End of module evaluation

1. WHAT PRACTICAL SKILLS HAVE YOU DEVELOPED DURING THIS MODULE AND HOW EFFECTIVELY HAVE YOU APPLIED THEM?

This module has really helped me find my own place in the studio and the design process. The collaborative brief taught me a lot about picking the right team of people and how important it is. You need to collaborate with people who have strengths in different areas to you, rather than similar as it gives a much more rounded result. For example for our collaboration, i mainly focused on the computerized aspects of the designing, Liz on the illustration and Steph on the type, and the result was particularly effective.

I've worked a lot on the computer for these recent briefs and really enjoyed fortifying my skills in the Adobe programmes.

I also tried out print and letterpress, which I would love to use again in the future, it was so interesting to learn new skills that I hadn't known about before and gives such a nice hand-rendered feel.

2. WHAT APPROACHES TO/METHODS OF PROBLEM SOLVING HAVE YOU DEVELOPED AND HOW HAS THIS AFFECTED YOUR DESIGN DEVELOPMENT PROCESS?

I have furthered my research skills which we were taught in the previous module, and as I did more, I found it more and more useful. Knowing the subject which you are working on is definitely a must if you are going to produce a good result.

I also learnt illustration skills from the other students in the class, those who's passion is drawing, I'm liking the hand-rendered effect a lot at the moment and would love to do more of it, print-making aswell.

For the Speaking From Experience brief, I found the crits really useful, and being made to follow up more than one idea to get the perfect one is really useful as, if I had gone with my initial idea, it would have failed and probably have looked terrible.

3. WHAT STRENGTHS CAN YOU IDENTIFY IN YOUR WORK AND HOW HAVE/WILL YOU CAPITALIZE ON THESE?

I think my main strengths this module reside in my research and work produced on the macs. I was really interested in the InDesign programme and learning about layout.

I also think that my skills on Illustrator have advanced a lot which I'm really happy about as it was my main "what I want to learn this year" at the begginning of the course. I would love to learn a lot more about these programmes.

4. WHAT WEAKNESSES CAN YOU IDENTIFY IN YOUR WORK AND HOW WILL YOU ADRESS THESE IN THE FUTURE?

Due to illness and other various issues I wasn't putting my all into this module, and paying for it now as I am not happy with a lot of the work produced. My motivation was down and my time management was terrible. I need to learn to start a brief at the begginning rather than leaving it to the crunch time.

5. IDENTIFY 5 THINGS THAT YOU WILL DO DIFFERENTLY AND WHAT DO YOU EXPECT TO GAIN FROM THESE?

1. Work better as a team, put more into the group.
2. Work on my time management, get more done, more quickly.
3. More experimentation and recording of ideas, better results are acquired when you try out a lot of different things.
4. Focus more in inductions, I find it hard to remember a lot of the things I have learnt.
5. Stay healthy. My health has been terrible.

6. ARE THERE ANY THINGS WE COULD HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY THAT WOULD HAVE BENIFITTED YOUR PROGRESS?

No, I think this module was really well thought out and organized.

7.

ATTENDENCE - 3

PUNCTUALITY- 4

MOTIVATION - 2

COMMITMENT - 3

QUANTITY OF WORK PRODUCED - 3

QUALITY OF WORK PRODUCED - 3

CONTRIBUTION TO THE GROUP - 3

Speaking From Experience - Calendar Page

This is the page for the most popular day of the week... I have carried on using the same font and logo and experimented with illustrator...the tabs with the information are perforated so as to come out easily.

Speaking from Experience - Further development

I decided as well as t-shirts which are quite expensive to make, I could create some wrist bands which are also visible, to make you talk to other people wearing the same one on the same night...

Speaking from Experience - Further development

For a separate idea to accompany the calendar, I wanted to create a series of tshirts that students can wear on the day, and then see who is wearing the same one... meaning they are both going to the same place and therefore can talk and make friends over talking about it/actually go out together.

These are a series for different nights, I wanted to try out different layouts and colour schemes.

These two I feel really work... they have enough information to get by... and not enough for people not to ask questions.

Speaking from experience - Development

On the calendar I want to include tabs which you can rip out and place in your pocket/ put in your purse... Maybe have all the tabs on one page for each day... and have them punched in so you can rip them out easily.

I decided to create tabs according to the designs already made for the night... these are a few I've designed so far for

Slam dunk at the Cockpit

Session at the Cockpit

The Garage at the Cockpit

Bad Sneakers at the Faversham

Moustache at the Faversham

Jagerbomb at the Faversham

Speaking From Experience - Calendar Research

I then started to look into different designs for the calendar... I wanted to design one which would work just sitting on the student's desk. Easily visible and easily useable!

This one could be quite hard to design... plastic base, but looks pleasing.
This is an idea I was thinking about... just a ring binder... so you can literally just pull off the tags on seperate pages.

This is a more complicated design. It would work but I do not know how to go about finding/making the plastic.This is my favourite design, a simple flip calendar with a bind at the top.... I think I am veering towards this idea.

Much the same with this one...

Speaking From Experience -Further Experimentation

Front cover designs...

Speaking From Experience - Experimentation

After deciding on my first product, the calendar, I went about trying to create a front cover which could also act as a sort of logo.

I wanted to work with an image of a crowd, either hand-rendered or illustrator based. I wanted it to have more layers than a simple silhouette.

These are the layers...

They look very rough outlined...

I then piled them up...

I then decided to experiment with colours and outlines...

The final one i chose again, goes with the blue theme...

I then put it together with the text and got...

Speaking From Experience - Research

MONDAY

Mission - Homo - Gay night - £3 in - 11pm-3 am - Drinks from £1 - Popular "gay" music.

TUESDAY

Cockpit - Slam Dunk - £3 in - 10.30pm-3am - Drinks from £1.50 - alternative/metal/emo/rock and roll

Moustache - Faversham - 10pm-3am - £4/3 with NUS Drinks from £1.50 - party tunes/rock/pop

Bigger Than Barry - Mint - 11pm-4am - Drinks from £1.50 - Dubstep/drum+base

Robot Rock - Hifi - 11pm-3am - £2 before midnight/£4 after - Drinks from £1 - Electro-party/disco-punk/ 80s indiepop

WEDNESDAY

Move On Up - Hifi - 10.30pm - 2.30am - £4/3.50 members - 60's soul/basement jazz.

Jagerbomb - Faversham - 10pm-3am - £4 in - dance/indie/hip-hop/electro

Vodka Nation - O2 Academy - £3in - 11pm-3am - amazing drinks prices, £1.50 vodka mixer - indie/electro/popular

THURSDAY

Crisis - O2 Academy - £5 - 11pm-3am - emo/metal/alternative/rock and roll

Silver hips - Hifi - £3 - 10.30pm - 3am - drinks from £1.50 - Motown/old school Hip/hop and Indie.

FRIDAY

Fuel - Leeds Met Student Union - £5 - 11pm-3am - drinks from 90p - metal/alternative/emo/rock and roll/popular

Session - Cockpit - £5 - Drinks from £1.50 - electro/pop/disco/indie/80s pop. GRAPHIC DESIGN STUDENTS FAVOURITE NIGHT.

New Bohemia - Faversham - £5 - Drinks from £1.20 - Soul/funk/drum+base/hip-hop/broken beat/dancefloor jazz/latin/ reggae/ dubstep/ disco

Funksoulnation - hifi - £5in - 10.30pm-3am - Drinks from £1.20 - funk/soul/hip-hop

SATURDAY

The Garage - Cockpit - £5 - 11pm-3am - Drinks from £1.50 - Rock and Roll

1st Saturday of the month - 3rd room - Pinky Swear - Emo/ Pop-punk/ hardcore

2nd Saturday of the month - 3rd room - Pop Rocks - Guilty Pop Pleasures

3rd Saturday of the month - 3rd room - Power Ballads - Very best power ballads.

Bad Sneakers - Faversham - £4/3 members - 11pm -3am - indie/electro/new wave/ rock and roll

Pet Sounds - O2 Academy - £5 door/4NUS - 11pm-3.30am - dancefloor anthems/classic tracks/ cutting edge rock and roll

Boogaloo - hifi - £6 - 10pm - 3am - 50's jump/blues/latin boogaloo/jamaican ska/gritty soul/funk rock/breaks/international

ADDRESSES

The Cockpit -

Swinegate

Leeds

LS1 4AG

Faversham -

1-5 Springfield Mount

Leeds

LS2 9NG

HIFI-

2 Central Road

Leeds

LS1 6DE

Mint -

8a Harrison Street

Leeds

LS1 6PA

O2 Academy-

55 Cookridge Street

Leeds

LS2 3AW

PLACES TO HAVE A DRINK - most popular to leeds college of art first year graphic design students. Pre-Drinks.

The Drydock

Woodhouse Lane,

Woodhouse,

Leeds

LS2 9JT

The Library Pub

229 Woodhouse Lane

Leeds

LS2 3AP

The Oak-

2 Otley Road

LEEDS

LS6 2DG

Carpe Diem -

Civic Court

Leeds

West Yorkshire

LS1 3AB

Nation of Shopkeepers -

25 Cookridge Street

Leeds

LS2 3AG

The Hyde Park Pub

2 Headingley Lane

LEEDS

LS6 2AS

TAXI NUMBERS

Amber Cars - 0113 2311366

Royal Cars - 0113 230 4030‎

THE ONLY TWO TO USE...

Speaking From Experience - Type experimentation

I've focused on experimenting with the fonts and taglines I was working with before. I wanted to get straight to the point... and decided on a blue colour scheme for continuity, originally stemming from the Cockpit logo which i thought was really effective and stands out.

The Cockpit Logo.

Experimentation.

My favourite combination of colour, tag-line and type.

The font I have chosen is called 'Punk Kid' and for continuity I will be using it for most of the designs in this brief. It is distorted enough but also legible.

Speaking From Experience - Research.

I asked the first year students what were their favourite nights in Leeds.... these were the results.

New Bohemia - Faversham - Fridays

Moustache - Faversham - Tuesdays

Session - Cockpit - Fridays

Gatecrasher - Thursdays

Hifi - Silver Hips - Thursdays

Bigger Than Barry - Mint - Tuesdays

Saturday - Nation Of Shopkeepers

Habit - Space - Thursdays

Evolution - Saturdays

Slam Dunk - Cockpit - Tuesdays

The Garage - Cockpit - Saturdays

Hifi - Sundays

So the favourite venues are Cockpit, Faversham and Hifi.

The most popular night is tuesday... not surprising with our "day off" on a wednesday.

And most people are into alternative/dubstep/drum+base and electro.

I don't know wether to include all the nights in leeds or just the ones which appeal to the graphic design students.

Speaking from Experience, Further Planning

After a lot of deliberation, I have decided to produce a calendar, showing all the different nights available for students.

I first thought of making a monthly edition, planning out the whole month of september from when the first year graphic design students start in their new town. However, after taking a survey, over half the students said they knew a lot about the nightlife after the first week... that that was the hurdle that was hard to cross. So I decided to just focus on the first week. Monday-Sunday, giving all the information they needed to get by and settled into their new nights out.

What I found difficult was finding nights and fellow students who were into the same kind of music that I was into. I wanted to include this problem into my designs. Maybe by separating the different nights into different genres of music and clubs. After asking the class... this was confirmed as a good idea.

Calendar.

Information about the nights out.

Drinks prices.

Addresses of venues.

Taxi numbers.

Door Prices.

Times.

I am going to start designing the calendar... then branch off with different ideas from that.

InDesign_Sean Perkins_Final article

With grid.

Without.

InDesign_Sean Perkins_information collected.

Information I have picked up from Sean... leading to me wanting to make this piece humorous... recollecting some of the ridiculous stories of his childhood.

Born in Billinge Hospital, Wigan... It was closed shortly after his birth.

His earliest memory was being terrified of his house falling on him, being terrified of his dog because he thought it was a lion, and having an inane fear of his wardrobe as he thought it was a "portal to the gates of hell".

He was bullied at school, got into fist fights as he wasn't like the others, who liked to hang out on street corners, terrorizing locals.

He preferred to stay at home and play with his imaginary football league, made clothes and stadiums for his toys, wrote commentaries, made crowd noises and drew touch lines on the carpet.

He also created a school in his bedroom comprising 3 classrooms and a hallway in which he taught imaginary children.

Played with his brother on an imaginary beach in his aunty's living room made up of a yukka plant and a yellow throw.

He watched 'Titanic' with his grandmother and got very upset at the emergency boats who fell asleep rather than saving the people, he turned around at the age of 9 and said "I'm going to say something very bad now... but "the fucking bastards".

He was too scared to use the bus system due to a girl who spat at him, one day in reaction he screamed "willyhead" at her, to which she spat in his eye and told him he now had leukaemia. He then went the long way around town, walking accross a bridge on which 3 boys threw him into a river... he then braved the buses once again.

His biggest adrenalin rush was when him and his friend went through a forest, found a tramp asleep, poked him with a stick and then he chased them for a mile through the woods.

His only friend was later found out to be mentally disabled.

He refused to take his duffle coat off for an entire summer.

He was convinced he was the white power ranger and that his school was the starship enterprise.

He used to make dens with his brother out of boxes. He used to get given expensive presents and only care about the box it came in. Once they made a spaceship under a table and his brother dropped a wench on his head.

His grandfather once found a grey fox, sean wanted to keep it and called it his silver wolf.

There is a lot to build on here...

Speaking From Experience, Initial ideas...

Following my first crit with this brief, I decided to use the problem that first year students at Leeds College of Art do not know where to go out clubbing in their first week at university.

It was certainly a problem I faced...

The hardest part of getting to a new city is both making friends and getting used to places you are surrounded with... this is sometimes hard because you are all in the same boat... no-one knows where is good to go.

Another factor is that the people you meet immediately (flat mates, college students) won't all be into the same music/club nights that you are... and it is hard to say no when someone offers you a night out.

I want to come up with a solution which will help students know where to go, on what night and know exactly what they are in for (drinks prices, door prices, music genre etc...) both so they have a good night, and so that they find similar people, into the same things.

Speaking From Experience... Rationale

From our initial ideas I decided to take the homesickness issue forward and wrote a rationale for the brief I will answer.

Speaking From Experience... initial ideas

To begin idea generation for this brief we were asked to come up with 5 different concepts... moving on to 5 ideas, research paths and resolution ideas to go with each.

Communication is a Virus - Final pieces

Website Design

Mailshot.
The business card.

Front.
Back.

The mailshot and cards in the environment...

Communication is a virus - Further Boards, illustration and type.

These are some examples of the hand-written type and some of the illustrations we are going to include in our final products. I like the way it looks kitsch and home-made, adding to the whole idea of the home-made gifts.

Communication is a Virus

We have decided to take a very hand-made approach to the designs, using hand-rendered type and hand-drawn illustrations to accompany the information, to add to the whole hand-created feel.

In response to feedback from the crits, we need to make the text very legible, which was a problem initially to make it both aesthetically pleasing and readable.

They also said that it was a very good idea, that most of them would actually use the website, and that times like these need ideas like this as people are finding it harder and harder to afford presents.

We also realized that our audience was too broad, some adults would find giving some of our ideas to other adults quite childish. And the idea of giving the mailshots out in shopping centers would be useless as people would already have set out with the purpose of buying a present.

In response to this we changed our target audience to children/teenagers who are often in need of ideas for such things, and don't possess as much money as adults. We also decided that the aim was to give the mailshots out in schools and send them to parents of the children. With the information we provide, children will be able to produce gifts that parents will cherish and keep, the idea may help encourage parents to help the children produce them.

We did a lot of research into different gift ideas and events, a lot of my role was in the research, also in the design of the actual website.

We chose calm green and yellow colours to add to the text and warm illustrations.