End of Module Evaluation

Throughout the course of this year i have definitely learnt a lot about the way in which i work, and what doe and doesn't work for my self as a designer. I'm aware that my best work is created when i am passionate about the subject, or engaged with the research; such as the typographic poster, which not only provided me with the opportunity to explore a new area of graphic design, through typography design, but also allowed me to create a piece of work with strong contextual links. Throughout the whole module my time keeping was vital, as I've been running a business alongside my studies, it's sometimes hard to find a balance however through creating a time plan i was able to clearly see what needed doing, ensuring i stuck to the plan. I feel as if i have grown throughout this module, from my first very collaboration with Tom in February, to finishing the module with another collaboration about to be released, i have not only learnt the value in collaboration with other designers but i now also understand the importance of setting a theme whilst collaborating, in order to maintain the visual cohesion of the designs. This module has really allow me to explore subjects that i am passionate about, and that i plan to continue to voice throughout my career, such as female sexuality, feminism and objectification culture, i intend to continue reading journals and books around these subjects in order to inform my contextual work in the future.
Although i feel apprehensive about finishing the degree, i feel confident that the skills i have learnt, and the contacts within my class will allow me to continue working hard, sticking to deadlines and creating work that hopes to make some kind of social wave.

Statement of Intent

Throughout the course of my three years at university, i have developed not only a clear set plan for my future as a designer, but also a strong interest in current social issues that effect myself, and many women i know. My work outside of university consists of running my growing unisex clothing brand The Prawn Shop, inspired by female equality, sexuality, diversity and consent, this year i want to continue to push my beliefs through visually interesting and vibrant designs. The work i create will comment, challenge and raise questions about issues which women face within today's society, whilst developing my personal style through a number of different contexts. I intend to continue to push and challenge my self as a designer and a business owner, accepting and creating new opportunities in order to gain new voices and opinions around the work i create.
Throughout the module i intend to create a clear time plan and stick to it, i believe setting a clear time and end date will provide a realistic time frame for m to complete the work within.
I intend to utilise my brands Instagram page to collect primary research throughout briefs where necessary, as i currently have customers across 37 countries, the varied amount of potential responses i could collect would be very valuable in terms of making an informed piece of work.

The Prawn Shop Branding Evaluation

Through designing a series of branding for my brand The Prawn Shop, it has allowed me to feel a lot more professional and organised in terms of taking the brand full time after graduation. As i was effectively the client for this brief, i understood the personality of the brand and the target audience very well, however it was a slight learning curve understanding that a business card per-say, is not always going to be given to someone who is comfortable with the nudity which the brand often features, and so it made me think about my brand from not only the perspective of my customers, but also potential business partners or stockists of the future. Through using a very familiar colour pallet to the brand, the branding effectively captures the vibrant, bold, playful personality of The Prawn Shop across all relevant platforms.

Terms Of Terror Evaluation

I really enjoyed approaching a project from research initially and then developing a brief, i believe that through utilising social media i was able to collect a really wide variety of responses for the research questions i put out, which effectively resulted in the comic cover being produced. It was really interesting to push my self in terms of the illustration style, i believe that the comic book style was effectively portrayed within the Terms of Terror cover, with the typography looking particularly appropriate. The idea generation for this project did take some time, in retrospect i would have really liked to of produced a comic strip to go along side the cover in order to really push the narrative, however my time planning should have been kept more closely. This brief has also been really insightful in gaining the opinions of my brands followers, seeing their experiences and hearing their opinions on subjects i am passionate about, i think hat this will definitely be something a i do more often; gaining the opinions of my audience and creating work inspire by them. Overall i do think the outcome to this brief is very effective at both communicating the overall message and pushing myself as a designer to step out of my comfort zone. As i am predominately a visual designer, it was really interesting to base work around language, this may be a new feature to future work that i create.

Graduate Collection Evaluation

After having a positive experience collaborating within my brand The Prawn Shop with Nasal Warts earlier in the year, i took the opportunity to collaborate with Jay and Amin, who's work i ahve admired over the 3 years of working alongside them both. This experience ran a lot smoother than the previous, which i believe is due to the fact that i had gained experience from my earlier collaboration with Tom. Working with both Jay and Amin was very exciting, as ideas would constantly be bounced around which made the whole experience a lot more engaging. I also feel that my vision for the rband has gotten stronger throughout this brief, as we chose not to rush to try and get the collection shot in time for the deadline, rather we were realistic about what we wanted to achieve and weren't going to settle for something sub par to that, and so a test shoot was conducted for the purpose of the hand in, and also to have an understanding of who we want the shoot to work, ensuring that everything runs as smooth as possible. I believe that having a clear them for the designs really worked for this collaboration, as it gave Jay and Amin the opportunity to work on their designs alone, however i do wish that the designing process would of been more collaborative in terms on working on the designs directly with them both, however the final pieces are very appropriate for The Prawn Shop and the whole concept for The Graduate Collection. I believe collaborating with other creatives is a very good thing for The Prawn Shop, it can sometimes feel quite exhausting to stay inspired, working on your business alone, however through occasionally working with other people, new ideas are made and other perspectives and opinions are shared.

Typographic Poster Evaluation

Overall this brief has been very insightful as it’s the first time I’ve really experimented with typography, manipulating an existing type in order to create a visually new piece of work. Basing this project on passages from Promiscuities was definitely a really good way of maintaining focus in relation to the progression of the design, looking back over passages to find subtle visual links that could be worked in to the design.
The colour pallet and print stock really help to both represent modern society, and the past through the glossy, vibrant colours which is both reminiscent of today, and over the late 60’s period.
In hindsight I do feel that creating a full typography alphabet would have been more useful as it would of provided the opportunity for more typographic experiments and deliverables, however the final piece I believe really meets the criteria of communicating an effective message about todays society, inspired by the past.
I am definitely now more confident in terms of experimenting with typography in the future, it was a very good experience to spend time on small details of a much larger piece, I also believe that my knowledge of composition and balance has definitely been heightened by this experience.

Durex Evaluation

I believe the final Durex design is very effective in communicating the everyday mentality the brand wanted to achieve. From placing the condom illustrations in plain sight, and designing the people using the shapes of the condoms the brand was effectively communicated in an everyday sense. The actual design of the piece is very appropriate due to the varying amount of couples, single people and a variety of others, all presented as equal. The lack of distinct lines within the piece really helps to subtly communicate the latex element of the condoms. The colour pallet too is very appropriate due to the subtle links to romance through the red and pink tones, whilst also being appropriate for the young target audience. Through printing the design on to gloss it also helps to push the materialistic aspect of what Durex produces, and due to the fact that the design was created and then transformed in to a vector piece, the size of the design can be changed dependant on the platform it would be used upon.