Thursday, 8 January 2015

OUGD504: Module Evaluation

How have I improved this year? Over the course of this module I’ve improved on a few things. The key difference between Roz this year and Roz last year is my consistency with blogging. I think this year I’ve finally cracked the art of regular blogging and reflection; I’ve become more disciplined with myself. I make it a personal goal to stay a minimum extra hour after every day (with the exception of Tuesdays due to work commitments), which has become two hours minimum since starting back this term. A more recent improvement has been my grasp of research and commercial considerations, I think this is something that’s only began emerging from studio brief 4. Previously I believed research to be looking at examples and analysing them, and a small part of it is, but there’s more, for the last brief I looked into materials, pricing and distribution methods.

I’ve also begun to understand myself as a designer, my process and the way I work. I know now I don’t work well at home and so I refuse to let myself leave the studio until I’ve crossed everything off my list. I know that I will always underestimate how big of a job things are or how long they will take, so I’ve over estimated to compensate. I know that I will always make a horrible mess of my design when I first digitise or produce it, so now I make sure I get that out of the way so I can focus on getting to the final result. I also know I get too easily distracted by conversation so I’ve started listening to music as I work. These are all things that are making me grow as a designer. I’m also pleased to announce that I think I’m finally beginning to develop a ‘style’, I’m uncertain yet as to what it is exactly but I know when something is or isn’t my style and that’s a big leap.

So what are my weaknesses? I’ve still got great lengths to go with Photoshop and Illustrator, I get frustrated when I can’t do something and waste vast amounts of time skimming tutorials to get things done as quickly as possible. I also don’t ask for help enough, I feel that people won’t really care about what I’m doing or I feel too proud to ask for help, I get stressed out by my lack of knowledge but refuse to seek help. The annoying thing is I love helping others but believe I’m too smart to ask for any in return, which is stupid and something I need to get over.  I also need to stop doubting myself, I am sometimes my own worse enemy and I compare myself far too much to others. Despite knowing logically everyone’s different and that I will always see problems in my own work others won’t notice I still judge myself too harshly. I feel like I need consistent praise to be certain that I’m doing the right thing, which is something that I won’t be able to get, I’m not sure how to address this but I think practice will certainly help.


What can I improve on for the next module? As long as I keep up the disciplined behaviour I should be able to achieve more over the course of the next module. I also need to better organise my time, this way I can juggle all the briefs I have going on and give each of them the deserved amount of attention and book the appropriate printing and production time. Being more thorough with the ‘gritty’ stuff such as researching will also greatly improve my understanding of a brief’s requirements. Getting things done as they appear such as design boards and evaluations will mean that when it comes to the next submission I will have everything all ready to go. I also want to play about more next module, not just with the briefs but with my own little projects so I can further develop my emerging style.

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