All the companies that I looked at...
I've had these printed out in a folder for months...because I thought we were handing in a folder, when I realised we weren't I thought I should put them up here.
When I was making myself believe we 'had' to have a work placement with a design studio, I looked at a few places where I would like to go or where I could go, in terms of location and in all honesty - I wasn't Really excited by any of them.
Below is who I looked at and what I wrote next to them;
Bark and Bite;
+ In Leeds
+ Good client base
+ Good website
+ Motion graphics
- Maybe Too motion based.
What!?;
+ Diverse range of work
- All men...
- No illustration
Teabag studio;
- Don't stand out
Type in motion;
+ I like the look of the website
- The website doesn't really work very well...or not on my laptop anyway.
Elmwood;
+ Well known
+ High profile client base
- Not sure its really 'me'
- Branding?...
4everdesign;
+ In leeds
- Horrible website
- Don't really stand out
Made by Analogue;
+ Contemporary
+ Good clients
+ Really nice website
+ Get input from freelancers
SBT;
+ Sound enthusiastic
+ List 'illustration' on their services
- But still don't 'stand out' :(
We are boxhead;
+ Nice site
+ Good print work
+ Contemporary
- Seem a bit...up themselves?
Paris Panda;
+ Really like the site
+ Contemporary look
- Not a lot of imagery
- Hard to find any of their work
Mask;
+ They've got a studio in Wakefield
+ Really good client base
+ Love the work
- Very digital
Made by pi
- Not sure...
Turnkey;
+ Big group of people
- Marketing/branding.
- Not want I want to do
When I was making myself believe we 'had' to have a work placement with a design studio, I looked at a few places where I would like to go or where I could go, in terms of location and in all honesty - I wasn't Really excited by any of them.
Below is who I looked at and what I wrote next to them;
Bark and Bite;
+ In Leeds
+ Good client base
+ Good website
+ Motion graphics
- Maybe Too motion based.
What!?;
+ Diverse range of work
- All men...
- No illustration
Teabag studio;
- Don't stand out
Type in motion;
+ I like the look of the website
- The website doesn't really work very well...or not on my laptop anyway.
Elmwood;
+ Well known
+ High profile client base
- Not sure its really 'me'
- Branding?...
4everdesign;
+ In leeds
- Horrible website
- Don't really stand out
Made by Analogue;
+ Contemporary
+ Good clients
+ Really nice website
+ Get input from freelancers
SBT;
+ Sound enthusiastic
+ List 'illustration' on their services
- But still don't 'stand out' :(
We are boxhead;
+ Nice site
+ Good print work
+ Contemporary
- Seem a bit...up themselves?
Paris Panda;
+ Really like the site
+ Contemporary look
- Not a lot of imagery
- Hard to find any of their work
Mask;
+ They've got a studio in Wakefield
+ Really good client base
+ Love the work
- Very digital
Made by pi
- Not sure...
Turnkey;
+ Big group of people
- Marketing/branding.
- Not want I want to do
OUG205 - End of module evaluation
The image module has given me the opportunity to develop my image based skills; prior to this I really wasn’t sure which area I preferred as a designer or which I was ‘good’ at but this had made me realise how much more comfortable I am working with image rather than type/layout.
I had two concerns before starting the module, the first being; I thought it would be completely image based i.e. I wouldn’t be able to use type/words at all but I soon realised that type can be image; the second concern was following on from this, if I couldn’t use type at all I don’t know if I’m imaginative enough? Thankfully, my concerns didn’t last long and even though I could use type in my work, I have started thinking more visually and ‘laterally’ (mainly after the 2D to 3D to 2D brief) and realised that everyones work looks different so, in this sense, I feel a lot more confident with my own work and the fact that it doesn’t matter that I aren’t very good character design etc.
An aspect of the module that I liked and had missed was week long or two week briefs. A disadvantage overall that came from this was that, because I hadn’t done it for a while, my development was lacking and I didn’t document it as well as I probably could have done. On the other hand, it was an advantage because I didn’t have enough time to worry about what idea I should develop etc. and I made decisions a lot faster than I normally do; however, at the same time it may have been a disadvantage because I rushed some things. Looking back on the amount of work I have done and some of the resolutions I have done in just a week, it will hopefully encourage me to work faster and not ponder over small things for a long time, in the future.
Although I enjoyed the shorter term briefs, I did still enjoy the final, longer negotiated brief. I knew that I wanted to work more on ‘type as image’ but wasn’t sure where to go from this; after some discussion it was decided I would use Lady Gaga lyrics. At first, I was excited about it and then the joy somewhat drifted away when I was trying to chose lyrics to base my ideas on but once I had made this decision – which took me too long – I was back to being comfortable with the brief. I wasn’t a particular fan of Lady Gaga before and I wouldn’t say this brief made me a fan but it did make me realise I don’t have to base work on things I personally 'love', to enjoy the brief; that would have probably been a bad thing as if I based the brief on one of my favourite artists, I would probably been sick of listening to them after this brief.
Overall I am pleased with the amount and the standard of work I have produced and feel that spending this time focusing on purely image has definitely helped me develop as a designer and will effect my future work in a positive way.
Freelance?...
Last year I was asked to photograph one of my mums friends weddings...I definately don't intend to make a living from being a wedding photographer but it was an interesting experience.
Thankfully for me, they wanted mainly 'candid' photography, so I didn't have to stand there telling people what to do as I don't have a particularly authorative personality.
Thankfully for me, they wanted mainly 'candid' photography, so I didn't have to stand there telling people what to do as I don't have a particularly authorative personality.
OUGD203 - Collaborative brief evaluation
As a designer, I never ‘look forward’ to collaborative briefs and leading up to it, I get extremely anxious. This collaborative brief wasn’t any different but now the deadline has been and gone, I am pleased with the work that we produced and I feel that the creative partnership worked well. In other collaborative partnerships I have followed the advice to not work with friends however in this instance I thought; if my friend has the design qualities I am looking for and I have never worked with them before, I’m never going to know whether it will or will not work.
As I stated on the original contract; ‘Nichola is commited to the course and is reliable so I know I can trust her.’ I’m glad to say that this stayed true and I felt confident working apart and meeting at set intervals to put our work together. Another point that I made on the contract was that ‘Nichola works well with type where I work better with image therefore I hope that putting our strengths together we can produce a successful piece’, we both worked on our strengths and when we were working alone, I’m sure were both happy with our work but when we came together it was hard to analyse each others; I don’t think this led to an unsuccessful piece but I do feel it made decision making take a little longer because, personally, I didn’t want to say something to upset Nichola so I ‘umm’ and ‘ahh’d’ a lot until I would suggest anything, even if it was a tiny decision where she’d ask me which typeface I liked; this was probably the biggest problem when it came to working with a friend, but on the other hand, we communicated a lot more than I ever have in any other collaborative brief.
Referring back to the contract and what we both wrote about design skills, I think we definately stuck to this; I stated that I wanted to work with image and a limited colour palette which I did get to do. Nichola mentioned her interest in typography which were needed throughout the brief, as well as her layout and InDesign skills. One particular area of the project that I felt we worked really well together on, was the research and we stated that this would be a joint responsibility; thankfully, this brief meant we could go on a ‘research trip’ to London; Nichola was ‘in charge’ of documenting it in terms of photography (with a good camera!), I had a little digital one, took notes and recorded all the info on our ‘interactive tickets’.
The final boards that we submit as a creative partnership to YCN were quite image dominated so when it comes to producing my own boards, I will document the development of the production of my images. In addition to this, I will show my own type work; this was Nichola’s area of the brief, and rightly so, because she is more skilled in this area as she did the type module and I did the image one, but I think it would be interesting to see how different it would have been if I was doing the brief on my own and I would have responsibility for the type aswell.
I stated on my creative partner ‘advert’ that I was ‘cooperative’. I don’t think that in this brief I was ‘uncooperative’ but I don’t think I could use that as one of my personal traits anymore; looking back on the brief, I do feel that I may have been a little overpowering sometimes and instead of discussing some things, I just said ‘I’ll do it’ and when it came to making images I produced them on my own and maybe forced the idea upon Nichola, at the time I didn’t do this intentionally and its not because I think I could do it any better than Nichola; I’m just a control freak.
Looking back on the creative partnership, I am happy with the work that we produced and I’m more than happy that I chose to work with Nichola. However, it has reinforced to me how much I like working alone; when I have to depend on other people or other people depend on me, I tend to panic, get very anxious and sometimes angry at the other person even when they haven’t done anything wrong. In the book ‘How to be a graphic designer without losing your soul’, the author explains that the freelance life suits two kinds of people; ‘the second type is best characterised as the creative loner. These are individuals who cannot be comfortably accomodated within the structure of a design group...They are often designers who cannot compromise their work.’
So overall, from this brief I have learnt that I am a control freak; a creative loner.
Creative CV
This was my mail shot piece for the first year - I intend to base my creative CV on this but just make it a little smaller as this is A2; I will probably make mine A3.
OUGD202 - End of module evaluation
This module has been hard work but ultimately good in terms of my personal development, as I have always had a keen interest in moving image but never really pursued it very much as I didn’t know how to use software such as After Effects etc. therefore when I found out that this was the focus of Design Production – Digital module I was looking forward to it.
Throughout this module I have developed skills in areas that I had none before i.e. the software and storyboarding. In terms of software, it has definitely shown me easier ways to do things that I would have known before so thinks that would have taken me hours or days before are much more realistic to do in terms of time management. I don’t think that my final resolution shows a particularly wide range of skills of using After Effects to its full potential however, it allowed me to create what I intended to from the start and I didn’t really need all the 3D tools etc, so I am content with my technical competence with After Effects and for this reason, would be comfortable using it again in the future and working more with it to develop skills. I didn’t spend as long working with DVD studio as I did with After Effects obviously but I think it is a really good piece of software to know how to use. Once again, I’m not sure my final resolution fully shows a great understanding of the software but I have a basic understanding that could be developed in the future if need be. On the non-digital side, I found that storyboarding is actually a lot more useful than I primarily thought. While taking part in the storyboarding workshops I did find them useful but found myself thinking that it wouldn’t exactly benefit however, as my work developed I was proved very wrong. I realised that all my storyboards didn’t need to be hugely detailed; as long as I understood them, it made turning my ideas into digital a lot easier; especially the pacing timetable.
In this module, I think that because I knew we were only handing in a DVD at the end and all my work would either need to be on there or my blog, the documentation of my work has got a lot better and so has updating my blog; at the beginning of the module it was terrible and I think I maybe did 10 posts in one day ‘panic updating’ and to save myself from doing that again, I updated a lot more and this made organising my work in the end for the DVD a lot easier than creating the PDF was for the last print module.
One of my weaknesses I feel in this module has actually been my research, particularly for the Top 10 and DVD brief; I did a lot of initial research at the beginning of Top 10 brief and then didn’t really do much more and I didn’t actually document any research into DVD interface design or DVD packaging. I am disappointed at myself for this, as research is usually one of my strengths and in the future I hope to find a balance between my Design Practice and Design Context blogs.
In terms of my final resolution, I am very happy with my title sequence; it captures the humorous tone that I wanted to portray and it works well with the subject matter, obviously there are things I could develop and when watching it over and over again I see tiny things that I want to change but for the time we had and the fact I didn’t know how to use After Effects at all at the beginning of the module, I am content with what I have produce and I think it reflects me as a designer as well. If I could go back, the thing I would probably spend more time on would be the DVD, it was somewhat left to the last minute; especially the final interface design (as documented on blog) and when played on a TV DVD player, it responds quite slowly so I would have spent time trying to rectify this but once again, in terms of building new skills and presenting my work in different way, I am quite happy with it. Also, even though it wasn’t a big part of the module; I feel that my DVD packaging works well with the context of the digitial work, I just wish I had done it earlier so that I would have posted my development work for it up on blog before the module deadline but I will still document it for my own purposes.
Overall, I am happy with the work that I have produced this module, I feel my biggest weakness has been making a decision and sticking to it and if I had done this, I would have probably got a bit more sleep.
5 things that I will do different next time:
1 – Experiment more with the software.
2 - Prioritise time better – don’t rush the DVD at the end.
3 – Communicate with tutors more – once I had eventually asked Mike for help, my work went a lot easier.
4 – Leave time for improvements at the end of the module – so then I would have had time to try and get my DVD to work better.
5 – Sleep more.
Throughout this module I have developed skills in areas that I had none before i.e. the software and storyboarding. In terms of software, it has definitely shown me easier ways to do things that I would have known before so thinks that would have taken me hours or days before are much more realistic to do in terms of time management. I don’t think that my final resolution shows a particularly wide range of skills of using After Effects to its full potential however, it allowed me to create what I intended to from the start and I didn’t really need all the 3D tools etc, so I am content with my technical competence with After Effects and for this reason, would be comfortable using it again in the future and working more with it to develop skills. I didn’t spend as long working with DVD studio as I did with After Effects obviously but I think it is a really good piece of software to know how to use. Once again, I’m not sure my final resolution fully shows a great understanding of the software but I have a basic understanding that could be developed in the future if need be. On the non-digital side, I found that storyboarding is actually a lot more useful than I primarily thought. While taking part in the storyboarding workshops I did find them useful but found myself thinking that it wouldn’t exactly benefit however, as my work developed I was proved very wrong. I realised that all my storyboards didn’t need to be hugely detailed; as long as I understood them, it made turning my ideas into digital a lot easier; especially the pacing timetable.
In this module, I think that because I knew we were only handing in a DVD at the end and all my work would either need to be on there or my blog, the documentation of my work has got a lot better and so has updating my blog; at the beginning of the module it was terrible and I think I maybe did 10 posts in one day ‘panic updating’ and to save myself from doing that again, I updated a lot more and this made organising my work in the end for the DVD a lot easier than creating the PDF was for the last print module.
One of my weaknesses I feel in this module has actually been my research, particularly for the Top 10 and DVD brief; I did a lot of initial research at the beginning of Top 10 brief and then didn’t really do much more and I didn’t actually document any research into DVD interface design or DVD packaging. I am disappointed at myself for this, as research is usually one of my strengths and in the future I hope to find a balance between my Design Practice and Design Context blogs.
In terms of my final resolution, I am very happy with my title sequence; it captures the humorous tone that I wanted to portray and it works well with the subject matter, obviously there are things I could develop and when watching it over and over again I see tiny things that I want to change but for the time we had and the fact I didn’t know how to use After Effects at all at the beginning of the module, I am content with what I have produce and I think it reflects me as a designer as well. If I could go back, the thing I would probably spend more time on would be the DVD, it was somewhat left to the last minute; especially the final interface design (as documented on blog) and when played on a TV DVD player, it responds quite slowly so I would have spent time trying to rectify this but once again, in terms of building new skills and presenting my work in different way, I am quite happy with it. Also, even though it wasn’t a big part of the module; I feel that my DVD packaging works well with the context of the digitial work, I just wish I had done it earlier so that I would have posted my development work for it up on blog before the module deadline but I will still document it for my own purposes.
Overall, I am happy with the work that I have produced this module, I feel my biggest weakness has been making a decision and sticking to it and if I had done this, I would have probably got a bit more sleep.
5 things that I will do different next time:
1 – Experiment more with the software.
2 - Prioritise time better – don’t rush the DVD at the end.
3 – Communicate with tutors more – once I had eventually asked Mike for help, my work went a lot easier.
4 – Leave time for improvements at the end of the module – so then I would have had time to try and get my DVD to work better.
5 – Sleep more.
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