Speaking from experience..problem analysis: rationale 2...

- The Brief: (what is the problem you intend to solve)

How to deal with homesickness

What do you need to communicate? (be clear and specific)

How to deal with moving away from family and friends

Why do they need to know? (the concept for your problem)

Moving away from home can be stressful for some students and hard to come to terms with at first. I will give advice on how to overcome homesickness and enjoy student life- can be written in first person and from personal experience.

What will they respond to? (will they see/ watch/ buy/ wearing it etc)

Feel good posters, postcards with advice on, maybe some designed letter writing kits for students to write letters to family and friends. Could design a calendar where students can cross off the days till when they next go home.

Where do they go? (how will they access/ recieve/ discover etc... the resolution)

Advice can be found somewhere like student union, student advice or student halls.

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Feedback on this rationale:

- not everyone in my target audience will experience home sickness

- maybe choose something that the students can interact with for the resolution

- feel good posters a good idea- will grab people attention

- try and make it more relevant to GD students

Speaking from experience..problem analysis: rationale 1...

The Brief: (what is the problem you intend to solve)

How to survive, deal with being a first year GD student- what to expect etc.

What do you need to communicate? (be clear and specific)

How to deal with the work load, what they can expect, the do's and dont's.

Why do they need to know? (the concept for your problem)

So they can be fully prepared for the year ahead.

What will they respond to? (will they see/ watch/ buy/ wearing it etc)

Info booklets with advice in, quirky posters, a blog site with information on, maps etc.

Where do they go? (how will they access/ recieve/ discover etc... the resolution)

I will design a graphic design first year 'survival kit/ guide' which they would receive at the start of the course.


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Feedback on this rationale:


- Good idea
- helpful and relevant to new GD students, keeps inline with target audience
- maybe use humour to get info across
- hand out sweets

Presentation...

The Brief:

Produce and deliver a 5-7 minute presentation that communicates a reflective summary of your experiences on the course to date. You should aim to identify who you are as a learner and a designer as well as how the things you have experienced over the past nine months have affected your current aims and ambitions.

You should also attempt to communicate your ambitions for next year.

Context:

Your own personal development as an individual and as a designer is affected by all aspects of your life. This is an opportunity to reflect on experiences from the past nine months that have informed the decisions that you have made/ making about your future development.

The ability to reflect upon your personal development can help you to gain confidence in your abilities as well as identify areas of strength, focus, ambition and improvement.

Deliverables:

1x 5-7 minute Powerpoint or Pdf presentation.

Evidence of critical engagement with personally relevant contemporary design practise in the form of a blog.

Considerations:

What have you learned, and what do you want to learn? What mistakes have you made and how have you learned form them? How will this affect your future development? What are your strengths and how have you/ will you develop them further? What are your weaknesses and hwo do you intend to address these? What have you enjoyed and why? What have you disliked and why? How does this affect your ambitions ? What did you want to get from the year? Have you achieved this? What have you discovered that you werent expecting?

Mandatory requirements:

Your presentation should last between 5 and 7 minutes (you will be penalised for a presentation that is shorter or longer than this).

Although the content, tone and conclusion of this reflective process should reflect your own experiences, personality and ambitions, you should aim to focus on the learning journey and how this has informed the decisions about your future. To this end you should use examples of your own work, creative skills and interest of contemporary field of design as part of your presentation.

You should be prepared to answer questions on your presentation posed by your collegues.

Studio deadline:

Presentations to be delivered on:-

9th/ 10th June 2011

OUGD104..End of module evaluation...

1. What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?

I think that my oberservational skills and my imagination have improved. Throughout this module i have had to look at everything in a different way. It was not about how i saw things or interpreted them, but how others would interpret my work. I think i am learning to communicate better, which i think was the purpose of this module. The workshops allowed me to try new things and develop many skills, such as type and grid which has been handy in the OUDG103 module. The main skill that has been developed is the ways in which i can communicate an idea, i feel like i can be more creative now.

2. What approaches to/ methods of research have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?

With the what is a line brief, i sourced a lot of primary research, the process to my final piece was all my own work. For the design context part of this brief, i obviously looked at secondary sources for ideas and inspiration. My research was mainly visual, by looking at various landscapes and skylines from different places, as to compare them. Looking at different skylines for the what is a line brief, helped me select a varied array of skylines that worked well together for my final ideas and solutions.

3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/ will you capitalise on these?

With the what is a line brief, i found it hard to get into to start with, but once i had a solid idea of what i wanted to do, i think it went well. I really liked the style that i started to work in and also the process that i worked in. It works well with the theme of the brief, it is one that i will continue to experiment with past this module.

4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these more fully?

During the workshops at the start of the module i think i was a bit rubbish at experimenting with communcating, i found it hard to just think of ideas on the spot. I found that i over complicated my ideas sometimes too, which just made things difficult for myself and resulted in my work not communicating what it was supposed too. With the book fair brief, i think i really struggled. I had really bad time management, when we first got the brief i didnt do any work for it for like 3 weeks, then when it came close to the deadline i hated my design and was really disappointed and embarrassed by it. So a week before deadline i changed my idea and produced something that i had actually put some effort into and i managed to sell a book.

5. Identify 5 things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?

- Put all my effort into everything i do, then i cant be disappointed with my work or the grade i get for it, if i do this i can be content with myself knowing that i tried my best.

- Try and think of as many ideas as possible, it doesnt matter if they dont work, at least i would have tried them. This will improve my creativity and make me more confident with my ideas.

- Stop procastinating as il get more work done.

- Research more, it is so important, i need to look at work that i aspire to be like and work that is relevant to the brief, as it will help me to understand my work and communicate it effectively.

- Seek help when i need it, sometimes i find it hard to ask for help and advice with my work. If i have a problem i need to ask for help or the quality of my work could be jepardised.

6. How would you grade yourself on the following areas? 1= poor, 5= excellent

- Attendance: 4
- Punctuality: 4
- Motivation: 3
- Commitment: 3
- Quality of work produced: 4
- Quantity of work produced: 3
- Contribution to the group: 3

What is a line?...time management...

After doing the action plan for the easter break, i want to write how i have managed my time and if i followed my action plan, i need to make sure that i am using my time effectively in order to make the most out of the brief.

In terms of taking photographs and tracing my photos, i have stuck to my action plan time table, i didnt manage to go to some places that i had written down due to finacial reasons, but i made sure i took plenty of photos from the places that i could get to. During the easter break i went to Amsterdam, where i took many photos of skylines and buildings in the city, i think it works well for this brief because i have the comparison of two main cities in two countries.

The first week of the easter break i went home, i didnt do any work whilst i was there apart from taking photos of the skyline, i find it hard to work at home home because so much is always going on and i like to enjoy just spending time with my family.

In all honesty, i dont really like writing action plans, because if i dont do something when i was supposed to i feel a bit guilty, and i also feel pressured. I think that as long as i get it done for the deadline and i have tried my best, then it shouldnt matter too much. I do write to do lists as they are a bit more relaxed, i feel less pressured but still have what i need to do in front of me.

Interim Self-evaluation...

List 5 practical skills that you have developed. When have they proved useful?

1. Screen printing: I screen printed once at college and really enjoyed it, after having the inductions at both college sites, it was definetly something i wanted to incorporate into a brief, which i did in the last group brief. I screen printed posters and they looked really good and i enjoyed myself.

2. Learning all the new software has helped me a lot throughout a lot of the briefs and my designs, i feel comfortable using almost all of the ones i have learnt.

3. Making hotdog books was fun and i think it is a good way to present ideas and work, i even taught my younger brother whose doing Art GCSE to make them, he thought it was a good idea.

4. I learnt how to cook for myself, sometimes it can be a mish mash of stuff, but it tastes good. I also make an amazing chocolate cake! :)

5.

List 5 transferable skills that you have delevoped. What have you used them for?

1. Teamwork: I dont always enjoy working in a group, especially when you dont know other people well, but i think as we've settled in i have been able to work better as part of a group and i do enjoy it. It's important in industry and any job i guess, to work as a group or with a team of people.

2. Speaking with confidence during crits and presentations has made me a more confident person in general, i think that when we started i was nervous about speaking in front of people i didnt know, now i know people, i can speak more confidently.

3. Time management: I have got better at managing my time, because you soon realise that there arent enough hours in the day or days in the week, so every minute matters, and i shouldnt waste them. It has helped because i now feel like i can manage all the briefs and still have time for myself because i've been using time effectively.

4. Learning Spanish: I went to the Spanish lessons for a while, and i learnt quite a lot which will be useful if i ever want to go there in the future.

5. Money management: I have realised that money doesnt grow on trees and i dont like being in my overdraft!

List 5 things that you have achieved. How have they helped you progress?

1. Making 100 pairs of glasses from card! Everyone thought i wouldnt do it, but i did! ha.. it has helped me develop my paper cutting skills!

2. Typogateaux was an achievement because i can now bake a mean chocolate cake! nom

3. Passing all the modules so far! It motivates me to work harder.

4. I can cook healthy meals, even though i make some odd stuff, its good for me!

5.

List 5 problems that you have had to face. How have you overcome them?

1. Disliking group work at the start, because everyone works differently and some people are strong minded. But the more we did group work, the more i got used to it, i tried to stay positive and enjoy working with people who had different skills to me, i learnt a lot in the end.

2. Printing downstairs in digital print became a problem when you plus everyone else try to print in morning drop ins on the day of deadline...deffo a no no, i have learnt you need to book print at least a week before you need it.

3. Managing time: when you start the course you dont realise how much work you get, so i did have trouble managing me time with graphic design time.

4. Flat mates: I had a big problem at the beginning of the year with my flat mates, they were noisy and dirtbags, so i moved flats and now im happy :)

5.

List 5 facts that you have learnt. When have they been useful?

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

List 5 things that you will never do again. Why?

1. Start a 6 week brief, 2 weeks after its been set, because i didnt do as much work as i could of.

2. The photography elective- it was not enjoyable!

3. Leave CTS till the last minute!

4. Leave updating my blog for more than a few days because it gets on top of you pretty quick.

5.

Which of these words best describes the way you work as part of a group?

- Vocal and critical

Which of these qualities do you most appreciate about yourself?

- Responsible, Ambitious, Punctuality and Humorous

Which of these attitudes best describes the way you worked at the start of the group brief?

- Organised, Focused and Direct

Which of these attitudes best describes the way you work now?

- Flexible

Communication is a virus...Final feedback...

Final Feedback

This is feedback we recieved on our presentation from group 7, aswell as from Jo and Amber

These are the questions the group had to consider while giving us feedback:
Was the concept clearly defined?
Was the context clearly defined?
Was the method of delivery clearly defined?
What methods were used to gather information?
What methods were used to evaluate information?
What methods were used to distribute information?
How was the problem resolved?
How could the problem be resolved more effectively?
Was the problem delivered in the correct context?
Did the problem communicate with an audience?

 - Liked the concept, think it is strong
- Might be better to challenge people rather than be too nice to them and guide them
- Fear motivates more than positivity, so could include facts and figures
- Posters are aesthetically nice but there isn't much depth and meaning
- More of a 'kick up the butt approach' could work
- Liked the posters but don't think they are motivating
- Would be worth creating other products that are more relevant to students
- It would be good to test the products now that you have actually produced them and to see whether they work
- The posters seem a bit girly so a different approach would be better for males
- Posters worked for Kirsty, she did think they were motivating
- Liked the logo, thought 'help yourself' was a clever title, could make more use of this logo
- Some of the type styles didn't relate to motivation
- The different skills of group members is useful
- How would you give the products out? Have you tested it? Does it work?