Responsive: Evaluation

I have thoroughly enjoyed the Responsive Brief. Being able to choose the briefs myself has meant that I have picked briefs I have an interest in. Being interested in the topics chosen means that I have gone into more depth with research and this has affected my final outcomes. The final designs are more conceptual compared to previous design work. Every aspect of the design is considered, from the colour choice to fonts and the overall appearance. I have considered the target audience as well as where the designs would be used. This has made the outcomes better because they are appropriate for the audience and the context they will be in.

This brief has been a learning curve for me. It is the first brief that I have self directed and independently ran. This has taught me how to organise my own time so that I can get everything produced on time and retain a high standard of work. This is also the longest brief I have worked on as it has taken around 6 months. This has allowed me to spend more time than I normally would on each project. The J2O brief was challenging but having a longer period of time to create an outcome meant that I researched in more depth before trying to design an outcome. It also meant that I could play around with how I wanted it to look and get it exactly right. I am very interested in package design so this brief has allowed me to explore it in further detail. For this reason I have really enjoyed the project.

Being able to choose my own project meant that I could pick a wide range of themes from music to sustainability to packaging. This has kept me thinking of new ideas and challenged me with how to tackle each brief differently. It also has stopped me from getting bored, having such a range of project on the go means that it doesn't all begin to look the same. I have really enjoyed this brief because it has given me a great amount of knowledge on subjects related and also unrelated to graphic design.

I feel that I started off well with managing my time. Before christmas I was able to finish Sprung and Feathr, I also had completed a bulk of J2O which I was thankful for after the holidays. However towards the end of the brief time ran out very quickly. Other work took priority and that meant that parts of Responsive have been rushed where I would have liked to spend more time on. The Pocketbook brief wasn't started for ages because it was hard to coordinate with Harry and Sam, I think this has affected the outcome. However the project is still going on and I will keep working on it until I am happy and proud of the outcome. Food In the Loop I really enjoyed, I learnt a lot from the research and really got stuck into it. It is disappointing that I only had a week to do it as I would have liked to go into more depth and also branch out creating supporting designs like explanatory books.

I have used this module as an opportunity to push myself with Illustrator as I had no previous experience. I found it daunting and felt the best way to tackle this was head on. For some of the projects like J2O and Food in the Loop an illustrative style was more appropriate and I used this opportunity to challenge myself. I have learnt so much through doing this and I have been able to find a clear illustrative style which works well and is also consistent.

Overall my design style has developed since starting this brief. Not only has my design improved but so has my method of working and thought process. I am working a lot smarter now considering things that I would have never thought about before. This project has really taught me about time management and how I am able manage everything independently.