OUIL503 Module Evaluation

In this module I have been able to take on a range of briefs and I found it as a good opportunity to do things that I have not done before, such as pattern and book covers. It was an interesting module as it's more self led, you choose what brief's you want to do and there's less direction from tutors/ feedback from peers. I quite liked this aspect as it allowed me to ask for feedback or help when I felt like I needed it rather than trying to scrape together something to get feedback on.

I chose the D&AD shutterstock brief as my substantial brief, as it was really open and although it had a basis there was a lot of freedom with what I could do with it. It was also fun to learn about the different story archetypes as I didn't know anything about them before doing this project. While I am happy with what I made I feel as if I could have chosen something more ambitious for my substantial brief as the deliverables were just three images rather than a design that could be applied to something.
There's something more fulfilling about creating something that I can then apply to a mockup and see as an actual product rather than just a stand-alone image. However all my smaller briefs - Secret 7,  A Clockwork Orange and the Crispin Orthotics brief were all like this so it was kind of a relief to just make images for my substantial brief, as I could develop my practice and techniques more. I feel more confident with lino, and would like to continue experimenting with mixed media and different printing methods. Some of the briefs I chose to do had strict set dimensions which isn't a new concept to me but it was still challenging to work to. Particularly with A Clockwork Orange as I kept accidentally forgetting that the crop marks would indeed, be cropped so the main design had to fit within a smaller region than the file I was working in. This was still one of the more enjoyable briefs I did.

Collaborative was really useful in expanding communication and teamwork skills. It was very enjoyable too being able to collaborate with people from different disciplines. I worked with two people from Graphic Design and another Illustrator. I really enjoyed collaborative as we could all still work in our individual ways but also bring something into the group. I felt like I didn't pull my weight as much as I should have as I am not as skilled with digital work, but after this I will definitely try to get more proficient so I can contribute more to any future collaborative work. That being said I did offer a lot of ideas, traditional drawings / pattern ideas and feedback to the group and the final outcomes for this project were definitely some of the best work I've contributed to this module.

Presentation boards are a totally new concept to me and I feel like I'm still not very confident with putting them together, especially for a format larger than A3 as it would be difficult and expensive to see what this would look like on paper. I struggled with what is appropriate to put on the boards and what isn't, the amount of words etc. as obviously it has to explain the process but not to a point where it would take 300 years to flick through the boards. This is something I'm realising I struggle with on my blog as well, picking out what's important and needs to be shown and what can be left out, I think I've overloaded my blog with unnecessary details and need to see where to narrow it down.

I think this module was really useful as the brief's are live competitions and I wasn't trying to tick boxes for a grade while creating these pieces, it was more about fulfilling the brief to the best of my ability in a certain amount of time. It may have been useful to take on some faster briefs to get more experience completing things quicker, as I have a tendency to dordle. I think in a way I sabotaged myself by choosing briefs that weren't released until January as I had to take more on at once when if I had done some smaller briefs in November I could have had more time on them, and more time to focus on something else in January.

One of the most important things I've learned from responsive is making mockups. I had not had much/any experience making digital mockups before this module, but I've had to just learn. I've found making them great for getting an idea of how your image will look on a product, which can help to find things that need to be tweaked or perhaps even show a prospective client how your work can be applied to something. I will admit I am not the best at making mockups, especially for things that are more three dimensional but with more practice I should be able to make more successful ones - this skill will come in handy for OUIL505.