OUGD504 - Brief 01 - Evaluation

Brief 01 Evaluation

After what felt like a very long summer, brief one was a great introductory project to allow me to settle back into the college and back into the swing of working to deadlines and with restrictions of a brief. This brief allowed me to fully realise my own personal creative process as well as understanding other peoples. Before undertaking this project, I had put very little thought into my own creative process. Perhaps I was always subconsciously aware of my rituals and routines, but doing this brief has made me much more aware of myself as a designer and has actually helped me to become a little more organised in my practice. It also allowed me to realise that graphic designers tend to work in similar ways to produce their work. This brief was fast paced, which in hindsight was a good thing. It required me to act on impulse, think and develop my ideas quickly. I feel that I have produced a leaflet that represents my style, and that is something I want to maintain throughout the duration of the second year. I want to refine my style as a graphic artist.

I began with a lot of research and experimentation with various folds. The focus of this module was on design production, so by trying out the folds first hand, I got a great amount of insight into the various steps and procedures that must be undertaken to produce printed media of this type. Once I had decided on which folding method to use, I got to work on generating my content and deciding on how I wanted the leaflet to look aesthetically. I did some research into the Bauhaus principles/philosophies and realised that these replicated a ‘design process’ in their own unique way. I then went onto start designing. I wanted to pay homage to the classic Bauhaus style, so took inspiration from three shapes that are associated with the design school. They are a circle, triangle and a square. These three shapes are a running theme throughout the design. Work from the Bauhaus was also notoriously minimalistic and geometric and monochromatic. I took all these elements into consideration when typesetting and choosing suitable typefaces. I played around a lot with layout and positioning of type and image, and finally came to a point where I was happy with the overall aesthetic. I utilised my peers throughout the project, continually asking for informal feedback/guidance. I also feel I used the final crit to its full potential; I got a lot of feedback which was both positive and constructively critical. I took all the points on board in order to refine the final design down ready for print.

Once I had finalised the design I did some last minute research into a very successful designer who came out of the Bauhaus named Jan Tschiold. He used a lot of geometric shapes in his work. His work was predominately monochrome, but occasionally used bright reds or oranges. I drew a lot of inspiration from this in the final stage of the brief. I made a good decision by injecting some colour into the design at the last minute. Overall I feel I worked well throughout this brief. I was consistent with my input and I produced some work that answered the brief successfully, creatively and in a way that satisfied me.