OUGD303 End of Module Evaluation

...and breathe. It doesn’t seem like two minutes since it was my first day on the course, but here I am writing my last ever end of module evaluation after three (very intense) years.

As a whole, I am happy with how my final major project has panned out. I admit, I could probably have done more and pushed some of my briefs further than I have done, but then again, there’s always going to be something else and it’s knowing when to stop that’s the biggest challenge at times.

It didn’t start out so great though as I spent the majority of the first month concentrating on my dissertation and just getting done what I had to for this module – then, before I knew it, I was already a fifth into the module and hadn’t made any sort of significant progress. Oh dear. I quickly got myself into gear though and made a realistic time plan for how I would get everything done that I was planning. My time management skills with this module have definitely been put to the test, and I have to say I am rather impressed with myself with how well I did with it. I have managed to not only produce the minimum requirements of briefs to a standard that I am happy with along with my design context brief, I have also produced additional briefs alongside these that I am more than happy with.

Two of my main briefs were competition briefs for YCN, one of which was done in collaboration with Baljeet Samra. These briefs were interesting as the time that I had to produce these was cut short, which ultimately made them more intense than they ideally needed to have been. Nevertheless, I completed both and got them submitted in time to the competition in March, meaning I had already completed two of my significant briefs. For both of these, I produced designs that were mocked up in context to the location that they would go. By doing this, it has learnt me a hell of a lot about how to really make the most of the design areas that are available – there’s actually more shapes/sizes out there than a standard A sized piece of paper! Who’d have known?

As well as the YCN competition brief, I also collaborated with Baljeet Samra on a quick day brief that had full intentions to be fun and type/batman related. We have similar design styles and thought processes with briefs, so working together is a dream as we agree and disagree on the same things and somehow picture things the same. My collaboration skills have come along in heaps and bounds since first year after I nearly dropped out in the second week because of how much I hated it. I now no longer dread even the thought of it, which is something that I never thought would happen, and actually enjoy doing them. Saying this though, I also did a collaboration brief again with Baljeet, and Beth Yates and Lisa Whitaker that turned out to be a lot more effort than it should have been. It was a learning experience though in terms of working in a close knit group whilst also collaborating with ‘real’ clients.

My strongest brief within my final major project is definitely my Proper Coffee brief. This originally started out as a quick day brief after a portfolio surgery with Ben from The Beautiful Meme, which soon escalated to become one of my main substantial briefs within the module. I really enjoyed producing the work for this brief as it combined my love of type and coffee perfectly. There wasn’t any underlying niggling reason for this brief, like it wasn’t a live brief or a competition one, so it allowed me to really get my teeth stuck into what I was doing and to do it how I wanted to do it (with feedback of course). I enjoyed it, and I think it’s a great back up plan to pursue if I don’t end up making it as a graphic designer.

As much as I couldn’t wait for the end of college to come to go off into the ‘real world’ and start earning some coin, now that it’s actually here it couldn’t be more scary. But thanks to the course, I do feel ready and prepared to go out there with my head held high with a portfolio in my hands that I am actually proud of. I couldn’t have asked for more from it really. Thank you.

Attendance - 3/5
Punctuality - 3/5
Quality of work - 4/5
Quantity of work - 4/5