Learning new skills has been really important and relevant to my design practice this year, I feel I have excelled in grasping new skills in areas of design such as fashion, print, textiles and surface design. All of which relate to graphics as I am concentrating on being a graphic designer within the fashion industry. In terms of design skills I think I have developed a good understanding of digital photography, image editing, design and print, exploring all of these avenues in my practice has made me a feel like a more versatile graphic designer with a huge interest in fashion graphics, and textiles. Developing an understanding of digital technology, environments and printing has massively inspired me and made more focused in the direction I am heading in as a young professional designer. Developing an understanding of printing on fabrics, and learning about materials used on textiles has given me interest in not only fashion but interior design and home furnishing. However, I have no desire to be an interior designer or fashion designer, but I feel grasping knowledge about other design sectors has pushed my skill set higher. I have gained an understanding of how to engage colour, pattern and trend imagery into my research which has proven to be beneficial in my practice for creative designs. I have capitalised on all of these skills due to writing briefs such as Pinkink and Albino Boutique which are concept, pattern and production driven, both of which I aim to carry on producing designs for after education because both are in a sense small business proposals for my own practice in design.
2. What approaches to/ methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?
I have primarily focused on digital resolution this year, mainly because its a development process I feel comfortable with and want to perfect in many areas. In terms of approach I feel I have came forward a lot from the beginning of the year where I slightly lost context of the graphic design I was producing, I felt off course in terms of who I was a designer, what I was producing and why. However the COP3 module helped me understand how to take inspiration from primary and secondary sources, and learn the contextual side of design. My method of design for most briefs has been funded by knowledge from reading books on design techniques, researching new printing methods, going out and take photographs to use in my briefs as a posed to using stock images or producing vectors or looking online for information. These are all design decisions I have made to improve my design practice throughout third year, to experiment and explore with designs much as I could whilst making use of library, print and working facilities.
I believe my software skills have improved massively. Adobe illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign are my strongest, I feel this is because I have made a significant choice to explore graphics software, digital design, photography and print with the aim of become a designer focused in the sector of graphics and fashion.
In terms of digital textile design I have gained an understanding of colour ways, pattern production, fabric printing and production for fashion. I have learned about fashion designers who create digital prints such as Alexander Mcqueen, Jonathan Saunders, Basso & Brooke, along with fashion labels who prepare prints for product and apparel such as Textile Federation, House of Holland and Asos. Learning about digital print, production and manufacturing has made me aware that I understand specialist knowledge in both graphic design and printed textiles, enabling me to feel confident that I can work in this industry. Reprographics for paper material and digital print for fabrics is a great strength I have gained this year, as the same advantages are developing my strengths and knowledge in graphics and fashion.
4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?
My weakness every year for self evaluation is bad time management, unfortunately I always work best under pressure leaving some parts of my design practice to be scarified due to lack of organisation.
At the beginning of the year I wrote a few briefs, some of which have been untouched and some not completed, this is partly because of bad time management and also because I lost interest in some of the briefs I had wrote, some of which didn't seem relevant to my practice, examples of these are Boho chic decor, 3d installation and so&so's. If I could do things differently I would have focused on writing better briefs at the time, to save time on the practical element.
Considering this is my last year at college, i'll identify what i'll do differently after education:
- Don't waste time, and do work as soon as it given to me to show I am effective with my time, hard working, professional and reliable.
- Never forget my audience , this year has been a whirl wind interns of the briefs I have done and what I've designed, sometimes I forget who my audience is and why I'm designing when i'm working on a brief I written because its essential not real, however constant evaluation and feedback from peers always helps and this is something I need to keep up with.
- Be confident in the work I produce, often enough I feel disappointed with concepts, designs and final outcomes of my briefs because I over think things. Allowing myself to produce good work, be confident in what it is and pitching it well is something I will capitalise after education.
Don't get too stressed, letting things build up never helps anyone being creative, so my aim is to be stress free and happy about what I'm doing and why.
Punctuality: 4
Motivation: 3
Commitment: 4
Quantity of work produced: 5
Quality of work produced: 4
Contribution to the group: 5
