GRAP2199 : A Summary
In the beginning, there was the word. And that word was design, my very first words were design, I'm joking. When I first got into this course I didn’t what to expect. After the excitement of actually getting in, reality started sank in!
My aim for this course was to build upon my already (almost non-existent) skills. I spent my whole childhood drawing, just drawing. I was tagged and labelled for my ability to draw. It was nice, but I wanted to explore more different and interesting mediums and techniques. Like, say… A zine! In this course, I felt like I could achieve all those wonderful things. Funny enough, my drawing skills have started to deplete as a result.
I may have achieved my objectives, but that doesn’t mean they were met with challenges and difficulties. The biggest challenge was life, life was the greatest difficulty. From trying to balance three equally important Courses with their own assignments. Just trying to balance all that alongside with other mini projects they throw in the mix, it can be challenging. Combine that with the everyday life of a student, Job Hunting, family and friends, my cat, all important stuff! Balance all of this was the part that was most challenging, time management.
By far the most interesting thing that I learnt from the lectures is the history of print, and that there is more to just the Western side of the story. We covered the very first human make in the form of a hand print. To the western industrialisation of print. It was genuinely interesting to see the progress of human type and language. If I had to choose one example, it would have to be the clay tablets. Each one had its own unique transcribing and carving methods, whether it was the author or the time. This was evident in our workshops prior to the lecture.
The Workshops were a great blast!! I would always look forward to going in, thinking what they have prepared for us. One time we had to empty our bags and make a typeface out of what we had. Another, we had to write a Pangram with water on the hot pavement and snap a picture before it dried up! All of these things were great fun and helped develop new and interesting skills.
The most helpful skill I’ve learnt that will change how I do design forever is... prototyping. By far the most helpful skill, it gives you perspective on where you are and where you want to be, without the money or time constraints. This prototyping really paired well with learning how to make zines. Just get some paper fold it a few time, boom you have a zine, kinda. As you can imagine having this cheap and effective method to do testing with really helps with the progress of your design, well it helped me.
Lastly, the biggest thing that has changed my idea about design and my whole thought process is teamwork. Teamwork makes the dream work, having a group of people to bounce idea off is so incredibly helpful. It really allows you to get an outside opinion outside of what you’ve been stuck working with.
Overall, I’ve had an amazing time in this course, to be honest, I’m quite sad that it is ending. But all things must come to an end! Xx
