OUGD403 Evaluation

The first module has gone well, the work load has been intense and with constant work being set every week it was sometimes hard to keep on top of it all. However this was a great insight into how the industry is and it was nice to have work to do especially an interesting and broad range of projects. A new project being set every week meant that it was possible to briefly explore different areas and keep looking at new techniques and types of graphics.

The first project allowed a wide range of experiment with different resources and media. It was originally a challenge to make the word instrument fit around the font Garamond but it was good to have something like this to get me back into the thought process of designing. It fed nicely into the next project and this really made it feel like it was going somewhere, it also allowed me to see how I could develop my own ideas in graphic design and produce an outcome I am happy and proud with. Although there were a few flaws with my Brief 2 outcome this feels minimal compared to how far I have progressed in illustrator from originally not knowing anything. This has been the hardest and most challenging brief for me but at the same time one of the best because it made me face my illustrator fears.

The Partner project (Brief 3) has been enjoyable because it made people in the class talk when actually they may not have previously. It was a great way to make you think of a practical solution to represent someone. I found the research interesting and a good challenge to find a way of showing they key aspects of someones personality through a letterform, and then making this letterform work through a whole alphabet.

Brief 4 and 5 were my favourite, most probably because of the chosen topic. The flexibility to choose what ever story suited us made it more interesting, I chose Nuclear Power because I didn't really know anything about it but found myself being very negative towards it. The project has led me to completely change my opinion and then with this new found passion and interest in nuclear power I really wanted to create high impact posters that would throw peoples initial thoughts. This has been the most successful project and the one that I have enjoyed the most as its kept me interested and hasn't felt like I have been working.

Overall this project has allowed a nice introduction to the world of design. The tutorials on illustrator have made it less daunting and actually encouraged me to experiment with it in my spare time rather than stick to the comfort of photoshop. The mono printing inductions and digital print have shown me that there are so many possibilities when printing and creating work. Now that I am aware of these different methods I don't feel like creative ideas will be limited. I am excited to move on to other projects and take the skills I have learnt with me to progress and explore other ideas.