Module Evaluation

Evaluation.

1.  What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?

The main skill I have learnt through this module is in collaborative. My partner Emily taught me how to mock things up on Photoshop. It is something I have never been able to do, as Photoshop isn’t one of my strengths. After teaching me this I was able to apply it to the rest of my briefs for Responsive, but also for other modules. This skill helped me to show my clients a mock up of what the products would look like in context, which helped to communicate what the design would look like. As well as mocking up I have also found that my skills on Photoshop have developed, and I am a lot more confident using it. I have also developed my illustrations further and have found that I really enjoy creating characters and avatars for people, and it is something that I want to do more of. I applied this skill as I have done a couple of briefs during this module for characters and avatar designs, and have found that I have got better through this module.

2. What approaches to/methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?

I have done a range of different printing methods throughout this module. Creating screen-printed posters for The Pink Teapot worked really well and it is the most amounts of coloured layers I have had to print. The prints were successful as customers in the café bought a few of them, which was a huge motivator when doing my briefs. This made me think that I should try doing more screen prints in my design, as it was successful. I have also printed commercially for two different briefs for business cards, also some menu’s for The Pink Teapot. This was a really easy way to print and the result looked really clear and professional, this is something I will definitely consider using again when it’s appropriate. 

3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?

The strengths I have in my work is that I don’t just go with the obvious ideas and do the same thing over again, I try to think outside the box and push boundaries of the brief. I think that this will work well for me in the future as if I am doing competition briefs or competing with other people to get a job, at least my work will be different and stand out. I have found that I really enjoy character design and making avatars, this is something I will definitely look out for when I am doing briefs in the future. Through this module I have found that I am a lot better at organising my time than I thought I was, also the structure of this module worked better for me as I felt that I was free to work at my own pace, and do the briefs around different deadlines.

4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?

The weaknesses I have addressed in my work is creating design boards, it is something that I have got better at throughout this module. But I still feel that I need to improve my design boards, especially when it comes to submitting them to competition briefs. In the future I will leave myself more time to do the design boards for competition briefs, as they are really important. I think that especially my Cath Kidston briefs, I could have done a lot better for my submission to YCN. Another weakness I found was that some of the smaller competitions briefs I entered, I rushed and I’m not proud of them, for example my hand drawn type valentine’s cards. I rushed this brief and really regret that as greetings cards are something I really enjoy designing, and I wasn’t happy with what I submitted. In the future I will take more time to look through my designs before submitting, and not submit if I’m not happy with them.

5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?

1. Take more time and care over design boards, as they are really important. I think that this will make my design stronger if it is communicated better.

2. Next time I will make sure that all of my mock-ups are of a good quality. I have got stronger with mocking up designs, and I think that it is a really good skill to have.

3. Organise my time better at the start of the module. If I would have tried as hard as I tried at the start of this module, I would have had more of a range of briefs and would have got more done, this is definitely something I will do in the future.

4. As I learnt how to mock up half way through the module I should have doe mock-ups for everything for their individual deadlines. I think that this will give the clients or judges a better idea of what the design will look like in context.

5. Every module evaluation I say that I will blog as I go. I have got better during this module as there is a completely different structure to the module, but I still think that I should blog more as I go. This will make me blog about it when its fresh in my mind, it will also not hinder my design in the future when I will have to blog all my work.

6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas: (please indicate using an ‘x’)  5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor
	1	2	3	4	5
Attendance					x
Punctuality					x
Motivation				x
Commitment				x
Quantity of work produced				x
Quality of work produced				x
Contribution to the group				x
The evaluation of your work is an important part of the assessment criteria and represents a percentage of the overall grade. It is essential that you give yourself enough time to complete your written evaluation fully and with appropriate depth and level of self-reflection. If you have any questions relating to the self evaluation process speak to a member of staff as soon as possible.