Design Practise

I want to start by saying that this module was epic in terms briefs and projects that I undertook. I feel like this module has been the most successful module yet for me on the course, feeling confident that I could put almost every brief I undertook into my portfolio.

My position statement was this:

Designer / Illustrator for creative & commercial industries driven by print, publication & mixed media. I have been going back to this statement throughout the module and had a focus from the start when writing briefs in making sure that I am steering my work as close my my position statement as possible. Throughout the duration of the first brief I made sure that my illustration had a wider context to work within that had a focus on layout and format, but this did come secondary to the illustration process. The contextual research i was doing here certainly helped inform my design decisions to a point of a successful resolve, but I could have definitely used a broader range of research resources. This would have helped push the brief to a higher level - I used this learning curve in my third brief which was dominantly layout driven (I'll come back to this). I changed my position statement towards the end of my second brief to incorporate a consideration for mixed media, as part of this brief included a wall painting. I did this because I can see myself producing more work of a similar kind. I feel that on the whole I have worked towards my position statement well by making sure i was focused on it at all times throughout the duration of all briefs that were submitted.

Live briefs:

I aimed to complete multiple live briefs because I knew this would give my portfolio an edge when it comes to showing it to potential employers and clients. However, the live brief aspect of this module didn't go as fully to plan as I hoped it would. The offer I got from Rebel Pin Up to produce work for them isn't actually complete as a live brief because of lengthy discussions with the client. For this reason I decided to cut it off as a live brief and change it to be suitable for module module submission, whilst still pursuing the live brief. The submission I produced for the juice magazine has been successful however with my editorial illustration being printed inside issue 2 in January, with the added opportunity of doing more illustration for the Juice magazine in further issues. It would have been great to have an issue of it for submission but I imagine there will be a chance to submit some more work in print over the course of the next module. I also do feel that I could have chased up more live brief opportunities if i had been more thorough with deadlines for briefs, as this took a few weeks longer than it should have to clarify.

Professional practice:

I am really happy with the way I have dealt with my professional practice and made a conscious decision early on in the module to really be on the ball with it. I kept my project file up to date completing action plans based on student, tutor and professionals feedback alongside to do lists and schedules made all the way through the module. One factor of the professional practise I am glad I did is the outsourcing of materials such as ordering glow pigment for my first brief. I learnt about how to order materials I need in time for deadlines I had set for production of products. I also learnt about how expensive this can be! outsourcing paints and paper stocks for brief 2 especially, the module has proved to be an expensive one, but it helped me to achieve the goals I had set myself. Correspondence with clients has been important for the rebel pin up brief and the juice magazine brief helping me produce work that is relevant and does actually sit within a live context.

Time management:

I spent about a week longer than I should have done on my first brief which meant that I had to be efficient when it came to managing time and deliverables for the following briefs. This was not too much of an issue, but a commitment with the graphic novel project I feel lost me valuable time (approximately 6 hours a week.) Which I also haven't gained allot from yet, but I think now focusing on that brief will reap the rewards. I have learnt ahead of the FMP that I need to be able to look at the time I have available and consider factors such as weather that will grin the country to a halt, full print rooms or missing staff and work going wrong into the amount of time I have and allow for that instead of leaving it not considered until the day it happens.

The standard of work this year is by far the highest I have produced up to date and this is definitely down to the research undertaken over summer and evaluation of last years work. I felt focused this module and there hasn't really been a time where I didn't know what I was doing or why I was doing it, hopefully testament to that is the on going evaluation on my design practice blog. There is allot of work I wish I could have done on top of what I have submitted, but the time was not available.