BA (Hons.) GRAPHIC DESIGN LEVEL 04 Module Code OUGD404

Module Title Design Principles

END OF MODULE SELF-EVALUATION

NAMEBeth Taylor

1. What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them? The exercises we did in preparation of this brief really helped in my skill development. For example, the ability to separate grids from existing pieces of design was invaluable when it came to constructing my own. The complexity that this skill allowed me to notice in commercially used grids also allowed me to build the complexity of my own grids. This also helped me to understand the way that grids dictated the placement of content; sometimes to the base line, and often on its left construction line, depending on the justification and proportions of images and the continuity that has previously been established on the page.By working with text for such a prolonged time I have fond I have developed a skill for identifying inconsistencies in its texture. For example, I have managed to get my eye in to see the rivers caused so often by full justification and the widows and orphans found in large bodies of text. I have directly implemented this in the creation of my layouts, ensuring that my text has none of these problems by tweaking spacing and size until the satisfactory finish is acquired.

2. What approaches to/methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?Up until this project I had never produced a layout of this complexity and using digital means to do so (In Design) was something that I hade to learn and improve on as I worked. Working in this digital format altered my design development process. It meant that I printed out a number of my layouts at different stages to asses the design fully to scale and in its intended printed format. This changes the final layouts drastically, for example, the size of text varies in degrees of legibility when on screen and off and I found that increasing the text size was necessary for full printed legibility. However, being fully aware that these layouts would be assessed digitally I also viewed them as such through the preview and aimed to find a happy medium between printed and digital appearance.This digital production also meant that I worked on the layouts as facing pages, as they would have appeared as a printed publication, rather than how they would need to be arranged ready for print. This allowed me to explore the direct visual implications of facing pages and how the content looked in a less texturised format.

3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?I always insure that the content of my design work is completely relevant and worth knowing. In this brief the stimulus for the content was questions that we wanted to know the answers to. I took this on board but I also wanted to consider the use of such a publication, so I ensured that the content would be useful for new students just starting the course, as well as for my self. I have made sure the good choice of content has been used to the best possible advantage by ordering them in a logical narrative, developing from one point to the next.Most of all I find that I can truly understand the written word very well. I have capitalised on this by creating spreads that are coherent and communicative in the ordering of the content and the placement of the relevant images.

4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?I lack experience when it comes to layouts and the establishment of hierarchies in such an environment. Although, I have done my best and experimented with many different solutions I feel that perhaps hierarchies have not been completely successfully applied. In the future I will attempt to experiment more and start recording examples of such hierarchies and how they are achieved. This will hopefully help me to foster an instinct when working with type and image hierarchies that I can apply to my work in the future.

5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?1. Collect a number of similar works, analyse them and their use of grid and hierarchies. (This time I did do this but not with book layout which I think would really help me to get to grips with designing for it.)2. Collect much less content than I think I am going to need. (More than anything else, fitting everything in was most problem causing, so by reducing content I am more likely to achieve an ordered and spacious aesthetic.3. Actually print and bind they layouts. (This would help me to see how the layouts would work when constrained to a printed page in a book with the distortion of the curve of the page and the pull of the gutter.)4. Take the content and attempt to produce my own info graphics. (This would challenge me to communicate something quite complex through a visual medium in a constrained setting, which would be a good thing for me to conquer.)5. Have more than one crit. (Getting feedback from other students was really helpful and I would have gained

direction and insight from more of them at different stages of design development.)

6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas:(please indicate using an ‘x’)

5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor1 2 3 4 5

Attendance xPunctuality xMotivation xCommitment xQuantity of work produced xQuality of work produced xContribution to the group xThe evaluation of your work is an important part of the assessment criteria and represents a percentage of the overall grade. It is essential that you give yourself enough time to complete your written evaluation fully and with appropriate depth and level of self-reflection. If you have any questions relating to the self evaluation process speak to a member of staff as soon as possible.