Evaluation OUGD301

The experience of this module has taught me a lot about the way I work, the type of designer I am and where I want my work to go. In my rationale I stated that I wanted to “Focus on several areas of design, which will hopefully integrate with one another to give me a well-rounded set of skills, and style of design”; I think that I have tackled this quite well because I chose five briefs that all required very different outcomes, enabling me to improve my skills in several areas of design. The Occasions brief has turned me onto a new area of design that I had never considered before and the contrast between the Penguin brief and Leeds Public Arts brief has shown me the diversity within layout work, and that it can be quite interesting and fulfilling.

I feel that this module has really benefitted from the experiences I has working with design agencies over the summer. The Leeds Public Arts brief has really helped me to understand how working with a client can be really helpful, but also a nightmare when you don’t agree with their design choices. Getting the balance of good design and client’s wishes right is quite hard, but necessary and a very important skill for the future. The feel that I have been able to focus my work, and make decisions based on commercial viability and how the client would respond to the designs, rather than just doing what I like and think is best. The Sustainable Packaging brief is tied to a very specific client, but as I had no actual client input I had to think about the designs from my point of view, the customers and the clients. I think that this has brought out better work from me, and has made me think more about how my work will fit into the market place.

I have managed to tie my studio practice to my dissertation through the sustainable packaging brief mainly. The research and work I am doing has informed me about sustainability and I have allowed this to filter through into the other briefs I have been doing, but I have not made it the main focus.

I have discovered that my design work benefits from good research, and planning of the outcomes that are going to be made. I know that I am very organised, and that my design work is clean and structured. I can see how this is a good thing, but there are opportunities to take risks, and I need to make myself have a go at these, or I fear that I may get stuck in doing quite nice tidy work.

I am looking forward to my final major project because I know that I will have the opportunity to do briefs that I will feel safe and competent working on, but also to look for briefs that I may not have considered before. This is because I know that now is the time to push myself and do work that I want and can experiment with, rather than playing it safe and feeling a bit boring.