My initial thoughts now reflecting on this last module are a mixed bag. Firstly I am more than happy with my work ethic and the effort and time I have given to the course over the last few months. I can honestly say that I have put my all into it and that’s what matters to me, thus whatever happens in terms of my grades happens.
On a general look back at the briefs I worked on, I’m proud of the work that I produced and I feel as though it has clearly reflected my rationale, hence creating a greater understanding of who I am as a designer and where I want to be and what I want to do after I graduate. Saying that however, I do feel there is room for improvement.
My main concerns are, I feel as though I didn’t experiment enough within the majority of my briefs and that I didn’t make enough final professionally finished products.
My doubts within experimentation may be somewhat resolved by the amount of different briefs I was working on and therefore coming out with different products, different stocks and formats and what not but I can acknowledge the fact that within each brief there wasn’t a lot of experimentation when it came to stock choices or size and format. This being something I would do differently next time, putting more of a conscious effort into trying numerous things as opposed to just the one.
Now opposed to last module where my focus was very much on creating a finished, professional standard product, this time round I feel as though I had the presentation boards at the forefront of my mind and therefore was a bit hesitant to fully see out certain products and ended up being satisfied with just mocking certain things up. Specifically speaking here about one of my briefs where I designed a range of tee’s but didn’t get round to actually making them. This wasn’t because I couldn’t be bothered or feeling that I didn’t need to but rather a mixture of circumstances culminating together to make it very difficult for me to fully see out certain ends. Not to moan or give excuses but just facts is that I broke two laptops, costing just over £1200 pounds to sort out, which left me with very little money for the most of the last 4 months, so printing anything became an issue. This also affected my work ethic as I could only work during college hours and my blog and documentation of some of my work suffered because of this. Furthermore if I’m honest, time definitely caught up with me.
But moving away from these negative issues, I feel as a designer I’ve come on leaps and bounds, more so than ever during this last module. A lot of this has come from working collaboratively on the BAGD yearbook, which was a real educational experience for me, and the result is something that came about from great teamwork, commitment and the ambition to create something worthwhile. This really resonates with me, as I know I’m not the best designer around but I work hard and put my all into things and so far I’ve only been getting better. As a wise friend told me, it’s not how good you are it’s how good you want to be that matters.
One of the other main triumphs of this final module was the amount of work I was putting in, across a number of briefs. Creating by far the most substantial body of work I’ve produced to date. What made this possible is my development with time management and organisational skills, and for the first time I ended up with a substantial stack of weekly and daily plans. This has also helped me to become realistic with what I can achieve and the time scales of it.
Overall I’m happy with where I’ve ended up and am confident in my own abilities as a graphic designer, I understand that I have weaknesses and I embrace that, the main culprits of this module being experimentation and professional standard products.
It’s fair to say that this module has been a tough one but thankfully I’ve managed to enjoy it. Most of it anyway.
