OUGD502 Module Evaluation

This module has been very challenging in the fact of time management as I have had multiple projects on the go all at once, a number of them being outside of uni projects. However, I believe that my time has been managed very well as I have not been late submitting a brief, and I also haven’t been stressing towards the end of each brief as I have managed to mostly keep on top of the work load. 

A thing I enjoyed about this module was contacting different design studios, some all the way across the world. This is a really great way to let other designers know you exist, but to also show respect to the designers for the portfolio of work. This is a project I am going to continue over the summer and probably also in third year, as the questions I will ask I genuinely want to know the answers to, and it is also a good way of interacting and getting your name out into the industry. 

A thing I didn’t particularly enjoy about this project was not getting emails back from design studios or designers. It’s understandable that the design studios will be incredibly busy, however it’s also a little insulting to think that I’m not worth their time. 

I think a strength of this module was my research. John had previously mentioned that you shouldn’t email too many design studios as all of the emails would look a little bit like spam, so it was really useful to research into different design studios prior to emailing them. A design studio that I particularly wanted a reply from was Farrow Studios, however it’s understandable that they didn’t reply as they are a huge firm and are very busy at the moment designing record sleeves for National Record Day. 

A weakness of this project was probably the number of emails that I sent out. I sent a number of emails out to five different design firms and only ended up getting one reply. I think if I had been a bit more willing to send more emails, I would’ve been able to create a number of different creative reports. This would’ve looked really successful in my portfolio, which is just another reason I plan to carry on emailing different studios and interviewing them. 

I think another strength of this module was the study task Taking Care of Business. Cameron has a very different design style to my own, however we met in the middle and I feel the group as a whole worked successfully. I think our presentation was also very successful as we covered a lot of points and we researched in great detail about things that we would definitely need for a design studio, such as furniture and general costings for software. 

A weakness of Taking Care of Business was probably the lack of time put into the presentation by everyone involved. Everyone contributed, however the presentation was solely put together by myself and Cameron as the other members were busy during the time we put aside to complete the project. This is okay, however, as this is what it would be like in industry - not every member would be available at all points to contribute. 

I think my presentation went really well and I think it was obvious that my confidence has definitely improved since last year. My main downfall with the presentation was the fact I really struggle to talk fluently without a script, and with a script I often find myself reading straight from it. I did try to stop this from happening in this presentation, however compared to the other peoples presentation that I saw, I think this was my downfall as most of the other students can easily talk about their work and their progress from the top of their heads. 

Overall, however, I believe this module went very smoothly and successfully and I am definitely going to carry on being immersive in the Leeds art scene, and potentially the art scene in Hull. I am also going to carry on pushing my development with different analogue techniques other than digital printing. 

OUGD502 Creative Report - Evaluation (Studio Brief One)

I found this project incredibly interesting as I've never been set a task before to research solely into design studios and not their work. In this process, I found out about lots of different design studios all over the country and all over the world. I was particularly fond of the studio Instruct and the studio Studio DBD, both based in Manchester. Both of these studios really enticed me as their work was in a very similar style to mine, and their ethos was something that I like to think is my own ethos - they don't specialise in any specific style of design, they don't limit their ways of working, whether that be digital or by hand. 

I based my creative report on the design agency Studio DBD. I chose to focus on this specific design studio because I really liked their portfolio, and they are local to both Leeds and Warrington, so therefore I could potentially get an internship or some work experience with them in the future. I’m particularly proud of my creative report, as it was very conceptual. It used minimal colours to keep printing costs low, and it also didn’t have a consistent grid system used through-out the publication. This was the concept, as Studio DBD is a design studio that doesn’t have one particular style, so I made each double page spread very different, however used the same colour scheme to keep the publications flow and fluidity. 

I think the questions that I asked Studio DBD were very relevant to the studio, as I researched into Dave Sedgwick previously so I could ask original questions, and questions that he hasn't answered in previous articles or interviews. His answers that he gave for my interview were really inspiring to me, such as:

“Get your shit in order early on, so a decent accountant, job filling system, back up system etc. Take on loads of work at first, but don’t pitch yourselves as cheap or low price. You’ll always be known as that if you do so. Build up a good portfolio of work by going the extra mile on all your projects. Work hard, stay safe and try to enjoy it.” 

This was really inspiring as these are things that we didn’t really consider in great detail for the Taking Care of Business task, and it something that I would definitely have to consider in the future if I were to set up my own design studio. 

Overall, I think that my time management for this brief was really well executed, as I emailed multiple design studios and the studio that I wanted to respond the most responded straight away. I am also really proud of my final creative report publication, and it will be a good experience as I am going to send a copy to Studio DBD and see if I can get some feedback.

OUGD502 Creative Report - Printed Creative Report (Studio Brief One)

This is the printed creative report that I have designed. I digitally printed it, as Studio DBD mainly create their work digitally - not screen printed etc. I used CMYK Yellow, meaning it has been printed incredibly bright. I used a 135gsm newsprint stock for this publication. I chose this stock as it is affordable and it can be creased well in multiple numbers of pages - exactly what I needed. 

OUGD502 Spin, London (Studio Brief One)

Spin is a design studio based in London. I found their work through Tumblr (the second image). The style of this design studio is very appealing to me, and reminds me a little of HORT. It often uses both modern and postmodern approaches to finish briefs. This design studio is very interesting, as a lot of their final designs don't necessarily use colour. I think this is a bold approach, as every other design studio hasn't limited themselves within their use of colour. 

OUGD502 Creative Report - Final Publication (Studio Brief One)

This is the final publication design that I have come up with. I think it's really successful as it fits with the concept, as each double page spread is completely different. I stuck to two colours as it would make printing the publication a lot easier. The main colour I needed, however, was black, as in my interview, Dave said that he doesn't have a favourite colour, however 'there is something to be said about the colour black'. 

OUGD502 Creative Report - Publication Design (Studio Brief One)

This is the first book design that I came up with. I wanted to keep it quite simplistic and straight to the point, however I think it came out incredibly boring. For this reason, I have come up with a concept for my publication. The concept of my publication will be that Studio DBD are a design studio that don't stick to one particular style, so to symbolise this, I will create a publication that doesn't follow any grids. Each page will look completely different from the last. I think this will help with interactivity and excitement of the publication.