It was very useful to have my tutor feedback from Assignment 2 as it has reassured me that I am working in the right direction. Accepting that there are always areas for improvement I feel like my confidence is growing. If nothing else I am less worried about picking up pens or pencils and sketching out my ideas.
The comments from my tutor indicate that:
Overall, your response to part two has been very good. There are some excellent finished outcomes (fruit and veg) and you reflect on your process thoughtfully.
In terms of improvements he has highlighted the need:
To think about how you document your creative process more visually.
This is something I will address in future exercises and assignments. There is definitely a process happening but I recognise that I don’t always capture it as I go and am then confronted with a mass of uploading which becomes a bit daunting. It is also a bit of a personality trait that I do a lot of internal processing and then make what seems to be leaps of logic to others because I expect them to have followed my process! I know it is something I have to be mindful of and that it is helpful for me to be able to look back on the stages I have been through as my work develops.
This has made me reflect on my process and given the feedback I thought I might try and do something visual. I looked at a number of infographics thinking I would try and develop my own. Some of them looked complicated and I wasn’t sure I had the Illustrator skills I needed – then I found the Squiggle which seemed to cover it beautifully!
The Squiggle, Damien Newman (published under Creative Commons)
My process tends to follow a format that I think is reflected in the Squiggle:
- Key words – analysing the brief
- Mind mapping
- Sketching ideas
- Researching online/hardcopy examples
- More sketches
- Shortlisting ideas
- Finalising ideas developed
- Feedback
- Improving final ideas
Project feedback
It is very helpful to have specific feedback on the exercises as I have found that they need a lot of work and they clearly build towards the relevant assignment. Generally, I seem to be approaching them appropriately and my outputs are well received. I was particularly pleased that the HG Wells book covers and Point of Sale materials received positive comments as they both took a lot of time and effort but were also the two I probably enjoyed the most.
Your HG Wells covers were very good, making some intelligent decisions…
Your point of sale artwork was excellent…
In terms of the visualising ideas, it is noted that while I had presented the physical materials well I hadn’t taken this through to a final design. I confess this was a misunderstanding on my part as I had read it as being about the different formats of the leaflets and didn’t do a design as a result! This is a good lesson in reading and analysing the brief thoroughly – clearly a client would not have been amused!
As with the overall comments, the main critique of the exercises is that I have not shared enough of my process visually, including mistakes and variations, which I fully accept and will address in future.
Assignment feedback
It was good to have positive comments in relation to Assignment Two:
Your growing card was very good. It had a clean visual quality…
The snake card was a simple but effective idea
The Tattoo card is good but perhaps the most conventional…the inside phrase and type worked well
My tutor has included a number of useful development suggestions that could have taken the ideas further:
- Making more of the lettuce photo and creating a better connection between the front cover and the fact the card transforms into a seed tray
- Maybe considering a different style of Tattoo without flowers to make it less traditional looking
- Developing my own ideas for the ‘Bake’ card rather than using the stock photo
Of the ‘Bake’ card the feedback says:
As you’ve reflected on, the stock photography of the final card fell a bit flat, especially in comparison with the thumbnails you’ve developed. The sentiment and ideas were there, but your resolution felt off the shelf.
For me the crucial sentence in the feedback is:
Have confidence in the work you are producing.
As my write up for Assignment Two suggested, I think I knew this but I was seduced by the image and should have trusted my instincts and put it to one side. This feels like a very useful piece of learning. I may develop some of the ideas further if time allows as I finish the course.
Further viewing/reading
A number of blogs have been suggested as well as the work of El Lissitzky, which I will now follow up.
