OUGD205 evaluation

Overall, I have thoroughly enjoyed this module, both for the variety of skills that I have developed, and for opening my eyes to different aspects of graphic design that I would not have thought about before. It has very much introduced me to a new way of working. 

At first, the idea of having week-long briefs running at the same time as other studio briefs was daunting as I am bad at managing my time in the best of situations, but as they started to run regularly, and I got used to the fast-paced rhythm of the module, I got a lot better at the decisions that I needed to make almost instantaneously. 

The layout of the briefs and the idea sessions in the time-tabled slots very much helped with the time management issue. I normally spend a lot of time coming up with ideas, and generally have the time to chop and change what I am going to do. This was the area that I learnt the most with this module, coming up with ideas and sticking to them, as there really wasn't enough time in the week to do what I normally do, and it was very beneficial. Each of the pieces is generated from ideas that I have developed from my initial burst of ideas in the sessions. It has very much changed the way that I look at briefs now, writing up my own parts and sticking to my ideas without straying off. 

I also found that it opened my eyes to a whole new area of design, each brief carefully thought out to really get the most out of our time on the module, opening up the opportunity to work in any sort of media we wanted. I really tried to stretch myself where this is concerned, not sticking to one way of producing a final piece like I have in the past. I generally like sticking to what I am confortable with... working with vectors in Illustrator. However I have covered photography, hand-rendered type, hand drawing, crafting out of paper and card. I have learnt a lot of processes which I have never used before, including learning how to scan drawings in and adapting them on the computer using Adobe software. 

I also found that the 2D to 3D to 2D brief startled me more than I thought it would. The idea that I could not just run to a mac and create something on there was tricky at the beginning, but, funnily enough, this was the brief I enjoyed the most in the end. I think I took far too much time setting that one up, but it did not feel like work. I really enjoyed going back to crafting and creating things out of physical objects. 

One issue with this module was certainly with time management. It took a lot of time over Easter to catch  up with things that I had missed or done roughly. By that point, I became a bit of a perfectionist, spending hours re-doing previous briefs, following up on the feedback I was given and making the pieces up to scratch... but this, accompanied with my placement, ate up my time and I ended up completely botching my final piece. If I could do it again, I would pay far more attention to the self-initiated brief because, I spent all my time knitting the binding that I then didn't do the content. Which was utterly stupid. There was not one day in this Easter break where I was not working and I really feel bad about the result of the brief. I did not take the time into consideration, and the sheer magnitude of the task I had set myself for such a short amount of time, in which I was doing so many different things that my mind was all over the place.
I am finally happy with all my final pieces minus the self-initiated brief. I think this module has resulted in some pieces of work I would be happy to put into my portfolio, which I definitely did not have at the beginning. 

Things I would do differently

Consider time more appropriately. Think more about the tasks I am setting myself for the time allocated. 

I would re-think my self-initiated brief idea. I think I would have liked to have taken the 2D to 3D to 2D brief further. 

Researched more. 

ATTENDANCE - 4

PUNCTUALITY - 4

MOTIVATION - 3

COMMITMENT - 4

QUANTITY - 4

QUALITY - 3

CONTRIBUTION - 3

This rapidly became my favourite module of the course so far. The fast structure helped with my time skills and decision making process. I also learnt a lot to do with processes and finishes which I will take on with me into other briefs.