Sunday 27 November 2016

OUGD602 Portfolio Selection (Brief One)

Before adding work to my Behance and getting my work ready for my website, I thought it would be beneficial to look through my work and get an idea of what would look good in my portfolio and what wouldn't. I think at this point my portfolio will be quite small due to me developing my style and design skills through-out uni, I am not particularly fond of a lot of the projects that I completed through-out first year and some through-out second year. This is what third year is about, however, as I think by the end of third year I will have a complete portfolio that I am really proud of.

This particular project was completed for my COP project in first year. I'm not a huge fan of this, I think it's very basic and my style has changed an awful lot since creating this. It also doesn't really fit with my own ethos - I am now a vegetarian and I don't think meat should be branded as I think it's important for the environment that meat consumption is cut down an awful lot.


These are the typefaces that I created in first year in response to the theme 'mature'. I think these are actually quite successful, however I'm not very proud of them and I don't think they represent myself as a designer - I have never done type design after this project and I don't think I ever will - I don't particularly enjoy doing it, however I do have an appreciation for typefaces. This is more shown in the typefaces that I use and not in my own design.



This is another project that I created in first year. It is absolutely awful, I have no idea what I was thinking. My design has come along so much since this project. 


These were also from a project in first year based on conspiracy theories. These are quite successful poster designs, however my style has also changed a lot since then and I don't want these to feature in my portfolio.


This is a publication design that I did in first year. I'm still really proud of this publication design and it will definitely feature in my portfolio as it is probably one of the most successful screen prints that I have ever completed - and even better as it was 4 colours!


These were also designs from first year, and were designs for the inside of a photo frame. I'm not a huge fan of these designs anymore as I don't think the composition of the photographs is very good, and also the actual setting of the photographs isn't great.




Put simply: NO CHANCE IN HELL. Awful design; not typeset; awful illustration. Overall disgusting design.


This was a group project in first year. I think this design is quite slick, however I don't want to include it in my portfolio as I don't think it's amazing and I want my portfolio to showcase only the best of my design work.


This was a map design for the North Leeds Cycle Trail; this was a one day brief set by Hungry Sandwich Club. I am actually really proud of this map design - it's slick and very my style, even though it wasn't the winner of the one day competition. This was group work, however this particular map was designed solely by myself. I don't think I will feature it in my portfolio, however, as it isn't amazing and I plan to create a map in third year, I won't include this in my portfolio.


This was a book cover design for The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Brighurt. I will definitely include this design in my portfolio as the colour scheme works really well together, and also the concept of the cover is very successful - it's based on the elements of Helvetica crossed with the elements of Arial.


These were vinyl record designs that I submitted as a Secret 7 entry. I think the concept for both was quite strong, however I'm not going to include them in my portfolio as they didn't get selected to be exhibited as part of Secret 7, and therefore they mustn't be that successful.


These were poster designs that went along side a publication created about living with annoying housemates. I won't be including these in my portfolio - they don't represent myself as a person anymore as I feel I am a lot more relaxed than I used to be - I used to be a bit OCD with mess and living in an awkward environment. 




This was a poster design that went along with the publication about the Lesbian representation in television, and how the misrepresentation of lesbians is very damaging for younger viewers who are watching the television show purely too see themselves represented.


This was a one day brief for HORT to create a 'gift' that would be sent to them in a publication - however me being deaf I thought the task was to create a .GIF. I still really like this response personally however, it has a story to it and it's executed well. I don't think I'll include this in my portfolio, however, as it's very basic and would've looked far better if it was an animation and not a stop motion.


This was a video that myself and Izzie filmed of CryBabyCry playing an intimate gig. It's quite successful, however filming in there was very awkward as it was at a radio station so everyone had to be really quiet when they were filming, meaning we couldn't move around and therefore a lot of the shots are very similar.


This was part of the branding for Screeeeen, a project for PPP last year. It's really successful and the idea would've been really good, however none of us stuck with it and therefore there's not much point in including it in my portfolio.


This was a branding project for Kickstarter. I still really like the logo design that I created for this project, however the collateral for the project isn't great so for this reason I won't include it in my portfolio.


This was a publication I created for Type in context; I'm really proud of this publication and will definitely include it in my portfolio.


This was a brief set by ONLY studio, in which we had to design a website for a band's past album. I think this project was actually quite successful, however I don't think I will include this in my portfolio as I really dislike web design and don't want to pursue it in the future.


Finally, this was a small publication that explained my own personal design process and development. The publication is well designed, however it's very boring and there's not much to the project as it was a one day brief, and therefore I won't be including it in my portfolio.



Wednesday 23 November 2016

OUGD602 LinkedIn (Brief One)

LinkedIn is a new one for me. I find it really difficult to use and so I haven't really tried over the past two years, however this year I am going to try to understand it more by following tutorials and try to keep it updated. This will be an ongoing project for my personal development.

I am going to do this as I get emails daily about the number of jobs live on LinkedIn, and therefore it seems like a very useful tool to use to try to get a career within the design sector.


Thursday 17 November 2016

OUGD602 Previous Branding Reflection (Brief One)

Below is my personal branding from last year. I think the website design and use of colour is still very relevant to my own personal design practice, however, I have gone off my logo design as I have progressed over summer and I now realise that the logo doesn't work on a smaller scale. I'm still a huge fan of the logo, it just needs refining and correcting for me to be happy with it.

I still really like the website design, however, I don't know how to code so, for this reason, I will try to create a website using either WIX, Squarespace or Wordpress, depending on which is most cost effective and easy to use and keep up to date.


I have also gone off my business card designs, as I think they don't really get across the fact that I enjoy using a lot of colour within my work. For this reason, I am going to tweak and refine these also.


Finally, I don't think that these letterheads are very effective, in fact I don't believe I need letterheads at all as I have never used them as I mostly contact people via email or over the phone.


Thursday 10 November 2016

OUGD602 Age of the: Zeal (Brief Two)

AGE OF THE is an exhibition that occurs twice a year in Leeds, and this is the first (and definitely not last!) that I have attended. The night was amazing. It was a mixture of art and live performances, all with really important messages. The live show was about corruption in the government and was portrayed by a drag queen being murdered. There was also art around the building, which was all really abstract and obscure (see below images). It was really expressive and interesting.

I ended up speaking to the curator and she said that they're always open for extra submissions and help, so this is something that I definitely want to look into and be a part of in the future.






Friday 4 November 2016

OUGD602 - Thinking About Employability (Brief Two)

1. Portfolio/CV

Clarity, simplicity, presentation, information and contact

2. Social Media

Make a clear distinction between personal and professional
Have some kind of strategy, continuity and substance
A social media profile is an extension to your CV

3. XP / Experience

How to gain experience: make your own experience - start your own experience or work for someone else - client, freelance.
the most fundamental tool is confidence


4. Networking

Business and work will come from friends
Surround yourself with nice people who do interesting things
They're only ever an email, meeting or a pint away
Circle of influence

Exercise 1: Start, Stop, Continue

START:
- A behance/final portfolio site
- More on your linkedin
- Making a website

STOP:
- Having Twitter open
- Having your personal twitter associated with you
- Private twitter?

CONTINUE:
- With Tumblr - looks professional layout and work is showcased well - continue this on all platforms.
- Using and updating social media platforms.
- Tumblr-ing

Exercise 2: Stinky Fish