OUGD504 - Module Evaluation

OUGD504 – Module Evaluation – Cameron James Wolfe

Design Production was overall, a positively challenging module for me. The individual briefs were diverse and varied greatly from one another, which was exciting and pushed my practice. Brief one was a great introductory project for the second year, allowing me to settle back into working to quick deadlines. Brief two required me to work outside of my comfort zone by designing a logo and collateral for a start-up business. I was in my element in brief three as editorial design is something I feel passionate about and have a strong interest in. Brief four again asked me to step outside of my comfort zone by designing for web, something I hadn’t attempted before in such detail.

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 within restrictions of a brief. This brief allowed me to fully realise my own personal creative process as well as understanding other peoples. Leaflet design was something I had little interest in before undertaking the brief, but I felt motivated after completing it to investigate this area of graphic design in more depth.

Brief two was a stimulating brief for me because it asked to enter an area of design which I lack experience in. I was a little anxious at the start, because other than the self branding brief for PPP last year, I had limited experience of designing a logo for a client/brand before. It was huge learning experience, especially in gaining knowledge of liaising with a client and defining specific brand requirements. Fortunately, this brief allowed me to be true to my artistic background, experimenting with media such as paint and ink and collaging to get my ideas flowing, which was refreshing.

Brief three offered me a number of opportunities to really develop my practice in editorial design. This is an area of graphic design that I am very much interested in entering into once I have graduated from the course, so I expected a lot from myself throughout this brief, setting myself high standards and goals, which I felt was necessary in order to produce work that really answered the brief in an original way. I really enjoyed the extended nature of brief three; it meant I had enough time to refine the aesthetic of the publication and take time to consider a number of design treatments, as well as putting good amounts of thought into the production considerations.

Brief four was very different to the rest of the briefs in this module, and for that reason, it was the most challenging for me. I hadn’t designed for web, so it was an exciting challenge. This brief opened my mind to the applications of screen based media, and definitely broadened my horizons in terms of areas of interest within this field of visual communication. Something I found very engaging and refreshing was the briefing by the visiting professionals from Only Studio. They briefed us in a way that I hadn’t experienced before. They helped me realise that the extremely open nature of this brief was a positive opportunity to really explore my web design potential.

I did find aspects of this module enjoyable and I feel that I completed each of the briefs to a standard that I am content with. However, on reflection, I know that there are areas that I would like to improve on, develop and push further in my personal design process and approach to tackling briefs in future projects. At the end of every module, I always reflect and contemplate on what I could have perhaps done slightly differently, which I think is a positive form of self development. For example, if I were to undertake brief three again, I would make much more informed stock decisions, use a more sophisticated binding method and make more considered editorial/layout decisions.  Similarly with brief four, I would allow myself more time to really research campaign website design and strive to embed a consistent theme/concept throughout the sites’ aesthetic.

 Design production has been a massive learning curve for me as a young designer. I have learnt a range of new skills and improved on existing ones. I feel my time management and engagement with feedback has progressed significantly since level four, something I aim to continue to improve on.