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Assignment Four: Reflections on tutor feedback

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Sentence created using a deconstructed typeface

Reflections on tutor feedback Section 4

I think it is fair to say that this may not have ben my strongest section, possibly because I felt more constrained by the ‘conventions’ of typography. Although I may have made assumptions about there being a right way to do typography. Reflecting on my tutor’s feedback and my work I was less playful and experimental than I have been in other sections. Ironically, I actually enjoyed this section more than I thought I would and feel like I had to learn the conventions before I could start to break them or play with them.

My tutor acknowledged this, ‘you’ve clearly tried to get to grips with the conventions of typography, and where you’ve started to challenge these conventions, the results have been stronger.’

Feedback on the projects is very helpful and I can absolutely recognise the strengths and weaknesses that are highlighted. The suggestions for developments in taking some of the work forward are useful: 

  • Taking the digital work back into analogue in the visual world
  • Building on the hand drawn quality of anatomy of typeface
  • Developing the quotes in different typeface
  • Reviewing the use of typefaces and developing more options in the posters

 My tutor highlights a useful point in the typesetting/hierarchy project that my layouts ‘were functional but lacking in you’re your usual spark.’ I think this is true and is probably because I felt more constrained by what the outcomes ‘should’ look like. His observation that I am probably more interested in design that is more visually dynamic is very true. I did feel like I needed to learn some of the rules before I was confident enough to look at breaking them. Recommendations to look at the work of other designers who are more free and easy in their treatment of typography is incredibly helpful.

Feedback on the assignment is very clear and fair, and recognises that working on two designs was a good way for me to develop my ideas. The comment on the minimalist version moving more towards a different format, like a series of cards, is interesting and something I might think about with other work. It was nice to read that he felt with the minimalist version that,

 “This was an interesting idea and the relationship between the form and content are playing against each other very well.”

I am pleased that the use of white space seemed to work and recognise that as I worked more on the design there was a danger that I started to fill the space I had originally created. My tutor suggests: 

“Perhaps think about where else grey and red can be placed to add dynamic but without diluting your intentions.”

Developing the other design further by thinking about a more 80s print aesthetic is an interesting idea and something I can explore. It is encouraging to have feedback that suggests my more playful approaches and drawings work and can be an acceptable part of my design practice. It was good to know that,

“The subsequent designs do take an 80s turn, and while these designs are very simple, you have managed to capture something of the era in the colours and layouts.”

I will develop my sketchbook work further and note the research points. I had looked at vernacular and protest typography but this may not have been clear on my learning log as it is under the research section.

The concluding pointers for the final assignment are really helpful ad I will keep them in mind.

 “The final part of the course focuses on layout by exploring how to design leaflets, flyers and posters. This is an opportunity to continue to understand the ‘rules’ of graphic design, but also for you to bring some of your playfulness in how you challenge these conventions. Tackling projects with more than one starting point works for you, so keep this approach going.”

I also have some useful references to follow up (I love the idea of finding kindred spirits!):

  • Phil Baines
  • Jamie Reid
  • Aesthetic Apparatus
  • Ed Fella
  • Peter Blake’s album covers ( I had looked at some of these but am happy to follow them up further)
  • Allie Brosh
  • Richard Littler

 This was an interesting section in that in many ways it felt very familiar, I regularly write reports so working with hierarchies and different typefaces is not new to me. I definitely learnt a lot about the development and conventions of typography and think I possibly imposed some self-limiting constraints that were not necessary. It is good to see the work of other designers that is very free in its typographic treatment. Ironically, I actually quite enjoyed this section definitely got a lot from it, I was nervous it would be very technical but think I had started to find my own way of working with the conventions.

 

Assignment 2: Reflections on tutor feedback

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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!

A squiggle on page to show the design process from messy and untidy to a single line denoting clarity

The Squiggle, Damien Newman (published under Creative Commons)

My process tends to follow a format that I think is reflected in the Squiggle:

  1. Key words – analysing the brief
  2. Mind mapping
  3. Sketching ideas
  4. Researching online/hardcopy examples
  5. More sketches
  6. Shortlisting ideas
  7. Finalising ideas developed
  8. Feedback
  9. 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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Assignment 1: reflections on tutor feedback

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A large pipe painted on a cream background with the words Ceci n'est pas une Pipe in script underneath

Graphic Design 1 is both a new module and a new departure for me so getting my first tutor feedback felt like an important step. I was prepared for a degree of critique, I knew it was a fairly eclectic selection, but I hoped I had made it clear why I had chosen each approach. Even with that you can never be sure what others make of your work.

I have now read through the feedback several times and am really pleased that for the most part my intentions did come across as I had hoped.  My tutor made a number of interesting observations under each postcard and has provided some really useful signposting to help build my design work going forward.

Postcard 1

My first postcard focused on my interest in still life both in terms of its form and as a richly layered genre that includes politics, economics, social and cultural commentary. My tutor is right when he highlights:

One of your challenges ahead is how to imply these meanings within your designs, so your intentions become more embedded in the visual decisions you make.

I accept that not everyone will know the history of the still life genre or the symbolism of the tulip so this is something I will consider as I develop my ideas. In his feedback my tutor mentions Magritte’s Treachery of Images (1928-29), which I did not have in mind but the ‘Ceci n’est pas une Pipe’ image is one I have used in my work presentations so perhaps it was an unconscious influence. The reference to Patrick Caulfield is also helpful and not one I would have thought of so I will follow that up. I have also since come across this book on Graphic Design and Still Life, which I will also try and get hold of.

Postcard 2

This postcard is the most minimalist of the set and I was interested to see if someone else would understand it. I had asked my family which of the minimalist designs I had sketched they thought worked and it was the books they chose. My tutor suggests that it is not a problem if the meaning is not immediately obvious.

Your abstract book jacket design works very well in drawing the viewer into your love of books. It wasn’t immediately obvious that these were book jackets, but that’s not a bad thing. It invited engagement with the reverse of the card to decipher the motifs.

I am pleased to read my Tutor’s comment that ‘an active love of books goes hand-in-hand with many aspects of graphic design.’ I am conscious of starting to look at books with more of a design eye and it is probably no surprise that my favourite books (particularly those I use for my work) have a strong design concept.

Postcard 3

I was nervous about the Johari Window, I felt the idea was good but I wasn’t sure my execution worked. My tutor’s feedback suggests it did achieve what I wanted.

Another conceptually strong idea translated successfully into visual form.

He also suggests extending the idea to use four separate cards each representing a different viewpoint on myself, something I will explore further.

Postcard 4

I am really glad the sense of playfulness comes over in the collage. I had so much fun working on this set of ideas and I’m pleased that came across. It is important to me to have this playfulness as a counterpoint to the more serious work conceptually. Perhaps my next challenge is to see how I combine the two. It is good to know that this can be part of my work.

Playfulness is often overlooked as an essential element of creative thinking, so keep this approach going in future projects.

Postcard 5

I was delighted that my tutor found this ‘the strongest of the set.’ To be honest it was the one I wrestled most with myself about including. I really wasn’t sure that it sat within a graphic design brief. I decided I would include it because I thought it did say something important about me and because it took some time and effort to make!

Your human rights card is the strongest of the set. I really like how you have approached this card, especially in how you’ve kept your playfulness going by experimenting with cut paper.

My tutor highlights that the approach I took with this card ‘makes this a rich piece of communication.’ This is an important statement for me because although it is perhaps something that should be obvious this concern with communication is something I am starting to recognise marks out GD1 from my photography courses. That is not to say my photography isn’t trying to communicate something just that I am now recognising it has a different emphasis.

Sketchbooks

I am enjoying building my sketchbook and see the interlinking of my blog, notebook and sketchbook as an important part of my development. Developing my thumbnail sketching has been a key element of the process as it helps me think through my approach visually and has served to build my confidence with starting to draw again. I will indeed ‘keep this process going’ as suggested by my tutor.

Suggested viewing/reading

My thanks to my tutor for a wealth of interesting references which I will follow up:

I have joined various OCA fora as well as the OCA FB groups (photography, visual communications and history of art) to interact with other students and to get different perspectives and feedback.

I am very happy to have completed the first assignment and am keen to explore the different avenues I feel it has opened up for me in terms of my graphic design work.

Initial observations

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At the moment I feel a bit like I am flying in all directions so I decided to blog about it as a means of journaling my process. On this basis it is probably more a stream of consciousness than it is fully formed reflections.

The books I’ve ordered have starting arriving; they include the recommended reading as well as a few others that attracted my interest. I’ve been skimming each of them as they arrive and noticing what captures my attention.

While on the one hand this is giving me a good introduction to Graphic Design I am conscious of skipping from history to theory to psychology to designers and back again. Now that I feel pretty immersed I need to refocus and concentrate on a few areas, this is not unusual for me and is an approach I found has worked in other courses. A number of interesting things have emerged to date:

  • Much of the history both on and offline seems to concentrate on graphic design/visual communications in the west (accepting that most do include Russian Constructivism)
  • As with other art historical texts I wonder where the women are (although to be fair some do bring in key female figures in the later periods). This blog on Central St. Martins Exhibition ‘100 years of women graphic designers’ is an interesting counterpoint and confirms my observations
  • Graphic Design along with other human endeavours is contextual and has both influenced and been influence by its political, social, and economic environment
  • I am starting to look differently at things around me, noticing with fresh awareness how ubiquitous graphic design is
  • I am fascinated by the debates around ethics and authorship – I recently watched Century of the Self which seemed to me to highlight issues around the state’s involvement with visual communications and those who

My next steps are a very quick historical timeline, probably in my sketchbook and then on with my postcards.