OUIL501 End of Module Evaluation

Being familiar with the layout of COP from last year, I was able to start the module and structure my ways of working more clearly and efficiently. Additionally, my starting point of 'how we can save the NHS' was something that I was, and still am passionate about which encouraged me to elaborate to a greater extent within my written and practical work. 

One of the main things that I struggled with was how to structure the argument within my essay, as I found that in my first few drafts I was just outlining the problems within the NHS rather than coming up with an argument or statement in able to potentially solve the issue. I was able to build on this by synthesising the content of my essay by looking at the psychology behind different methods of persuasive advertising, and the extent of how language and imagery together can be an extremely powerful force. This lead me to look at the effectiveness of advertisements developed by the food industry and fast food corporations, versus the campaigns launched by the Public Health sector of the UK Government in trying to combat 'avoidable' health conditions such as type two diabetes. Building on my academic writing skills enabled me to consider more deeply and reflect upon different writers and authors statements in relation to health and to advertising, for example learning how to triangulate and paraphrase allowed me to make connections with similar views and opinions to create a stronger argument.

I definitely feel as though my written work is the stronger section of my submission, partly due to the fact that I allocated myself the most time for this section and also that I surprisingly enjoyed writing it! This has reinforced the concept that having a broad knowledge of a subject area allows the exploration of visual solutions to be limitless, simultaneously thinking on a wider scale of how to communicate the facts that I know to a specific audience or group. 
In terms of research, there is a great deal of news items concerning the state of the NHS and public health currently, which was really helpful as I was able to visually respond to articles on a weekly basis which significantly increased my levels of motivation and interest in the subject. Although in hindsight, I think this aspect made me rather complacent in the fact that a lot of the time I would solely rely on secondary research as opposed to taking the extra step to gather research first hand, which could have lead to a more effective outcome. For example, I think that if I would have interviewed members of staff in the NHS, and possibly people that were willing to talk about their experiences with lifestyle related illnesses, this would have given me more of a personal and accurate perspective of surrounding issues.

Unfortunately I have to admit that there are a lot of weak areas in my submission, and work ethic in general during COP2. If I am being completely honest, my attitude towards this module have been somewhat poor and I'm pretty disappointed with myself as a result of this. This is partly due to the fact that COP is a 'long thin module', which means that there isn't a greater sense of urgency to complete and develop work in a short period of time, and it isn't prioritised as much as the more heavily practical based modules, meaning that it 'feels like we have ages' to build a substantial body of work. 
Despite this, I think that when I got on a roll with productivity, my interests and enthusiasm was amplified which lead me to developing new ways of working that I never would have considered before, for example the comic strips showing the reaction and thought processes when trying to lose weight in an environment that is suffocated by consumerism. However this didn't serve me too well when it came to producing the final publication, as I did NOT anticipate the length of time required to produce a comic... which resulted in me rushing a lot of things at the last minute which jeopardised the level of quality within my work.

The past two years my very first starting point from the given list has been 'social', which has lead me to develop a huge interest in the human condition and explore different types of behaviour and interaction. This is something that I am keen to take forward into the COP3 research project, which I am thinking at this stage about looking into how visual aids can be a more powerful means of communication within the healing environment and other non-consumerist based areas and organisations. As COP3 is a pretty big deal, I will take my experiences from COP2 to build on my strengths and capitalise on my weaknesses, which include; carrying out more personal-based research, PLANNING MY TIME WELL, anticipating the length of time required to create practical solutions and generally having a more positive and enthusiastic attitude towards the module.

Creative Presence Group Discussion

The group discussion we had today with Patrick was one of those that required a lot of crystal ball gazing swimming with anxieties about the future, but it was actually really useful in terms of realising where I actually stand within my practice.

I don't have a signature tone of voice, or clear direction in where I would like my practice to go as of yet which is worrying me slightly, but I know that I gain a lot more satisfaction from my work being contextualised in areas to do with solving problems to do with health and wellbeing as opposed to heavy consumer culture.

I will continue thinking about the direction in which my practice will take, and not worry so much about maintaining survival in the big wide world just yet.

OUIL503 End of Module Evaluation

Responsive has by far been the module that I have found the most enjoyable and most valuable this year. Being challenged to enter live briefs on a national and local basis has increased my level of motivation for illustration as a whole. Moving on from my first-year perspective of making a piece of work that will just be viewed by my peers inside of college walls has allowed me to develop a greater sense of knowledge about how I can apply my work to areas, audiences and markets that I didn’t necessarily consider previously, or have the confidence to explore and experiment with.

One of the main things that I have tackled head on is my low confidence in my ability; during the initial months of the module I got off to a slow start due to being completely overwhelmed at the thought of submitting my designs to real competitions against thousands of other applicants. It was a real wake up call, but I stuck to my motivational rule of ‘say yes to everything’, and told myself that I ‘whatever I produce, I will have gained a new skill or way of working. I have only been doing this course for a year and a half, and I am still learning new things everyday, and mistakes are inevitable and will help me to learn more about where I can develop further down the line’.

Throwing myself in at the deep end was beneficial and surprisingly fun, and has helped me to strengthen the process in which I tackle a brief. However this approach also had some down sides, including wanting to take on every brief because I eventually became over-excited about trying new things out. So naturally, the vicious cycle started. I finally gained some motivation, I became too motivated and set myself unrealistic goals, I became overwhelmed by the whole thing. To overcome this, I decided to start with Illustration Friday, which eased me into the module with weekly quick-fire, simple briefs that didn’t have too much pressure on the principles of process and submission.

Once I became familiar with the format of the module and overcame my perfectionist habits that were holding me back, my main aim became to try out as many different things as possible. For example I chose briefs that focused around things that I had not had previous experience in e.g. Secret 7, having to listen to music and design a record sleeve in response and designing book jackets for the Penguin Design award. Although this has been extremely informative on a personal level, I sometimes found myself becoming too focused on the idea that I was learning a new skill, and the purpose of this module was for me to develop my contextual skills; when in fact I didn’t place enough emphasis on prioritising the client and answering the brief according to their preferences. 

Another factor on this note was that I set myself mini-challenges within some of my briefs to get used to working under certain restrictions and to specific themes. This was helpful within Illustration Friday as I set myself the task of only using digital tools to complete the final image, which urged me to try out new methods and processes within Photoshop and Illustrator which was extremely beneficial. In Secret 7 I gave myself a set colour scheme and worked with symbolism of different varieties of birds to communicate the themes within the lyrics of the tracks. I found that in hindsight, this may have been a little too restrictive, and prevented me from developing potentially more successful ideas further.

Something else that I struggled with a lot was time management. This seems to come up within every module evaluation, but I found it so difficult to gauge how long to spend on each brief and how to prioritise Responsive at times where there was greater pressure on other modules. It’s not a case of being unorganised; I planned out my time really carefully using timetables for each week, which I planned backwards from the deadline to ensure I gave myself plenty of time to finish work in time. I know I definitely spent too much time on Illustration Friday briefs, as I carried out more research and planning than was necessary and also my children’s book cover Emil and the Detectives required so much time to apply additional intricate details to appeal to the younger audience. Looking back now, I probably took on more briefs than I was capable of completing, which forced me to rush some of the outcomes, which is relatively unprofessional and dissatisfying for both me and the client. This is the main aspect that I will strive to improve on when taking on briefs after this module.

To conclude,the list of skills and important lessons learnt during this module is almost endless.

From collaborating with other creative students on a brief to having to physically pitch my designs and ideas to the team at Plusnet, my range of skills and level of confidence has excelled. A big part of this module was about applying my existing knowledge of illustration to real life products and situations, which involved a lot of trial and error due to the extensive process of learning and developing which often resulted in my final outcomes being weaker than I had anticipated. However, now that I have developed skills such as having to read and listen and visually interpret, and working to specific formats in mind of particular target audiences, I can continue to develop my concepts and ways of working in the future.