Why Am I Here, What Do I Want To Learn?

PPD Task 1

Answer these questions and post your answers on the VLE 'your board' so other students can give feedback. 

Identify and explain 5 reasons why you chose to study on this programme. 

- I was inspired by past students work, which I saw in the yearbook's. My favourite past students work is Steph Baxter.  I was amazed at the work and hoped that one day I would be able to create work of the same standard.

- Fred's presentation on the open day made me want to study this programme as I could see how passionate he is about the course and how much he knows. He showed how exciting the course can be and really made me want to get a place. 

- After hearing inspiring stories about how previous students have actually gone on to get their work out there, get jobs and become successful, as well as winning competitions such as D&AD, I felt like I would have more potential to achieve being a Leeds College of Art graphic design student than if I had studied any other course that I had looked at.

- I thought the resources available at our college were better than at any other college/uni that I looked at, so I felt confident that I would always have the resources and help available here so develop as a designer.

- Knowing that this programme is timetabled and that there are regular crits made me want to study this programme, as although I do think I am committed and can organise my time, I thought that knowing I would have to be in regularly and knowing that tutors would be giving us feedback on our work would make sure I'm on top of my work.

Identify and explain 5 things that you want to learn during your time on the programme. 

-  I would like to learn things that aren't taught on other graphic design courses that will make me stand out against others when applying for jobs, such as business studies skills.

- I would like to learn about print production to ensure that I am creating work that is the appropriate format to be printed and so the work that I produce is the best possible format.

- I would like to learn design for screen skills. Last year I had a brief introduction with making a moving video, but I would like to learn more skills. I'm especially interested in kinetic typography and would like to be able to create a motion type video.

F is for FAIL from Brent Barson on Vimeo.

- I would like to learn which skill it is that I am best at, because, although before starting the course, and through most of last year, I thought illustration was my best skill, as I have learnt new things I have discovered new interests. I need to continue to develop and learn new things before I can learn which skill it is that is my speciality. 

- I would like to learn new things that I haven't been taught, by using my initiative and trying new things, rather than just sticking to the work that is set.

Identify and explain 5 skills that you think are your strengths. 

- I think I am committed to the course, and have good attendance and punctuality. I spend a lot of time outside of college hours doing my work and think I am fairly well organised.

- I think my concepts are now a strength, as I now spend a lot more time thinking through my idea before I go ahead and create something, to ensure that there is a target audience for my idea, and to find out what the flaws are.

- I think I am good at written communication, which is good when I am explaining my ideas on my blog. I find it easier to explain things through writing than I do through speaking.

- I think I am good at evaluating my work, as I do it regularly, to help me see where I am up to, and I find it a really useful way to make sure I'm on track.

- I think I am good at working on targets that I have made, as at the end of last year, when I looked over the targets I had made at the start of the year, I had achieved nearly all of them. This is through continuous evaluation of my work.

Identify and explain 5 things that you want to improve. 

-  I want to improve my finishing touches/ presentation of my work, to ensure that it looks good when printed, as well as on screen. By having a knowledge of print production I think I will be able to achieve this.

- I want to update my design context blog more regularly, and make sure the posts relate to what I am at working on on my design practice blog. I need to annotate the images I put on there so it makes sense why I have chosen to display them.

- I need to improve my verbal communication skills even more. I have improved a lot last year, and now feel more confident talking in front of a group. However, I need to continue to improve these so I have the courage to be able to talk to designers and companies as it comes to the time when I will need to look for work experience placements.

- I want to have confidence in my work, as I don't seem to stay proud of any piece of work for long. If I could feel more confident about my work, I would be more eager to show it to other people, such as other designers, and would feel I was at the right level to be able to enter competitions.

- I want to not be lazy and to put in to use everything I learn, rather than not doing anything about the skills I have learnt in inductions. I want to make full use of all the facilities that are available to me.

Identify and explain 5 ways that you will evaluate your progress. 

- I will break each brief down into a week by week review, rather than just evaluating at the end of the project, to ensure that I am always up to date with where I want to be.

- I will regularly ask other students for their feedback on my work, to get their ideas on what is good about my work and what needs improving. I will also grab every opportunity to talk to tutors and be sure to discuss grade feedback.

- I will write a to-do list of graphic design tasks that need doing, and write when each task needs doing for so I can do them in the appropriate order.

- I will keep checking my targets that I have written on PPD blog and update them with new targets when necessary

- At the end of the year I will compare my PPD presentation with last years and see how much I have improved and I will know how much more there is to change for 3rd year

Identify 5 questions that you want to find the answer to.

- Do I need to live in London to make it as a successful Graphic Designer?

- Is it possible to be a freelance graphic designer straight away or do I need company work first?

- Is it better to specialise in one area of design than to state many as a speciality?

- Is the average salary for a freelance graphic designer a lot less than someone who works for a company?

- What are previous graduating students experiences with going freelance?

PPD... Studio Briefing... Reflective Practice

BRIEF

Collect, catagorise and reflect on a body of investigative research, creative references and responses to set tasks in the form of your PPD course blog. You should make regular posts to your blog that demonstrate an increasingly individual/independent exploration of Graphic Design, the broader creative industries and general visual culture. You should use this brief as a starting point for the development of an increasingly informed understanding of the nature of contemporary graphic design practice and its role in our local, national and international culture You will need to maintain an ongoing evaluation of your individual progress in Level 05 of the programme by regularly reflecting on what you have learned, how you have developed and how this relates to your own creative ambitions. As part of this process you should post copies of each End of Module Self-evaluation to your blog in order to maintain an ongoing recorded of your reflective skills and analytical responses to your own development. Certain Tasks will be set and you will need to record your responses to them but you should use them as a starting point for your own independent research activities.

Background / Considerations

We are not asking you to simply produce a scrapbook of images or a day-to-day diary of what you have seen/where you have been. Keep your reference broad by searching out new and interesting connections. Take the opportunity to attend lectures, events and exhibitions. Organise study visits to studios, galleries etc. and remember to record and reflect on all that you see. Set time aside on a regular basis to reflect on the work you have produced and its relation to your emerging creative interests and areas of individual focus Links

D&AD - Online Resource       YCN - Online Resources ISTD - Online Resources        Design Council - Online Resources WILL ASKEN - http://w-asken0811fmp.blogspot.com/HEATHER BRADLEY - http://h-bradley0811fmp.blogspot.com/DAVID GASI - http://d-gasi0811fmp.blogspot.com/MILLE HAUGHNESS - http://m-haugnaess0811fmp.blogspot.com/IAN PRENTICE - http://i-prentice0811fmp.blogspot.com/EMMA PRICE - http://e-price0811fmp.blogspot.com/TIM WAN - http://www.t-wan0811fmp.blogspot.com/LEIGH WORTLEY - http://l-wortley0811fmp.blogspot.com/CHARLOTTE HITCHEN http://c-hitchen0811fmp.blogspot.com/ OLLIE SAWARD - http://o-saward0811fmp.blogspot.com/

What is Good?

Evaluation of research

A lot of my ideas for this unit of work came from things I saw on a trip to London in early july, to see New Blood and other exhibitions and design shops. After this I began collecting ideas, but I was still a bit unsure what to actually choose. Therefore, as the summer went on my ideas changed and developed. Originally, for my object, I wanted to research camera's, but after seeing lots of designs featuring cameras at New Blood and New Designers, and realising people on my course were using this as their object, I began thinking that everything has been done before, so I wanted to try topics a little different than what others had chosen. It was nearer the end of the summer when I had attended the World Scout Jamboree in Sweden that I decided this would be the topic to prove that it is 'good'. With going away over summer and then working full time, it was hard to stay motivated, and I ended up leaving things like blogging the research I had collected until the end of summer. I found some subjects harder to collect research for than others. I was so interested in my place, and also my concept (Reduce, reuse, recycle), that I became disinterested in the other subjects, as I knew I wasn't going to take them further. For example, I felt like the possible outcome for my opinion- time is precious, would be similar to my group work brief last year about being motivated. Now that I have collected research for my topics, I am just excited to start designing for my new unit. I want to try and incorporate some of things I have learnt when researching my concept in to my publication for my place, to be a more environmentally friendly designer.

Working In A Media Department

I'm involved in scouting and guiding and its quite a big part of my life, so much so that I've chosen a jamboree (an international scout gathering) to be my place to prove that it is good. (See blog). This summer, I went on an international jamboree to Sweden, and luckily I was chosen to work in the media centre for the camp. I got to see how different aspects of camp media are run, and help out with these. These included: radio; TV; magazine; international press; social media and photography. This was valuable work experience with a difference - working with scouts and guides of all ages from across the world, learning new things from new cultures, all from on a campsite! One of the most exciting parts was watching the 'Hej Jam' magazine come to life. 6 issues of a short magazines about camp life, with 40,000 being printed each time. You can view those magazines here. I hope to gain more work experience next year by working again for a media team at a guides/scout event.

Hej Jam

World Scout Jamboree Website

A team member working on a magazine page layout

Working with some of my group

Distributing all 40,000 magazines

A media centre - on a campsite

Design Skills Evaluation - Second Look

Now its nearing the end of summer, and time to start my second year, I decided to have a look back over the evaluation I completed in June. I think my priorities about what I want to concentrate on improving are the same, so I left that part unchanged, but I think the first part, about grading my work for the year, was inaccurate. I'd marked myself higher than what I probably deserved; while I think I did work very hard, I don't think i'm that much better than average - yet. I'm very committed, yet think until I work on software skills and the things I have learnt in workshops and inductions, I can't progress much further. There are so many new skills that I have learnt the basics for, but haven't yet but in use. I'm already planning to do some screen printing before starting the work for the course, to get me prepared for the production for print module. Re-looking at this evaluation has been useful as its made me realise that I need to step up this year, to be better than average and realise my potential.

Second Year Targets

I'm reposting the targets I wrote at the end of the first year when I was creating my PPD presentation to re-fresh them! After seeing how successful other students from my course have done, as well as other students from across the country who I have learnt about at events like New blood and new designers have done, I've also thought about how I can push myself even further. Before, I would have thought these targets were too hard to achieve, but now i'm inspired to really challenge myself this year.


New Targets

1. To take advantage of the printing facilities, such as screen printing
2. To not be lazy and use the resources at Vernon street
3. To be able to ask for help when I need it
4. To create a moving image and learn how to use the required software
5. To put in to use the new skills I have learnt in inductions
6. To use initiative and take it upon myself to learn and try new things that what we have been told to
7. To feel more confident and proud about my work, and enter competitions or try to get some freelance work
8. To get the most out of every day at college by arriving early and staying late
9. To update my design context blog more regularly and make sure there is a link between the work I am putting on there and my design practice work 
10. To make my briefs 'live' and actually usable and useful


Added Targets


1. Celebrate my favourite work - create a website for others to see
2. To get my work 'out there' -  promote myself
3. To sell some work - start with creating an Etsy store, sell a few pieces
4. Discover other websites and forms of social media that could be useful to promote work

Thinking About My Degree Show Already...

After attending degree shows (see photographs) in Leeds, I have begun thinking already about mine, despite only just going into second year!  Obviously I am biased, but I did think ours was the best, especially in turns of presentation of work and portfolios. I also attended New Blood and New Designers in London, and got a few tips there.

I made a few notes based on the good and bad things I saw at these exhibitions to help me when its my turn.

- A nice polite 'hello' and 'thanks for looking' in the portfolio's made looking through them feel more personal, and help you to connect with the viewer

- I especially liked this 'lovely to meet you' business card, from Jenni Sparks that I collected from New Blood. There were a few different designs which all stood out from plainer cards.

- Barcodes on business cards to take you directly to the website when used with a phone app. I made one of these - (see post)

- Include an up-to-date CV in the back of your portfolio

- Check everything for spelling mistakes!

- Ensure you have plenty of business cards so you don't run out

- Make sure that the business card says that you are a graphic designer, incase the person who picks it up gets it mixed up with other cards

- Detailed finishing touches such as printing onto a different material, or adding foil, or the card having rounded corners - anything like this - help to show that you pay special attention to presentation