OUGD405 Evaluation

During the OUGD405 module I have learnt how to produce work in different, previously unexplored ways. In particular during the study tasks I felt I developed a different working style. Task 1 was really interesting for me as I had not conducted research in this way before, going out into the city and interacting with others. Similarly, I had never used a video camera and creating the video was a different yet satisfying way to present our gathered research. Study tasks 2 and 3 were useful as they encouraged me to increase my work speed and produce more work in a shorter amount of time. I created more handmade work as opposed to just working digitally and I liked the different method of production, especially in the blackletter task. Learning about the objectivity vs subjectivity debate was also really enlightening.

During the last module I discovered how important research was in influencing my design decisions. I carried on this knowledge into the 405 module and by reading more books and finding more relevant sources as well as getting out into the city and even visiting museums for way finding, I believe I have created projects with a strong, well informed idea behind them. As well as reading research, the visual research conducted into the object brief made me reconsider how dull research could be at times. By researching visually, in particular creating excel drawings and photographing my object along a constraint, I learnt to look at my object differently and I drew upon and used this research when creating my final outcome.

If I were to redo any of this module I would create more physical final pieces. My sign system required that it be painted large scale within the city centre, but as I was limited on what I could do with this I did not present any physical deliverables. Thinking back on it, I could've presented some form of painted sign - not to scale and on another surface - an MDF board or wooden plank perhaps. Similarly with my object project my final piece is meant to be large scale and cut out of vinyl. To be able to present a physical piece I presented two smaller scale posters in seperate colourways - allowing for the possibilities that would occur in my proposed setting, but to create a piece out of vinyl would've been ideal. In my next project I am determined to create more physical pieces - and not just posters.