What skills do you think you have developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?
I have continued to improve my design, and production skills throughout this module, however I do feel that I am not totally satisfied with the way I have managed myself during this module. The most important things I have learnt from this module has been the application of theoretical ideas in my design, actually fabricating a final product in a refined way. I have also improved the way I photograph and document finished work, which is still not perfect but an improvement on previous modules.
What approaches to methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?
On this module the first step of design production came from a contextual and theoretical understanding of my subject. In fact I became very involved in the subject, so much so that I lost vast amount of time to researching the subject, reading on for far too long into tangents that I never needed to research in the first place. This impacted on the way I produced the final product, as I had a great general knowledge on the UK and US space industries, however comparatively little time to complete the work I wanted to produce. Even during design focused sessions I would find myself watching an hour long documentary on youtube about the development of Saturn 5 for example, a big waste of time, but very interesting. As a result of researching a good number of visual identity manuals I really did understand exactly what I needed to make a successful one myself, this was another example of how the prolonged research sessions probably sped up the design process a great deal, eliminating any worries I had about starting the large publication.
What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?
The main thing I have enjoyed about this particular module has been the ability to choose a subject I am really interested in and really produce some work that means something to me. I have also greatly enjoyed researching the new subject expanding my knowledge. At the same time I have avoided going down route 1 and just making a publication about space, rather I have contextualised my interest in space exploration into a working redesign. I think my strengths in this subject have been in realising a good concept and making it work.
What Weaknesses can you Identify in your work?
My weakness in this module was a lack of discipline when it came to getting carried away with research, spending too long reading and watching videos about space, even when I was suppose to be designing. This really cut into my design time and my ability to follow the set session structure where I found myself very behind. I think I managed to rectify a few of these problems by powering through at the end but at the same time I could have always done more If I had focused on the task at hand and followed my schedule. Both in the designs themselves and the response and evaluation of them.
Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?
- Follow my plan to the letter. I had a really detailed schedule that took me a full day to draw up, documenting exactly what I was suppose to do and when. I found it very difficult to stick too, even though it was designed to be possible. I just need to develop the discipline to work through a studio day, come home and continue instead of just logging out as soon as I leave college.
- I would have liked to have started the publication over Easter instead of when we got back. The most important thing that I need to improve is time management and the ability to say no to things that will take my eye off the ball.
- Blog studio sessions and the discussions we have had in them. Basically I would like to bring my laptop to these sessions in the future and blog about them then and there so the notes I make aren't lost and the ideas I generate in these sessions are not lost with them.
- I would like to expand my knowledge of other designers and bring their work into design practice more. I can gather a lot of other examples of work and ideas that are floating around out there from a range of sources and interests of mine however I find it hard to find many designers that I can talk about in any great detail. I think this will improve the way I think about the design industry in general and give me a more contextual grounding in design itself.
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