the video from a computer game to demonstrate how I wanted my cover to take influence from.

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

My biggest strength in my work has to be with type. I take into consideration points like clarity versus aesthetic, when not to go overboard and scramble a message, what sort of font to use for a certain format. I am beggining to get knowledgeable of a few certain type faces, how to use then and when to use them. I also feel I have good layout skills. I think layout is one of the most ciritical parts for design and I pay alot of attention to it.

4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these more fully?

Presentation - I believe I would benefit from a better organised, catagorised and and annotated group of pre-liminiary work. I often leave this till the end and I often don’t have time to change it.

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

Better Project Management - While I am happy with what I have produced, final resolution-wise, it was a push towards the end to get it done in time. I also did not leave enough time toorganise my pre-liminary work organised and sorted.

6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas:
(please indicate using an ‘x’)

5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor

Attendance: 2
Punctuality: 3
Motivation: 3
Commitment : 3
Quantity of work produced: 2
Quality of work produced: 3
Contribution to the group: 3

It's Pop It's Art

It's Pop It's Art is a project by Airside. It includes beautiful typographic posters based on lyrics by various artists done by a variety of designers.

Rehab - Amy Winehouse by Richard Hogg




War - Edwin Starr by Allan Deas




Mercy - Duffy by Malika Favre




Last Night a DJ Saved My Life - Indeep by Richard Hogg




I Just Wanna Love U - Jay Z by Henki Leung




What's Going On - Marvin Gaye by Richard Hogg




Bright Side of Life - Monty Python by Henki Leung




Come Together - Primal Scream by Richard Hogg




Miss You - The Rolling Stones by Richard Hogg




I really like the hand-drawn aestheic in all of these posters, it seems more fitting and works better to try and portray the feeling and emotion of lyrics than set type or standard fonts. I also like how they've been drawn to 'fit' the format or illustration very well. [airside]