Final year of Vis Com

I found this semester to be challenging yet enjoyable. The most important skill I have developed from first semester is my time management. As we were independent and choosing our own briefs I had to work toward my own deadlines for the first time. This was a good thing and a bad thing!

Good in the fact that I got to choose the briefs I thought were best for me, and bad in the fact that it was totally dependant on me to divide time appropriately between the projects. To help with this I made a schedule and then every week I made a plan of what I wanted to have done by the next week. This was very helpful as I was able to tick certain things off my list see that I had accomplished something and I could see the projects moving along.

It has always been important for me to get feedback from other creative people and listen to constructive criticism. I am an open person and will listen to other people’s opinions, and take these into consideration when developing my work. This was crucial in this semester and I was constantly asking peoples views, not just tutors and classmates but also people outside the university so I could get an unbiased judgment.

Semester Two

VIC 505 I project

I believe I showed my creative skills in taking an existing logo and showing it in different ways to imply emotion. I remember a workshop we did in first year where we had to use letters in a picture to tell a story. Essentially that is what I have done with these posters.

I began this project by “over thinking” the design and bastardised the logo to the point were it was unrecognizable. However after talks with John and the group I was able to rectify the mistakes I had made. I also developed my communication skills by going out and talking to a range of students from different courses, (as the paper was being aimed at them) I had to constantly remember that this paper wasn’t just being aimed at students from the art college, but to students from all over the campus.

That is why I decided to take a more simplistic approach. I feel that by showing the logo in its most simplistic form it has more impact on the viewer. I kept the text quite small as I wanted the viewer to focus on the image of the logo and how it is placed on the page. I believe I have created posters that work on a number of levels. They are easily read at different sizes and I think the emotion is delivered across by the simplicity of the ‘i’.

Channel 4 project

In this project I showed my logo development skills and text hierarchy in the TV ident/screen designs. I spent a lot of time on researching the market that this TV station was aiming at. As it was for the over sixties I only thought it wise to interview a number of sixty plus people to see what programs/TV stations they watched regularly. I was quite surprised at the fact that the majority of people I interviewed enjoyed watching similar programs to myself.

They enjoyed programs such as The Killing, Grand Designs, CSI etc. When I asked them if they felt pressured into watching certain types of programs now they were a certain age the majority of them said they didn’t really feel that old anyway, and that if it’s interesting to them it doesn’t matter when it was made so long as it was quality TV.

These interviews also helped me with my logo design as I created my 64 logo based on information which I obtained in these interviews. When I asked them what type of music they liked a lot of them said they enjoyed listening to the Beatles. I then looked at some Beatles songs and there was a song called When I’m sixty four. I thought this would be a fun and clever why to tie in everything that this new channel was about. It’s for the over sixties hence the name, it’s a title to a Beatles song (so they’ll get the link), and the song came out when they were in there youth so they will remember it.

The logo went through a number of changes before I finally settled on a black/white version. I had originally added colour however when I talked with class mates and John they thought it was in danger of looking too similar to the original channel4 logo. I also researched colour psychology and what certain colours mean. I thought black and white were strong colours to use as they both portray glamour, emotional safety, purity, cleanness and simplicity. That is what I want everyone to think about when viewing my logo.

This project also allowed me to be very creative when it came to film work. I was stepping out of my comfort zone, as I hadn’t done a lot of work in film or after effects before. I filmed a number of possible idents before I settled on a shadow ident. It tied in well with the white logo and had a slightly creepy feel to it. As it was a tester campaign I wanted to give a sense of the types of programs that may be shown on it.

It looks like an escape and the 64 is like a torch searching for you, the noises in the background sound like a person being chased but we don’t know what they’re running from. I was really pleased with the final ident. I could imagine it working as a real life working ident.

The style guide for 64 also marries well with all the other design work. I used a grey background for the screen to reflect the grey foreground in the shadow ident. The logo also appears on screen like a shadow with a program running behind it before it settles. You can also see the hierarchy of text on screen in different scenarios.

VIC 504

Self-promotion

I wanted to put my own individual stamp on my self-promotion work. The one thing everyone notices about me is my ginger hair. Another word for ginger is redhead, so I thought I could use this in my design and call my business “redhead graphics.” It pretty much sums me up. I used photography as the medium for the design as I wanted to keep it simple and use myself in the promotion work so people would know who, I am and what I’m about.

With regards to hierarchy I tried to keep text minimum so the viewer is not overwhelmed with information and they get the message fast without being bored. I developed a website for how I want my work to be shown, I hope to get up and running soon. I’m also on Facebook and BlogSpot so you can check me out online. I have also designed letter faces and compliment slips.

I thought it would be a fun and unusual way to hand out my business cards in a little box with a ginger biscuit. I have kept it simple; it’s a white box with an orange circle on the front (like a biscuit) that says mmm… there is then a quirky message inside the box encouraging the viewer to contact me. I thought this would be a nice way for the public to get introduced to my work while they’re having a cuppa tea.

Progress made in this semester

I have spent a lot more time in the studio getting feedback from my classmates, which has helped me become less isolated and also allow my work to develop faster.

Skills to develop

No one is perfect and I am constantly learning, I believe I have improved most of my skills since first semester, however I would like to continue working on my time management as it will be one of the most important skills to have when I go into the world of work. I am constantly working on my communication skills and know that it’s important to listen to constructive criticism. I believe that this skill really helped my work develop this year.

Final thoughts

I have found the entire final year to be challenging yet very enjoyable. I know everyone always says that final year is the worst year of your life but I have found it to be the most creative and driven year I have had in University.

The first semester helped me find what I wanted to focus on most for final semester. The one thing I wanted to get out of this year was great portfolio pieces so I would have a strong body of work to show when I go to job interviews. I believe I have created a varied range of visual interesting pieces, which I am proud of.

I set up a blog and used it as a daily diary, showing my progress through second semester. This helped me keep tract of my progress and allowed me to see my work develop over the semester.

I believe that as second semester has progressed my work has become a lot more structured and well thought out. I have worked well to my own set deadlines, and my time management has really improved. As I spent more time in the studio talking with my classmates and getting feedback from tutors it has made me a lot more confident in my work and my communication skills. This has made me more self-assured and independent, which I hope will help me later when applying for jobs.