Design Skills Module OUGD403 self evaluation.

1. What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?

Since the start of the course I feel I have improved in idea development, I now have more confidence when starting a brief and creating initial ideas as well as improving the presentation and quality of a finished design.

I also have found I have developed skills in critiques both inside and outside the crit process, I have found that I am taking constructive feedback from peers and tutors on working briefs and using it to improve design ideas. 

I have formed new knowledge on illustrator which I didn't use much at all prior to this course.

While sketing design ideas or neatly hand drawing briefs I have found my illustration, sketch / drawing technique is slowly improving which allows me more opportunity to develop ideas on paper before I take them onto the computers, this still needs much more improvement but I feel I am heading in the right direction.

2. What approaches to/ methods of idea generation have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?

I found doing more research can influence my idea my idea generation, I still feel I need to document more research than I do, but I am pleased with my ongoing progress as I do much more now than I ever have done before.

I still want to develop my usage of design sheets to encourage more initial sketches and ideas as well as development of existing ideas to a level where I can take them straight onto the computer, already with a confident design idea.

3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/ will you capitalise on these?

I think my design ideas are improving, I am happy with the finished pieces I have produced for most of the briefs, and as my knowledge of design improves in general I am creating more of a confident opinion on design that I do and don't ;like as well as trying to use more designers I like as influence.
I am not sure if this counts as strengths in my work but I believe i have strengths when it comes to crit processes, i am a little more confident than some other people so therefore I feel more confident talking to peers about mine and their work, and over the past few weeks I have found that many people have used ideas I have suggested in crits.

4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?

A lack of initial ideas i think is a weakness that i need to address, I find having such short brief timescales means it is difficult for me to get a lot of design sheets of initial ideas before i decide on a final design concept, so in general I think i need to improve my time management as well as organisation skills would help, even though i feel i have improved on time management and organisation it still has much more room for improvement. I should probably do more research before starting idea generation. However as the briefs go on I have improved the quantity of research i blog, I hope to carry on progressing further in this area.

5. Identify 5 things that you will do differently next time and what you expect to gain from doing these.

• More initial ideas - To give me a wider range of ideas to choose from and develop.
• More initial research- To improve my knowledge on the subject of the brief as well as knowledge in existing graphics design.
• Use crit feedback to develop FINISHED designs even further
• Take techniques I have learned and do self progression and research on these techniques to continue development.
• Work harder to aim towards perfection before printing final finished designs as I tend to not check over my computer work as closely as i should, resulting in some avoidable mistakes on final prints.

6. How would you grade yourself in the following areas? 

5 = excellent  4= very good  3= good   2= average 1= poor

• Attendance - 5
• Puntuality - 5
• Motivation - 4
• Commitment - 4
• Quantity of work - 3
• Quality of worked produced- 4
• Contribution to the group - 4