OUGD602 // Where I am now

After missing the crit last week, I took it upon myself to speak a group of people within the year group, both about our work and how things outside of Uni work is going - more focused on what to do after Uni.

It was interesting to see what work other people had been working on, as one thing I think this year has missed is the amount of crits and seeing what everyone is working on. It was good to see a good range of work too , not that everyone is working on the same briefs etc. 

When showing my work , I used my website as this is heavily focused on showcasing my work. Firstly everyone seemed to like the website design , they mentioned that the minimal style and design to it worked well in order not to distract you from the work and the pages of large images for each brief showcased the work really well. 

The feedback on my work was that is was clear that I am someone that enjoys craft and the use of print / stocks and bookbinding. They liked that within every brief I have completed there is some sort of element of craft, either it being a publication being bound, or the use of screen print. But the fact that all my briefs have this hand made and craftsmanship style and ideal to them works as a full body work. The variety of work from branding to packaging and editorial to screenprints, show a good range of disciplines too. One thing that was commented on, which I am aware of myself is the fact that not a lot of studios within the design industry work like this and produce all the work themselves, it is more often sent out to companies that do the printing and manfucaturing. 

In terms of things outside of doing work the talk of placements and jobs came up. I spoke how I had done a placement this year and it went well , with then giving me the option to work there after Uni. I explained that this is a great offer and knowing something is there is good, but I'm unsure wether it's the place I want to work. Everyone else seemed to be in a situation where they aren't sure where to work and finding jobs hard to come by within Leeds. This is also something I am finding difficult also. There's not a lot out there! But knowing that others think this and are finding it tricky too, makes me abit less stressed. 

Overall I feel that I am making good progress throughout the year and feel that I have found the ideal ways in which I work best. The areas of design I like to work in are clear from the briefs I have completed, but this may not be what I do after Uni, adapting myself to industry may have to come into play, but I am aware of that. I think for the rest of the year I need to focus on getting the rest of my briefs finished and to the same high standard everything else has been. Coming back after Easter will be the final push , and I want / need to make sure I am producing work which I am happy with and want to include within a portfolio. Even though this portfolio may show work that is heavily craft / print based , it still shows the skills that I have and these can be applied to all areas of design. 

OUGD602 // PPP Presentation

As part of the PPP brief we have to present a 10 minute presentation about our experience of the course and how we have developed as a designer.

For my presentation, I wanted to show a journey of me as a designer, for this I have looked back over the past presentation I have done for this module within the previous years and taken out the information and images I have required.

For each year I have picked out the main points in which I felt have influenced me as a designer and shown the sort of work that I want to produce or that has directed how I am now working within the third year.

With the third year section, I have again chosen specific briefs I have worked on so far that have been an important factor within this year and ones which have influenced my ideas of what I want to do when I leave uni. Other things included are placements, branding, external things I have been involved in and what is left for the remainder of the year.

I think this presentation will show the ways in which I have adapted and how I have changed and developed throughout my time on the course.

OUGD602 // Placement // The Engine Room

Back at the end of January I did a placement at The Engine Room Design which are placed within Huddersfield.

I had previously been here over the summer between 2nd and 3rd year and enjoyed my time there. I kept in contact with them since the summer and it has lead to me being invited back when I have free time from uni / can fit it around the work I am doing. 

As i had been there over the summer, I already knew the company and the people that worked there, so going back felt easy for me and I was looking forward to it. The placement was for 2 weeks, so that was a decent enough time to get stuck in with the company and work on some of their briefs. 

The main thing that I was working on whilst I was there, was their own company branding. They felt that moving in 2014 they wanted to refresh their own branding, as they felt they have grown up and now working with bigger clients than when first started out. So this was the main brief I was working on throughout my time there, which through discussion with a few of the designers there, we came up with a complete identity at the end of the two weeks, which they were happy with and wanted to use. 

Along side this brief, there was other smaller things that I was working on, when others needed some help getting work finished for deadlines and also assisting a photo shoot, which was really interesting and great to get involved in. 

Over the two weeks the placement helped me realise, what working in industry was like. I had contact with some clients and was emailing them direct, which again was great experience in talking to clients and getting the right information from them. Along with speaking to clients and being in some meetings, it was good to see how they worked as studio and how they split the work down between the designers within the studio. 

From working in uni and on my own briefs, I had my own set way of which I worked, a lot of this was down to drawing out quick sketches here and there to get my ideas down and know what to design to. Doing this within the placement, was good for them to see how I worked, but they also liked the idea that I was doing it and it showed that I wasn't just finding ideas / creating them from no where.

Some work that I did within the placement was working on their new branding. For this I designed business cards, letterheads, invoice, quotation, comp slips, presentation templates, credentials etc for the application of the branding that I created.

OUGD602 // Personal Branding // Manifesto

I took on this project as part of the extended practice module, following a manifesto presentation we completed within PPP. After creating the manifesto and working on the products within it, it was relevant to include this as part of my branding as it voices everything I think within design and is a good introduction to myself.  Creating a product like this could be used to hand out to studios on visits and interviews.

 For the product I have taken the ideas from the presentation and illustrated them, within an A6 format. This is then enclosed within a small package and sent out within a black metallic bubble post bag, all of which includes my branding to tie it all together and create a product to communicate myself as a designer in more personal style.

The idea of the manifesto is to showcase my thoughts and attitudes towards design and how I use this within my own practice on a day to day basis.