Reflection on overall feedback

Part two centred on the creative process of problem-solving, encouraging the student to explore their own working process and apply it to a variety of briefs.  In this blog post, I will reflect on my tutor’s feedback.  My reflection will be written in blue.

My tutor remarked that my overall response is very good and that I have a good working process, typically commencing with spider diagrams and mood boards.  I am attentive to the brief and ask good questions.

As part of her feedback, she suggested that I integrate additional sketchbook work into my working process to comprehensively investigate ideas, visuals, and typography before making any definite decisions.  The emphasis needn’t always be on an illustration, as photographic imagery often plays a significant role in design.

Upon reviewing Part 2, I realised that I solely utilised illustrations and did not incorporate any photographic imagery.  Moving forward, I will integrate photos into my design work and ideation process.  I will also incorporate more sketchbook work into my workflow to thoroughly investigate ideas through sketch and typography before making final decisions.

Feedback based on Learning Outcomes

LO1 / Develop your creative and visual abilities in your practice as a graphic designer.

My tutor was pleased with the cards I created for the final assignment and remarked that I used type well to complement the illustrations.  Additionally, she commented that it was positive to see me exploring paper engineering. 

I enjoyed creating the cards and would love to delve deeper into this area.  Following the project, I dedicated some time to becoming more familiar with creating vector shapes in Adobe Illustrator and exporting them as SVG files into the cutting machine software.  The potential is limitless, and I am excited to explore this technique in a future project.

LO2/ Use creative problem-solving and research to generate visual ideas.

My tutor commented on my ability to work effectively with both abstract and figurative ideas.  She recommended conducting further research and elaborating on concepts in the sketchbook before making any key decisions.  She was pleased with my use of spider diagrams and mood boards.

I will incorporate more sketchbook work during research and idea generation before making final decisions.

LO3/ Demonstrate your use of design and technical skills for graphic design.

My tutor suggested keeping an open mind about my typography choices and test variations to compare which works best and why.  She also encouraged me to use photographs as a way to create visuals.  She further commented that I use both traditional and digital media very well to create visuals.

I agree and will make an effort to explore more typography choices and use photographs to create visuals.

LO4/ Articulate an understanding of the context of graphic design practices and reflect on your own learning.

My tutor remarked that I should continue to conduct additional design-led research looking at independent designers or design agencies – what type of work are you drawn to?  “Although you reflect on the work during the process, and this helps develop it – try to do this at the end as well.  Sometimes a bullet-pointed list can give clear areas for you to focus on in the next section.”

I will be mindful of thinking along those lines of what type of work I am drawn to while doing design-led research.  Using bullet points at the end to list areas to focus on going forward is a great idea.  I will do this in the future.

Project: Working to a brief

My tutor remarked excellent analysis of all three briefs.  “You are extremely attentive to these and ask very specific questions in order to understand the product and or campaign.  I also enjoyed seeing the mind maps too.  These explore a variety of associations to the brief.  You’re not phased by the openness of the second brief and I very much enjoyed seeing your photos on the mood board and that you very quickly manage to make the brief your own by setting up clear specifications – target audience, format etc.  This sounds very exciting.  For brief three you are observant about the need for the right tone and language to be used, your discussion of this brief is very good as you consider the most suitable ways forward.”

Project: Researching and developing ideas

I will quote my tutor’s feedback: “In this project you were asked to reflect on different ways of researching and developing ideas, and to put these into practice by designing a cover for HG Wells novels.”

“Excellent methodology and making use of spider diagrams in the initial stages.  I thought it positive you steered clear of research until you had started to formulate your own ideas and I very much enjoyed seeing the mood boards, in particular the first which accommodated some lovely photographs you have taken – the ink and shadows.  It’s also good that you are considering the abstract alongside more obvious imagery associated with the books.

In your commentary you mention Salvador Dali and I can certainly understand why this type of imagery would spring to mind, as there is something unequivocally dystopian about his images.

The collective mood board goes onto explore a good variety of materials and techniques for creating visuals. Remember too that photographs are also a valid part of graphic design.

Great little thumbnail sketches.  These see the colours developing too and it’s great that they feed in aspects of the mood board such as cardboard textures.  In the final images the influence of the plants (land and sea) work very well to provide an abstract edge and link all three covers.  The colours are fantastic and work very well with the themes of each.  Although colourful they are subdued.  Your typeface selection for the main title works well alongside the three images, however try keeping this as a single and consistent colour across the set.  Would this allow the images to retain the focus?  What about research too – perhaps this would be good to bring in at the end as a point of comparison for your own work?  How do they compare?  It will be interesting to see.”

Bringing research in at the end as a comparison for my own work is an excellent point; I will keep this in mind next time.  I agree it will be interesting to see.  I also agree that a single and consistent colour across the set will work better, allowing the images to retain the focus.

Project: Visualising your ideas

My tutor commented: “Great spider diagram to initiate your understanding of the brief.  You have some effective visual reference and from this explore a great range of 3D ideas for your leaflet.  I can certainly see the influence of your research feeding into these and the combination of two colours is a great way to provide added interest.  Your final leaflet focuses a lot on the imagery so I agree with your own reflection in that the type could be refined further and given more thought.  But the idea is still conveyed.  The window works well to entice the viewer to open the leaflet.  I agree that the type and image could be more cohesive.  Altogether, an interesting design idea with plenty of options to explore placement of type and image on the format used.”

I agree that the design idea has plenty of options to explore with the placement of type and image.  This comes back to exploring type and image together in the beginning stages of the design, as my tutor mentioned.  I think this will eventually pull together with practice.  It is beneficial to explore the leaflet format, typography and image altogether in the beginning phases of the design.

Project: Critiquing your work

My tutor remarked that it is good to see I have researched the work of Milton Glaser and in particular, his typeface ‘Babyteeth’.  She suggested that I bring in additional research of other designers’ work for a range of influences and suggested Alan Fletcher may be of interest.

It is a great idea to bring in more than one designer to have a range of influences, and I will keep this in mind for future projects.

She further commented that she enjoyed seeing the first poster.  This poster feels much more intuitive and more balanced than the later final version.  It could be that the addition of too many effects – box outlines, drop shadows, gradients etc. takes away your focus from the type.  There are several typefaces being used, so she suggested being discerning about whether or not these work together and using research as guidance.

I could not agree more.

She also said there is some great typographic exploration in my sketchbook – and to look at work by illustrator Billie Jean for inspiration.

Thank you for suggesting the work by illustrator Billie Jean.  I had a quick look at his work, and it is fantastic!  I will most definitely research his work further.  I especially love how he incorporates text into his illustrations.  His work is very inspirational.

She remarked further that the second, more minimal poster (figure 2) feels much more cohesive in terms of type and imagery.  Potentially because the background image is flat, and this allows the title type to stand out more.  The colours also work more successfully to promote the event.  Out of the two posters, figure 2 poster is more successful and direct.

Project: Finishing your artwork

My tutor’s feedback on this project is as follows: “Effective analysis of the brief.  It’s interesting you opted to illustrate this. Before committing to a technique, consider options and use research to guide the right approach.  This applies to the type as well. Don’t limit yourself without exploring options, which can then be compared and discussed.  The illustrations do work nicely but consider pushing the ideas further by exploring research to inspire exploration and also consider the scale of your images.  Try abstracting them by cropping them to see what happens.  Perhaps a close-up crop could work well as this would create abstracted textures/colours.  This could work, for example, with the beetroots.  The type chosen is homely and organic, but I feel more whitespace between this and the image would be beneficial.  Give both a bit of breathing space and consider just one fruit/vegetable on each POS.  These can then be scaled up or offset off the edge of the page.”

I appreciate the feedback and guidance on the Point of Sale project.  Although the illustration worked nicely, I could not put my finger on how to improve the poster.  I agree with everything my tutor pointed out especially cropping and abstracting the image.  More whitespace between the image and type will give both elements more breathing space.  I will consider the scale and placement of the type and push ideas further by exploring layouts using thumbnail sketches.

Assignment 2: “Thinking of you”

My tutor mentioned that I “quickly narrowed the brief to focus on a series of cards, which she thought was a good idea as the focus is then personal.  Some research into the psychology of greeting cards might be interesting for you to look at.  This focuses on the sender and not just the recipient of the card.”

I will look into researching the psychology of greeting cards.  It sounds very interesting. 

She further remarked that I have “strong influential imagery from Edward Bawden and Art Nouveau styles.  Why did you pick these examples, try and shed a bit more light on your thoughts.  What drew you to them?  What about your greeting card research?  Can you bring some in at this point to get an idea of the variety that are available?  This could also include pop-up cards and look at the techniques for creating cards such as – letterpress, screen print, embossing, foil blocking etc.  Robert Sabuda designed some great pop-up cards using his simple pared-back style.”

I agree and will do more research in the beginning and elaborate on my decision-making. 

My tutor also commented: “Seeing pop-up cards materialise was very exciting and these work very well in terms of image style, type, colour and format.  The typeface used works well with fairly simple line illustrations, and you’ve also kept the colours simple too.”

“It does seem as if they appear very quickly during this process and I wonder whether more time could be spent exploring the ideas in the first instance.  Often you have very set ideas from the beginning and perhaps these don’t always allow you to fully explore and possibly deviate.”

I will keep this in mind for future projects and explore more ideas before committing to a decision.  I guess I am very set on an idea I visualise in my head and am nervously excited to see if I can make it a reality. 

My tutor further remarked that “overall, three very successful cards – these are cohesive and have a strong visual style making use of your illustrative skill and complimentary type selections.’

How will I take the work forward in the next section of the course?

• Feed additional sketchbook work to explore ideas, visuals and type thoroughly before making any definite decisions.
• Keep an open mind about typeface choices and test variations to compare which works best and why.
• Consider using photographs as a way to create visuals.
• Conduct some additional design-led research looking at independent designers or design agencies.
• Reflect on the work during the process and try to do this at the end as well by means of bullet points.
• Expand on early sketchbook work and use this to initiate thumbnails before working digitally.