Tuesday 9 June 2009

PPD Evaluation

This year has been an interesting one of jumping between styles until i settled somewhere in the middle.

typography is definitely the biggest things from this year. i learned so much, but its all so technical, which is something that tends to mean that it doesnt stick with me. This is why i've managed to decide that i dont like fonts.

everything has been a little hit and miss. i found it weird jumped from digital typographic layouts to animation. from such simple colour use to such extreme. i also hate being stuck behind a computer all the time.

I think this is why the lyrics brief was such a moment of realisation for me.

screen printing is totally my thing.

completely and totally. i cant believe its take n me this long to pull my finger out and get on it though. i'm very happy with my printed work - tshirts and poster alike - but want to take it to the next level, incorporating imagery and multiple screens and colours.

funky dory.

at the same time however, i really enjoyed being able to do some illustration for a change. fred used to have a go at my crappy beano style drawings, but as soon as i plugged them into illustrator he was loving it.

i like the idea of branching out into illustration a little bit. i want to be able to draw perspectives and shadows and highlights for use in printing.

my animations came out pretty well, perhaps a little forced at times. really basic style and bright colours but they're effective.

ctrl alt shift was a but of a mistake in that i left it too late to get going and could only really take it in one direction. for such a great brief, i dont htink i did it justice at all, but i do like my idea of a leaflet of stickers/mailshot arrangement.

Monday 1 June 2009

Module Evaluation!

This is the most i've ever enjoyed a module. i genuinely have not been stressed out and just enjoyed everything i've done. i do feel that i'm lacking quite heavily in the development and research on all of my project though.

Postcards, as my one day brief, was just a series of smart arsed sketches that immediately sprang to mind from the brief title. the line drawing style was definitely an instinctive thing from reading stuff by larson and shrigley for quite and long time. I went for the two fonts, comic book, and times new roman. comic book for the speech bubbles, almost a marvel homage. times new roman for quotes a la larson and think that this is very effective.

My ideas for the back of each postcard was not researched, just an instinctive idea that related to the situation on the front. i feel that they work quite well but i should have come up with a few more ideas rather than just diving straight in and drawing them on. they probably should have been vectorised like the images as well.

still, i'm very happy with them, particularly effective with the stock. a book of blank postcards bought for me by a friend came in very useful! I've definitely noticed an improvement in my boards since doing the typography module as well. the yellow was chosen simply because the postcards were too white to be on a white back ground and a little bit of synaethesia kicked in.

next time, i would come up with as many ideas as possible and variation of each one.

ctrl+alt+shift is probably my weakest project. limited research and, yet again, me plowing away into my first idea. i feel like that is definitely not enough work there for the one week brief i meant it to be and since i managed to leave it to last minute, it was actually only about 5 days anyway. time management is definitely something that i need to address.

I have, for the last few days of the brief, been carrying and "things to do today" list which i think its definitely a step forward and i managed to get all my organisation right in check. i plan for this to continue into next year but with a notebook in pocket or something. i feel that it works very well for me.

Back to ctrl+alt+del, i think that my sticker campaign was a great idea but i found myself very limited by time and lack of print room slots. because of this, the prints are pretty terrible and the format of the stickers was limited but the label stickers i bought. getting the computer to align with the stickers was a nightmare as well. ah well.

I do like my board tho! once again, i think my layouts are getting a little bit more professional and mature. shame about the backup work letting it down a bit. im just too disorganised! i need to get myself that notebook...

if i was to do the brief again or develop it furhter, i'd have to get myself down into the print room, do some questionnaires, gather more reliable stats and be more inventive with my designs.

78rom - mp3 is the most fun i've had on the course so far. it was my perfect brief and i plan to investigate it further and further and futher in my own time. different series of song topics or doing it by band... lots of ideas!

my actual poster design were lots of fun to draw. i've decided that i dont like fonts. i'll draw them myself, thank you. i missed drawing. and illustration! and  i think that my use of point size (or at least caps height) is very effective. not so much with the weight of the text tho, which i definitely attempted to do.

The digitisation of my posters game them a kind of cartoony quality because of the very sharp edges and irregular letters. i do think this was effective though, especially in the context of screen printing.

i will probably screen print absolutely everything ever now. i still need a air amount of practice but i just think that it is exactly what i want to be doing. particularly working with hand drawn text and layout. 

My experimentation with stock was a lot of fun and i would like to take this even further. mainly in the form of posters tho. the tshirts are great as they are. i'm very happy.

My boards are, once again, some of the most professional layouts i think i've done. particularly with my photography skillzzzzz shining through.

As i said, i plan to develop this brief on and on. 2 screens to a design with be experiemtned with, as will the use of different colours and possibly more conceptual designs - images?

Overall, i have really enjoyed this module. i feel like i may not have worked as hard as i should and could, yet not felt stressed about it because i feel like i've found my niche.

i really want to experiment with screen printing my own stuff at home. by getting kit, or making a screen or something. just as an experiment.