In this module I feel that I have developed my ability to professionalise my work, something that I have struggled with for the duration of the course so far. Initially I was really anxious to working to deadlines that seemed so solid, although I am used to the module submission process, I think because they were external I felt more pressure. I realise I worry about everything far too much and feel this may have impeded my progression of the briefs.
Studio Brief 1 required the completion of substantial briefs. Initially I was worried I wouldn’t find competitions I liked, or wouldn’t get any live briefs. I was lucky that I was contacted to be part of an exhibition to gain some exposure. I believe each brief to be successful in a different way; the Illustration Friday briefs allowed me to explore my own practice in different ways whilst still gaining exposure from uploading online. In a different way, both the Interflora and John Lewis briefs forced me to think about my work in different contexts, such as packaging and advertising campaigns. The briefs as a whole pushed me to professionalise everything I did and push through the creative blocks to make them “finished pieces”.
During the collaborative part of this module Orlaith and I decided to work together. Thus began “The Birds Collective” which we decided to brand ourselves as when submitting, and when working together in the future.
The downside to working together was our similar temperaments, whilst sometimes beneficial we found that we could both be as distracted as each other. This lead to the brief’s practical work being rushed in comparison to the discussions about where it could go, we spent weeks talking about boxes and how we could turn boxes into plant pots and what seeds will go with each season. I think we were thinking too much of concept and not much of context, when the designs were made we regrettably didn’t make any physical prototypes. I think this was a weakness across my presentation boards, I could have been better at putting my work in context.
I think my main strength of this module was my ability to plan my time to focus on specific briefs, I knew day-by-day which brief I would be working on to ensure I finished my work way before the deadline, leaving a few days before to finalise and tweak my work. This is something that I aim to do a lot but never quite achieve it. I have been much stricter throughout the module to enable I don’t panic quite as much.
I think that I have got more capable in type and layout, I stopped trying to leave typeface’s as an afterthought and used my own hand painted text for the FilmDoo creativity brief, which I thought was very successful because of this. It also helped me to revert back to how I used to compose images, by piecing together reference images digitally before I begin my hand-generated imagery.
I believe this module has helped increase the material for my online portfolio and has lead to me making prints to sell, from both the North Bar exhibition and the Illustration Friday briefs.
My weak points of this module has been the development work, I find that through lack of ideas or lack of confidence I jump ahead to the final resolutions without trying things out enough. I believe this to be something I struggle with across all modules and my practice in general. It’s something I am trying to push through with use of my visual journal in OUIL505 but I regret not being better throughout this module.
In the next module and throughout next year I want to:
- I want to spend more time on each piece for better results; I think it will make them more resolved.
- I want to further develop my layout approach; I think possibly becoming more proficient in InDesign will help with this.
- I will respond quicker, even if the response is only for development purposes I need to be creating sharper and more refined development throughout.
- Become better at proposing products in context, I think my mock-ups could have been more professional.
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