Study Task 2 - Group Tutorial Prep

1; What is Industrial Experience?

I imagine that industrial experience might be getting some experience in the industry, whatever industry that may be.

2; What can you learn from Industrial Experience?

I suppose you could learn a lot from industrial experience, dependant on many factors, I mean, you might get landed with a company that you once thought were amazing and produced very nice work, but in the reality of the situation they might be run by a power-hungry boss who treats everyone like his personal bitch or something like that...... that becomes something you can learn from Industrial Experience. Of course there's many many things to learn.

3; What form/format could industrial experience take?

Making teas and coffees, photocopying, shredding paper, taking out the rubbish, going out to pick up some newspapers, probably just being a bit of a slave really

4; What areas of industry are you interested in?

Most of them. I'd like to go and work with a foreign studio, in Europe somewhere, in a company that isn't too big focussing on typography and maybe a a bit of motion graphics. I like print and all that but it's becoming a bit unethical to do that kind of thing, and I care a lot about the planet, so I probably won't end up aiming for heavily print-based areas of the industry. I'd quite like to work in the sort of area that crosses over with music and that kind of thing.

5; What are your concerns about industrial experience?

I have no concerns, I'd rather just make contact with someone, tell them what I could do for them, no qualms, get on with it.

Study Task 1 - Why am I here, What do I want to learn?

• identify and explain 5 reasons why you chose to study on this programme.

1; Graphic Design seemed like an appealing subject to get involved with, it's the kind of thing that satisfies my interests in making visual work, along with the more theoretical side of things to do with communication and psychology and that sort of thing. I took art and communication studies in 6th form and both of those things tie in together quite well when applied to graphics. 

2; Leeds College of Art seemed like quite a good idea, the whole 'proper' university environment of having to only show up for a few hours a week seemed like a waste, that and I didn't actually get into any other places. But a proper college sounded a bit more full-on and worthwhile. And it is. 

3; I like being in the north, so of course Leeds College of Art is pretty convenient. It's cold but I like it. 

4; I felt very comfortable in my interview, perhaps that was because I went in on a nothing-left-to-lose basis, having been turned down by everyone else. It changed my mindset for that interview and felt happy to be spoken to by Amber and Lorenzo who looked past the fact that my portfolio was full of life drawing and bits of charcoal and paint, and instead understood that Graphic Design was something I really wanted to learn and do. 

5; If it wasn't for this I'd be stuck working in a Sainsbury's, bored of my life. 

• Identify and explain 5 things that you want to learn during your time on the programme.

1; I want to learn what makes people tick, I feel like I've got a fairly good idea already, but through further experimentation and making more work I'll hopefully become more aware of what works and what does not.

2; How to get my work out there in the most effective way possible, how to create a name for myself, and things like that. I often feel like I don't know where to start with things like this, I mean it's easy enough to create a blog or tumblr or whatever, but to actually start getting recognised is another step in itself. 

3; I want to learn all the ins and outs and carrying a project from the initial concept right through to finishing and presenting, which is obviously why I'm on this course, but I want to learn it well and how to achieve this well within a time limit, which is something I've never been good at.

4; A second language, something like Spanish or Italian, which might well be useful when I finish this programme and begin looking for jobs. 

5; How to establish good relationships within the industry, to hopefully create opportunities for the future. 

• Identify and explain 5 skills that you think are your strengths.

1; Crits; at the moment it feels like I'm far better at observing someone elses and offering advice than I am at actually making good work myself. It's helping though, I feel that my first year has definitely helped me understand what kind of thing I want to, simply through seeing everyone else work, along with flicking through blogs and websites, and seeing design out in the environment. That and I like a good argument; without trying to sound arrogant or anything like that I feel like I can often pick out weaknesses that people might not have picked up on. 


2; Thinking; I guess this kind of comes out of doing Communication Studies for A-level, being completely and utterly honest I quite enjoyed smoking cannabis before going into those lessons, and then going in and getting bang involved and getting well interested in trying to figure out how people's minds work (and society, and communication structures and models, media models, etc - possibly one of the most useful things I ever learnt, especially now in this environment). Obviously the problem was that under that sort of influence I did too much thinking and not enough working, so I had to cut that habit. So now I still think a lot about that sort of thing, why certain adverts/pieces of design/whatever influences people in certain ways, but now I do a lot more work because I don't smoke much cannabis at all. 


3; Staying awake and alert; I found this hard at the beginning of the first year; to listen in lectures and seminars and stuff, I used to find it pretty hard to just sit there and not do anything except try and concentrate. Maybe that was perhaps a result of the same problem as above (which was definitely a problem, there's no denying that), I mean it's fairly obviously true, as I've cut that one out I've found it easier and easier to stay awake and alert. 


4; Idea generation; well I hope so anyway, whether the ideas are genuinely good or not, I'm not sure, but sometimes I can come up with quite a few useable rationales, I quite like looking around at the work of others and wondering how I could do it differently, sometimes it works, most times it doesn't. But hopefully one day they will work. 


5; Writing stuff, I can write for ages sometimes, like right now

• Identify and explain 5 things that you want to improve.

1; Software skills; this will be a constant one, along with many other things I want to improve. Before starting this course I'd basically never used any software really, I started to learn music production programmes before so I was kind of used to learning where to begin to learn, if you see what I mean. I never got that good at them because my old laptop couldn't handle that kind of thing, but I've got a mac now so I can jam around of illustrator and photoshop all day and probably start trying to learn music programmes again aswell which will be a right laugh.

2; TIME MANAGEMENT always a difficulty. And not getting distracted, creating problems for myself which get right in the way isn't really the best way of doing things I've noticed recently

3; General drawing; at times I can draw but I'm not in the habit of carrying a sketch book around really, which would have been pretty useful in many situations, like when I went to Europe in Summer, I realised too late, but that should've been some kind of priority really. Sometimes I get well involved with sketches but often I end up dropping them under my bed or something and never seeing them again

4; Getting involved; I need to make more of an effort to get out there and get to know people and what's going on, just at the moment I find it difficult to know what I really want to do and where I might fit in, I suppose that'll come with time. 

5; Theoretical stuff, it's useful and I'm interested in it, I enjoy learning about how things came to be how they are and why things work in the way they do, but I don't really spend enough time on it, which explains a slightly low CTS grade last year, but it's something I want to do a lot better on this year.

• Identify and explain 5 ways that you will evaluate your progress.

1; Getting my work out there; I want to actually do some work that will work for someone somewhere, I need to make some kind of personal base for my work, like a proper website or a separate blog or something. Another one of those things I should have done quite a while ago, but didn't do. Anyway, if I did make more of an effort to show my work to the public, I'd be able to make a judgement based on how people reacted to it, which is surely the best way.

2; Look back; It's kind of necessary to look back at the work I did this time last year, I find it pretty inspiring for me to get on with things and improve more. Also it helps me in other ways, like I'll spot a potential good idea that never got used but might work for as current project maybe.

3; Taking a note of stuff; writing down what is happening and when, working out how long it is taking me to do things and then try and improve certain aspects, I honestly can't see myself doing this though, but it would be a nice idea...I'm quite laid back a lot of the time which doesn't help

4; Keep updated with new work, seeing what other people around me as well as in other places are doing, I feel this is quite a good measure of how well I might be doing, and is also a great source of inspiration. 

5; Make more effort to interact with tutors; this is one of the things that in some ways let me down a bit last year, I can't always assume the answers will just come to me to be honest, and I find that talking about ideas with tutors is insanely helpful, yet I don't make enough effort to do it. 

• Identify 5 things you want to find the answer to

1; everything

2; how to motivate myself to do more

3; why the golden ratio is what it is, I mean its really the only thing I've ever come across that suggests that there's more to life than life, it's nuts

4; How not to waste money

5; everything else

YEAR 2

starts here

OUGD103 evaluation

What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?

I feel I have developed numerous new skills throughout this module, perhaps more so than the previous modules I have undertaken. One of the most important skills I have developed (particularly in the final brief) has been rapidly putting ideas into practice. With earlier modules, I found it relatively difficult to really focus on one particular idea and rapidly begin to visualise this. One reason I enjoyed the 'speaking from experience' brief maybe more so than any other briefs this year is that I found it possible to grab one idea and almost instantly visualise a resolution, through sketching and playing around on Illustrator. This in some ways made me realise how much I had learnt this year, without even realising so. I have also begun to get to grips with InDesign, a programme that presented me with some difficulties initially, but I found that I have developed a level of patience that has helped me overcome this. 

What approaches to/methods of research have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?

My research methods for this module have not been anywhere near as thorough as I would have ideally liked them to have been. I have enjoyed studying the work of others, and I feel this has informed my design practice more so than much of the first hand research I have undertaken. In future modules, I will be sure to make much more of an effort with my primary research material, as to enable me to design more informed resolutions. 

What strengths can you identify in your work and how have you/will you capitalise on these?

At this point in time, I have been particularly enjoying infographics and hand-drawn type as areas of graphic design. I do feel that these are my strengths at the moment, but I do not really wish to capitalise on these just yet, as I feel I still have a lot of areas yet to explore and learn about. However, hand-made type is becoming more of a hobby to me at the moment, something which I can often contribute to my design practice, but mainly being something that I enjoy in my spare time. 

What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these more fully?

Research has consistently been a weakness of mine, for most briefs I have undertaken. I hope to improve on this next year, with a fresh attitude and a much more informed knowledge of graphic design. I feel that I have learnt a huge amount this year, and made many mistakes, yet these mistakes will allow me to be a much more competent designer once the second year is underway.

Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what you expect to gain from doing these?


Everything. That's a lazy answer so I must elaborate; looking back to the very beginning of the year where I failed to produce more than 11 letters for the summer brief and had no idea what constitutes 'good' design. I've spent the whole year making mistakes and producing very hit-and-miss work, that in some cases answered the brief, and in other cases did not. I feel that the work I have produced is less relevant to me than the amount of information I had taken in and the amount of knowledge I have gained, and for that reason, I will be entering the second year with a much fresher attitude and approach. So essentially what I am trying to say is; I will be doing everything differently next year.

How would you grade yourself in the following areas:

1=poor 5=excellent

Attendance:                                                4

Punctuality:                                                4

Motivation:                                                4

Commitment:                                                3

Quantity of work produced:                        2

Quality of work produced:                        3

Contribution to the group:                        2

End of module self-evaluation

What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?

I have built some foundations in areas relatively new and exciting to me, in particular the following:

-       Visualising information: I have been exploring various ways of presenting data in a visually appealing way, and used these techniques to help resolve the ‘100’ brief.  In particular, I taught myself how to create and manipulate graphs of batches of data in Illustrator, which was quite useful. I feel I could have spent a lot more time refining these techniques and perhaps going into greater detail.

-       Moving image: I have developed some basic knowledge of creating moving images, although I have yet to explore the potential of these skills within my own practical work.

-       Photoshop: I have been taught a few basic techniques that are commonly used on this piece of software. I struggled initially, which I felt perhaps removed a lot of the incentive to spend a long time creating work on it, particularly for the Postcard brief. I did however feel as though I used it effectively to create some interesting images for the postcards, although I wish I had spent longer refining and improving them.

-       Bookbinding: I enjoyed this aspect of design due to its practical, crafty hands-on approach. I have yet to put it into practise with my own work, although there will no doubt be many situations in the future where I will be able to make use of these techniques.

-       Time-management: towards the end of the module, I began waking up earlier and making it into college before 9am, which drastically helped my productivity and efficiency through the last couple of weeks of the module. I hope to keep this up for the next module so I can be consistently more productive.

What approaches to/methods of research have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?

My methods of research are becoming far more thorough; I feel I have explored various ways of collecting information from various sources, which has aided the direction of my practical work greatly. Although the theme of my Collection 100 project had been altered a few times, the body of research collected definitely helped in arriving at the resolution that was achieved.

What strengths can you identify in your work and how have you/will you capitalise on these?

In all honesty I do not feel as if this module has genuinely helped me identify any particular strengths within my work. This may well be a result of not putting in as much effort as I should have done in order to be able to reach these sort of conclusions, yet on the other hand, I feel as though I have learnt a great deal in terms of practical techniques, which will in future help me determine my strengths and weaknesses as a designer.

What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these more fully?

-       Not starting soon enough. I will avoid this in future by adopting the ‘start anywhere’ technique more readily and without hesitation. I am hoping this will help me reach potential resolutions more rapidly, leaving a greater amount of time for concentrating on producing an implementable end product.

-       Working as part of a group (‘What If’ brief). I find it fairly difficult to contribute actual quantities of work to the group instead of simply generating ideas (which may well be my strength in terms of group work). In future I will try much harder to demonstrate potential resolutions to the group.

Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what you expect to gain from doing these?

-       Improve organisation – continue to arrive at college early in order to improve time-management, productivity and efficiency.

-       Start sooner – for the simple reason of allowing me more time to ideate solutions and produce a more presentable product.

-       Do not hesitate – to allow ideas to flow more willingly, in order to produce a less obvious and more effective resolution.

-       Keep it simple – particularly at early stages, to allow the main ideas and communication to show through in the final product

-       Seek out less obvious research techniques – once again to conjure more ‘outside the box’ ideas

How would you grade yourself in the following areas:

1=poor 5=excellent

Attendance:                                                5

Punctuality:                                                4

Motivation:                                                4

Commitment:                                                3

Quantity of work produced:                        2

Quality of work produced:                        3

Contribution to the group:                        2

Collection 100 resolution

photoshop postcards