Typography Elective Evaluation

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

I think I have a gained a real understanding and appreciation of type. I feel that I look at typefaces and the way type is set with completely new eyes as a result of this module and consequently the way I approach the setting of type in a specific project has been dramatically improved. 

I am much more knowledgeable in the more technical aspects of type such as column width, point size and leading and the effects they have on legibility. I think I have been able to apply these new skills effectively in all the exercises we have done in the lessons but also this knowledge has informed my general graphic design practice outside of the typography module a huge amount.

I think I have gained a much greater understanding of the more creative and experimental aspects of typography. I like to think I have applied this knowledge well and can effectively communicate an mood or image through type.

Before I started this module I wasn’t certain that I wanted to do the typography elective, but now I am very glad I did do it. I think it has confirmed to me where my interests lay within graphic design and also where and how I want to specialise my skills and the way I work in the future.

2. What approaches to generating work and solutions to problems have you developed and how have they helped?

Using letterforms to create patterns was a way of generating images that I had never really considered before, it has a huge amount of creative potential and I have started to use it in some of my projects.  

I have always known that things like capitals, bold type, italics, serif and sans serif typefaces communicate a certain style or mood but now I feel as though I really understand why these communicate in different ways and as a result I have much more control over them and am able to use them to communicate in a much more precise manner.

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

I think I have a good eye for layout. I think I am quite knowledgeable about typefaces and good at identifying them. I like to think I that I carefully consider things like point size, leading, typeface, column width and words per line etc. and use them appropriately when setting type for a particular project.

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

Sometimes it is hard to remember every aspect of typography that we have learnt about when setting type and I will realise that I have put too many words on a line or set the leading too tight, I like to think that I am getting faster and better at noticing these mistakes.

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

Be slightly more experimental with my work. Now that I more confident with the technical aspects of typography I think I could afford to be a little more experimental and creative.

Time manage slightly better so I don’t have so much to do at the end of the project.

Experiment further with the exercises we do in lessons.

6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas: 

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

Attendance   4

Punctuality   5

Motivation  4

Commitment   5

Quantity of work produced   3

Quality of work produced   4

Contribution to the group   4