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My notes for the presentation

1

I started this year with great enthusiasm, ready to explore who I am as a designer and where i see myself heading. these were questions that seemed impossible to answer so early on. My goals for this year were to experiment more, become better with time management and organizational skills, take advantage of all the college's facilities, focus my practice and produce a sampler of professional work in which to contact and secure a work placement. Which appeared very daunting tasks. 

2

In Design for print i learnt a lot about how i work best. I need to make sure i work with structured briefs as self initiated briefs are too broad and i easily get lost in them, unfortunately this is what happened. I lost a lot of confidence as i became confused on where my project was heading and spent too much time thinking and worrying about the fact that this was actually going towards my degree that i stopped designing altogether and started to question my place on the course.

On a positive note i learnt so much valuable information and my understanding of designing for print and the industry greatly improved throughout the module, I can now design work to industry standard and it really pushed me to work digitally and make full use of the printing facilities in both traditional and digital. This was definately an experimental module for me, playing with colour, stock and printing methods and explored my interests in packaging.

3

Designing for screen was something i had been dreading as i'm poor at getting to grips with new software and the thought of after effects scared me to death. So i was extrememly suprised with how quickly i picked it up and by focussing my idea, creating a constant theme and ..... the visual outcome was really strong and appeared so professional that i got some great feedback and even got myself some freelance work through it to design a title and credit sequence for a small independant film! This was such a confidence boost, something that i really needed at this point in the yr. 

I quickly grew to love my new and improved time management and organisational skills as they were so important for this project and is usually something i usually lack because i was so engaged with the project and knew what i was working towards it was a lot more enjoyable as i had time to experiment more and tweak designs to create a more professional look. I would definately work again with after effects as i found it so refreshing to think and design in a new way.

4

By the time we reached the collaborative brief i was really ready to get stuck into a structured live brief, i had been researching a lot of studios by this point and had become very passionate with the idea of designing for retail, unfortunately i  had not yet had any experience with it and really wanted to explore this through this module. Me and Alice chose to colllaborate together as we both wanted the same thing from this project, to get some experience in designing for retail, have fun being playful and create a professional piece of work for our portfolio, this was more important to us than winning the competition and it definately payed off. Our skills and ways of working complimented each other so well and it was a stress free enjoyable project, i learnt a lot from working with Alice and got to grips with blogging daily and seeing how much work was achievable in such a short time.

Me and Alice both reminiss a lot about how successful this project was and how we'd like to collaborate again in the third year.

5

Heading into the final project prouduct, range and distribution i was extremely focused on the type of design i wished to persue and wanted to explore design for retail further looking mainly at packaging but also pushing a brand through a retail environment from pos to instore graphics and promotional media. This is the way in which i want to work into the third year and hopefully into a job. Again i selected a brief looking at retail but this time delving into the food sector to broaden my understanding of this disclipline and again allowing me to create a professional piece of work to add to my portfolio and gain more experience.

After working with Alice i felt much more confident to approach this type of brief on my own and by following a similar structure, it really helped me to create a strong range of designs and again this was another project i felt fully engaged with, it didn't seem an effort to design as i was so focused and passionate about designing for this discipline. 

6

More software to learn!!! Again i got to grips with the basics quite quickly producing a simple yet effective website that was easy to use. I followed these skills over to the website for the organic pantry too and this will definately prove to be vaulauble new skills as i come to design my own website throughout the summer. 

7

So who am i..... i can now confidentally say i wish to persue a career in designing for retail, looking mainly at packaging, pos and instore graphics but continuing this through to lookbooks, fashion editorials and websites, it would be my dream to work for the fashion and retail sector and be on the creative team for a retail store. Looking back over the year i cannot believe how much i have improved and would now say i am a designer, i have a wider range of skills on software meaning the ability to cover all disciplines effectively, i have focused my design practice and achieved a professional standard of working and would confidentally approach companies with a broader understanding of the industry. 

I have also discovered how important it is in my work to create an experience for the consumer, whether this be by creating creating a theme throughout a retail store or packaging that the consumer can interact with it is always something i have strived to do without even realising, its that personal touch that i stamp on my work, to give something back to the customer, for them to take away with. This has had a great effect on my ideas for dissertation and i have decided to investigate the way retail stores create an experience for the consumer through instore graphics and the physcological effects it has on the consumer. This will not only run along side and reflect my design practice but support my ambitions and fuel a greater understanding of the industry i wish to break into.

9

Securing a work placement over the summer is very important to me as it would prove extremely benificial for gaining experience and hopefully getting my name out there. Throughout the year i have collated lists of contacts which started out very broad but i soon found where my interests lie and therefore began focussing the type of studios i was researching. Looking mainly at companies that work for the retail and fashion sectors, it really spurred me on in my design practice and i quickly became very passionate about the work i was producing.

Over the last year i have made 3 close contacts, in Grattapalm, Vast Agency and which i am currently persueing to secure work placement with. Grattapalm would prove the most beneficial as they design for retail although working as the Vast Agency would give me a great insight into a graphic design studio and give me the opportunity to work with both stylists, art directors and designers.

It took me a while to create a sampler of work as I wanted to include my most recent projects as these were directed at the correct discipline and would show my experience within designing for retail but with a few tweaks i will have a pdf i am proud of. Through the summer i am going to continue with designing an identity for myself including business cards and a website to promote myself and get into the industry, these are things i will need if i am to persue work placement.

I also have some small freelance projects to work with over the summer, including working as an art director within a collaboration with a photographer and also after effects work mentioned earlier for a small independent film. I also plan on keeping my eyes peeled for any competition briefs that might pop up, like the e4 ident and polaroid glasses as these would be great pieces to pop in my portfolio and give me more experience and keep me designing so that i will return to year 3 more focussed than ever.

Presentation Pdf

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New Pdf including latest work

Open publication - Free publishing - More pdf


I want to view one single page at a time instead, change colour, look at changing dimensions.

Contacting Vast

Previous opportunities for work placement, they'll probably be looking for summer placements for 2011 in the following weeks, need to get in touch with Joe to do the once over on my Pdf before contacting them.

Already contacted Joe through a friend through Facebook for his work email address and a quick reminder of who I am, we met briefly a year ago through a friend and talked ALOT about graphic design, my work, his job and typography so hopefully he remembers how passionate I was.