another one,

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

I believe that i have developed many skills within this module, one of them not being critical studies.... however i believe my final resolutions on illustrator have become amazing in comparisson to previous modules where i used photoshop all the time and everything was all pixelated. Now rather than thinking illustrator as a task i think of it as fun! i also have developed skills on Indesign and can make double page spreads without a worry! i believe the best skill is that i have found how to enjoy things rather than think of them as a chore

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

i have developed a better understanding of research and have now understood it isn't just for informing yourself and becoming more aware to the brief at hand, but it is also there to back up your designs so you have statistical information proving your theory is infact a problem to be solved.

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

My work strengths are that i am calming down, and this is shown through out my work, as i am not producing 100's of design sheets filled with crap but i am now judging things via quality rather than quantity. As i said before i enjoy this a lot more so i will carry on with this but try to make more quality work!

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

My weakness' s in my work vary, on the How to brief i did a map on how to do things although this was my first time productivly using illustrator, so admitedly its not a strong piece of work but is a giant leap from what the production could/would of looked like otherwise, also the video didn't turn out exactly how i wanted on some clips. but i can deal with that, i know for future reference.

5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?
- use my blog like i did in other modules
- produce more research to back up my designs
- record/document more data
- keep a diary of time management to prove it is being done
- Take time out of one project to ensure i spend time on my weak points (critical studies) as that matters more to ensure i pass the year. (learned from that mistake as now i am worrying 24/7)

6. How would you grade yourself on the following areas:
5 = excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor
Attendance 5
Punctuality 5
Motivation 4
Commitment 4
Quantity of work produced 4
Quality of work produced 4
Contribution to the group 4

Double Page Spread

Throughout the double page spread project as stated before i wished to

produce something with personal feel and a hand made touch which you would not 

get with any average magazine.

Here are the development stages of my spreads.

As basic as this looks it still took a good 20 minutes to get right 

as areas didn't add up in places and well it went to the drain more than once.

however in the end i got it right.

Page 1,2

Page 3,4

Page 5,6

After these were produced i experimented with using a backing colour

although i like the outcome of page 3,4 i don't believe it is appropriate 

and in context it doesn't give the visual representation i anticipated for 

such an effort. therefore i plan to tea bag the plain pieces and rescan them in to make

a more interesting individual outcome.

CD case and cover

As with my design board i still wanted to stick with the ..... for dummies theme

in all i decided my disk should work with the cover as a set. 

Originally i had designed a Cd cover which would fold out as a 3 12x12x12 square set

although i though that was to much hastle to deal with on such a short space of time

so i decided to make a wallet for the DVD to be stored.

this wallet has a Electric yellow stock colour and a combonation of red, black and white to 

create an eye jolting and attractive tone and aproach to the audience.

Here is what i have designed on illustrator to be printed out:

Design board for crit

My design board is designed as the famous 'how to.... for dummies guide'
It is desgned this way as i wish to solve my problem in the same way that the company
for this have which is to inform the audience 'first year students' to do, be or say something.
my production will be dvd based and the packaging of the cd will infact be to a similar aproach as this design board.

here is the illustrated version, and a photo of the board used for my presentation.

Mani...what now?

What did I used to be?

At the start of the course i was incline to believe that i had a 'style' which would
be 'my thing' during the course.
Blind to this sill observation i did not see the possabilities around me of really experimenting
with diffrent visualy attractive ways, therefore i was trapped in a box.

Where are you now?

Currently i believe that i am overcoming the obsticle of where i was, i am not a expert with other programmes and what not although i'm confident experimenting with these forms of design process and i am enjoying the course alot more because i am learning lots of things from my co workers and tutors around me. p.s. i hated semina's but now i can't get enough of them!

Where do I intend to be in the future?

1. In all my main mindset is to achieve some visualy attractive pieces which look great in my portfolio so i can attend another 4 years at New Yorks College of Art and Design.
2. I intend to be able to use every programme and be a utter geek at all these programmes
3. I would like to be able to work faster and more efficiently for the time given and be able to flip around briefs with ease, or at least with a stronger mindset than before.

A graphic response/graphic product/piece of work that makes a statement, comment, observation, instruction or gives advice about our experience of the first year of the course to the next year's first years.

Problem:
Surviving the first year

What am i going to do about it:
give the 'fresh meat' some tips on socialising and getting through the first day of the rest of thier lifes

How am i going to do it:
I am going to produce media which is formal yet humerous to inform students of

When am i going to do it:
within the time scale given for the brief

What if, We couldn't recog nise - nize

Okay new brief fresh start.
i have chosen to answer the brief which simply is to design a a6 postcard for the word 'Recognition'

To answer this problem i chose a strapline which is:

What if we couldn't recognize?

Which leaves a open question and makes the mind ponder.
my aim is to entertain, i thought about well known sites around the world
and i illustrated them in various ways to state how we dont need the details to recognize what they are:








After i carried out these images i then thought what else i could investigate into, it was then i thought wait what if everyday consumer products were mistaken for other items, so i manipulated images after a few sketches and came up with a few consumer product false advertisments














After these were carried out my crit group suggested concequences would be a great factor to look at, so i did and here are a few start up images i carried out etccccc










So after i designed the idea for this i thought a mock up would be an interesting way to investigate the project so i took a few photos of what i had made!







over all i believe this mock up turned out very well and looks really effective!

and so far these are my final concepts ready for the crit tomorow