EVALUATION

FABER FILM

In relation to my statement of intent this project is on the ball, it forfills the intention of carrying out live real world projects.


I think that overall this project went well. It was advantageous to me to do a fully client based project. A strict brief gave me clear guidelines and a set of deliverables which allowed me to expand upon a specific design direction. Having a strict and rigid brief meant that i could justify and evaluate my work against the brief, and as the brief was set in stone rather than being able to change it meant that i could not stray to far off course.

In this brief my eyes were opened up to generative programming and designing for it. I will investigate this further in the future as a possibility.

With more time i would have liked to have applied the extra symbols that were designed to the book covers.

COLOUR CODE

i think this project would have been more succesful if i had of investigated how it was going to be received more. This would have increased the weight of the project. I als think it would have been better if i had found a professional client based context for the visual languages created. If there had of been a client i could have developed the project further as it would have given me new avenues of investigation, it would have given the project purpose and context as it is it is completely useless, unintersting and pointless. noone cares, no one wants to decode the code. i think as a concept it works, it just needs that context to give it some depth.

i think that i didnt exploit the publication angle enough either. in my statement of intent i stated that i was going to investigate publication design, and with this project i did in the begining but i was quick to jump to just making prints. This is a cop-out. I should have stuck with publication design. and now looking back on it i think that it could have worked well as an element of a corporate brochure.

MATISYAHU MAGAZINE SPREADS

this project was a small quick brief and i think as a small brief it works well, although i see many faults. The spreads are conceptually sound and they communicate what matisyahu is about. The problem with this is the final finishing the spreads still have things missing from them like the name of the magazine etc. Also the type sizes arent perfect.

I think that this project would have been better if i had of chosen an already existing magazine to design spreads for, this would have been good for a number of things, firstly i would have had to disect design system of the magazine, thereby learning something about that inparticular magazine, it would have given me a set of rules and guidelines like type size and grid to work around.

SYNESTHESIA

overall i think that the leaflet is succesful, it is in line with my statement of intent being a live project, and also a publication or publication hybrid rather, and also type based.

one weakness is that the project is singular format and i think with more time then i could have developed the project to be more transmedia by including a blog or website. I also think that this would have been a more substantial if i had transferred the concept onto more printed formats and media.

i think that the leaflet could have included more information this would have improved the delivery of the message. i also think that it could have worked better with more input from the client. i think that as a project it would have been more succesful in a different format; but the format was set out in the brief and is in line with my statement of intent.

OCCASIONS

this project is succesful apart from the packaging of the final cards. i think that the project would be more successful if the final packaging was more crisply produced and resolved. i also would have liked to developed some of the other card ideas into final pieces. i would also have liked to extend the project into a range including giftwrap, gift boxes etc. I also think that the visual languages could be transfered onto other products and ranges. the inside of the card could add another angle to the project and could have been an opportunity to bulk up the project. i think it could have been used to extend the concept or add another level of comedic value. like a punchline.

MORSE CODE

overall i am pleased with the outcomes of this project, the book is a well produced object although it is not as perfect as i would have liked. there was a mistake made when binding the book, a schoolboy error of binding it on the wrong edge. But i dont think that this affects the overall look and feel of the book. It also still works as a publication, it seems like the book was designed like this, im not sure whether i prefer it more or less, i think it adds a bit more rhythm and fluidity between the pages.

i would have liked to have created an interactive element for the project almost as side element a morse code game i think that the project needs to encourage interactivity to force the reader to engage and understand both sides and i think the two elements would have worked well together. I also would have liked to have finished off the initial em magazine idea as it was so close to being finished, which i will do for the end of year show. I think that the project needs more pow pieces like posters etc, i think this would give the project more impact and enourage the reader to engage with the project more.

TYPOGRAPHIC POSTERS

this project was only a short two day brief and i think that it went well the pritns were are successful and work well. working with screenprinting worked really well, i found that the project developed alot through the use of this process, by experimenting with positioning of screenprinting and mistakes forced by the process.

FINE ART YEARBOOK

This project i think was very succesful and i learnt a great deal from its undergoing. as project leader my role meant that i had to deal with the organisation of tasks and making sure everybody had an equal input. at times this management was difficult, trying to take on board everyones different opinions but still making affirmitive decisions based on what everyones opinions apart from just my own. I also learnt that as part of a team to get your ideas across you have to take them on yourself and make them, by doing this you gain more leverage over the team, to get your ideas through, as leader is was my job to delegate tasks out to the rest of the team and then to make sure that they were carried out. To do this i had to understand everyones specific design specialities, like assigning project management side of the project to gemma, print affects and paperstocks to natalia and joel, and type and layout tasks to johnny, and my task as art direction.

This is also the first ever client based project with an actual print budget, Having a budget opened up new avenues for print production that were within the print budget. the budget gave us specific deliverables and made alot of design decisions for us, like the page size number of pages and possible print effects which were dictated by what was within budget. having a client also meant that alot of the decision making powers were out of our control, this was something that was opportune and disadvantage, we had to consider what to show to them, so that they would not make a decision that we did not agree with, but also keep within the boundaries of what they want. it also gave us the opportunity to evaluate the work, if they like it then it was successful if not then we would discontinue that design route. to design the most successful for the client and what the client wants we had to come up with a certain number of design routes which we would present to the client and then continue on with. this design process proved useful for many of the tasks, it meant that we could split the tasks up between the group so that we all had input but also made the task of designing the book easier and less workload for us all.

In my statement of intent i stated that i wanted to work with a photographer on a photoshoot, i have done this to a certain point on the fine art yearbook where we had to organize and direct a photographer and 27 fine art students, this taught me the importance of continuity in a photo-shoot, I also found that working with given and specific content gave me certain paramenters that justified certain design decisions when it came to laying the photos out.

DESIGN CONTEXT

Typologue is a catalogue of contemporary typography and publication design. It contains a range of different projects from leading designers whose design practice has a focus towards typography and publication design. Each project within the typologue is categorised in two ways, the format of the project and the industry that the client operates within. This was in hope to create an extensive list of formats and industries that require consise typography.

It has opened up new client industries that I had not considered before like furniture, theatre and social enterprise. I have realised the potential for considered typographic and publication design within these fields. 

The majority of the projects that are collated into the typologue are based strictly around systems, and lean towards systems of clarity and consisesness.Publication design has been a particular focus. It has shown me new applications and forms of publication from weekly bulletins to one off special edition books. There are alot of european design studios included in the typologue, with alot of them being Dutch. Dutch design as a whole has the strongest influence on my design practice, theyre heavy reliance on the grid and strict typographic systems appeals to me as a way of structuring and systemizing working practices. I find that specifics and rules can aid the designer in evaluating and justifying work, both aesthetically and conceptually. 

Identity design has cropped up alot through the collation of this catalogue, it has opened up the idea of identity stretching across multiple disciplines. It has shown that the identity of a brand is communicated by the design systems that are chosen. Systems are constructed and carried across the range of different formats, these include colour systems, typographic systems and production systems. These systems are derived from the concept of the project and facilitate or enhance the carrying across of the brands identity.

Collaboration with artists and photographers has arisen as an areaof creative potential, with a number of the projects in the typologue being collaboration’s between designer and photographer or designer and artist. This collaboration may come from the a photographer or may be initiated by designer. There is one project by Inge Ketelers that tracks the development of an entire project, this is proof of the designer and artist working side by side from intial conception to final development.

Typologue has been designed so that it can be continued, the design allows for embelishment and additiion in the future. Typologue is a system for collecting and collating design projects that contextualise and inform my own design practice.
 

WHOLE FMP

In this fmp i have learnt alot about where i fit within the design industry and have started to really specialise in my specific area of expertees; typography and publication design. Ive also learnt of the advantages of client based projects as apposed to purely self-indulgent self-initiated projects. There is no money in self-intitiated projects and there is no point in doing them. Ive always had a problem with justifying my self-initiated projects with a target audience as i almost always target typographers and graphic designers if all my work is targeted at designers it means that i am a narrow minded designer, i need to open up my interests as a designer so that i can do projects that are aimed at non design based audiences, although i still want to retain a level of intellectual integrity. The design context part of the FMP opened up new industries that are outside the realm of graphic design and typography that still operate with a a keen design interest and creativity. I still want to continue making graphic design with an audience of typographers, but i think that the best way of making succesful graphic design for typographers is by designing and making type based products, i think that this is a way of making financial gain as apposed to simply recognition. i think that this will also gives deliverables which makes the design process easier because the endpoint is clear and defined.
I found posting to a blog a bit laborious and kind of inappropriate to my design practice and context, i found it that it had little actual design involved as there is not much scope for organising how th e blog was read. This is why i have designthe projectsed a set of booklets or publications that organise and track the development, and evaluation of my projects, i found that this gave me more options on how to display the development and it is also more appropriate to the focus of my design practice.

In this module i put alot of time and effort into the final presentation of the work. Using some of the basic studio flash photography skills i learnt while directing the photographer through the fine art yearbook i photographed the final pieces. The final photos add another level of professionality to the project