Design Strategies Presentation

This is my design strategies presentation which will be done one of the first days back. It is supposed to be 7-10 minutes long and when I have been practising it it gets in at about 7 minutes which allows time for questions to be answered. I feel a lot more prepared with this presentation than I have done with previous ones.

Notes for each slide:

1.

x I was unhappy with my initial branding that I did at the end of last year as I didn't feel  it represented what I wanted to achieve with my design practice. It was too image based and girly and didn't fully show off my skills.
x Re-branding myself was one of my first priorities as I wanted something that could be sophisticated and timeless, that I would feel confident giving to industry people.
x After development I came up with a simple are more professional look, focusing on my surname.
x I have still included that I am a graphic design and an illustrator on my branding but this time didn't want to just be known as an illustrator
x I have printed business cards, updated my CV, created a mini portfolio, started on my website and updated all social media
x Instantly I received positive feedback

2.

x At the start of summer I visited New Blood and New Designers (because of my interest in illustration.)
x This was a useful experience as I saw lots of inspiring work and got to talk to graduate students who gave me some advice
x I also went to the degree shows of LCA, Leeds Met, Leeds Uni and London College of Communication. These got me thinking about my degree show and prompted me to re-brand my identity

3.

x At the beginning of summer I found out that Chloe and I received a commendation for our work for Peacocks which we entered in to YCN. We got personal feedback from Peacocks about why we were chosen which was great to read.
x The awards ceremony was an amazing night and gaining this helped to increase my confidence in my work, and looks good on my CV
x Our work will be featured in the upcoming YCN annual
x I'll be entering more competitions next year
x The award was something I mentioned when contacting studios and from this I got a placement

4.

x At Holden & Sons Advertising agency, I got to work on a live brief for Kellogg's Rice Krispies squares, creating floor stickers (based on the current vintage type theme) to be used in supermarkets to increase the point of sale
x They were happy with the design ideas and sent them back to the client
x I found this industrial research very useful to give me an understanding of what it is like to work in a studio and has helped me to decide that this is ideally what I would want to do after uni rather than being freelance, as before I was unsure.
x I enjoyed working in a creative environment which I found really motivating and learning from others, such as copywriters and animators
x I have been invited back and hopefully will complete a week over reading week
x I would have liked to have done more work placements over summer but unfortunately had time restraints due to working

5.

x I did some freelance work over summer creating business cards for a client
x This was my first experience of live work and I know I definitely need to do more to get a better understanding of how to deal with clients and how much to charge and other matters, as I think this will only come with experience
x I gained the work from promoting myself through my online presence proving this does work
x I was also asked to submit some work that was seen on Behance for a book about book design

6.

x My dissertation question is: "Can women's magazines, focusing on the example of Cosmopolitan UK, ever be considered feminist?"
x I have been collecting research about feminism to gain an understanding of what it means
x I have been going through issues of Cosmopolitan, a magazine which claims to be feminist, (as you can see an article about their F word campaign here), finding articles which could prove but also disprove this
x These examples show a magazine that seems to be obsessed with celebrities, body image and what men think
x I also aim to collect primary research
x My dissertation links to one of my ten briefs, that I hope to complete for my final major project

7.

x Here are the ideas for my ten briefs, which I have tried to write so they cover all areas: research, competition, skills driven, live and collaborative
x The briefs also will allow me to develop a range of skills that I think I need to work on: info and wayfinding, branding and identity, product and packaging, retail and promotion and design for screen. As well as the area that my interests particularly lie in, which is publishing and editorial.
x I have done research for each brief and am looking forward to starting design development.

8.

x I have been completing a continuos evaluation each week over summer to keep track of my progress, and also did this evaluation at the start and end of summer. This made it quite obvious to see how much my priorities have changed.
x Previously, I considered myself to be an image based designer but over the summer I have been making the transition towards type.
x I have lots to learn through not taking this module last year, as I took image, and this is something I aim to improve on, as well as concentrating more on my publishing and editorial skills as part of my skills plan.
x I have set myself targets which I will regularly check on
x I finally know who I am as a designer, and what I want to focus my practice on to fulfil my ambitions, so feel as if I am in a much better place that I was at the start of summer.