Evaluation

When I wrote my statement of intent I stated that I wanted to carry on with my print based work, but also get a more rounded portfolio by gaining basic knowledge of indesign and started to do work that had a more considered format. I wanted to do all this under the theme of simplicity.
One brief that I think encompasses all of this is the collaborative interior design yearbook. The main role I took was in project management, but I also had input with the initial layout ideas, and I sat with dase and bel whilst they were doing the work, this meant I had an input in the whole project and picked up knowledge of in-design at the same time, something I wanted to do for my placement beginning in July. Doing the yearbook was a different project for me, I leant the difficulties of working collaboratively, but at the same time picked up skills that I stated I wanted.
With all the other briefs I tried to stick to the theme ‘keep it simple’, I think I managed to achieve this, I tried to keep the ideas simpel, allowing the work I produced to be simple. To kick start this I tried to do some quick turn around briefs, such as the end of year show and music in the mountains, these projects didn’t require a lot of research and got me going on designing.
To begin with I wanted to do book jacket design for my FMP, I started off with the rowing to Alaska book, but I got lost a bit, the work didn’t really have any relevance to what I was trying to achieve as I had just picked a random book, so I never quite finished the brief I set out for myself, although the work I did produce was relevant to what I wanted to achieve at the time, instead I developed the brief, and picked quotes from my history of writing book, this gave the work I was doing more relevance because it became about altering existing type so that it became disfunctional as text but functional as a pattern, I produced a screen print form this but wasn’t happy with it, so I developed the brief again, and chose to produce pattern from a bus timetable. I think that this is the first brief where I have really considered format, and instead of screen-printing the outcome I digitaially printed it; this allowed me to produce the work quicker and therefore produce a more considered outcome. I think this project lacks in research though and I whish id have had more time to do development work, allowing the patterns to maybe become a bit more experimental, I am carrying on with this brief though to produce large prints that can sit along side my book for the exhibition.
I think one of my weakest briefs is the geometrics brief. It started of as a competion brief for ‘ secret blisters’, but because I had produced so much development work for it I decided to use the patterns and produce products from them that could be sold in shops, I based what I produced around the shop ‘the owl & lion’ a shop in Edinburgh which I am hoping to get some work in over the summer, they sell artists cards and cushions est., so I produced products appropriate to their shop, and have sent them images of work.
I have produced a larger body of work then I thought I could, and I defiantly think I moved faster with my work, but not fast enough, and I know that I haven’t done enough research for any of my briefs and I maybe could have informed myself more, but I did keep myself aware through my blog and documenting designers / studios for my design context. I didn’t realize how useful my design context was to me until the last wk when I packaged it all together. I wanted to make it more of a directory so that I had a list of designers to reference, and doing the interviews was helpful as it made me realize that everybody started somewhere, and I also gained two good contacts from them (keep calm gallery & present correct).
I have stuck to my statement of intent pretty well I think, my work defiantly became more professional, I photographed my work a lot better for my website, something I stated I wanted to do, and I developed my time management so that I produced more work. I didn’t get better at my research though, something I would have liked to do as it always lets me down. I find that I see things and take a mental note but just forget to document them, and by the time I do its to late, I would have liked to take more time over research as I maybe would have moved my ides on faster.
I am pleased with the work I produced I know I put as much effort in as possible. There are gaps within my work, but I stuck to the plan that I set out for myself and developed it further.

Geometrics

Putting the patterns into context - little hello envelope pack.

Design context finished

Now that i have finished my design context i have realized how useful it is, and that maybe i should have put more effort in to doing more research. I wanted to keep mine as a directory i now that its all together its a good pack to keep, especially if i dont have my laptop on me with my bookmarks, i have a reference with me. I also printed of a mini pantone book as well, thecolours are not printed exactly correct because of the appear stock, but the values are written below them, so until i can afford a proper pantone book, i have my mini fold out poster.

Finished book

I decided to produce one long book combining all three books,with a hard back front and back cover, i will use this in my exhibition to sit along side some prints for the finished product.If i had time i would have liked to produce a series of books for each bus line.

Finished cusion

I finished my cushion a while ago but i didnt get a chance to put the buttons on it for ages, i finally got it done so i printed out the labels for the cushion, but to be honest i dont think they look right, i think the cushion looks better without it, although it makes it look more proffesional,the labels look better in photographs though.I am pleased with the cushion, its helps put my geometrics brief into context, so now i plan to send of images of the cushion and my prints to the shop - the owl & lion in Edinbough to see if i can get some work in their shop, or maybe help them run their events ect.

simon johnston _ Design context

I have just found simon johnston - he has alot of book design on his website so its a shame i didnt find him earlier. Some of the stuff on the web is quite good for ideas for the interior design year book, as most of his work is book thats are made for u specific purpose,the designs are simple and it would have been good to look at whilst doing it - one for the future! he has done some other work aswell, but i think his book design is the best stuff.I am interesting in collected a list of book designers, as whilst im on my placement id its quite i can get on with my own work. I started re - designing books at the beginning of this module but didnt get very far with it so its something that i would like to keep up with.

concertina book

For my final piece i am doing concertina books. Unfortunatly i couldnt get them double sided like i had hoped so i decided to produce three concertina books but the paper stock is quite thin and wouldnt stand up so i japanese stitched them down the side. each concertina book is differnet, two show patterns and the third shows the numbers. For the final book, i am thinking of printing a long concertina that documents the change form numbers to pattern and binding it in a hard back cover so when it opens out it fans out.

Design context

Along with the the fold posters, in the pack there will be 20 postcards, on the front will be the artists images and on the reverse there will stickers with the artists names on and their contact details on the back. This is so that my design context becomes more of a directory for myself so that i have artists images and contact details logged for future reference. Especially screen printing companies, so that i can get in touch with them, and have a record of them for future use.

Fold out posters

Instead of doing a book for my design context i have decided to produce a pack with postcards in and interviews. The interviews will go on fold out posters like the ones in the photographs. These are only test pieces as i havent quite worked out the type on them yet, and im thinking of changing it into four colums. There will be three interviews all together, all with different layouts but all on fold out posters that will sit within the pack.