Overall I am happy with how OUGD504 turned out. It has challenged me on a number of occasions which have forced me to think harder about design decisions, production outcomes and how my work would be perceived in the industry.
With the first brief, ‘My Design Process’ I started with very wide and general research as a leaflet is something I had never designed before. As well as the content there was the also the fold to think about; which at first I thought was very trivial and it didn’t affect the leaflet’s message so it wouldn’t matter. After much research it became evident that the type of fold completely changes how the reader interacts with the leaflet, meaning it plays a huge part in how much information they take in and how memorable the content is. In regard to my final resolution, I dole it on the whole but looking back there are some elements that I would change or plan differently if I were to do it again. One thing that didn’t go 100% to plan was the sizing of my leaflet. It was meant to be A6 size, this however, wasn’t possible with 8 concertina folds as the printers in our university can only print double sided on a maximum paper size of A3, and my leaflet would need to be printed on A2. To avoid having a single-sided leaflet I compromised and scaled down my leaflet slightly in order for it to fit on the page, leaving my leaflet a few millimetres short of the original A6 size. Outside of university, in the real world, this would not be an issue as there are printers that are able to print double sided on all size paper, but due to university limitations this was the case for this project.
The second brief that got set was to pick a Kickstarter project that interested or somehow engaged us enough to create or recreate a logo for that company/product. The biggest lesson I leant from this brief was the importance of having a range of ideas before settling on an idea. This allowed me to pick and choose from a range of ideas, compare and contrast them and possibly merge them to create more. I learned at this stage there are no bad ideas as they all eventually contribute.
Out of all the briefs that got set it was brief 3 that I got the most engaged with. This is because of my existing interest in publication design, photography and photography publications. The first hing that helped me out was the research I put into this brief; I was able to look though the publications I already had but also go to The Village Book Shop and Colours May Vary to gain a greater understating of colour, layout and stock. I feel my final outcome for this brief is the best work I have produced, but there are still certain aspects I would probably change if I were to redesign Type in Context: Liverpool. I took a lot of inspiration from a certain magazine, so during the brief I asked classmates and John if it was too similar and they all said it was nothing to worry about, I was just taking inspiration. Although I do agree, I still think in the future I will be able to notice my mistake sooner and rectify it. This is the brief that taught me the most about the production side of graphic design in this module. I had to overcome issues with stock, paper size and binding which will come in as useful experience in the future.
This module has been hard but also very rewarding. I have been able to overcome a lot of issues that in level 4 I doubt I wold have been able to correct. This module has been a good start to the year on the whole though there are clear points that I need to improve upon in my own work ethic and my practice talent.
