Referring Back : Proposal and Learning Objectives

As I am nearing thr point of starting the design process, I thought it would be best to take a minute and refer back to the learning objectives and written proposal to ensure I haven’t diverted from the goal. As a basis, I think it is clear to say that I have followed the route of Wedding Invitation Design very strongly, with my research covering a wide range of areas that include both wedding invitations and other invite examples. I believe I have produced a good level of research that can help with the development of the designs – I have placed a copy of the learning objectives below to clearly show what I will be aiming for as I start the designs and experimental process:

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this module, students will have :

1. Developed their awareness of the needs and requirements of professional practice, manifested in the ability to produce practical graphic design work of high technical quality. 
2. Developed a high level of intellectual and conceptual involvement with their chosen subject area, including skills of project proposal, documentation of project development and the  presentation of outcomes.
3. Developed written and oral skills of critical self-evaluation in relation to their design practice.
4. Developed research skills in the area of contemporary professional practice.

By the end of this module, students will have: 

1. Developed skills of independent study, resource utilisation, problem-solving and decision-taking.
2. Developed skills of critical thinking, analysis and evaluation.
3. Developed their ability to learn through reflection on practice and experience.
4. Developed their ability to scan and organise data, abstract meaning from information and communicate knowledge in a variety of formats.
5. Developed their ability to work with complex material, analyse problems and identify appropriate solutions.
6. Developed their skills of visual, written and oral communication.

From the learning objectives, I think I am following them quite well. I am constantly aware of my level of professional practice as I am working closely with a client. And my level of independent study has greatly improved due to the pandemin making independent study a norm. My abilty and skills of critical thinking, analysis and evaluation have greatly improved along with my abilty to identify problems and solutions. Overall, I think I am following the learning objectives quite well, ofcourse there is always room for improvement and I will continue to aim for these improvements as time goes on within this project.

As for my proposal, I wrote a brief that focused on working closely with the client, which meant my deliverables and aims were left quite open because I will be completing any and all work asked of me by the client. Due to the fact that I started this project unknown of what my contribution would be to the idea of Wedding Stationery – I think I have developed a wide understanding of the different elements involved within this category, and if I am unable to complete more than the invitation for grading, I will keep the idea of Professional Practice during the lead up to the wedding and include it within any other areas of Wedding Stationery I have been asked to contribute towards.

FMP Reflection Task

Earlier on in the week our tutor started a Reflection Session to try and get us to think about our feelings and emotions to the FMP. The aim of this session was to get us focused on divergent thinking by focusing on creating visual elements from pre-placed shapes and lines. The first task asked us to try and create different images from pair of dots, these images can be anything from a pair of glasses to a bike – I personally found this task to be quite difficult, mainly because I struggled with coming up with images that could connect to the pair of dots. For visual purposes, I have placed my near completed task sheet below:

For the second task, we followed the same priniciple of creating images from different lines. This task, for me, was far easier because I was able to think more widely from the lines seen on the page. Not only this, but I wasn’t restricted to the use of the same shapes, which meant I was able to think of more drawings from a varied source of inspiration:

The third task of the session moved away from the use of shapes and lines and focused more on having us visualise our feeling/emotions towards our FMP. I’m not entirely sure if I answered the task correctly, but I focused on what I want to achieve at the end of my FMP from the completed creation of the Wedding Stationery. Throughout the FMP so far, I have dealt with a wide range of emotions because I am creating something for my clients to use on their Wedding Day – which is quite nerve wrecking at the moment. But my overall aim for this project is to design something that looks nice and is eye-catching, design something that the clients are happy with, design something that people will talk about and to design something that I can feel proud of:

Lastly, we were asked to visualise how we would overcome our emotions and feelings about the FMP if they were causing an issue with our work flow. This is where I think I did the previous project wrong because I focused more on the end of the project, which didn’t include any obstacles or hurdles to overcome. However, I didn’t want to give up on the task, and decided to focus on where I currently stand within my FMP – sketching out ideas for the overall aesthetic of the invitation. For this query, I focused my drawing on having different invitation versions, and solving the issue of choice by having a clear communication with the client which will help to finalise a final design that the client, designer and guests can be happy about:

Overall, while I don’t fully understand the purpose of these tasks, mainly the first 2, I can appreciate what the tasks are trying to make us achieve. These visualisation techniques have proven to be very helpful in outlining the areas that I need to focus on for this project, I seem to have a focus on the opinions and feelings of how the finished products will be accepted by the client and guests. However, I do know that I need to re-focus my energy, motivation and inspiration back onto my FMP because I can see a dip in my work flow because I focused on different areas – Art31, Design Context and Analysis Essay, Design Volunteers Project. And now that the deadline for this project is slowly creeping up, I need to make sure that I complete this to a high standard.

Reflection : Visual Task 2

Due to the fact that we are still working within a complex project theme, and addressing some very thorny and contentious issues, we have been asked to produce another set of visual reflections. But this time, we have been asked to look into how we are managing this project, as well as our approaches to learning, and the feedback we received during Friday’s crit. I have placed everything asked of us below with the set instructions given to us:

Please use images to reflect. You can add notes, but please contemplate how to describe your learning and thoughts via pictures, sketches, doodles, collage, symbols, illustrations, storyboards, etc. As mentioned before there is evidence that doing so  may aid deeper reflection.

• How you managed your learning of throughout this project? What specific strategies did you use?
  • As I was working alone for this project, I was able to work within my own techniques that I knew work well for me. I completed a series of research posts, that helped me to narrrow down my theme idea, and continued with research to develop my ideas further. In addition to this, I created a series of mind-maps which acted as a place to jot down all and any ideas I could possibly have for the theme. I created persona’s to help me understand the theme from a selection of different perceptions. I also created a mood board of any images, illustrations and designs that could inspire me.

• How one or more of these strategies/processes worked in terms of your aiding your research, development, and execution?
  • All of the processes that I have listed above worked in someway or another with aiding my development. Throughout my blog work I was aware of how everything I researched or was inspired by could play a role with the final execution of my designs.

• How what you have learned during this module will help you in your next project/career?
  • At the beginning of this project, I looked through various themes that I had a passion and interest for. I created lists of potential routes I could follow for said passion/interest. And I think I have worked well due to the fact that I was working on a project that inspired me because it played on my interests and passions. This is something that I have used in the past and will be something that I continue to use in future projects. In addition to this, I soon discovered from indepth feedback that I was drifting from the purpose and aim I intended to present in my designs, having time to reflect and hear from different people was very eye-opening, and giving myself a break from the project for a few days proved to be worthwhile because I now feel rejuvinated and fresh to develop my idea and design further. This is another aspect that I will continue to use throughout future projects, reflection and awareness of my understanding of the intended message/aim or entire project.

Reflection : Visual Task

With us all now moving away from Project X, and instead focusing our efforts on the Creative Conscience section of the project, our tutor wanted us all to look back at the confusion we dealt with during Project X. Due to the difficulty of Project X we all had to deal with complex problems, themes, and issues and generate the neccessary skills of which to solve them. However, we have been given the task of outlining our confusion in a visual manner, with the hopes of reflecting in a deeper manner than words alone can allow. While this is a confusing task on it’s own, it is also a beneficial task to complete – I have placed everything asked of us below with the set instructions given to us:

Identify a concept you didn’t understand well in the first part of Project X. Briefly state that concept and make an image of it. This can be a sketch, doodle, symbol, visual map, collage, digital work, etc. As well as visualising the topic, I would like you to visualise how it made you feel. (The concept and feeling can be together or separate). These images can be a detailed as you choose. You can use notes to further explain the images.

The rationale for doing this is that the activity may lead you to better project planning and greater awareness of your learning.

• What concept did I not understand well in Project X?
  • I think it is fairly obvious that I did not understand the activities set with the purpose of helping us to generate ideas. The ‘Design Techniques’ were very confusing for me, and the purpose behind them made very little sense.

Visualising the concept I didn’t understand:

Once you have done this, make another visual that describes or explains what action you took to clarify your understanding of this.

• What action did I take to clarify my understanding of this?
  • I took the advice of my tutor and took a step back from the activities that were confusing me. I instead watched my team tackle the work set and only involved myself when I could see an aspect that I understood.

Visualising the action I took:

Project X Reflections

I said at the start of this project, that I hate Project X and now that we are nearing the end, my opinion hasn’t changed. This project has always been very exhausting and challenging, especially mentally – and while this is nothing new to me, in fact, I quite enjoy a challenge – I’m nearly at a breaking point. Project X is a very stressful project, I knew this from the first year, but this time around, everything is worse.

Working as a group is nothing new to me, and I quite enjoy the social interaction of talking to people not in my year, especially since Covid-19 has created a mixing barrier and restrictions state we are all working from home for the forseeable future. However, constantly working online is proving quite difficult, and completing all work online, such as the activities, is also quite mentally tiresome.

We were asked to consider a set of questions that were sent to us by one of our tutors as a end of week 1 reflections, but I was struggling with writing an answer for them. So I made the decision to just talk and write. And hopefully, my own reflections will be enough and hold some answers for this group project.

I think I have already made my opinions about Project X quite clear… both on my blog and in person with my tutors. But I do want to stress that the overall aim of Project X – raising awareness for a complex issue is quite interesting and its a very admirable project theme to turn us into Graphic Designers that focus on design for good. It’s just the middle section of Project X that I don’t enjoy, mainly because I find it very confusing and prolonged. The start and end of the Project is quite enjoyable – I like the research portion at the beginning that offers information into our given topic and I enjoy the final step that allows us to design our final pieces.

I think I struggle with the middle section of Project X because it focuses on a different way of thinking and ideation process that my brain can’t fully comprehend it. For example, the journey mapping activity is a confusing process for me, especially since the aim of a journey map is to find pain points that we can focus on for the final campaign idea, and I already find these points from creating persona cards. Having to then rework my persona cards into a journey map just seems overly confusing, and I struggle with making a simple task that is already completed, into a difficult activity that I don’t understand the point of.

In addition to this, the activities we had to complete for ‘Day 5’ were a literal nightmare for me. I really struggled with the tasks we were given, and I was stuggling to work with the group and complete the activities set. I think I struggled with these activities because they are very similar to the issue I had with the journey map – overly confusing and not my normal perception of the ideation process. These activities really caused an internal stuggle within myself, and I have to admit that I was starting to get pain headaches from the entirety of ‘Day 5’ – which really started to increase my dislike towards Project X. For me, this day was the worst part of Project X – and it was the same for the previous year – and this is the main reason for why I struggle to enjoy this Project. The ideation process is personal for every designer, everyone has their own thought process and ways of generating ideas, and trying to rework the process is overly stressful and confusing. Some people work with research, some people work with inspirations, some people work via sketching/visual communication and some people work with the activities we were set – I don’t work with the activities set and having to change everything I believe that works for me is something that I physically cannot handle.

In other news, I have reflected on why this years Project X feels worse than lasts years. This year was too diverse. In last years Project X we all worked under the heading of NHS and each group moved onto a different subheading that covered the majority of the issues within the NHS – for example, violence, emergency services, abuse on staff, long hours, stress etc. As for this year, we were given the heading of Inclusivity, and each group had a separate subheading – Abilty, Poverty, Race and Gender – which we then had to narrow down even further, ultimately leaving quite a large section of the issues unlooked at. I think this year would have been slightly more bearable if we worked under one heading, for example Inclusivity in Gender and each group worked on a subheading that connected back to the main heading allowing a full coverage of issues to raise awareness for.

Anyway, I should probably try and draw this reflection post to an end. My final point on this matter : I’m glad this is over and that I only have one Project X left! Sorry HND1’s!