Evaluation

1. What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?
I have developed idea generation skills, working mainly with imagery. I tend to do mind-maps of words before moving onto imagery, which I think works well for me. It allows me to clarify the meaning of the word and when doing the mind map it triggers imagery in my mind which I then go on to look at it greater depth.
I think I have also learnt to look at ideas of a more objective view, when doing work I used to get so involved with the idea that I forgot what I was doing. I have learnt to step back from it every now and then and go back to what the original brief was.
Crits have helped me to try and look at my designs from other points of view, to see if the audience would take away what I wanted them to take away from the design.

2. What approaches to generating work and solutions to problems have you developed and how have they helped?
When generating work I have learnt to become an expert of the brief, to fully understand the meaning of any given words, and then explore this word using as much imagery as possible. If I struggle to come up with a solution, I now try and break the brief down to just one word. This approach has been a great help, as It gives me a greater understanding of what I am doing.
I have learnt that sitting on your on is not going to help you come with a good design, you need other creative people around you in order to inspire ideas. Sharing a studio that we do now helps massively in idea generation, being able to share thoughts and ideas. I like that this course allows for everyone’s own way of working, it does not encourage everyone to work in the same way. So this enables for a greater variety of ideas to be put to the table.

3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?
My strength I think is in idea generation. I really enjoy this, becoming an expert of a word, discovering more about it and coming up with ideas. I like the development of ideas, exploring all the possibilities.


4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how could you exploit these more fully?
The weaknesses in my work I think are mainly in my packaging project, if I am not enjoying a project I find it a lot harder to commit to it. It took me so long to come up with an idea of what I was going to do, the final pieces were rushed and therefore I am not completely happy with the outcome.
In other projects I feel that they lack developmental work. I have mainly worked in sketch books, and maybe this is restricting the size at which I can work at so I could look at working on larger work spaces when developing my ideas.
I found it harder to work in a group, because everyone had different ideas, and it was hard to communicate your own ideas, especially as this was the first brief that we had. It was an ice breaker however between members of our class.

5. Identify five things that you will do different next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?
Next time, I would simply put more time aside to work on my projects. There are many areas that I did not feel happy with in this module, particularly the packaging that I would have liked longer to work on it.
I should also ask for more opinions on my work from other members of the class, I am still not fully comfortable with talking about my own work. This should help to clarify any problems with the message I am trying to put across. Having lots of different points of view and ideas is what creates a good design.
I should use the studio more, during this module I found it easier to work from home, because I need to have all my stuff around me, I feel I should learn to work more in the studio as I think it will benefit the outcome of my work being able to discuss it with others.
I was not very organized with work; this affected what I was able to hand in. I May have done more work than I handed it but I was not very organized with storing it all, and so I felt like I was selling myself short. Next time I am going to keep it all filed in my folder, so that all my work is all together all the time, or make more use of my plan chest.
Next time, I want to be more committed to my work, now that I know how everything within the college and our course work I will be more determined to work hard. With everything being new I felt unsure of how much work we were being asked to do, and I think I was stuck in my routine of college last year, waiting to be asked to do work. But In my next module I will just get on with It on my own accord, which is what I would rather do anyway.