Throughout this module I have learnt a great deal about design practice. The module has allowed me to put all the skills I have learnt throughout this course so far into practical outcomes, whether that be individually, collaboratively or in response to live competition briefs. One skill I have learnt is the importance of collaboration and teamwork. Studio brief 03 focused on working with a team of peer students in the production of a brand identity for our end of year print exhibition. Working in a team meant that more work and ideas could be developed within a shorter space of time in order to work effectively and efficiently to a brief through each taking on an individual role within the group, which allowed us to play to our strengths in terms of design. Learning to negotiate and compromise was a big part of this to ensure everyone's ideas were heard and considered in order to produce consistent overall designs. Working in a team of people who I had never worked with before was an enjoyable part of this and as a result has brought me closer to different people.
This module also allowed me to take part in a live competition brief for the Penguin Random House Student Design Awards. Although the design was unsuccessful in being shortlisted, taking part in this brief proved to be a valuable experience in teaching me what it would be like within industry, working to a specific brief with strict guidelines and specifications. In developing initial ideas for this brief, the process again taught me that even if you are certain your concepts work well to communicate a specific message, this is not always what the client wants or needs, therefore you have to carefully redesign and develop your work to fit with these requirements, even if they are not necessarily agreed with. In the future of this course I will take part in more of these live briefs and competitions in order to gain more experience working to strict set of guidelines and help to inform my overall creative practice.
Screen printing a poster design for our end of year exhibition was one of the most enjoyable processes of this module. This brief allowed me to play to some of my strengths and interests in traditional handmade processes within Graphic Design. Although I had knowledge of the screen printing process previous to this module, this allowed me to continue developing such skills and allowed me to be more experimental in terms of method, process, colours and materials. However, not only did this improve my practical skills, the process also helped in developing my digital skills, particularly through the use of Photoshop. Workshops into preparing digital positives for print taught me the appropriate ways to develop and modify images ready to be exposed and screen printed, particularly in terms of photographic imagery and half tones, which allowed gradients of colour to be replicated when printing, which I had limited experience with before.
Another aspect of this module looked at speaking from experience. This again allowed me to work collaboratively in a pair, reflecting upon the new experiences, skills, difficulties and accomplishments of the first year on this course. This brief allowed me to work more freely in producing a final outcome and producing a set of guidelines and requirements for ourselves to work with, practically applying all that has been learnt throughout this course so far. Many such processes were used, for instance bookbinding, typography, format and layout, as well as learning to be more experimental and conceptual in my approach to set briefs which as a result makes work more engaging. This course, and specifically this module, has started to help in shaping myself and creative practice as a designer and I will continue to develop each of these skills throughout the next two years of the course.
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