#pprd2

[joshdignam-blog]

PPRD2 Evaluation

  This unit has been continuous throughout the year and is about how we plan, reflect and develop our work and ourselves.

It became apparent this year that a major party of PPRD2 that it was important to develop our own identities as a designer. It was a chance to reflect on who I am as a designer and to work out how I am going to progress off this course.

I wanted my Identity to reflect the work I produce, my work throughout university has changed as I have progressed and I feel a lot more confident in myself and have progressed vastly since starting the course. I now have a much stronger knowledge of design and design software. The way I chose to represent my work was through simplicity, although I have a varying body of work, I would say that a fundamental element of my style is simplicity and using white space. My stronger areas of design are probably editorial work and illustrative pieces so I tried to embody that in my portfolio of work.

A key element to this year has been time management; throughout this year I feel I have been pushed to keep a consistency high quality work at a fast pace. The beginning project was tough, and really helped me settle into second year. The fast turnover of work was a real kick-start into the new term and I feel it really set me up for the rest of the year. This year has also embodied working on multiple projects, working on my professional project, my essay and D&AD proved tough but I feel this experience has helped me and will prove valuable when moving into industry. Over the past two years I believe I have remained consistent, but even more so this year I feel I have improved with the management of work and dealing with the increase of work.

In terms of further myself, I plan to move forward on the course and take the final year, I feel this will further help me develop as a designer and also push me to explore and really work on my technical skill before moving into industry practice. I hope to leave with an even stronger portfolio, which shows my full potential as a designer and I feel I really need to show the vastness and my design capabilities.

[georgepugsonzzonked-blog-blog]

PPRD2 Evaluation

It was made evident throughout year 2, that it was important to develop our identities as a designer.  This is because it will be very important when looking for employment. We need to be able to reflect who we are, and what type of designers we are, in a short amount of time. 

I wanted my identity to reflect my work. Throughout my time at Uni I feel my work has progressed vastly. I now have a better knowledge of design, and the software I use. I also feel more confident with the work I am producing, and feel I have created a good body of work. I feel that there is a distinctive style to my work, which is heavily based on typography and photography, and these are two areas which I find highly engaging. I feel that my work is bold and stylish, and feel that I have reflected this in my identity. 

It has been stated through out my course that consistency is key, when it comes to individual pieces, and the quality of outcomes, as this will be very important when looking for employment. Throughout my two years on the course I feel that this is something that I have largely achieved, but is also something that I must keep up. I feel that this year has been a great insight into working to deadlines and also juggling multiple projects at the same time. Balancing my professional project, Essay and D&AD entry at the same time was tough, but I feel the experience will prove valuable when going into the professional field.

I now look forward to entering my final year of education, looking to push on from what I have all ready learnt, and leave with a portfolio which shows what I am capable of.

[toby-matthews]

PPRD2 Reflection

This unit has been continuous throughout the year focusing on my own identity and working on a D&AD brief.

For my identity I came up with a logo, business card, CV, website portfolio (not live as of yet) which has also gone alongside the website unit. It’s been a good thing to focus on alongside other projects throughout the year, keeping me motivated.

I have done a lot of development work on my logo. I’m pleased I decided against using my initials as using my full name has worked much better. Colour variation and font choice have been the main aspects, in which I settled on a red and light grey colour, and Futura medium. This is always going to be an ongoing project for me so I may alter aspects of my identity. From this I created business cards and a CV which works really effectively. I printed off a mockup of my CV to see the size of it following a previous net I found.

I am still making adjustments to my website before I make it ‘live’ on the web. Particularly taking projects out that I don’t want to show and keeping the ones which are engaging. I’m having a mix of graphic and photography work to show my creativity and versatility. I've also added my logo to my blog, however I need to sort out how to get back to the homepage. I'm also going to link to other social networks which I've set up, such as Twitter, Facebook and Behance.

From the D&AD briefs I chose It’s Nice That where I was creating a new way of engaging with it’s audience. I decided on doing a monthly competition posters which they could take part in. Alongside this workshops at universities would help to make students aware with stickers which they could spread around to promote it. Overall I was pleased with the outcomes which I sent off. I was working on my own but I felt more organised with this, whilst having the Professional Project and Essay.

[hayleywoon-blog]

PPRD2 Evaluation

This project has been all about coming up with an identity for myself. Logos, business cards, CV, Portfolio, and also linked with the website unit. I have to admit I found this hard because its been running alongside the website unit and the fmp at the same time. I think I have struggled with timing on this unit. Given and extra week or so with no other work to do apart from this I feel it would have been more beneficial and perhaps I would have been a lot happier with this project. Saying this I think this is an ongoing project and CV’s, portfolios etc will always be changing. I’m fairly happy with my logo at the moment but I’m still not 100% sure about it. I’m glad I decided against using my initials as using my full name works a lot better. Also you don’t hear the name Woon everyday so it definitely stands out! My logo is something I can look at again even over the summer and still develop. I have an online portfolio http://hayleywoon.carbonmade.com and also my website however this is not online. I printed out some of my projects and presented them how I think they should look in a portfolio. My CV and business cards resemble my logo with the colour scheme and the main font choice being Quicksand.

 D&AD

What an amazing project to be given the opportunity to re-design the packaging for the French perfume L’artisan. Being founded in Paris me and Samantha Hart who I worked with decided straight away between us that we would go to Paris for a few days to take inspiration and gather ideas. This being my first trip to Paris, I found it very beautiful and took many pictures. We documented our findings in a little book we created. This book shows what we saw, where we went, and our final decision to go down a theatrical design approach after visiting the Moulin Rouge. We worked hard on linking theatre shows with the emotion and scent of the four fragrances. I’m happy with what we chose- Swan Lake- elegant and dignified, Romeo and Juliet- Perfect sublime love, Moulin Rouge- Passion, sex and lust, Phantom of the Opera- fear and adrenaline. I think they all fit the emotions perfectly. Using colour schemes and drawings we created the packaging design using relevant props from each show to create a pattern that would be applied on the box. There would be a red curtain at the front of the box like you’re about to watch a show. When the box is opened it would reveal the perfume bottle like its centre stage. I think in a way our research and concept took longer than expected and we found when creating our actual packaging designs we were running short of time. Like working on logo, CV etc as well as fmp I think it was hard to juggle this project. In the end we got it done and although the designs themselves could be improved upon our main concept was the strong point.

[hayleywoon-blog]

http://hayleywoon.carbonmade.com

Updated, think I may delete some of my older work on here though, not sure...

[rebel-fish-blog]

Book Design

In designing the book for this project, I have tried to focus my research on the issues that I face for the aspects of the book that make it special. In my case, that means a focus on books highlighting or containing photography. Even more important, it means a focus on having photographs that communicate an idea.

My research on book design and layout, then, has been about this subject. What is the right way to place the photographs on the page? Where should descriptive text go? What fonts are appropriate for that text? What about the use of borders and colors? As a result of my research, together with my own thoughts about these questions, I have learned that it is best to maintain a simple, uncluttered design. The reader should not be distracted in his attention to the images. Colors should be muted. Fonts should be clean and simple. Text should be unobtrusive. These conclusions have been reinforced by my tutors. My book design reflects them. It leaves the photographs on the page by themselves, standing only in comparison to each other, which is what is expected of the reader (to compare the images). The only text on the page is a spare caption that identifies the image. Lengthier text components, which are used to place the photographs in context, as well as to discuss other aspects of the concepts concerning the subject matter of the book, are placed on preceding pages, completely apart from the photographs. This approach deliberately produces a simple result. It is in keeping with a book that is about the ideas of the way we think visually and sometimes unconsciously (about “semiotic ghosts”).

[rebel-fish-blog]

Final Tutorial

I meet with my tutors on the day before the project is due. My hope is to show them a printed version of the book, though not bound, for their input. I think that I will make minor changes and then print the book properly and bind it. But the tutors advise me to make larger changes. As a result, I spend much of the day making those changes and then cannot get the book printed for binding the way I wanted. The printer tells me that getting it printed on the morning the project is due will be nearly impossible, because so many students are completing their work and submitting it for printing. I have made the decision to print the book and bind it with ring binding. While this will not put the best image forward, I don't have much choice.

I understand that one point of view of this problem is that I have not completed my work earlier. However, I have made repeated changes and worked long hours to accomplish my goals. In addition, I was prepared to have the book printed today and there was ample time to do that.

I was faced with the very difficult decision: I could print the book as I completed it today, or I could print it in a less satisfactory form, but with the changes that were strongly recommended by my tutors. I hope that I have made the right decision in making the changes.

[rebel-fish-blog]

Commercial Value

There is considerable commercial value in elements of this project. I think the book itself will of course be interesting to look at. But it's subject is also interesting to many people. It seems a part of the human condition to be interested in what the future holds. But the greatest commercial value is that the idea of retro-futurism can be employed in many ways by companies seeking to sell their products. Some will find it an excellent advertising approach, linking their new age products to the futuristic conceptions of those products from the past. Others will want to adverstise that they have exceeded the expectations of the futurists. And others still will want to preserve their links to the past, showing how, while moving forward, they have held on to the design elements that made them great before.

There is also commercial value in these ideas for the graphic designer. Using the theory of retro-futurism in the development of graphic designs will help to produce creative and interesting designs with appeal to present day consumers. At the same time, the elements of the past can be actively preserved in the creation of designs for the future (not futuristic predictions, necessarily, but modern, forward thinking designs for today).s