End of module evaluation

Throughout the module this year I have learnt that involvement in the creative scene is important, it allows for inspiration to be found, conversations with other creative people and personal confidence to grow. I have enjoyed attending lots of art event, workshops, talks and visiting galleries over the year as it is something that I did not do a lot of in the past. 

Feedback on the self-branding and design strategies presentation was focused on concept development and confidence. This is something I have struggled with during Level 4 Graphic Design, coming up with the idea and then figuring out the best way in which to present it as a final piece. A visit to 'Two Points' studio in Barcelona highlighted the importance of mock-up and how the final presentation is equally important as the final idea. 

Personal, professional practice has taught me ways in which to deal with the stress of large workloads, by looking at ways in which I can use my time to destress and figure out when I am most creative and productive. Time management is the main way to keep stress under control, working on this has really helped my quality of work and levels of productivity. 

I have also learnt from this module that it is about getting your name out there, your work out there and being spoke about (positively) if you want to become recognised. I have had the chance to set up a design instagram account in which I can publish my inspirations, my process and my own work. This has been a positive experience for me as I receive messages from others to say what they like and also to help with decision making if I post any questions. It has been a good way to gain confidence on publishing my work and also for me to personally begin to see my own design style develop. 

DR.ME collage workshop

Following on from the talk that DR.ME delivered to us, they returned with a workshop on collaging and how it can be used to make a short animation. We were put into pairs and given a random word which we were to base our stop motion gif on. 

Our word was masseuse:

We decided that it would be interesting to focus on the feelings and journey that the person receives during a massage rather than the actual masseuse themselves giving it. 
The leaves, flowers and earthy tones all work to show the natural process of giving a massage as a form of muscle relaxation and relief. The circular movement of the flowers represents the common circular movement of the hands when giving a massage. The person walking along at a steady pace shows the relaxation, with the tiger coming in to show the pain that is felt at sections and then taken away when the 'knot' is released. 

Visiting professional: Oslo.

Oslo is Leeds based branding and design agency that believes in the power of story telling.

1. DESIGN - for print and web

2. CONTENT  - creation for use on the websites we build & marketing

3. STRATEGY - crafting an approach and tone of voice that speaks to your customers

The job title 'colour technologist' is not something i had heard of before, but the job role was interesting and as I did psychology at A-Level it is something that I could start to apply to my own design work. 

Interesting things that I learned:

- we see in RGB, we only have red, green and blue cones in our eyes

- humans can only see black and white in their peripheral vision

- colour libraries that are used are NCS, munsell and pantone

- colour burn/ illusion show that we see colours that aren't actually printed

- D65 lighting is a lighting that mimics every day lighting and allows you to choose the best colour for the product

4 colour intent settings on adobe photoshop 

-perceptual

-saturation

-relative colourimetric

-absolute colourimetric

Setting up an agency is STRESSFUL AND DIFFICULT because it is hard to keep an eye on the money and also people have strong opinions on the fact that you have just left uni. Eleanor recommended that an internship or two is helpful to build up understanding of how an agency works and to build up a portfolio. 

Studio brief 3: Final presentation and evaluation

Final presentation commentary:

- TwoPoints Studio in Barcelona emphasised the fact that the final presentation is just as important as the final design

- mock ups need to look professional and this will help others to understand the design concept and potentially appreciate it more

- the images (top to bottom) show my progression throughout the year, quite significant

- I would like to learn how to draw up my own templates on AdobePhotoshop for future projects

- I wish I had joined the ski society

- had the guts to complain to my family that I missed skiing this year, but I didn't do anything about it

- I have researched and I can join Leeds Union Snowriders next year

- will allow me to have the opportunity to race or freestyle as part of a team 

- will be fun to meet a new group of people and go on the ski trips each year

- important to have a hobby that I am equally as passionate about outside from Graphics, keeps me energised and feeling inspired

- finding independent coffee shops

- minor passion, maybe even a profession

- they are the place that I am most productive

- research has shown that the level of noise in a coffee shop can make people more productive

- I work better in an environment where other people are socialising, being creative or also working

- I am the go to person for recommendations when friends have their families in Leeds

- very involved in the art scene, attending opening evenings, exhibitions and various galleries

- allowed me to talk to other creative people that i may never have been confident to in the past

- makes me feel motivated and creatively inspired

- allows me to question deeply into the concepts and questions why certain decisions have been made, helping me to improve on the complexity of the own concepts that I develop for studio work

- allows me to socialise with other students from the different course at uni, opening up opportunities for collaboration and just generally opening my ind to look at things in different ways

- a weakness I have found is that I do not let much of what I have seen inform my design decisions, something I would like to continue to focus on ensuring

- studio visits

- remind me of why I am doing the degree

- inspiring to hear about the journey that is taken to get to the final outcomes

- being able to ask questions is helpful 

- the choices of printing methods and paper stock was something I do not have much knowledge on, so was interesting to hear about that creative decision process

- writing is something that causes me to procrastinate a lot 

- I much prefer designing and find it hard to constantly blog about all of my decisions 

- I have learnt to use the Pomodoro technique which allows for short bursts of intense concentration

- less time wasted and better quality work is produced

- the saved time means I get more time to explore new places 

- I can concentrate more time on personal projects 

- develop and publish the pattern photography that I have began as a visual inspiration bank 

- work on the publicity of the illustration that shows the creative adventures I go on and the places I consider to be good inspiration

- travelling more is my ambition

- I have booked to spend a month in Vietnam over the summer 

- new experiences, new cultures, new memories, new inspirations 

- would like to video the experience as it captures more of what I would be experiencing than photos

- visiting professionals have proven to be my main source of inspiration and motivation 

- their passion is something that I want to feel as I progress in the creative industry 

- it has become very apparent that graphic design needs to be made part of my everyday life

- it is passion that will lead to good work as you will be more experimental and adventurous

Evaluation:

Rather than worrying that the gallery visits are not informing my work enough, I was advised that  it will just happen naturally as I will just feel generally more creative and motivated. It is not something that can be forced as not everything I will see will be relevant at that moment in time, but it is likely that it will act as inspiration in later projects. 

To improve on the presentation I need to include more of my own work as part of my learning journey. This would have helped to support some of the things that I was saying, showing where the inspirations had been applied to my own design work could have been beneficial to my own reflection and also to those I was presenting to, helping them to visually understand what I was explaining.

A positive comment made about my presentation was that it demonstrated a high level of reflection along with solutions as to how I have acted upon the thing I have noticed to be obstacles or challenges along the way. 

Studio brief 3: Research

CreativeMornings

Manifesto:
'Everyone is creative.
A creative life requires bravery and action, honesty and hard work. We are here to support you, celebrate with you, and encourage you to make the things you love.
We believe in the power of community. We believe in giving a damn. We believe in face-to-face connections, in learning from others, in hugs ad high-fives.
We bring together people who are driven by passion and purpose, confident that they will inspire one another, and inspire change in neighbourhoods and cities arounf the world. 
Everyone is welcome.'

To prepare myself for the presentation, I thought it would be useful to look at how others in the creative field are delivering similar presentations. CreativeMornings is the gathering of creative people, having breakfast and listening to one talk a month. Anyone is welcome to attend and it is an event that encourages the connection between like-minded people.

A recent speaker at Sheffield's CreativeMorning was Aimee Harrison, a maker of ethical, handmade workwear for women, and the founder of #womenofsteel talks and workshops. 
This talk was 20 minutes which is double the length of ours and the one thing I noticed was that the crowd interaction came a little later on, when she began to feel comfortable delivering the speech. This is something I will need to bare in mind, I will need to make sure that I do not let nerves put me off and just be confident from the beginning. 

The most interesting and inspiring aspect of Aimee's talk was that it was her interests and passions that have truly driven her to where she is now. 

Tips that I picked up on:
- sipping water when it is a longer presentation is important to keep your voice clear
- sipping water may also be a good way to quickly calm the nerves and gather your thoughts together
- it was clear that the speech had been well rehearsed, something I would like to do to make mine flow as well as possible and to ensure that I include everything that I aim to
- rhythm had been considered so that there were no awkward pauses or stumbling on words and thoughts.

Aimee Harrison - CreativeMornings talk

Studio brief 3: Answering questions

What have you learned and what do you want to learn? 
- mockups are just as important as the final idea
- printing is expensive
- involvement in the art scene is vital
- graphics is part of everyday life
- you have to be passionate to get through the workload
What mistakes have you made and how have you learned from them? 
- time management is so important
- only I can make my to do list shorter
- being more productive leaves more time for fun
- Leeds is such a creative city
- I thrive off of adventures and exploring new places
- pomodoro technique is so useful
How will this affect your future development? 
- I am less stressed when I don't put things off and let everything build up 
- I will get to sleep more 
- I will get to explore more places
- higher quality of work because it will not be rushed
- I will get more time for fun
What are your strengths and how have you/will you develop them further? 
- finding independent coffee shops > do more research and ask other people
- being a part of the art scene > search for more events further away than just in Leeds and have the confidence to go alone if it is something I am really interested in
- using experiences to inform design decisions more > blog about it as soon as possible and instantly make links to projects that I am working on 
- experimentation > use the experiments and document them more so that they get recognised as part of the process
What are your weaknesses and how do you intend to address these? 
- final outcome quality > learn from others around me and watch tutorials to learn the softwares to a much higher level
- using generic mockup templates > learn how to make my own
- I find it hard to accurately and efficiently present my full idea as a final outcome > take a lot of advice from crits and apply it to the work 
What have you enjoyed and why?
- studio visiits > inpiring
- Barcelona > getting to know a different groups of people which has made the studio environment nicer and friendlier
- visiting professionals > inspiring and reminds me why I want to do well on this degree as it gives me something to aim for
- learning how to use the manual settings on the DSLR camera > I can get exactly the style of photo that I am aiming for, not what auto thinks I want to get
- going to open studios and gallery opening nights > sociable and allows for ideas to be deeply discussed which is something I enjoy. The events also remind me of my passion and that I want creativity to be something that drives my career and future.
What have you disliked and why? 
- that all the workshops weren't at the beginning of the year > could have used more of the techniques to improve earlier projects
- reliance on the digital printing room > hard to plan ahead to know when to print and so expensive
- not knowing how to use after effect > moving graphics and videos are becoming a lot more popular and it is something that i cannot do. I am planning to use summer to learn how to use this software so that next year I can begin to use it for some of the studio briefs.
- the large number of briefs that happen at once > I get confused as to what I should prioritise and how much time to spend on each
How does this affect your ambitions? 
- not knowing how to make videos has helped me feel ambitious about learning over summer and taking the traveling that I am doing as an opportunity to get some nice footage and the need to create something that reflects the experiences that I will have had
- not knowing how will slow down the process, but it will also help me to learn it more in depth as I will have to teach myself how to do everything
- I will have to use what I have learned about time planning and apply it to being able to think about when I ned to book printing slots
What did you want to get from the year? 
- produce stuff that I am proud of 
- gain the confidence to talk others in the same field or creative industry with confidence that they respect my opinion and knowledge
- attend creative events that I wouldn't have before
- learn how to present final ideas in a professional way
Have you achieved this? 
- I have a collection of work that I have uploaded to social media or have happily speak about with other people
- when at events I have shared my ideas with other like-minded people and I have also gained the confidence to speak to the visiting professionals, making the most of their knowledge and advice
- I have been to lots of opening nights and art events now, making them a priority over other plans has been something I have enjoyed and found to be valuable
- there is a clear progression from the beginning of the year until now in regards to my final presentation of work
What have you discovered that you weren’t expecting?
- visiting professionals are my main source of inspiration
- I now approach briefs in a new way, ensuring that I conduct the research, produce initial ideas and then development work. This was a process that I was unsure of and lacked confidence in at the beginning of the year, so I am happy that I now have a clear understanding of the steps that need to be taken. 

Studio Brief 3: Planning

I found that by printing out the questions and the brainstorming all around them was the most effective way for me to gather all my ideas and then begin to refine them to create a presentation that would flow as a journey. 

Studio brief 3: Brief and interpretation

Brief:
Produce and present a 7 minute PDF presentation that communicates a reflective summary of your experiences on the course to date. You should aim to reflect on who you are as a learner and a designer as well as how the things you have experienced over the past nine months have affected your current aims and ambitions. You should also identify creative concerns, personal aims and professional ambitions that you intend to explore further over the Summer and during Level 5 of the programme

Interpretation:
The presentation requires me to reflect over the past 9 months of being part of the Graphic Design BA Hons degree course at Leeds College of Art. I think the best way to approach this is by looking back through work, photos and calendars so I can remind myself exactly of what I have been part of during this time. 
The poster created in studio brief 2 will also be a reference point which will help me to answer the questions that need to be discussed in the presentation. 
It will also be useful to watch different creative tasks online and also reflect on the visiting professionals that we have had in to speak to us as a group. I have taken a lot from the talks that we have been presented and the main thing being engagement. The talks that I have most enjoyed have been the ones that have allowed me to engage; laugh, ask questions, hold pieces of work. 

Questions to be answered:
What have you learned and what do you want to learn? 
What mistakes have you made and how have you learned from them? 
How will this affect your future development? 
What are your strengths and how have you/will you develop them further? 
What are your weaknesses and how do you intend to address these? 
What have you enjoyed and why? 
What have you disliked and why? 
How does this affect your ambitions? 
What did you want to get from the year? 
Have you achieved this? 
What have you discovered that you weren’t expecting?

Studio brief 2: Final presentation and evaluation

This was the first presentation I had ever done alone to an audience of 40 people, so I was nervous. To help with nerves I had to keep remembering that everyone was in the same position and that my ideas will sound much more interesting if I am confident about them. Overall I am happy with the presentation, but there are a few things that I could improve if I was to deliver this again. I think the order in which it was presented could have been improved so that my creative journey was easier to explain. It was suggested that I need to focus my self branding on the explorer concept. I should be branded as an explorer and use the illustration to get myself out there in the creative world, making an account and documenting my experiences with the illustration being part of each of the pictures. 

The rice branding should then just be used as the identity to pull all of it together and make it professional. 

Studio Brief 2: Production

Self branding is important to a me as a designer because it will allow me to get myself known and spoke about. I need to have a number of physical item that I can give to people and spread around so that people can easily contact me and remember what I stand for as a creative. The aim is to get myself and my work shared and to be spoken about, with the right people. 

Application 1

Research into self branding made it clear that the stationary is something that can be helpful to have designed in the appropriate style. It is likely that as a designer I will be needing to write to people or distributing work in envelops. The business card is a vital piece of self branding material as it allows for my details to be distributed quickly and easily to a large amount of people. I also thought it would be nice to design a coffee cup that I could have if I went to event etc. I am known as a coffee drinker, always having one in my hand or finding nice coffee shops, so having my personalised cup is something that I think would work well. 

Application 2

I personally like getting tote bags at different events that i go to as it is something that i will actually use. This is a good way for me as a designer to use my logo as the design on the bag, allowing for it to become recognisable as a design and then hopefully as my personal identity. 

The images below show the production process that I undertook to attempt to make the prototype. I used heat transfer paper to print the design onto and then iron onto the tote bag. I am not happy with the outcome as the colours did not transfer to be as vibrant as they should be. To improve next time I would use a heat press as I think it was the temperature of the iron and the amount of pressure that I was able to apply to the design that caused it to not transfer very accurately. 
I have created a mock-up on Adobe Photoshop as a visual for how it should look if printed professionally. 

Application 3

A small poster that I can display with my name, pay-off and description on is something I also considered to be important. It very quickly gives others a brief description of me as a creative and they can begin to understand what I could offer to them and what style I tend to work in. 

Studio visit: Hey (Barcelona)

Hey is a graphic design studio based in Barcelona, Spain. It specialises in editorial design, brand identity and illustration. The work is heavily influenced by geometry, colour and direct typography. The studio was founded in 2007 with the idea of transforming ideas into communicative graphics. 

The Agenda CCCB 2013 

This project was to design the bi-monthly programme of events fro the Barcelona Contemporary Art Centre. The concept came out if seeing the museum as a receptacle for contemporary ideas. The square cover was chosen as it is representing the CCCB building from above and the individual designs for each issue were based on the themes within that particular programme, keeping it modern with the aim that it is to last for 5 years without losing appeal. 

EveryHey
This started as a personal project on Instagram in early 2014, posting a new illustration/character design everyday. The aim was to portray the characters in a colourful, compact and geometric style. The studio decided to hold an exhibition of the works to celebrate the work that had gone into the personal project. The talk to our group emphasised the fact that social media may not be the same in 4/5 years, so having physical models and prints of work is very important. 3D figures of the illustrations were created and a book of each design was published. 

Arrels Barcelona

The word 'Arrel' means roots in English. It is a Barcelona based footwear brand making shoes for the urban market. Hey had to create the identity for the company, finding the right balance between their urban look and their rural roots and between being handmade and mass produced. The duality is reflected in the two colours of the identity and in the pattern created for the boxes and the shoes. The design of the patterns shows the idea that if you were to rip up all the layers of concrete which cover the urban landscape underneath you would find the original, natural surface of the earth. 

ArtFad 2014

The project was to design the graphic identity for ArtFad, contemporary art and craft awards. The idea was to represent a geometrical A in outline as a layout and then add colour, patterns and materials. The only machine process was the printing of the text and lines. Patterns were applied manually one by one, which lead to the production of 500 unique invitations. 

OFFF Map

OFFF is a community of creative people who participate and get inspired in a three day long event. Hey Studio were commissioned to illustrate a map of the stars showing the artists who have been involved with the OFF Festival. The infographic is part of an art book celebrating the 15th edition of Barcelona's OFFF festival. The constellations are made up of stars named after the artists, guiding people through the infinite space of creativity. 

General advice:

- uni is about learning and discovering, you will specialise later

- work in studios as intern or designer before setting up own

- always get paid, even if not a lot

- your skills should be valued 

- learning is the main priority

- turn down some jobs and be realistic so you don't get a bad name for yourself

- if the company grows too much the style may be lost as not everything can be controlled

- contacts are important for the creation of opportunities

- it is a positive thing to try and surround yourself with art, design and creative companies

- always do personal projects because deadlines do not allow for as much exploration as you are capable of doing