OUGD402: Self Evaluation

Self Evaluation:

I almost feel like I should have just done a self branded business card because from speaking to everyone else that is what they almost all done. This is because it shows you as a designer and your contact details but as I have reiterated throughout my blog. I am not a Graphic Designer. 

There's a conflict between seeing yourself as a professional at this level which shows you are confident within your current practise but there is also the underlying fact you are still a student. I am here to learn. So what do I brand myself as? We had been told in a talk to just introduce yourself as Graphic Designer because we essentially are. Through just having an online social media precence it has become apparent to me that you are almost less likely you will get freelance work if you have "Graphic Design Student" in your bio or people take advantage of your work because they think you are lesser because you are a "student." But I don't think either are necesarrily a bad thing I'm just confused as what to brand myself as.

This is why I feel like so far PPP has been my strongest project so far. It is the one module that is personal to you and almost completely what you want to do even though presentations terrify me. The practical aspect depends on how much effort you are willing to put into it throughout the year and I feel as though I have been quite proactive with organising my time for this module. This includes going to studios and exhibitions. Organising the Alphabet one made me feel the most proactive and I hope to continue to do these types of things when I progress to Level 5.

I attempted to arrange a tour and interview at Elmwood Design Studio but a team member informed me that they are more tartgeted toward third years. She said that I could still send over interview questions for my blog (www.TeaAndTalks.tumblr.com) to gain a better insight before third year.

I hopefully want to keep this blog consistent but I want to develop my own personal self branding. I feel like this was good to do in first year especially because I don't know who I am as a designer yet it gives me a broader range of opinions of the industry from both first years and current creatives. I hope to be more ambitious in my future endeavours with PPP and meet more people within the industry and expand on my own visual identity but I think that the progress I have made in first year was a good start.

 If I was to brand myself I would probably keep with the theme that I am not a Graphic Designer or not just a Graphic Designer because I think that illustration will constantly be a main part in my personal design work. I would hope to encorporate it into my degree. I also think I'm quite a strong conceptual thinker. I hope to develop this further in second year and be more ambitious and proactive.

OUGD402: Appointment Cards

I prefer the last one. The design is the most simplistic. There is enough room to write the date and time then the stamp can be optional. It looks rustic and authentic like an actual human wrote it. I feel if I use the one with the image than it looks unprofessional to hand write the date and time on it.

Feedback:

"I like the one that has no logo. It keeps consistency with your minimalist theme."

"The one with the image would look nice as a business card."

"The concept of an appointment card is nice. Maybe edit the composition more."

"Experiment with the placement of the date, time etc."

"Maybe play with colour?"

OUGD402: Studio Brief 3 - What I'm Going To Include In My Presentation

I really wanted to include an illustration in my presentation because I feel like it looks more interactive. It looks like my thoughts and shows my personal interest in illustration as part of my practise. It keeps with a black and white theme to work in accordance to my self branding.

 This is a mistake I made at the beginning. This was my first time experimenting with illustrator to create my own typeface. This made me want to practise more.

This is what I feel like I have learned from the course so far. They are all still things I can improve on but I feel like I have made the most progress on so far. 

This demonstrates a doodle becoming a physical product. This was the first time I wasn't scared to ask for feedback and crit for a piece of work even though it was outside of the course.

This is my shop.

This is my favourite illustrator, Sophie Corrigan.

Examples of her work.

This is my self branding project. I wanted it to be a collaborative project with creatives to show engagement. It was important to me that LCA students feature on it because they are upcoming creatives. This is also a reflection of their experiences in first year. I found this more beneficial than just embossing my personal social medias on to everything as I am only currently first year and I have a LOT to learn.

Very surprisingly people have found it. Quite a few people have sent me messages saying things like "I've stumbled across this by chance and it's a brilliant idea" which was really nice and encouraging to hear but originally this website was only supposed to be for me so I could have a collection of the interviews and possibly upcoming LCA students so they could get a feel of current and past student experiences.

I made a stamp to go with my website.

I chose to use black and white because it always prints the same. I wanted to keep it very minimal and simple. Futura is friendly because it's quite rounded. It's simple but not understated and it's in Vignelli's canon.

If I was to have a business card it would be like an appointment card. Enough white space to put a time date and a place. 

 This is where I go from here and progress onto level 5. I need to sort my time managing out. I really want to find my visual identity and produce work that I am proud of. I need to stop being scared to show my work and ask for feedback. I need to stop being a push over with my work if I believe in a concept and have done the research. I need to stop avoiding things I find difficult. I feel like a lot of this term if I was struggling I wouldn't talk about it but it is so important to otherwise you would never get any help. It's a shame I only learned that recently.

What I didn't have time for:

I don't know if I want to work for a design studio or for a company. I think I would like to work in a collective of people. Similar to what Alphabet and Hungry Sandwich Club do. If I had to I would really like to work for Hallmark Creative Studio. This is because I really like their work and their style. I think that the job roles would be perfect for what I want to do so I would definitely like to look for a placement there. However, I need to do more research into it.

OUGD402: Studio Brief 3 - What I Need To Include In My Presentation

Studio Brief

Produce and present a 7 minute Powerpoint/pdf presentation that communicates a reflective summary of your experiences on the course to date. You should aim to reflect on who you are as a learner and a designer as well as how the things you have experienced over the past nine months have affected your current aims and ambitions. You should also identify creative concerns, personal aims and professional ambitions that you intend to explore further over the Summer and during Level 5 of the programme

Background / Considerations

Your own personal development as an individual and as a designer is affected by all aspects of your life. This is an opportunity to reflect on the experiences from the past nine months that have informed the decisions that you have made/are making about your future development. The ability to reflect upon your personal development can help you to gain confidence in your abilities as well as identify areas of strength, focus, ambition and improvement. What have you learned and what do you want to learn? What mistakes have you made and how have you learned from them? How will this affect your future development? What are your strengths and how have you/will you develop them further? What are your weaknesses and how do you intend to address these? What have you enjoyed and why? What have you disliked and why? How does this affect your ambitions? What did you want to get from the year? Have you achieved this? What have you discovered that you weren’t expecting? Realistically, if I wanted to include every single one of these points the presentation would be longer than 7 minutes so I need to narrow down what I want to include and what I would be confident talking about. I'm going to do my presentation through an illustration so I can have bullet points but not bulky text. 1. How I felt before university and at the beginning of university. This is to show progress, what I didn't know then I can expand and show what I have learned now later on in the presentation. This also allows me to talk about mistakes I have learned and what I wanted to work on during my time in first year so far. I just remembering being very afraid at my skill level as at the beginning it was non existent and I remember not feeling like I deserved my place on the course so it was always a challenge to me to prove that I did deserve a place. 2. I need to show examples of my work. I could put in a mistake or a piece of work I'm proud of. I really what I produce outside of the degree. I feel more confident about it and am not afraid to get feedback on outside work so I would like to show examples of this. Possibly through showing my shop. (EverythingIsFine.bigcartel.com) 3. How I feel now. This links with the before phase. This will show I have learned a lot of things since being here. I can also link it to becoming more confident about the course which I think is a fundamental aspect of PPP. I am developing my practise so hopefully I should be learning how to speak to people in any type of creative or networking situation. I learned from meeting Alphabet that it can be informal and just to speak to people about their work especially if I'm genuinely interested in it. 4. Examples of people's work I enjoy.  I really like illustrators such as Gemma Correll. My favourite is Sophie Corrigan because she creates very cute pun related cards and her designs have been sold to places like Paperchase which is something I would love to achieve. I like the style of Kate Moross' work. It's colourful and different to what I would produce but something I would be interested in experimenting with. I also really like minimal, clean graphic design but I'm not sure that it's very "me." Aesthetically, there is nothing nicer than a pristine surface and helvetica but it's quite generic. 5. My self branding project - Tea and Talks. www.TeaAndTalks.tumblr.com. For my self branding project I decided to take the approach of creating a collaborative project blog of Tea and Talks. This allows me the space to talk to creatives in the industry and outside. The concept is I speak to people over cups of tea and biscuits and ask about their current existing or evolving practise. It gives me insight into the industry because I feel like I know very limited amounts. It's more personal. So where I can I will speak to people face to face to gain insight on who they are or who they want to become. This idea came from listening to an interview styled talk and my fascination of speaking to strangers on trains. Not in a weird stranger danger way. In a way that it's interesting to learn fragments of people's lives within such a short space of time. It's bitter sweet that you never see those people again but you can learn so much about them. I found this conversational piece more beneficial to me in my current evolving practise than if I was just to stamp my name across a business card because as a first year graphic design student that almost means nothing. I am not good or confident enough with my current work for that to be of any practical use. I'm here to learn. 6. Progression into Level 5. What I want to improve on. What I want to learn. I still need to improve on my time management skills. I definitely need to stop being scared to show my work and ask for feedback otherwise I will never progress especially within this industry. It's good being in a large class of creatives because people will see things that you don't within your designs and have a different outlook on your concepts.

OUGD402: Lord Whitney Design Studio Visit

We went for a talk and visit to Lord Whitney's design studio. It was interesting because they had told us they hadn't found each other until the final week of third year. They constantly worked after university to make things because they wanted to and continuously reminded us they were on a tight budget so things they would make would be from scraps of things or given to them. They essentially created their own design title. It shows that collaboration is very important. They were also asked if they ever get moments when they feel like they can't do it anymore and they said of course, everyone does but they motivate each other.

I think it was important to take away from the talk to always be passionate and ambitious. If you're genuinely interested in doing something you need to constantly be working at it. Even side projects. Get excited about things. You can't just want to be creative you must thrive on it. It needs to give you a buzz and energy to be doing things.

Presentation skills I learned from this was telling anecdotes makes the talk more engaging and because it's a memory you can recollect it much more easily than if you are trying to remember notes you prepared earlier. Their presentation was also very image heavy and linked all of their work through a series in their slides.

OUGD402: Business Cards

I feel like to meet this criteria my blog is not enough. So I have decided to make basically a business card to show that I can chose an appropriate typeface that is consistent, colour swatch and presentation template. 

This is the same layout as my presentation templates to give an example of how those are layed out. This is very minimalist though but it gets the message across. The white space could be used as a memory note and write a date and time or place for a meeting for an interview.

This business card features the image I have used on my blog. 

For this business card I would print it on white stock and stamp my tea cup and question mark stamp on it. Then a time, place and date. Similar to a doctors note. 

Ideally this would be printed on 400 gsm, matte paper so that it has a premium and professional. 

OUGD402: Tea and Talks Questions | Reflection On My Experiences

As I write that blog for Tea and Talks and reflect on everyone else's lives and years I can't really interview myself so as a small study task for myself I have decided to answer the questions then write a few that are personally applicable to me which is similar to what I have done for everyone else. I have also taken the questions from the module studio brief 2 - self branding as an opportunity to answer those questions about my personal and professional practise.

Why did you choose to come to Leeds College of Art?

“Honestly, when I was applying for university I didn't even know it existed. I originally planned to study Law at the University of East Anglia because it's on my door step but after going through the entire process of applying and sending off my UCAS statement I didn't think that it was right for me. I couldn't image myself being a solicitor. I had always had a creative side which worked in conjunction with my academic skills. I studied Law, English Literature and Art as A Levels and always get surprised reactions when I tell people because I know they do not coincide. I then contemplated weighing up what I actually want to do as a job and if I could actually imagine getting there. The pros of law are that it's a financially stable career path. You put in the work you get out. This also meant exams which have horrified me since GCSE. I wasn't bad at them but the sheer stress during those periods was enough to put me off ever wanting to take an exam again. The cons are that it seems like a dead end job where you would be proud of what you were studying because it's a reputable career path but I don't want to be drawing up legal matters for a career. I thought that with art there is more freedom to do what I actually wanted. I wanted a challenge. I always say law would have been the easier life but settling for something is boring. I feel inspired everyday and pushed to be doing something to engage with my aspiring practise and at LCA there are no exams. Only module hand in's which was ideal for me although it is stressful. I found LCA through a small group of girls I follow on twitter and they all highly rated it. I also love Leeds because my cousins live near here and I visit them every summer. It has always felt like a second home to me.”

Why did you choose to study Graphic Design instead of illustration?

“I really like illustrating things but there is no way I could have done that as my entire degree. I feel like on Graphics you get a lot more potential to explore every avenue and adapt your visual identity to what brief you are currently working on. I don't have a "style" that is distinct to me yet so I am here to develop my identity as a designer. I am here to learn. I feel like Graphic Design gives me the ability to explore more.”

(I always stress that I didn't know how to use the software before coming here) 

Why didn't you learn how to use the software during A Levels / before coming to University?

"Because it is always something I wanted to learn but never gave myself the opportunity to do so properly. I knew very very very basics on photoshop and illustrator. I think after looking at my interview portfolio it is obvious my knowledge was very limited so it was something that I could definitely improve on during my degree. I felt like during A Levels, especially art we weren't really taught how to use things so I had hoped at university as it is more independent I could teach myself, get others to help me."

Did this make it harder for you on the course?

“The course brings everyone to the same level in first year. Throughout the year we have had inductions and workshops within photoshop, illustrator and indesign. I feel like when advertising the course it should be stressed a bit more that you do not have to come here with a full knowledge and understanding of what Graphic Design is because I still don't really know and you will be taught how to use things. I feel like the course definitely would have been harder without my flat mate. He does illustration and is a professional with photoshop so a lot of the time during freshers I would ask for advice on how to add colours to things and just little things like that. Tutorials on youtube are also great for teaching yourself! Simon also always reassures me that I will get a hang of the software. We use it every day so it's impossible not to. It's more important to be able to conceptualise your work because anyone can make it but ideas take more time and thought.”

What are three things you have learned in University so far?

“Get on with it, you don't have a choice. This basically means whenever you get stressed with work you just have to do it. There is no point getting stressed or saying you can't do it because you physically do not have a choice especially if there is a deadline.

Try to keep in contact with your parents. Even if they don't say they miss you all the time, they do. I surprised visited mine in February because I felt bad for being busy with university all the time and it made them and me really happy.

People are too busy worrying about themselves to be worried about you. Especially during presentations. I know I'm sat there crying over what I'm going to say and when it's my turn to actually listen to who is talking which isn't great but it generally means everyone else is panicking about themselves as well.”

What is your favourite thing to do in Leeds?

“I love going to gigs. My friend told me before coming here the music scene was really good and it is. There's a little black book called Independent Leeds and it's filled with lots of nice little things to do in Leeds.”

How do you find the distance and divide between north and south? 

“When coming to University I knew wanted to get as far away from home as possible. This was purely because my home town is very small and unheard of. There are no opportunities there and not a lot to do to be honest. I knew if I stayed in Norwich I wouldn't meet any new people because all of my friends are already there so it would mean I could make less of an effort to meet people. I love the friends I have back at home but I really wanted to meet more people especially with the same interest in art as me that's why it was nice to go to an art institution. Sometimes I don't understand the accent here not gonna lie. I also miss the beach.”

How do you manage your time?

“I write so many lists. My room is currently filled with A4 sheets of things to do. I prioritise modules which isn't the best because we need to be working on them all at once but it's easier and gets whatever is due first out of the way. I kind of just get on with it. If I know a blog post needs to be done I will do it within the lesson it was given to us or that night so that it's fresh in my mind and gets out of the way. I couldn't think of anything worse than having to come back to it a few weeks later and knowing nothing which I used to do in the past and with homework. I also don't really sleep that much like all students I'm basically nocturnal now so I do a lot of work during the night.”

How do you avoid being stressed?

"Naturally, I'm quite a chilled person. However, university tests my patience. I think having so many briefs currently is the most stressed I have ever felt in my life... and it's only first year. Strangely it is nice being busy all the time and working on things but I wish it wasn't everything at once. I think definitely take time to do things you enjoy doing. Go out, see friends. Me and Beth do a lot of days where we hang out together but we do work. It means that we both get to socialise but are being productive. We had a nice little day visiting The Tetley earlier on this year which meant we had seen an exhibition then treated ourselves to lunch at Starbucks then we went home and worked. Doing things like that with friends makes you feel good for leaving the flat and getting outside but you're also not wasting time and being productive. Stephen, Shelley, Beth and I also do tea nights where we will work throughout the day with tea and biscuits then get dinner and watch a film later on. As long as you put the work in and get stuff done then you can avoid drowning in work."

Who are you now?
"I'm genuinely a hard worker. I got into a mindset coming back after Christmas that people think that I am stupid and don't do any work purely because I found it difficult to work in the studio in first year because I was awkward that I didn't know how to use the software or a mac properly. It feels like people were judging me so sometimes I would just plan what I was going to do instead of actually doing it which is productive procrastination. I work hard to achieve what I set out to do within the tasks and feel slightly more confident with my degree and practise."

What skills do you have?
"I know now that I can start to slowly and confidently engage with people in the creative industry. I think it helped a lot going to Alphabet's design studio and speaking to them about being at LCA and what they're doing now. It gave me a lot of confidence and I was genuinely surprised I was the first one to visit them after they came in and spoke to us. In terms of design skills I can now more confidently work with the software."

What do you know now?
"That the minimalist, swiss design style isn't what you have to do. "It looks nice but it's been done." Also "the brief isn't boring, you're boring." If you aren't finding a brief exciting then it's a reflection of who you are as a person."

What tone of voice best reflects you, your practise and ambitions?
"I think I maintain quite a professional tone of voice. I always get told I'm quite dainty because I'm little so that could be reflected more in my visual identity because I also like doing illustrations. I want to take more design inspiration from my favourite designers and illustrators and hopefully by the end of the three years will have a style that is distinct to me."

What experiences have shaped your opinions and views both in and outside of the programme?
"Going from 68% to 61% which wasn't bad and I know why I got a lower grade. It pushed me to work harder for my future modules. I'm extremely scared of failing and people thinking that I don't do the work or purely that I am unintelligent. So receiving this made me want to put in more effort for my future modules.

The like 10 briefs we have at the moment. I have never felt so overwhelmed by so many tasks because there are module briefs and studio briefs within briefs and outside learning but PPP is almost done and everything is due in within the next month so hopefully things will get easier and my work reflects in my grade.

Starting a shop again gave me a lot of confidence that people actually want to buy my work and have it in little frames on their walls or in there houses. It's extremely nice and people on the internet are so kind which is lovely. I have a nice little supportive group of friends that are all independent shop owners and it's nice we all network and help each other. This constantly inspires me and makes me want to keep going.

The group of friends I have made at University also inspire me everyday. I have never met a more genuinely nice group of people that are always willing to help and be there for you. I obviously struggle a lot on the course because I don't know how to do anything professionally in regards to print, software etc but my friends are very supportive and help me. I think that peer learning is more helpful than trying to teach yourself."

What is 'Brand You'? Your visual identity will help tie the information together. What fonts, formats, colours and production methods will help communicate and enhance your content?

"I really enjoy using Futura because it is a sans serif font. It is one of the six fonts in Vignelli's Canon. I use it for all of my design boards and presentations now. I really like pastel colours because they are my favourite shades or black and white colour schemes because it maintains a minimalist aesthetic to the work and because black and white can be easily translated on a digital or printed surface whereas with colours nothing will ever look exactly how you wanted it. We also did screen printing yesterday. It is an extremely long process, it genuinely took from 9:30 to around 5 but the outcome looks very nice. I would hope to use that method more within my practise because I think it's important to not focus on digital even though it is Graphic Design but to incorporate traditional analogue methods within your work."

What is the best piece of advice you have ever been given?

“The best quote I have read is: "I am learning everyday to allow the space between where I am and where I want to be to inspire me and not terrify me." Let your creativity and ambitions drive you, not scare you.”

What piece of advice would you give to someone else?

“Do what makes you happy. At the end of the day your emotions come first as selfish as that sounds. It is perfectly okay to do things to make yourself happy and not constantly put others first.”

OUGD402: Ink Stamp Experiment

In my last blog post I used watercolour paint instead of actual ink for my stamp so the results were not as good as I had expected. Now I have experimented with ink I think that my design has shown up clearer and looks more clean and sleek. I'm quite pleased with my design and style of this stamp. However, if I had time to improve it I might get it custom made from a manufacturer but I thought the concept behind creating it myself would show that it is simple to produce, cost effective and gives a hand created feel. I wanted it to look home made instead of completely digitalised because a stamp is quite a personal, physical thing you have to engage with the person instead of handing it out like a business card. It also goes with my style of work because I prefer the more illustrative, hand rendered route. 

OUGD402: Self Branding Stamp Experiment

I decided to make a stamp because it works inconjuction with the theme of Tea and Talks. The tea cup and question mark are symbolic of asking someone for tea and a talk without having to say it and without embossing the name anywhere. This makes it more of a question. I looked at getting a custom made stamp but then realised just how easy it would be to make my own one. Also limitations with timing some back orders for personalised items take up to two weeks and I wanted it ready before that so I could use it in a real life situation. I looked at multiple tutorials on youtube and online and found that the cheapest and easiest way to create one was to use a scalpel and an eraser.

I think the stamp works quite well but I had to test it with water colour paint instead of ink because the ink pad I had ordered hasn't arrived yet. But hopefully that works better and I can use that as my final example.

OUGD402: Studio Brief 3 - Presentations Notes

"your vision of where or who you want to be is the greatest asset you have.

reflecting upon your experiences at this point in time.
travel
working with a wide range of people

7 min verbal and visual presentation
reflective summary of your experiences of the course to date
reflect on learning experience
evolving design practise
aims and ambitions and how these may have changed
creatives concerns, personal aims and professional ambitions

self reflection is a key skill as a creative practitioner.
understand and articulate what you got from these projects.
highlight what you have learned and that you are on a learning journey.
neglect that you are here to learn; one thing to remember this is level 4.
this journey you are going through - things you are learning and reflecting.

the content of your presentation.
tone of voice - conscious decision of your tone of voice. humorous, serious, informal, informative.
presentations can be dry if they're linear. cover your work and work of other people that influence you.
experiences - it should be an experiential presentation - could be becoming independent, living away from parents or home town.
personality - it's really important your personality comes across, engaging otherwise it's going to be boring and dull. Don't try to evoke a style that isn't you. Let your personality come through in the presentation.
ambitions 
your learning journey - work of other designers, illustrators, exhibitions, film, music, documentary, anything that influences you.

your self branding
consistent / appropriate use of type
consistent /appropriate use of colour
use of a presentation template - consistency throughout the presentation that looks professional and you could be confident presenting in front of other people.
be humble, don't try to come across as arrogant and that you know everything.
have to include examples of your work.
each brief you need to be pushing yourself. pushing your practise further. learning new things.
don't try be someone you're not then no matter what happens you can recover.
at least 10 slides as a bare minimum.

be visual
don't give a speech. put on a show instead.

not to have loads of time
images

theme
example of his work
example of other peoples work

start doing research into presentations
look at presentation slides

slides - only images.
a list - awareness of boring - humour
happiness - how he approaches his work - consistency."

OUGD402: Studio Brief 3 - Design Strategy Presentation - Initial Planning Slides

Very rough sketch

The first few slides will include an illustration to depict a short story of what I was like before university. Things I didn't know etc. Then the next few show now, what I have learned and my emerging practise.

For example: 

Before - didn't know how to use any of the creative software so it made me really doubt my place on the course

Now - I have a slightly more comfortable understanding of the software.

My self branding project being the main basis of the presentation because this demonstrates engagement with the creative industries and self organised meetings with design studios and speaking to creatives in professional and casual circumstances. Slowing building my practise and communication skills.

Finally, my actual concept for self branding being put into a real life situation. I have organised a meeting with a design studio next week so hopefully that goes well and that will form the finalised part of my presentation. 

OUGD402: Tea and Talks

Tea and Talks is slowly developing and progressing. So far I have 11 interviews and a few from my favourite illustrator and local graphic design studios.

After the study task I felt like this needed an aspect of further self branding because everyone else has created a logo. I felt like this blog might not be sufficient enough so I decided to adapt Polly's concept from the study task to something that would work in accordance with the blog and I am going to make a little bespoke stamp which consists of a cup to signify a cup of tea and a question mark. That I could stamp on notebooks or other people's business cards after meeting them as if it's asking for tea and a talk.

OUGD402: Self Branding Study Task

For this study task me and Polly self branded each other. We thought about how we are represented as people. She thought of qualities for me and how my name would look visually.

She then came up with a concept of embossing an elephant on to things. Such as a little elephant stamp. This shows understatement but not unimportant because of it being a tiny elephant.