Module Evaluation

This year my aims for PPP was to establish my identity and self branding for going forward into the professional industry. I feel that I was successful with creating branding that best represents me as a designer. I also used this module to document me interacting with other creatives. Going to Amsterdam to interview creatives was a highlight to this module because I learnt a lot and now feel like I have connections I can go back and talk to in the future. PPP also has helped me with my confidence making me a lot more confident with my presenting skills to the point where I now consider it one of my strong points. Within this project I experimented with trying to be different from others by creating mini books instead of business cards and being more hands on with my creations. This was an aim to make myself stand out as well as represent my interests. This year I worked more on my online presence which I felt really benefited my practice as I was able to promoted my projects and be inspired by others. I also found it easier to connect with creatives I thought I would never be able to talk to. There were some challenges with receiving replies but when I started to introduce my little contact books I received some replies. Also within this module I was able to document my journey of getting my placement. I would have liked to do my placement during the course however this was not able to happen due to the placement only occurring during summer and being over 2 months long. I am excited to be able to design more work that will be bought and used in a special needs and disability setting. Overall this module has been very beneficial to my practice. 

Inspiration I found from the interviews I conduced.

After we conducted the interviews in Amsterdam, I began to transcribe them and go over what was said this is when I found a quote by Wendy that I loved. She mainly works digitally within her agency but talked about her passion for print.

'I dont think type will ever die because with film and type and anything I don’t think it will ever quite be replaced with Digital because it is just so involving. Thats the thing, its tactile, its personal.' 

- Wendy Richardson (Art Director at 72&Sunny)

I completely agree, it was nice to learn that even in an large agency with really big clients such as google who is only used on screens they still want print within there campaigns. As a lover of books this gives me hope!

Dribbble

Within 3 days of using Dribbble I received an invitation for a full profile. This meant posts after that point would be seen by more people. I used this to post some of my favourite visuals from my projects and look at what would get the most views. I enjoy using this website to gain more of an audience.

Finding my niche in design

Over the last year I have found what I am most interested in within Design. I have always known I love publications but I also love to help and due to my experience looking after people with special needs I wanted to mix this love with my passion for Graphic Design.

I have found that through research and experience that some forms of design relating to special needs and disability can definitely be improved. Such as the communication device re-design I did in extended practice. Due to my experience being around the audience of special needs and my skills in graphic design I feel like I can created great outcomes making a positive impact on their lives in some way. I would love in the future to be able to design for campaigns, charities, educational purposes and publications to do with this subject. This will be enhanced by my placement as I this summer I am already doing work for a special needs audience with publications and video creation.

Why I am not having business cards!

Everyone is creating business cards because it is a traditional and professional thing to do. However I find it boring, if you do to an event like the end of year show and everyone has a business card how would you stand out. I want to create something that relates more to me as a designer but is also small like a business card and includes information.

In the past for PPP I have never created a business card because it has never appealed to me or my style, I have always created something book orientated. Looking back to level 4 I created a set of books that would be useful to others. Since then I have managed to find myself more as a designer and work out a more appropriate self branding but I still have the same love of publication design.

During the You've got mail task I created the little contact books, I love these as they are small and different. Instead of creating business cards I wanted to extend on my idea from first year of giving people something they can use which is a notebook but having them be in my new branding style and much smaller like a business card.

Business cards are made very easily in mass production. I wanted to think of a way that my mini books could be made fast and consistent. I made the sizing 3.5cm x 5cm which means you can fit 5 books on a A4 paper. By folding them in half and measuring the books I bound then used the electric guillotine to make precise cuts making equal sized books.

I choose red and blue colour which is most similar to my branding to make the books.

When thinking about what information to include I decided to only include my website as that includes all of my work I can be easily contacted on it and it promotes my other social media. I also decided to hand make a different face in each one as a bit of run and too make it personalised it also related to my favourite piece of work.

Overall people have said they like the uniqueness of my idea and I want to create lots of them to put out in the Graduate show to make me stand out from others and promote who I am as a designer.

Creative CV

Today I created a creative CV, I wanted the style of it to be easy to read, include my self branding and be interesting to look at as CV's can be dull. I decided to include my picture because I have that picture consistently on all of my branding therefore people are more likely to remember a face rather than a name. I have included my education and experience as well as my skills to show that I have experience in designing since school. I have also added logos and icons to show my text so it is a but more fun to look at and visually communicates more. I will be giving out my CVs when I apply from jobs once I come back from my placement after summer

New placement details!

 In the past few weeks there was a small problem with my contract where It needed to be slightly changed due to American Laws however it is still going ahead.

I am leaving on the 10th of June however I am being paid extra days for the design work I have been doing before I arrive.

In the past few months I have been filling out Many contracts for camp and applying for a Visa, my applications were successful even though the process could be quite confusing at times.

Devin, the Camp Direction emailed me saying he had been to a conference and wants to have another Skype call with me about some extra work we could think about doing!

It has been really helpful over the past few months being in conversation about my job role so I can be ready, and as prepared as possible. It also makes me understand how important my job role is and how much organisation I will need to do.