OUGD402: Study task.

5 statements that clearly state me as an individual which are not to do with design or creative practice. To be backed up by image.

Travel.
One of the things that makes me happiest is thinking about the places I have been and the places I will go. I have been lucky enough to have travelled to an array of places across the globe, my favourite destinations being; California, New york, Barcelona and Paris. I love being exposed to other cultures and ways of life that are different to my own. I believe that these experiences have made me a more considerate and well rounded person, and it is these moments throughout the years that I look forward to most.

Image

Performance Arts.

Not only do I enjoy going to watch performances, plays, musicals, dance shows I also enjoyed taking part in these classes for 12 years. From these classes I was given a lot of opportunities which I enjoyed very much, including travelling to London, Paris and Barcelona for performances and taking part in extras work on the Waterloo road set. 

Image

Driving

The more I have grown up, the more I have strived for independence. One of my greatest achievements was passing my driving test. Being able to drive myself instead of having to ask others or get the bus gave me greater freedom and independence. Passing my driving test has also instilled me with the confidence that If I work hard I can achieve any goal. 

 Image

Joker.
I have always been the type of person that likes to make people laugh, and to laugh in return. I find that laughter is the cure to many situations and that I try to break down many barriers by making people laugh. 

Image

Music.
The music I listen to almost 100% of the time is dependant on my mood and how I am feeling. However I have grown to like one particular genre of music more recently, electronic and chillwave music helps me to be more productive and provides relaxation. 

5 statements that state me as an individual in terms of Where I am at and what I want to do, supported by evidence of graphic design.

Whilst I have been at university I have soaked up information like a sponge and learnt a lot about myself as a designer and the type of design I like, I was recently recommended to look at Kate Forrester's work and after seeing the type of pieces she has created and the way in which she commits to each piece and every detail was inspiring, I would love to be able to produce work like hers one day.

Kate Forrester
Cover design for book, The Emperor of Paris.
http://www.kateforrester.co.uk/books/book-5/

Looking at other designers work, and that created by my peers, I would like to look into working with paper more, in particular paper craft. Utilising skills such as paper cutting and origami to experiment and create unique pieces. I would also like to consider working with 3d graphic design instead of 3d using paper craft.

Jonathan Shackleton 

Oragami suits for Fedrigoni paper.

A set of oragami suits that showcase the 262 choices of paper in use together. clients are sent the paper and instructions of how to make the suits, in which they can construct themselves, giving them the understanding of the paper and what colours/textures etc work well together.
http://www.artrick-playground.com/article/Jonathan-Shackleton-for-Fedrigoni-Paper-a-Origami-Suits/1926/1210262

There Is one skill that I have been keen to learn ever since starting graphic design at LCA and that is embossing and letterpress. Work produced via these processes has always been among my favourite, and I am glad that LCA have organised Letterpress workshops in which I will be able to eventually posses the skill to use these processes.

Embossed bite business cards for a dental care surgery.
http://www.andrewkeir.com/7-clever-die-cuts-embossing/

Now that I am more comfortable with using digital programs such as illustrator, indesign and photoshop, I would like to go back and learn more about what I can achieve through hand crafting design. More so I would like to work with watercolour experimentation, and trying to use screen print as a process option, as I have not utilised this area of the college yet.



Karen Kurycki
Poster design
http://www.behance.net/gallery/AIGA-Design-Connection-poster/146519


I want to become more knowledgeable, to always approach design with an open mind and to learn whatever is possible about Graphic design. I want to develop a more directional approach to the type of work I would like to pursue and the workplace. I want to work within a design studio as oppose to freelance as I enjoy the setting at LCA where I am able to ask other graphic designers for opinions/feedback.

Vibe studio manchester.
Branding for around the world, tea/coffee company.
http://vibestudio.co.uk/portfolio/around-the-world
I really enjoy the process in which this studio works from when they meet the client to the final product.
http://vibestudio.co.uk/about

OUGD402: Studio session.

In the studio session we revealed to our groups (those who we had made ads for) our designs. 

We had to analyse how our group had been successful in designing ads for us and how they had been unsuccessful. We also had to rate our own work.

Sarah's ad design for me:

Good:
- Moderate use of colour. 

- Lots of white used.

- Customized typography.

- Colours that have been chosen (shades of orange are my favourite)
- Use of line looks like projects I have produced.

However I thought the design was slightly too geometric, something more fluid/ organic would have been more fitting.

Good:
Evidence of mixed media which I like.
Use of Watercolour image.
- Organic forms.
- Fluidity
-Illustrative.

Bad: 

Still encorporates geometric shapes.
Too much black?
Needs to be more fluid - less chunky black lines.
Square format - Would prefer a longer format.

Good:
Fluidity of patterns.
Use of circles and line.
Influenced by the organic.
Illustrative patterns.
Use of brushes to create patterns.

Things that I would change are the colour combination, the amount of white space and the typeface used, I feel it is too simplistic for me.

We then moved around the room and sat down with a different groups work, were we analysed 5 things that the free ads communicated as a set for each person.

-Will
Similar:
Illustrative.
Hand rendered.
Fun.
contemporary.
Individual.

Things that didn't quite combine for wills pieces were:
The colour scheme, two of the designs used strong colours, whilst one used neutrals such as pale blue and brown.
2 of the posters had a very energetic/busy format whilst one was very minimalist. 

I'm not sure whether these differences were due to miscommunication, or that one person did not really try to get to know Will and his design practice and designed more towards what they liked.

-Amy
Similar:

Editorial.
Modernist.
Contemporary.
Feminine.
Classic.
Stylish.

Differences:
Colour scheme.
Use of photography in one and not others.
Layout.
Shape of piece.

The differences in the pieces created for Amy were not overpowering, they were only slight differences and the others in her group seemed to represent her well. 

- Jane
Similar:
Emphasis on culture/hometown.
Formal language.
Serious tone of voice.
Use of colour.
All digital.

Differences:
One of the only differences we found in the pieces created for Jane were the ratio of colour used to white space. In some their was lots of white space in comparison to others where there was hardly any. 

We then Returned to our own groups work, and read about the similarities in which we were trying to communicate about ourselves and what had been percieved when people were looking at the free ads designed for me.

Similarities:

From looking at the ads designed for me people understood that I liked the use of textures, different textures and fluidity.
Both Ads also gave the same information on what I would specialise in with Graphic design.

Differences:

People thought I was very colourful however I choose to op for minimal colour - few colours if possible when designing.
That I like geometrics and shapes, however I prefer to leave these out of my designs and go for a more organic look.
People thought That I could be a very precise designer, however I am more free spirited and up for experimentation. 

As the last part of the studio session we looked at the pro's and cons when personality is reflected in practice.

Pros:
- Clients gain an understanding of who you are away from the job.
- Our designs are reflective of working with a certain audience eg. likes to work with projects with a feminine semantic focus.
- Humanizes your work and the relationship between designer and client.
- Demonstartes your workability, your skill set may be great however, will people be comfortable working with you? are you easy to work with?

Cons:
- You might not be suited to the client.
- If they want someone serious and your are light hearted it may put them off.
- Your signature style may not work in your favour and instead throw you into a designer rut. 

- If you communicate your personality, and someone does not like your work some may take it as a personal blow/attack.
- People are not picking your work for your personality. 

OUGD402: Free ads.

In three's we were to each answer the following questions:

What is your professional name and contact details?
What 5 words best describe your design practice?

illustrative/ organic(not geometric)/ ornamental type/ minimalist/ fliud

What 5 words best describe you as a person?

What are your 5 strongest design skills?

What areas of graphic design interest you the most?

What are your 5 favourite designers/design studios?

What makes these your favourites (Where can you see there work)?

What are your 5 favourite design blogs?

What 5 things do you want to be?

What 5 things do you think you need to do to be this?

my answers:

What is your professional name and contact details?
Sarah Goldthorpe- Sarah.goldthorpe@hotmail.com

What 5 words best describe your design practice?
illustrative/ organic(not geometric)/ ornamental type/ minimalist/ fluid

What 5 words best describe you as a person?
Creative, considerate, Joker, determined, compassionate.

What are your 5 strongest design skills?
illustration, customised type, hand drawing/painting, papercutting, Editorial.

What areas of graphic design interest you the most?
Branding/Identity, typography, digital illustration, packaging, editorial/publishing

What are your 5 favourite designers/design studios?
Marian Bantjes, Si Scott, Daren Newman, Madebyanalogue, Root studio

What makes these your favourites (Where can you see there work)?
Marian's type and the fluidity/patterns she creates in her work are amazing.
Si scotts website: His recent paper modelling is some of my favourite work, his constant fluidity and how this seems to be successful in everything he designs and who he designs for.
Daren Neman- His website meandmypen.com - His typography skills and results are amazing, I especially love his glow in the dark work.
Madebyanalogue - creative branding, out of the box and experimental materials. Lockside and hummingbird branding.
Root studio for their illustrative design, in particular work for mission burrito.

What are your 5 favourite design blogs?
Behance, The Die Line, Design Boom, Identity designed, Mag spreads

What 5 things do you want to be?
Successful, Known for great design, happy, balanced, Individual (recognised by signature style etc)

What 5 things do you think you need to do to be this?
Organised, hard working, motivated, forward thinking, positive.

Sarah Heal's answers:

What is your professional name and contact details?

My professional name is Sarah Heal, my email address is sarah.heal@hotmail.co.uk

What 5 words best describe your design practice?
illustrative
free flowing
feminine
youthful
colourful

What 5 words best describe you as a person?
Chatty
bubbly
experimental
aspirational
honest

What are your 5 strongest design skills?
free hand lettering
illustration (by hand or using adobe illustrator)
paper engineeringconcept designing

What areas of graphic design interest you the most?
branding
identity
packaging
poster designs... anything illustrative

What are your 5 favourite designers/design studios?
Walt Disney Imagineering
Jessica Hische
Kate Forrester
Brittney Lee
Chris Sanders

What makes these your favourites (Where can you see their work)?

Crafting, working in groups, concept designing and amazing colour application is everything i love doing. You can see the designers at Imagineering's work in the Disney theme parks, en-captured in family photo albums forever.

What are your 5 favourite design blogs?
http://www.chrissandersart.com/
http://britsketch.blogspot.co.uk/
http://www.neighborhood-studio.com/
http://jessicahische.is/thinkingthoughts
http://www.thedieline.com/

What 5 things do you want to be?

An imagineer
An illustrator
A Graphic Designer
A Concept Artist
Successful

What 5 things do you think you need to do to be this?

Motivated/ Driven
Friendly / Happy
Skilful
Organised
Enthusiastic/ aspirational

For my design for Sarah's free ad I concentrated on a few elements, the first were her design practice illustrative, free flowing, feminine, youthful, colourful. I also took a look at one of her favourite artists to grasp a particular style she liked and may aspire to be like, I had a look at Kate Forrester's work. 

 Kate Forrester seems to have a signature style that takes on a paper cut appearance.

I noticed a similar style in some of Sarah's previous work.

Combining these ideas/ aesthetics I devised a free ad for Sarah.

Once I had finished Sarah's ad I found that this was my favourite of the 3 I had produced, and would be more happy of something this style to represent me rather than the piece I had created for myself. 

Danielle yearsley's answers:

What is your professional name and contact details?
Danielle Yearsley
dlyearsley@live.co.uk

What 5 words best describe your design practice?
Exploritory
Organic/Natural aesthetics
Mixed medium
Reflective
Illustrative

What 5 words best describe you as a person?
Outgoing
Open-minded
Experimental
Motivated
Determined

What are your 5 strongest design skills?
What areas of graphic design interest you the most?
Branding
Identity
Product & packaging
Typography
Illustration

What are your 5 favourite designers/design studios?
Si Scott
Isidro Ferrer
Christoffer Relander
Mateusz Witczak
Yi Xiang Lim
Lucinda Rodgers

What makes these your favourites (Where can you see there work)?
Mostly because of the personal, hand rendered styles of production. For example, use of mixig media such as water colour
and fineliner demonstrates traditional artist skills. Advertizement, Magazines/publications , personal websites and blogs
etc.

What are your 5 favourite design blogs?
Creative Review
Design week
I love Typography
Behance
Pinterest & google+

What 5 things do you want to be?
Graphic designer
Illustrator
Photographer
Inspired
Motivated

What 5 things do you think you need to do to be this?
Be Organised
To stay determined
Array of media(eg, kit of tools, pens etc)
To research
Stay open-minded

When I designed Danielle's free ad, I found that her likes were very much like mine. We both had a preference for hand rendered work, particularly the use of water colour and so I wanted to emphasize this. The black references the fine liner which when in combination with other traditional media, Danielle thinks shows true artist skills. I have use dream catcher symbolism in this piece, not because of a comment that Danielle made but from know her as a person, she is very free spirited and easy going. I found that Danielle liked very organic pieces of work, one artist she mentions in particular Christoffer Relander, takes some breathtaking photography in which he accentuates the occurence of trees. I wanted to reflect this in the piece below: 

From these answers we have been asked to design a free ad, for ourselves and our two partners. 

The ads must be A4 format but a3 scale.
Have a maximum of 50 words.
They can be either type, or type and image. 

OUGD402: Task 4 - Where am I now?

Congratulations on completing the first semester of the programme. At this mid-way point of the year we are asking you to reflect on the last few months of your studies and evaluate what you have learned about yourself, how you learn, the content that you have been introduced to and your growing awareness of Graphic Design.

Your task is to review your blogs, your research, your work and your experiences to date. Having done this you are asked to identify:

• 10 things that you have learned about yourself as an individual and as learner. These should reflect your personal development and individual journey since the start of the programme.
•  
• 10 things that you have learned about yourself as a designer. These should reflect your growing awareness of your own interests within graphic design as a subject, discipline and profession.

10 things I have learnt about myself as an individual and as a learner are:

I am a home bird. I only come from Bradford originally and I battled with my parents to let me move to Leeds as I thought this would be the answer to enjoying university. However I have found that without fail I have gone home every weekend since starting university and sometimes go home on a wednesday too, due to having no classes on an afternoon. However I have also since learnt that I need to start learning to let go of my home comforts and will aim to stop in Leeds more.

There is such a thing as being able to work and play. When I first got the news that I had received an offer to go to Leeds college of art, I was convinced that the hours I spent awake, would be consumed by work. I felt that I would not make it through the first year and the work would overwhelm me. However I have found that I am able to enjoy myself at the same time as doing work, and that I get great enjoyment out of doing work too. I have slowly over the semester learnt to always create a balance in my life. 

I am the most boring fresher that ever graced university, and alcohol is not my thing. Since I first moved to university, the weekend before starting at LCA, the total of nights out I have been on is 1. And this night out was the first day that I ever moved into university. Paired with my insomnia and 9 o'clock starts at university, I switched the alcoholic beverages for some hot chocolate.   

A washing machine is a real thing and clothes are not cleaned via magic. Before I had come to university I had never really used a washing machine before, I had done other things such as the ironing, hoovering and loading the dishwasher etc. I found that when I first attempted to use the Washing machines in the halls, That the visual instructions on the wall were not effective enough, seen as I walked straight past them and put my £2.50 into the slot for the dryer. Cue me pressing all sorts of buttons on the washer and yelling at it for not working. I then realised it was not the instructions that were at fault, but my inability to not be blonde. I have since refined my talent and learnt how to use a washing machine. 

I do not like noise at night. Coming from a quiet house at home I had never really encountered this problem. People in my house where almost certainly in bed by 11pm on work nights, which was easy surroundings for a good, healthy 8 hour sleep. However I have found coming to university that the 11pm noise curfew must really say 'hey have a 4am party' or wake me up at 3am stumbling in from a night out, this does not always go down well.

I am a human Filofax. Although I have always been organised, I could never prepare myself for how organised I would need to be for university. I took the time before I started the course to try and find a required reading list and take out some of the books on this from the library. This being the start of the journey, I have shown up to every class on time and with the correct work needed. 

Blog as you go! Being new to Graphic design, I found at first that just trying to keep up with the practical projects was hard enough without trying to evaluate myself and the process along the way. However I found that my weekends would be sadly used blogging up all my work from the previous week. After gaining more experience in graphic design through a range of briefs and tuning more into the creative flow, I found that blogging and developing at the same time became easier and is essential to being successful. 

I am a Kinaesthetic Learner. I have found that through attending both interactive classes such as Fred's design principles context/PPP sessions and attending lectures that I am a kinaesthetic learner. I learn things better when classes are interactive such as the sessions ran by fred, rather than lectures which are more appropriate for auditory and visual learners. 

Compromise is key! Suddenly living with people you have never met before from living at home can be quite the challenge. Some people are nocturnal, some people are early birds, and pretty much all 5 people want to cook their tea at the same time. Compromising, so that everyone gets the chance for some good sleep and eat their tea when they would like has proved a key thing to learn seen as though we will be living with a set of people for our 3 years at university. 

Friends you make at university are the friends you make for life. I have found that I have met who I would consider friends I will have for a life time at university, and can't wait to move in with my two closest friends commencing year 2. I have found that these friends have also helped me to settle into life more at university and made me more comfortable about being away from home.

10 things that I have learnt about myself as a designer are:

In order to be successful I have to reject personal style. Although it may seem all too much of an attractive prospect to constantly create design that looks like your favourite works, or breathes the style of design to like the most, It may not be appropriate to the Brief. Always look back at the brief making sure that your constantly making sure to create a resolution for this instead of your personal wants. 

-A piece I created recently for my room in the style of my one of my favourite designers Marian Bantjes.

I pick things up quite fast! When I first started the course I was scared as I had no prior knowledge of how to use illustrator and had only previously used photoshop for small tasks. I have however become quite confident using illustrator and now enjoy using this medium as much as hand rendering, I thought that for at least the first year of the course I would constantly designing hand crafted pieces rather than digital.

Never forget to consider the effect of stock on your work. I have for a previous brief created a piece of work which I feel quite proud of. I thought I had chosen a great stock however, a few days before module hand in I was advised to try out a different stock and so I spent my remaining printing allowance, buying a stock which was slightly darker in colour (Champaign instead of white) and had a more grainy texture. Thus, this changed the effects of colour and readability of text on my final piece, the colour of the paper had made the colours seem less bright and the grainy texture meant that the text was less readable. Although I wrote in the evaluation that it would have been nice to edit the design to work with the new paper it would have been nice to have a final piece I was happy with, and so I have learnt to always try stock out before I go to final print.  

Don't be disheartened. I have learnt not to feel down about my work when I look at others who I think is submitting what I would consider better work than mine. I now remember to be proud of myself and what I have learnt in the 4 months I have spent studying Graphic design. I have also learnt not to put myself down when I look at work from professional designers, as I have only just began my journey and still have a lot left to learn. 

I really enjoy the research aspect of design. I have found that I have really enjoyed the Design process module as this considered the process and context in which the works have been designed instead of focusing all energy on the end product. I have enjoyed having more well informed design, and having a thirst for knowledge, constantly learning things that I did not know before. I found that this appeared in two specific briefs, 'How to: get people to use public transport' where we created 3 different research boards which would inform our design process and outcome and 'Research, Collect, Communicate: PRODUCT, in which we were given 3 weeks to fully research, initially design and come up with a final resolution to the brief. 

I am just as successful working in a group as I am by myself. When we first arrived at college we were given our first brief which we were to create a resolution for in a group. I feared working in a group with a bunch of Graphic design students who most probably wanted to try persuade each other to go along with their ideas I found the experience very rewarding. Although you quickly found who you would not particularly like to work with again, you learnt what type of designers you would work well with. I have since learnt that, even when we are working on individual briefs, we are never working alone because we are constantly receiving crit from our peers that allows us to progress and become more open minded. I also felt working in groups that I absorbed others knowledge which I was unaware of before. 


I do not want to get stuck in a rut. I have found that in a couple of projects I have developed a style which incorporates creating designed combining both illustration and photography. However I would like to create some design in the future that works without photography and solely with original illustrations I designed. 
This can be seen in my 3 posters evolving into my mail shot design, for Design skills and the most redent brief of Design process, Research, Collect, Communicate: PRODUCT.

Don't always be safe, be experimental. For the first few briefs I worked with on the course, I feared that my designs would not be good enough and so I ended up being quite safe, constantly using the same stock, creating works on small scale because I felt it was easier than creating something on a large scale. For the latest Design process brief 'Research, Collect, Communicate: PRODUCT' I decided that I would work on a range of different stocks, these included white card, champagne grain card, acetate and ribbon. I was given good feedback for being ambitious with my choices and very much enjoyed how much I learnt from printing on different stocks. 

I enjoyed working independently. Up until the last Design process brief we were given a lot of guidance as far as where to take our designs, what size they should be, how many colours we should use. However for the last brief 'Research, Collect, Communicate: PRODUCT' we were allowed to work a lot more independently  picking our own subject matter, creating a problem and then resolving this. The independence was furthered due to cancellation of crits due to bad weather, however I Found that I quite enjoyed the experience. Before during one weeks briefs where we were given a lot of limitations, I found it difficult to fully research my subject, brainstorm ideas, create initial designs and then a final resolution, alongside workshops and classes. I found that over the three weeks where we worked independently I could really research into my subject, create a range of design ideas and progress with the one that was most appropriate.

Criticism is good and not a personal attack. I think that before coming to college I very much relied on people complimenting my work to feel good about it, and that If someone said they didn't like something about my work I would instantly become disheartened. However I have learnt to love crits and use them to my advantage, especially at LCA, what is better than getting advice from 50 other budding graphic designers and tutors that have done work within industry? I have also found that now I much prefer getting criticism more than compliments because criticism opens a door in which I can better my work, where as I cannot work with a complement.