OUGD 406 END OF MODULE EVALUATION

BA (Hons.) GRAPHIC DESIGN		LEVEL	04
Module Code	OUGD406
Module Title	DESIGN PROCESS

END OF MODULE SELF-EVALUATION

NAME	LUKE ROSSITER

1.  What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?
I have used the skills I have picked up throughout the course over several modules and built on them for this final design practice module. One skill I have developed in particular is screen-printing, which I used for the first time in this module. It is a technique that I have neglected for far to long in the name of time management but the results that screen print gave me has lead me to believe that the time consuming process really pays off. Other skills I have applied and developed include my improved understanding of the manipulation of image and text in terms o how the two entities interact with each other.
2. What approaches to/methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process? I tend to approach the design process with a big emphasis on what I want to see, more often than not neglecting other peoples tastes. This can be a problem but in the environment of the studios it is easy to do because we all have pretty similar tastes. I also tend to work in reverse, experimenting with ideas on the computer and then working out how everything can fit together with the images I have created, instead of drawing what I imagine things could possibly look like on paper. The approach to this module has been very different because for many of the brief we have been given much more freedom to create our own ideas as well as freedom to manage our own time. I have struggled slightly with both but in no way failed to carry out the tasks I was given. We also worked on a collaborative project this module which was different because we really had to decide our own direction from scratch in a group environment, which was very challenging. We also had some issues with another group having a similar idea, which may have impacted on the design decisions we made for absolutely no reason given that it was such a non-issue that was blown out of proportion by genuine misunderstanding.
3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these? I believe that my strengths are seen in the final product of the work I produce and the later stages of the documentation I make to get there. I also like to carry out research into the subjects I choose but unfortunately this mostly consists of secondary scientific stuff and not enough primary personal views. I think I have a strength in layout and the interaction of text and image, balancing the dynamics of a page to make sure every aspect is viewed. This is evident in the Your Choice brief, which has a heavy emphasis on text working with image. I also believe that in this module I have got better at picking the correct colours for my design. I have experienced this in the Your Choice brief again where I realised how shockingly bad the cars would look in full colour and opted for a two colour plus stock design.
4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?
I have a weakness in neglecting documentation in the early stages of the design process, when I’m generating Ideas I sketch things all over the place and create large sheets of notes that are messy and often cannot be understood by anyone other than myself. I have also fallen behind on documentation of contextual research, often I will look at things online and totally neglect my context blog, in the your choice brief all of the designs were based on the visual styles that the films posters employ, although I did all this research I don’t believe I ever saved the work or documented how I applied these styles. This is a major problem I have at the moment; doing work and never documenting it. It is very simple to change this for the future; I just need to think about what I am doing before blindly moving on to the next task. Another weakness is noted in the stamps brief, I allowed my own personal opinion to affect the process of my design. Just because I don’t believe that stamps are a good way to help the environment doesn’t mean that my politics should have an impact on my work.
5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these? i)               I will work to improve the documentation of the early stages of work in my design process. This will allow me to get better marks for the work I have done, and clear up time in the future when I panic about loosing all my design sheets. ii)             I will make sure that all of the contextual research I do is documented properly. I frequently visit design blogs and websites so this should be very easy for me; I just need to improve the way I surf. iii)            I have to spend more time working on design sheets, they are too messy and although I can understand them, people who are marking or critiquing my work will be confused unless I improve their legibility. iv)            I will take a more productive role in group tasks. I contributed work in this modules collaborative project but I think that in the future I could improve the way I interact with the group, to stop saying things that I think they want to hear and express my opinion more openly. v)              I will try to get 8 hours sleep a night, I believe that if I do this I will be able to manage everything more easily. I am probably getting 6 hours a night at the moment and I can tell that I have become less a articulate speaker and have not been able to help people as much in crits, or come up with ideas that real mean something or stand out.
6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas: (please indicate using an ‘x’)  5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor
	1	2	3	4	5
Attendance					x
Punctuality					x
Motivation			x
Commitment			x
Quantity of work produced			x
Quality of work produced				x
Contribution to the group				x
The evaluation of your work is an important part of the assessment criteria and represents a percentage of the overall grade. It is essential that you give yourself enough time to complete your written evaluation fully and with appropriate depth and level of self-reflection. If you have any questions relating to the self evaluation process speak to a member of staff as soon as possible.