PPP // Module Evaluation

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

I guess the main skill I have maybe not learnt but enhanced over this year,is the skill of self analysing, and finding the importance of really searching yourself and asking yourself questions that you wouldn't normally think to. This I have found is always changing the more I learn and see my interests have switched several times over the course of the year, but I have found knowledge from one area can assist and be mixed with another, as your skills and knowledge grow so do your design abilities.
Indesign is a piece of software I have learnt to use efficiently during this module, it was a program I was not familiar with apart from using quark express on my BTEC 5 years ago, so it was a very useful workshop, as were all the software workshops.

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

Really analysing every decision you make as I say above has effected my design process. it has made me think more about all aspects of a design to try and limit the amount of elements that do not fit specifically with the brief. before i don't really think I analysed anything about my work apart from weather i thought it looked good. Where as now each aspect of my design process is selected more precisely to fit with whatever brief I am working on at the time.
I have also found that by doing this it often aids design development, more good ideas are processed the more and idea is thought about, by taking a good idea and working on it you can make it a great idea, this practice is always continuing and I hope to to improve on it as i have struggled this year to answer some of the questions as it is a lot harder to self analyse yourself than I thought it would be, however the more that I am learning the more I am finding specific areas of interest.

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

Thinking outside my comfort zone, whereas my experience of design before this course was limited, I have had a lot to take in this year and some areas have been harder than others but I have tried to push myself more towards the end of the year and think of design ideas that I have never thought about before, the lunch box for example in the 'Speaking from Experience' brief i was tempted to go for a safer 2D printed option, some kind of publication for example, but by trying to think outside the box a little bit more my designs no longer are structured by my fear of experimenting with different products. I may have not created the perfect final product in some cases, but I am pleased with my progression in concept development and can see how forcing myself outside my usual design boundaries really helps aid knowledge and creativity.

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

As I say above, my fear of experimenting with different products and materials has been a weakness for most of the year, I don't think I have had the confidence to take my designs to the next level, and I feel I have nearly always settled for acceptable, instead of aiming for phenomenal, my aim to address that is to carry on experimenting, i might make a rule for myself next year; In each individual brief i will ensure I incorporate atleast one new element of design that I have never used before, whether that be production and i choose a different printing process, or visual development, using different materials to experiment with shapes and designs to widen my options as well as create things that cant be created on computers, i would like to incorporate more photography into my designs, well at least experiment more with it as it has always been an area that interests me. 

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

- Take advantage of the different facilities at the college to experiment more with design production and development. By doing this I will be pushing myself to learn more and improve my skill level.


- Experiment with photography in my designs, there is some fantastic pieces of design which are entirely based on photography but every time we get a brief i never actually think about what i could do with a camera, i usually limit myself to what I can produce my hand but mainly what I can produce on the computer.


- Ensure I always have a piece of work i am 100% happy with when it comes to module hand in day, this comes down to time organisation but I want to do this to build my confidence up with my designs.


- Blog more interesting designs I see while out and about, i often see and appreciate pieces of design around the country but always forget to document it, and it annoys me as it would help with inspiration and design knowledge in general.

- Spend more time developing or experimenting with design concepts before choosing one, I intend to do more design sheets that are purely focused on initial ideas and sketches, I have found when I have done that in the past i have produced a piece of work that I am much more confident with.

6. how would you grade yourself on the following areas? 

Attendance - 4

Punctuality - 4

Motivation - 3

Commitment - 3

Quantity of work produced - 3

Quality of work produced - 3

Contribution to the group - 4

PPP // Speaking from Experience - Final piece

The finished article as it is, as before i would have liked it to be laminated, and Ideally in a handled kids lunch box, however I have never seen a Tupperware box like this before so i guess i have done something that must be a little unique.

i was debating whether to glue the partitions down but I guess that ruins the theme of it being interchangeable, but when the insert is inside the barriers do not maintain thee place, so they would definitely have to be fixed in someway, other wise when food is placed inside and thrown around oll day the foam board pieces wouldn't hold much for long.

PPP // Speaking from Experience - Post Modernist design

 In rsponse to some of the feedback I recieved on friday I decided I would design an alternate lunch box organiser in a post modernist format, I wanted no noticeable structure to the information while also still making sure the areas are clearly marked.

 The type I just produced myself using the line tool, I tried to still asociate the colours of each item in the words like I did for the background in the modernist design.

Tea and coffee is focused around the various different colours that people take their tea and coffee depending on their personal taste.

Snack was my attempt to link it with a biscuit in a rapper, but this is not so obvious.

for the Sandwich area I tried to make the 'dwich' section on its side into a BLT sandwich I'll see if you can work out which colour is what item in the sandwich.

 To help the sections look more defined i chose colours that are again linked to the foods they will be holding.

 The front cover takes the same format as the inside, but also holds the title hidden beneath the type and I think this will create quite a nice front cover to be presented to the students.

 This is a completely different outcome if you compare it to the modernist organiser, the production again isn't ideal but i think it puts across my intentions.
As I couldn't get a printing slot for this brief, I found it much more difficult to produce a finished article I am proud of but in this case as long as i get my concept across then that is all I can do.

PPP // Speaking from Experience - Final Crit Feedback

The crit today was based on peer feed back, we were split into small groups and then into pairs, each paur went round the remaining pairs work to give feed on the sheets below.

There was both positive and negative reactions to the box,  There was one suggestion above that made me think, the suggested I should create alternate designs for different people, they suggest different ones for boys, girls or vegetarians.

It got me thinking that I don't particularly want to create different designs for gender, but instead produces an alternate design in a post modernist format. This would strengthen the lesson between modernist and post modernist as well as giving people a choice to choose which one they prefer.

I do agree with another statement they made about the fact that people dont need to be told what to pack all the time, this is true but I thing the product I have made would inform and prepare the students at the start just to give them a guide line until they work out their own personal systems.

My aim with the post modernist design was to make it interesting and eye catching while still keeping it simplistic and smart visual communication. I chose the font sizes to fit into the grid I created and as they are still readable, I think I prefer the minimalist structure of the body copy, i suppose i inteded to create a juxtaposition between the busy pattern in the background and the simple grid formed type.

PPP // Speaking from Experience - First print

I just printed this out in the mac suite, just to get an idea if all the chosen dimensions and dividers fit correctly, so therefore the stock and production isnt ideal but it gives a pretty good representation of my design.

 

The colours actually printed out alot more vibrant than they looked on the screen so its created a girft wrap paper feel to it.

The shape that the net is allows it to be folded into a flat envolope, this could be a way to present to the box organisers, if i put a design on the front panel that would both be the front cover of the product and the design that will be seen out the bottom of the lunch box.

As I have mentioned before, if I could produce the lunch box properly it would probably not include an insert at all but instead be printed straight onto the box so in reality there would be no need for a front cover or folding net. 

However as I am not able to print straight onto the plastic ideally this is how the organisers would be presented, maybe with various different designs.

PPP // Speaking from Experience - Modernist Designs

I have already decided what typeface I want to use, after researching typographers for context of practice module I came across the first ever sans serif type face which I think is the ideal typeface for a modernist lunch box

I staarted to focus on the text as it should highlight which area is for which particular food item as well as containing the rules of eating around the studio as well as a couple of tips of what foods to eat to aid work.

 I chose these colour options as the are all based around the foods that are suggested to go inside, bread, fruit, tea and coffee. My initial idea was to try and make it look like an extreme close up of each food but instead I decided to make it quite un uniformed.

PPP // Speaking from Experience - Design Development

I was just playing around with ideas, and thought about using perspective to base the design around, but when I taught about it i wasn't entirely sure how to work out the math of it all when it came to layout and where things should be placed to produce the image from only one specific angle, this will have to be an area i look into in the future.

This got me thinking that I should probably incorporate a design lesson into the design which could introduce the new students to an aspect of design that i found tough or difficult to understand when i first got taught it. So I thought it would be a chance to explore my recent interest in modernism, since I have actually understood the difference between modernism and post modernism i have increasingly become more interested in modernist design, I have unknowingly always preferred it (in some cases) but not fully understood the category it fell in.

Also I dont think I have ever seen a modernist lunch box before so it will be something a bit unique.

PPP // Speaking from Experience - Design development

 I need to refine my concept a little more, so when thinking about what i will actually be producing and what would have been useful to me when I first started, i thought just having a daily lunch box that guides you through the ideal times and tips for food consumption during a typical year in LCA GD 1st year.

It can't be a fully serious product as i know it is not that essential to a new student, if they wanted a lunch box they can just go and buy one, but the idea that this would be given to the students at the beginning of the year, may provoke them to bring in packed lunch especially is there is tips inside about food and drink around the studio, it would also benefit finances as they wouldn't have to buy sandwiches everyday like I have this year.

Interesting lunchbox designs

It would be nice to be able to design on a retro lunch box below but I have shopped around leeds and cant find any metal or plastic lunch boxes anywhere, easily accessible ones now are either Tupperware or cool bag lunch boxes. but there are some pretty cool designs here.

 I was quite intrigued about developing a lunch bag that represented a paper bag, I think there could be some interesting opportunities, but as i think I want a more solid structure that could be partitioned off to make separate compartments, but if I ever want to design a lunchbox in the future then this would be a good design option.

 The dinner tray was also a little quircky idea, but I suppose with would have to act more of a general plate rather than something you would carry around with you, but it would be a good base for design. This again is an idea i will store in the memory banks.

 I wanted to experiment a little with this method below, as I thought this would produce a good way of partitioning off the different sections of the lunch box as well as being an interesting design element.

I went out and after looking for hours for a retro handled plastic lunch box I just settle with a Tupperware box which inside measured 205 x 137 and the side panels are 197 x 60

These are a few mock ups I made to judge what size i needed to produce them, but for the final design ideally it would be printed onto plastic pieces specifically made, but as time is running out I will make them from foam board, as this should give a sturdier barrier than card, it will at least make a better representation if not the desired final result.

There was a slip in design inside the lunch box when I bought it, it is a printed sheet that resembles the net I made below.

 I think this would be a good format to produce my design on as i can print it double sided and create an outer and inner design with one slip in sheet.

As this is a lunch box and would obviously carry food, the design would have to be laminated or just printed straight onto the plastic, but after making a trip down to the digital dungeon and talking to James there is no way he can fit me in to laminate my designs so again this final design will be a representation of the design but would hopefully be produced straight onto the plastic.

Below are some initial sketches of possibilities of how the box will be separated, as well as a couple of design ideas.