OUGD203 Evaluation

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

I think I have really improved my time management skills during this module. I’ve never had to juggle 3 projects simultaneously and it really forced me to consider how I was going to get the most out of my time. I think I have also improved my organisational skills during this project, I have realised how useful it is to be organised in the way you work and how much time you can save. I think I have used and honed a lot of the typography skills I gained during the type elective especially in my Crisis direct mail and the brochure I did for the type factory.

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

During this module I have tried to be very structure in the way I work, generating a range of initial ideas to start with then developing one until I am happy with it and then producing the final piece. That sounds obvious but by making sure I stick to it rigidly it stops me getting bogged down with unnecessary work.

I also found it very useful doing first hand research on the ground for my crisis brief by actually going out and talking to a photographing homeless people. I felt I found a lot more about them by doing that than simply by reading on the internet and it made me more determined to get the project right.

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

I think I am good with type and layout, and enjoy doing it. I like to keep my work fresh and engaging. I also think it is always important to have fun and enjoy the work you are doing and I hope that comes across in my work.

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

I can be disorganised so I have to make and extra effort to stay on top of things. Sometimes I feel that I am not that confident at working with colour creatively and fall back into my comfort zone. This is something I would like to work on in the future.

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

With this module I realised that the presentation boards require a lot of work and I shouldn’t just look at them as something to do quickly when I have finished all the other work but I should actually plan time to make sure I can get them right and printed well.

I think I could have bitten off a bit more than I could chew with the type factory. Giving myself so much to design, I feel I didn’t get everything finished the way I wanted. Next time I will set myself more manageable goals, I can always take them further if there is time.


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

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

Attendance 4
Punctuality 4
Motivation 5
Commitment 5
Quantity of work produced 4
Quality of work produced 4Contribution to the group 4

Screen Printing

This is the final screen print for the ISTD 3 Minutes brief. It was my first time doing screen printing and I learnt a lot of stuff. I am really happy with how they came out.

A1 poster on black stock with white and brown ink




I made a fastening to go round the poster.



Above are 2 other colour variations I tried out. Pink and brown ink on white and black stock. I'm not really happy with how the pink came out. If i where to do it again I would spend a lot more time and care mixing the colours.

Signs of the Times

I came across this interesting piece of work by DJ Stout while browsing the pentagram site. Good research for my crisis brief.

Biodegradable Plastic

I recently bought some new shoes and they where packed in this biodegradable plastic. We have to start thinking about our dissertations at the moment and we are supposed to do our dissertations on something relating to our design practice. I plan on doing my dissertation around sustainable design. This could be an interesting material to work with in the future.

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

New Blog

I set up a new blog for the Professional Practice Module >>>>> CLICK HERE

Music in Mountains

This is my final outcome for the Music in the mountains 1 day brief. I am fairly pleased with how it turned out, I am happy that I didn't use cheesy cliches like musical notes or mountains to communicate "music in the mountains". I think the coloured tiles give the vibrant and fun feel I was going for however I don't know if the logo is "musical" enough.

I am happy with how the type itself has turned out as this was my first attempt at making a typeface from scratch.