OUGD 603// END OF MODULE EVALUATION

This has been a huge and unwieldy module to work on. It has seemed that the most important aspect of this year has been successfully managing your time. This is something that I have never been particularly good at on a long term basis however there have been points in this module where I have managed mine and others time very well. This was most apparent during the collaborative briefs that I have worked on with Martin and Simon. Here, as a result of the pressure of not letting others down, I was absolutely on the ball at all times. Unfortunately I can not say the same for some of the other briefs, where I find that although I could work hard, there were periods of times when I was just treading water and getting nothing important done at all. This isn't to say that I just sat around all day either, I have found that often when you are working alone you tend to over-think problems and things that should take hours end up taking days.This has resulted in me dropping two briefs that I have started and never finished; a collaboration with Mikey, where we planned to map typography that we found around Leeds and a personal brief about science fiction games posters. Both briefs I have started and have not yet finished.

That being said I have learnt a wide range of new skills and software this year like how to use the audio recording facilities, animation in after effects and film production in premier pro. I have also gone back to screen printing and have had several publications printed, all of which turned out great. One aspect of this module that has been really enjoyable has been out ability write our own briefs, allowing me to select to work on projects that I thought would suit me and go out and find my own live briefs. This has been a great opportunity to explore my interests, but as usual there is so much more that I want to work on. Especially a more politically charged brief and to have finished the two brief mentioned before. I have found that although the freedom of this year has been enjoyable, I have still struggled to keep on target with my plans.

For me the best part of the module has been working on the live briefs, especially the two for real clients; DHR and Propagation House. I felt that this has really improved my knowledge on how to deal with clients in the real world, and how to manage their own desires with your own ideas and creativity to still communicate an effective message.

In reflection of the module as a whole I think I have done some good work. I would have liked to have done about 50% more, however at this stage there is nothing I can do about that. My biggest friend has been an ability to rise to different challenges and complete tasks that I would not have been able to do with the skill set I had at the start of the year. My biggest foe has been poor time management and perhaps a small feeling that I do not take myself as seriously as a designer as I should. 

COP BOOK// Submission Boards

COP BOOK// Evaluation

This has been an interesting brief to work on, and a fairly unique one for me. It has been an interesting process to collect images that speak to me on a creative level and dedicate a book to them, and its been interesting to see what I have come up with.

If I had longer to work on this project I could have continued and found much more content. However I planned to limit the publication to 200 pages so that other tasks were not neglected and only ran slightly over this goal. As a result there are some images that I ended up leaving out, for example I would have liked to have included a chapter on gig posters.

In terms of design and layout I am very happy with the publication. Its a very simple layout which makes the book fun to flip through and easy to navigate. Each images also has a very small amount off text next to it which offers some information or a point of view about the work.

Most importantly the book communicates my outlook on design and creativity, covering actual graphic design and then moving on to films, politics, science, nature, engineering and the exploration of space. These topics may not directly relate to graphic design, however they show my interesting in a range of topics which influence the way that I interact with design and view the world around me.

On a different note I am very pleased with the final product... as a product. The publication feels sturdy and book-like in weight. It features a suitable amount of information and looks interesting enough to pick up. I also like the way that it doesn’t have a real title, just a series of icons. I suppose this reflects on the outlook that design and communication does not have to be type based, these icons reflect on the value, and how I feel about, the books contents.

The layout and format of the book is something I really considered and I do believe that it was a successful decision to place the spine at the top. The goal was to have a book that was comfortable to open in any direction. It has also given the book a new level of interaction and gives the impression that there is no true way to view it.

In the future I believe that I will be able to view this publication as a source of inspiration, not only from the images it contains, but from seeing it as a viewpoint into how I see myself and the world of design and inspiration right now, as a young graphic designer.

COP BOOK// Photos of Book

COP BOOK// Digital Publication

COP BOOK// Building The Publication In InDesign

 The layout of the publication runs throughout the book, bar the first and last spreads, which contain an introduction/ contents page and notes page respectively.

Every spread in the publication focused on one image, presented on the right or bottom page depending on your orientation of the book. The opposite page contains a title for each image and a short description as to what the image is of or my reason for including it.

The spine of the book runs along the top edge of the page. The reader can decide which way to orient the book and view its contents. This makes reading it a more dynamic event, but also gives each image the maximum amount of space on the page as possible.

The title of each page is coloured based on the image shown opposite adding another element of personalisation to the publication.

This was great fun to make surprisingly. If I had more time I would have loved to continue an make an even larger book, but I just don't have the time. One interesting dilemma that I have been facing whilst designing this publication is that InDesigns standard format layout has meant that I have had to put the who thing together sideways. I'm sure there is an option to turn the page so I could have designed everything with the spine at the top but I couldn't find it. As a result I have genuinely hurt my neck, an occupational hazard.

Below are a few images of different sections in the publication and some examples of the sort of work that I am putting into this.

COP BOOK// Final Cover Design

 FRONT ON THE LEFT AND BACK ON THE RIGHT.

The cover of the publication isn’t really based in anything that I am aware of. One interesting design choice I made was to not give the book a title, instead opting for a series of icons which reflect my views on the contents, i.e. things that I love, rate, approve of and am excited by. The arrow marks could reference the direction that the book must be opened in, as  big ‘this way up’ marker, or they could represent the three years that I have studied the course, showing three years of development in creativity and interest.

The reverse of the book gives its subtitle and a reverse of the marker pattern in yellow, as well as my name.

COP BOOK// Cover Design

 These four images show where I started with this project. Showing four main ideas, some of which would merge together to create my final design. The aim with this process was trying to get an idea for how to illustrate which way up the book sits, what is inside it and what it is all about. I wanted to avoid having some boring heading like 'design inspiration', although I toyed with the idea for a while. The main idea that I wanted to continue on here was the 'Things that I "love", "rate", "approve"- or however you would like to interpret those symbols.

 I was also looking at things to do with the back covers. This was an idea that I floated for a while today, although I think it takes over the page too much. Part of what I want to play with here was the fact that I plan to print on a silk finish, which really makes people want to stroke patterns.

 Another Idea was to use arrows to act as a 'this way up' sign on the front of the book. I thought this could be accompanied by a single gold star, as if to suggest that I give one gold star to everything in the book perhaps.

 One idea I kind of liked was this overlay of text and the arrow shapes. However after looking at it for a while I realise that it sort of looks like one of those shitty uni night club promotion posters so I have abandoned this ship.

One idea that I was working with was this collection of shapes, and as I tried to put it into sentences I realised that it looked like the way some people type out swear swords. So I used it like one here. It is important to note that that is not what I have intended the icons to represent and my final designs aren't just a book that says 'fuck' on the front in some secret way. 

 This is my final design as it stands, it incorporates the icons representing my feeling for the books contents as the title of the publication and the three arrow markers, representing three years and the direction that the book is suppose to be unfolded.

COP BOOK// Image Collection

 This is just a small sample of the images that I have collected for my COP book. The plan is to give each image its own page, a title and a short description. The use of the book with then be to display the images for inspiration and personal interest. The idea is that the book will be for me to look through, and as a time capsule for things that I am interested in right now.

I have placed the images into rough groups (not seen here, thanks blogger):
-Barnbrook.
-Early Interest. 
-War Comics.
-Colors.
-Private Eye.
-Signs.
-Horror Posters.
-DPRK Posters.
-Propaganda.
-Graphic Dissent.
-Earth.
-Infographics.
-My Room.
-Microbiology.
-Alternative Posters.
-Science Fiction.
-Space Exploration.
-Record Sleeves.

This may grow as I put the book together however I am trying to limit the publication to 200 pages so I will have to be picky about what I choose.

Collecting the content for this publication was a fairly easy task. Most of it was already easily accessible to me, either as files save onto my computer, scanned in from books or found around my room.

Below are just a few of the images that I had used in the publication. They represent graphic design and inspiration that I find in a range of topics from pure design to politics to space. 

One interesting aspect of sourcing and preparing all of these images to print was the realisation of the things that I am interested in most. I haven’t really ever had the chance to evaluated my interests in such a way before so the style and subjects of the images that I was drawn to was a fascinating process.