End of Module Self-Evaluation.

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

Time management has been my biggest and most obvious realisation from this project. In comparison to the short briefs we have previous been tackling, having 5 weeks to complete the ‘Collection 100’ project has truly made me realise the importance of time management. I tried to think of it as five 1 weeks briefs; considering the amount of work I was able produce in a week gave me an idea as to how much work I should be producing in the time available to us. I feel I coped reasonably well managing my time, although I did find it difficult in the first few weeks to grasp what I should be doing in realtion to the full amount of time we had available to us; still researching or initiating designs. Trying and testing as many ideas as possible was an aspect of the design process which I tried to embrace. However, I soon found that i’d be in the midst of executing one idea when I then wanted to begin another. I also realised that giving my work a purpose in order for it to meet the brief was vital with in this project; this was an aspect of my design that I had to address at the end.

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

I have learnt to research all/any area of the topic in hand; no matter how irrelevant it may seem initially, it could lead you to something of great interest and relevance. I have also learnt that it is important to have a broard range of research; primary/secondary and quantiative/qualitative to allow for idea generation. All of this will aid the development of informed designs which adhere to the brief in hand

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

Our group worked extremely well on the ‘What if’ brief; we distributed the responsibilities equally within the group. This allowed our project to be fully informed and successfully tackle the brief on a live basis. Taking into consideration the amount of work we had to tackle in this project, I feel I coped quite well in distributing my time between workshops, elective work, studio briefs, contextual theoretcial studies and visual language. 

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

I need to ensure I fully adhere to the brief and my work has a purpose; not just looking good. To do this I will revisit the brief regualrily in relation to the work I am producing. 

Make effective use of the time available to me during a brief. To do this I will draft a plan of how my time will be distibuted throughout the duration of the brief

5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?

1. Refer back to the brief throughout the duration of the brief to ensure the work I am producing is on brief.
2. Fully utilise the time available to me to the best of my ability by producing a timeplan; this will ensure I do not waste time, especially in the studio.
3. Make use of the workshops available to me (video, printmaking, bookbinding) this will give my work more bredth. 
4. Identify the target audience for my designs well in advance, again to ensure it is on brief. 
5. Explore alternative medias for my outcome rather than simply producing 2D work as this will give my work more depth and scope for idea generation.

6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas: 

Attendance -5

Punctuality -5

Motivation -4

Commitment -4

Quantity of Work Produced -3

Quality of Work Produced -3

Contribution to the group -3

Binding my Book.

This is my book after I had bound it together and trimmed it down....

I used white thread to minimise the possibility of it being visible when turning the pages; I think this has had the desired outcome.

I then had to trim down the acetate sheet to fit....

Overall, I am very pleased with the outcome of my book from the printing, to the binding, to the realisation of the purpose it will serve. Result.

Draft Binding of my Book.

Firstly, I tried to bind my book with tear resistant transparent sewing yarn as I thought it may look aesthetically pleasing. However, I found it was too flimsy and did not hold the book together well at all.

I liked the size of this exhibition catalogue so I cut my book down to the same size to see the effect it had. I am yet to be convinced!

When I printed my first draft, one of my concerns was whether or not I should incorporate somewhere to house my acetate overlay. I attempted to make a sleeve which would be positioned to the rear of the book but found the acetate sheet would simply be too large to fit into it. As a result, I think I am going to leave the acetate sheet loose at the front of the book; that way it is easily accessible and more obvious as to it's use.

I then attempted to bind my book with orange cotton, as I thought it may be more visually appealing. This held the book together well, nevertheless, I bound it too far to one side so it was visible throughout the book.

Some things here which I need to take into consideration when binding my book for real.

Promotional Posters??

As I was deliberating the purpose of my posters, I decided to experiment with incorporating promotional information into my designs......

Despite doing this, I do not think these designs convey enough information to be classed as promotional material. Therefore I am going to disregard these as a final outcome for this project.

Ponderland.....

With regards to the feedback I received from our ‘Show and Tell’ crit, I have begun to consider whether my product is the book I produced with the posters being the promotional material, or whether Cadbury chocolate is the product with my book being the promotional material. Something I need to consider.

Design Sheets.

A brainstorm of the possible directions in which I can take this sweet project.

I brainstormed ideas for possible outcomes under each of the categories we were given. 

Categorising my information:

Possible outcomes:

Poster Design Development

Catalogue/information pamphlet design ideas:

Calculations for ranking each nutritional factor on scale of 1-5:

Infographics book design ideas:

How my book will answer the brief:

D&AD Talk.....

Today we attended a D&AD Student Awards talk at Leeds University. Admittedly it was aimed at the third years, nevertheless I found it incredibly interesting. We were firstly spoken to by a D&AD spokeswoman and later by Shellsuitzombie (these boys literally seemed to be having the time of their lives in their creative hub!!) From this talk I took away some very useful tips on how to effectively tackle any brief thrown at me! Result.

Book Printout2.

I printed out my book for a second time, with the attempt to amend the issues raised after printing the first  draft. However, this was not the case as I soon realised that it was in fact my drafted book which I had wrongly designed! I had accidentally mixed up two of the chocolate bars so they were no longer in alphabetical order, nor adhering to the flow of the colour scheme. So the printing continues........

Show & Tell Feedback.

We had a 'Show&Tell' crit session today and this was the feedback I received. It has been extremely helpful having this constructive feedback giving me further direction ....thanks! 

First Drafted Printout.

Taking into consideration the book was not yet bound, i think it is already working really well. However, some of the pages were not printed correctly resulting in some pages having the same colour side by side ..its a working progress!

In printing a first draft of my book, I have noticed a few areas where design choices need to be made:

• The size of the datablocks below each profile: they seem quite small, affecting their readability. 
• The colouring of each datablock; some of them seem difficult to distinguish due to the small size.
• The content of the back pages: a pocket could be made to utilise the back pages and house the acetate overlay.