BA (Hons.

) GRAPHIC DESIGN
Module Code Module Title OUGD303

LEVEL

05

DESIGN PRODUCTION - DIGITAL

END OF MODULE SELF-EVALUATION

NAME Chris van Niekerk

1. What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them? Editorial & Layout for print is probably one of the main skills I have developed throughout this module, I have applied these skills to making commercial printed books as well as hand crafter books. Utilising a clients budget and needs with my own creative freedom and creating books which fit the project. Typography is another skill I have kept developing. My choice in type and knowledge has vastly improved. Knowing what type face fits with what tone of voice and how an audience will interpret it. Print, since working in reprographics I have utilised my position as a print supervisor and expanded the range of stocks and print finishes on digital formats greatly. I have also dabbled in more screen-printing to utilise the process to pint on surfaces I could not print on using a digital process. Client relations, I have developed my skills in dealing with clients a lot and knowing how to run meetings to be able to get the best out of my clients. Working with the Fashion Degree program has opened my eyes to working with creative clients in the Fashion industry. Photography, Again I have developed my studio lighting skills and product photography a lot throughout this module and I have applied this by actually photographing a clients work to a professional standard.

2. What approaches to/methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process? Client meetings and art directions. Since working with a lot of clients this module I have found my approach to design has changed to the point there I would do concept pitches and get type, colour and layout examples done to an initial point then get confirmation from the client before pushing on in order to not do a lot of work for no reason encase the client was not happy. Design Context has played a large part with informing my design process before starting. Seeing what else is out there and exactly what tone of voice to touch on for my audience is a key.

3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these? Working with editorial, layout and type is definitely a strength in my practise. I have gotten much more efficient at sourcing content or telling clients what content I need to produce editorial projects. I find working with image and type is much easier for me and I have become more efficient at it. Branding & Identity in my practise has gotten much better and I have been capitalising on this by undertaking more branding briefs to vary my design practise. Photography, This has helped the presentation of my work a lot as well as being able to help clients out with bit of photography when pushed to a deadline.

4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future? Working with colour seems to be something I have been kind of avoiding although my practise seems to work in full cmyk due to working with image or utilising colour with paper stock is another way around I have been using. But for future branding briefs I will focus on a small colour pallet and stick to it from the start. Documenting my work has always seemed to be a weakness.

5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?

Not working with unmotivated Designers, this will spread the workload much more evenly and generally get more positive final outcome. Picking my briefs more carefully and making sure I get paid at the end of it. This will allow me to get the money I deserve at the end of a project. Drawing up contracts with clients before a project and getting them to sign it. This will allow me to not have to deal with last minute issues clients seem to come up with. Not biting off more then I can chew. I work hard all the time but there is a line where I need to call when enough is a enough. Learning how to design websites. this is something I really feel the need to get into and somehow I always get hung up on print and never get time to expand into the digital frontier.

6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas: (please indicate using an x) 5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor 1 2 3 4 Attendance Punctuality x Motivation x Commitment x Quantity of work produced x Quality of work produced x Contribution to the group The evaluation of your work is an important part of the assessment criteria and represents a percentage of the overall grade. It is essential that you give yourself enough time to complete your written evaluation fully and with appropriate depth and level of self-reflection. If you have any questions relating to the self evaluation process speak to a member of staff as soon as possible. 5 x x

Specific project evaluations: Fashion Yearbook The Fashion yearbook has been a steep learning curve especially in the form of client relations. I have learnt that some clients are just not worth working for especially if you do not get paid at the end of the job. The Fashion degree tutors (Suzie Mason & Paul Luke) were very nice at the start of meetings but I could clearly tell that they had no idea what they wanted which made it hard for our groups design process. We kept bringing ideas and design to the table but everything seemed to not say Fashion according to Suzie Mason. Besides their course being utterly disorganised and Suzie actually told us that she has one of the weakest year groups to date and that we should mix student work in order to hide the weaker work amongst the stronger work and actually be bias towards the better work we pushed forwards and created design outcomes according to what she wanted. Suzie also went against Freds advice to get 2 students 1 from each pathway to represent the course and help guide the design process so the students would be happy with the outcome. This led to the students being unhappy when they finally saw some design work and Suzie suddenly changing her mind blaming us to an extent and sacking off our design outcomes and promising the students new work created by Paul Luke. As far as our group working with clients like this was completely demoralising and it was a constant challenge to keep everyone designing even though we knew realistically we were wasting our time during FMP. I had to take lead after everyone kind of gave up and generally just got on with the work as it was just not getting done by anyone besides Sarah Roberts helping me. Kirsty Fruin was an asset to this group without her dealing with suzie would have been impossible.

Augmented Greetings Cards Augmented Greetings Cards was a really enjoyable brief as I got to work with Daniel Holroyd. An individual who had a great input into the project especially from his DFGA point of view. I found that our skills complimented each other and we could produce outcomes never before possible if it was just me. My only regret is not working with an illustrator on this project I feel that If we had a more illustrative input we could get a higher standard of greeting card finishes. Overall Ignoring the various low points during my final major project I found my passion lies in editorial design and I could spend hours working happily towards producing final outcomes. I have also gotten much better at dealing with clients by the hard lesson I learnt dealing with Suzie Mason. I feel confident that I could complete a freelance brief to a professional standard from this point onwards and feel more motivated then ever to be part of a busy studio in the future. I will in future also pick the designers I work with much more carefully to allow much more painless collaborations, I would like to think that by now I know what to look for in a collaboration. I look forward to moving on from university and finding my place in the design work as I feel that leeds college of art has given me an incredibly varied and adaptable set of skills which should leave me more then equipped to deal with most issues in the professional work place.