BA (Hons.) GRAPHIC DESIGN LEVEL 02
Module Title: DESIGN FOR MEDIA
END OF MODULE SELF-EVALUATION
NAME: Oli Semp
1. What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?
The first thing I have learned is how to manage my time a lot better, enabling me to produce a lot more work in a quicker amount of time. I have also learned how to be a lot quicker with my decision-makings, enabling me to become more inventive with the ideas and creativeness within my work. Animation is something I have always been interested in learning about, but never approached it before. After this module I feel I have developed limited skills in and After Effects and what I have produced in the end, considering I have never done anything like this before, making me extremely content with my final opening titles. I feel from this module I have a much greater understand of not just how After Effects works and making an image move, but the design practice that is involved behind the animation. Learning about all different techniques and processes of which you have to go through are extremely interesting and learning about these gave me a greater understanding that graphic design is not just designing work, but all the technical information that goes with it.
2. What approaches to/methods of research have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?
When first given the brief I was thinking what could I possibly research into. After deciding I was going to do top 10 worst I also decided to look into the worst celebrities as a general subject, not limiting my research and therefore not getting stuck when developing my ideas further. After I had collected all the research I decided to focus on top 10 worst celebrity plastic surgeries, and therefore researched in more detail my chosen topic. As this was a design for media module, I researched in to many opening titles for both television programs and films, which helped me make inform decisions for my design development. The idea of the faces sliding of combined celebrity faces was an idea I got when looking at the Ugly Betty opening titles, which was something I thought would work quite well with the topic I had chosen. Until this brief I have never really appreciated opening titles to films and television programs, but now after researching and looking at them in more depth, I now appreciate and realize how much time and thought goes into them, realizing how clever some of them are.
3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalize on these?
I feel that my strengths I can identify within my work are now the ability to grasp the concept of a brief and develop my ideas quickly. After not having any previous experience with any design media software, I do feel after this module I have an understanding of the design processes behind animation, as well as a technical understanding of how After Effects work. When tackling other briefs, animation is now something that I feel is now a possibility, a process that I feel a lot more confident in approaching more of in the future. I also feel now I understand I web it will be a good way of keeping all my work organized in a digital format, something that would benefit me when applying for jobs and work placements.
4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these more fully?
The weaknesses I can see are in my development. I have a habit of just jumping straight on to a computer and start designing, but not showing my idea generations, making it hard for me to put pen to paper and draw up story boards before going on to After Effects. I need to start drawing thumbnail sketches showing the processes I have gone through, not just for the assessment, but also for me as a designer to look back on and understand how I got to my final products and critically analyze my work and maybe learn how to progress further.
5. Identify four things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?
1. Even though my time management skills have improved a vast amount since the beginning of the course, I still feel that it is something that can be improved on still. I can already see the benefits of my time management skills getting better, with my work content increasing and to a much higher level, so improving more will only benefit me greater.
2. I have realized now after this module, never rely on technology. After deleting my work on Wednesday night and spending the whole night awake trying to recover all my lost work, I now understand when I am told not to rely on it. I was very lucky this time and was able to recover my lost work, but all I was imagining was if I had not. This has made me now realize that I need to be a lot more organized when saving my work, backing everything up many times, to hopefully prevent this happening again, because next time I might not be so lucky.
3. Even though I have improved greatly on the use of my blog, I still feel that I am not getting the most out of it as I could. It is something that I have always felt as a chore rather than something that will help me grow as a designer, but the more I use it the more I see benefits in helping me become a greater designer, enabling me to look and annotate other peoples work, helping me develop my ideas to a higher level.
4. I do feel within this module, considering the circumstances that aroused when we first got the briefing, and how I was worried I would not get my work done in time, and discussing a possible extension, that I managed to complete my work and hand it in before the deadline. I am extremely happy with my self for not letting this get on top of me and pulling my socks up after my time off. This has proved to me that I can do it, and has just made me realize that if I put mind to something I can succeed.
6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas?
(Please indicate using the number corresponding to the words below)
5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor
Attendance 4
Punctuality 4
Motivation 4
Commitment 4
Quantity of work produced 4
Quality of work produced 4
