FMP Evaluation
Year 3 - FMP
(31 May 2021)
This project has been a rollercoaster. A mess.
But I am very happy with how it turned out in the end.
During the course of this project, I have probably applied and broken every rule on type setting there is. Some of my decisions might seem weird, unexplainable - but they all have a reason behind them.
It has been extremely challenging and I have gone from extremely exited to wanting to throw all my work in the bin a dozen times. Especially the first half was quite something. It took me incredibly long to understand the task and figure out what to do for my final project. The fact that I wanted it to be as diverse, elaborate and amazing as possible did definitely not make things easier. I think I put way too much pressure on myself to create the best project as my final one. Once I got rid of that thought it became a lot easier and at some point, luckily, it came together piece by piece.
What informed & motivated my design decisions?
The visual research I did had some impact on my design decisions. Though, in this project I think the content itself was a huge drive for how the design would be done. Since it was a story, almost novel, I knew that I wanted to leave the overall layout of my version in the style and layout of a novel, so both the original and my version could be compared better. Yet, a lot of the decisions I made were based on the experience I gained throughout the three years at uni. I learned a lot about type setting and layout in first year, which I was able to apply. The main decisions were made based on intuition though. Because it was a personal project, I did rely less on visual research and more on my own intuition. It was different from previous projects because there were no ‘competitors’ and I also didn’t come across a lot of similar projects. It was very experimental, but I think the research that I have done in theoretical knowledge about the topic as well as the visual inspiration I gathered have had quite some influence on the design outcome.
What changes & developments has this project gone through?
My project has gone through so many changes, I can’t count them. First of all, the topic and aim of my project changed about every week for the first half of the project. I had every possible outcome in mind, from animations to interactive websites, and even typefaces. Who would have thought that my final outcome would be a physical book with no imagery but only type - and just that? I definitely did not see that coming at the start of the project. Once arrived at the final rationale, my design system changed as I experimented with different ones. Later on, I changed the size of my book pretty last-minute which was a bit risky since I then had to do all the detailing again. I was hesitant to do it, worried that I might not finish it until the deadline. The new size was much more appropriate though and in the end it worked out fine. The cover development probably speaks for itself and I changed the binding method. The actual layout didn’t change too much because I had this idea of how I wanted it to be.
Did I manage my time well throughout the unit?
Considering how long it took me to arrive at a rational for my project, I probably could have managed my time much better, at least during the first half. Even though I did a lot, I think I got lost in what I did and it took me too long to find a way out of it. Once I had the final plan set, the way I managed my time worked really well. The only thing that threw me off was the paper delivery which took much longer than expected, which is why I requested the one-week extension. In retrospective, that was the best decision I could have made in that critical moment. The extra week allowed me to actually print, bind and photograph my book, which made me actually like my project - and I was really proud of what I had achieved.
How did I respond to feedback?
Speaking for the first half of the project, I feel like the feedback I received was important but left me very confused at the same time because both my project and the feedback was so broad and therefore kind of unspecific. I found it much more useful once a clear path had been and the feedback was more centred around the core of the project. Generally - and I say this every time - feedback is crucial for me because it helps me to challenge my own way of thinking and brings up new ideas and perspectives.
How can I improve my design process?
Depending on the type of project, I would benefit from doing more case studies. In this project I felt like looking at other work was more difficult than let’s say for the packaging project in second year. In terms of working with Adobe, I want to learn more about the possibilities of the Adobe programmes. I feel like I don’t know enough of what is possible. It happens a lot that once I get lost in the designing process, I don’t document the development enough and coherently.
What have I learnt from this unit of study?
I have learned a lot about human memory and found myself becoming more and more curious as I researched it. Realising that trying too hard or forcing too much is hindering when it comes to idea generation is something very important that I need to keep in mind for future projects.
On reflection, are there any improvements I would make to the final outcome?
There are some minor issues with the type detailing that I could not figure out perfectly and I would try to fix them. Still having enough paper left, I will probably produce another one or two books. I would like to make one version with the ‘English’ spine, read from top to bottom, and I would also try to find a different type of thread since the one I used was a little too white for the paper that I chose. Also, I would like to produce a German version - as originally planned. Overall, I am very happy with my final outcome though. I like the feel of the book - very organic, which builds a nice contrast to all the digital work that I have done during the rest of third year.