100 Brief...

Tuesday 22 December 2009

My Subject Is:

Comic Books - More specifically Batman.


Possible Catafories to include:


Batman comics, batman movies and Tv series, batman related toys/memorabilia.


Research processes will include:


Taking my own pictures of objects, collecting my own material. Visiting comic book stores and toy shops. As well as looking on the internet.


Research processes will be:


Primary - Visiting toy shops (toys ‘r’ us) collecting my own objects, looking at old collectable toys on the internet. Talking to people (people in comic book shops and others)

Secondary - Looking at collectable toys on the internet, fan sites, ebay, comic books.


Who/Where will i research:


Primary - Comic shop workers, shop owners, Peterborugh (Queensgate shopping center)

Toys ‘R’ Us. Toy shops in my town.

Secondary - Websites, comic books, books.


Research processes will include:


Primary - Varying comics being sold, types of toy, characters, prices of comics and toys.

Secondary - what statistics are online if any, what’s available to buy online, fan information, character info etc.

What If... Self evaluation

Monday 14 December 2009

What If . . . Self Evalutation.

What problem did you identify?

When I first started out looking at our general title ‘Urban Decay’ I focused on looking at crime rates for Leeds. I began by looking at associations with our genre and with further research discovered that vandalism and graffiti were a big problem in Leeds and across the country generally, this was the problem that I settled on.

For the second part we were looking at other problems associated with problem that we had originally came up with. For this we decided to look at what the older generation really think about graffiti, whether they like it or not and also whether graffiti walls/designated areas to graffiti actually work. These were the areas I focused on to research. From my research I got a generally opinion from the older generation that they don’t all think that graffiti is horrible but that it is out of control. I also found out that when it came to graffiti walls the general consensus was that they worked as long as the area that you do them in wants them and they are monitored so that people cant do random tagging.

What evidence did you find to support your decision?

When I began my research I was looking at statistics and crime rates across the country and what became prominent were the results and vandalism and graffiti, I then began to focus on my research looking into these more. I managed to find the worst affected places in Leeds and where exactly those areas were. I then went to take photographs of Little London, which was the worst affected area in Leeds. I wanted to establish primary research for it, we went as a group and all got our own photographs. I also looked up vandalism stories that happened in Leeds to see how bad they are and what people had felt about them/done about it. I also rang the Little London Action Centre to see what they thought about the vandalism/graffiti problem in their area and what they thought about our areas to do something about it. The response on a whole were good they really liked the idea and thought it would help them to get the kids involved in some proactive instead of just drawing all over the buildings in the area.



For the second part of the research I created a questionnaire to ask the older generation and I also started a forum to ask people what they thought about designated graffiti areas. The results I got from this were very successful I managed to get a good variety of responses which meant it was good to evaluate. As I said above the results to both sets of research were fairly positive and they also gave me answers on the best ways to combat graffiti as a problem.




What methods did you use to gather you evidence and what forms did it take?

I went through a variety of different ways to collect my research varying largely between primary and secondary. I looked at using photography to take pictures of the area and Leeds itself, looking specifically at vandalism and graffiti. I also made contact with the local community of Little London to see what they thought of the problem and I also trawled the internet for crime statistics and vandalism statistics, looking firstly across the country and then more specifically at Leeds.

For the second part I developed a questionnaire to ask the Older generation about their thoughts on graffiti, I got their responses and managed to work out a percentage of what they thought. I also joined a forum to and started a post ‘Designated graffiti walls- do they work or not?’ I got about 26 different people discussing the idea, I didn’t put an input into it because I wanted it to be purely uninfluenced people.

What forms did it take?

(primary, secondary, quantative, qualitative)

My research crossed over all the different specifics for research. My primary research was looking at the worst affected area in Leeds, taking photographs and talking to the people themselves. My secondary research was looking at statistics and information of the Internet. My quantative research came from my questionnaire and forum post where I got a variety of responses to my questions. This was also my qualitative because they stated opinions as well as giving my hard statistics and facts to work with.

What methods of research did you find useful and why?

I think that the best part of the research was the primary quantative research, it lets you get a personal response to the problem as well as hard statistics to work off which help you feel more informed about the subject. All the research was important because one piece research rolls onto another, but as I said I think that primary research is more effective and beneficial in the long run.

How did these inform your response to the problem?

By collecting a substantial amount of primary research helped me be more informed on peoples views and what they would/wouldn’t want to when it came to the graffiti workshop, as well as showing me what they thought about graffiti and vandalism as a problem The secondary research meant that I could find different things to devise questionnaires and specific areas to look at helping me be more informed.

What methods did you encounter as problematic?

The main problems with the research were establishing appropriate questions to ask people and getting hold of people to ask them. People were very unresponsive to questionnaires to I decided the best thing to do would be to ring older family member and older friends to find out what they thought.

How did you overcome this?

When it came to designing questionnaires I worked out that the best thing to do was to design a couple and see which ones worked best in getting responses to the questions and then developed them from there. And as I said before because people were unresponsive when you ask them in person I decided to ring around and ask people instead. It was easier this way and as they were people I knew they were very helpful.

What research would you have carried out that could have proved more useful?

I think if I had had more time I would have liked to have gone to individual houses and ask them what they thought about the vandalism problems etc. Except that may have proved problematic as people may not open their doors or be very helpful. I would also have liked to go to the other worst affected areas to get more primary research so I could be more informed about the problem and may have given me more ideas to tackle it, again thought time was and issue and I wanted to my research to be concise and work well.

List five things that have lean’s about the design process over the last two weeks?

· Primary research is more successful

· Statics help you be more informed and help you more from one area to another

· Research is vital to creating a working solution

· There is a vast amount of ways to collect research

· You have to learn to be focused when collecting your research and stay on point

List five things you would do different next time:

· I would like to look at the other affected areas

· I would do more questionnaires

· I would take more images of the other affected areas

· I would try and work with the community centres more to get the opinions and ideas on what would work successfully

· I would try to spend more time on the primary research instead of secondary.

Self Evaluation - end of module

Sunday 22 November 2009


BA (Hons.) GRAPHIC DESIGN

LEVEL

04

Module Code

OUGD101



Module Title

DESIGN PRINCIPLES



END OF MODULE SELF-EVALUATION


NAME

Robyn Russell


BLOG. ADDRESS

http://r-russell0912.blogspot.com/


1. What practical skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?


I have developed my skills with working in illustrator and utalising the software to explore a large variation in all my ideas and different ways to tackle things. This has benefitted me hugely especially in regards to my last projects, i already feel like i have learn't so much. I have also gained a new respect and skill in picking the right colours for what you want to produce i didn't truly understand how important that is but now i do.



2. What approaches to/methods of problem solving have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?


I have developed a new way of working on work sheets which has worked really well, i love the use of the blog to then later go and annotate on. I use my work sheets now to get my ideas down and make my own notes, this means i can then think separately later to analyise the designs. This has helped because when i work i may think one idea is pretty bad but when i later reflect on it, it has potential. I am still working on this new way but so far it has a lot of benefits which i plan to keep using.


3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?


I think my strengths so far have been my generation of ideas and then going into trying a variety of new ideas. I think that i have covered a lot of things since i started this course and i am happy with my work load management as i have achieved everything i have set out to do, it might not be in the most detail due to the amount of projects but i have completed extra projects that i wanted to. I plan to keep this work ethic up so that i can achieve more, but so far i am relatively happy with my progress. I know that i won't be that good at the beginning but i know with dedication i plan to achieve much more.



4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these more fully?


My weaknesses are research i need to start researching more artists and styles so that i can learn from them, i haven't done enough of that and plan to change this in the future and try and get a balance between ideas and research. I need to do more research behind me ideas and look at more influences.


5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?


1. More research - gain a better understanding of different artists, and hopefully expand my way of thinking and experimenting.



2. Work more in college so i can separate my work at college and life at home. This is so i can relax at home and be more focused in college.



3. try different levels of media, maybe photography? video? Stop animation? things like that to see if i can do them and whether they would work. This helps me push myself in different areas.



4. Stay on top of my blog at all times, update it everyday so as not to have to do a large amount to do in one day. I did this with the last project i just did and this worked very well.


5. Keep my work more organised in the folders so that it is clean and crisp and can be accessed easily.



Are there any things we could have done differently that would have benefitted your progress?


No not really, i am still trying to learn try and do stuff for myself and i think the way the studio works, works well for me.












6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas:

(please indicate using an ‘x’)


5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor


1

2

3

4

5

Attendance

5





Punctuality

5





Motivation

4





Commitment

5





Quantity of work produced

3





Quality of work produced

3





Contribution to the group

4





The evaluation of your work is an important part of the assessment criteria and represents a percentage of the overall grade. It is essential that you give yourself enough time to complete your written evaluation fully and with appropriate depth and level of self-reflection. If you have any questions relating to the self-evaluation process speak to a member of staff as soon as possible.


No News is Good News... - Self Evaluation of Mail Shot.

Friday 20 November 2009

The mail shot was very hard to do, i struggled quite a bit on getting the right layout for my pieces. the content i was happy with, i wanted it to be minimal and simple which it was. I also wanted to keep the same style as the posters so that on a whole it worked as a set. Which it does. My main concern, which was brought up in the crit was looking at the week day calendar on the inside and to make it look more like a calendar the problem was when i tried this out it just looked too messy and i really didn't like the style. Having said that the same issue was raised at the final crit and i ahve managed to come up with come other ideas which i am planning on tying out.


I really enjoyed this crit and on a whole i think the concept was successful and visually pleasing which is what i was aiming for too, i think it has a slight inter-activeness even though i took out the main part of it being interactive. I am happy with the responses i got and will work on this project further just tweaking it.

With this last project I am really happy with the response that i got not only to my final pieces but my inital ideas. when everyone went through the posters they got exactly what i wanted them to (to raise awareness). Although the idea was simple I really feel it was effective and it hit the criteria that I wanted to hit. The area that, if i had time, i would further develop is the hands. Although i am using the hospital symbol the hand shape it ugly and looks poor so therefore i would do something else, possibly have just two hand prints on the design like the hand prints on the text and image. I will try these out and see what they look like. Having said that i think the set works and there are a few tweaks but generally i am happy.

No News is Good News... Brief - Part 2 Crit


We had a crit half way through our project to check on our initial ideas and to see what was working best, where to improve and where to just not use ideas. This was really helpful for me, we managed to discuss ideas about how to layout my content on a fold out. the development work for this is shown on my DP blog and i go into more detail there. Here are what people raised for my project in the crit. I have only scanned the relevant parts.





With this sheet we had to fill out our intentions for our mail shot. This highlights everything i plan to do with my mail shot and how i am going to do it.


With this sheet we had to fill out our intentions for our mail shot. This highlights everything i plan to do with my mail shot and how i am going to do it.

Here are the evaluations that people wrote about my work after our crit.



No News is good news - Research concept building

Monday 19 October 2009

Today we had to look at the newspaper that we picked up on saturday in order to pick out a headline and story. We were then split into partners to discuss the headline and help narrow our search down to one headline. We had to look for a title that we would be able to research as this would be the source of inspiration for the forceable future. We were then given a sheet to help build our concept and separate our areas of research. Highlighted is the headline i chose.


CONCEPT:
' The torture files must be released'
'What a way to treat our heroes'
'Twitter Twits'
'So why does everyone hate you, Mr President?'
'Leslie ash reveals MRSA Painkillers plight'
' The superbug saved my life'

IDEAS:
1. Looking at MRSA superbug
2. Celebrity Crash - alcoholics etc
3. Alcoholics - alcohol fueled life
4. Leslie Ash's story
5. Wife Beating
6. Lee - Her husband documented argument
7. Leslie before
8. Other failed actors/actresses
9. Similar Stories
10. Wake up call stories for everyday people and celebs.

SELECT THREE IDEAS THAT YOU WILL TAKE FORWARD TO RESEARCH AND INVESTIGATE FURTHER (expand on research methods processes):

1. MRSA - the superbug - What it entails - what symptoms - how you get it - why you get it - what it does to your system - how it can be controlled - what hospitals have it the most - cures/prevention - looking on the internet/ journals etc.

2. Alcoholics - Main stream celebrities. Why they are, what happened to them (dead/alive) - what it does to your system. Leslie story - abusive relationships - what effect it has on other people.

3. 'Rash wake up calls' - any stories can be celebs etc. Look at varying stories but life changing stories.


Alphabet Type - Formative Feedback

Today we were split into pairs to then mark another pairs work. We had to look at the Visual thinking module/unit outcomes in order to break down the project to mark it, and to help understand what we have to work towards to get the marks we need to pass each module.


Here are the results of my project being marked. Both responses are under the titles and illustrated in different colours.

Strengths:

Lots of research - good development. Clear view of the 'Star trek' Theme.
In depth research, clear process of thought in the development, clever construction and type symbols.

Weakness:

Only one theme could of expand on the person more, some letters are overloaded too much going on and images illustration could have been constructed around the shape of the letter in order to make them more legible.
Only one theme throughout. I think? Shame some of the arm actions don't make the letters themselves.

Actions:

Make lines more bold, maybe block fill some areas perhaps the costume to create greater contrast and therefor more legible perhaps a conclusion of colour.
Could try block filling/simplifying. Try maybe the arms move involved with the shape.

Self Evaluation:

All the points above are valid, i think i went too over the top when it came to drawing the letters and kind of went off track. The points above reiterate what Fred said on Friday in my crit, i have already started developing new letters trying to make them simpler and completely taking the arms out of the equation and they do look better.

Self Evaluation - Alphabet Type

Sunday 18 October 2009

The evaluation after designing a type for one another.


Your Name: Robyn Russell Partners Name: Josh

Which personality traits did you choose to respond to and apply the typeface?

I find Josh funny and quite bubbly and he really likes Star Trek so i wanted to chose those characteristics and make it quite fun to look at with a star trek theme, thats why i chose a cartoonie style (to match his personality)

What are the reasons behind the design decisions you have made for the typeface?

I wanted to try and show a bit of his personality with the type thats why its in a cartoon style and fun to look. and the best way to show his passion for star trek i thought would be to use the uniforms from the series as this is obvious and will clearly stand out.

In what ways are the results effective?

The typeface achieves everything that i set out to do, in my opinion. It shows his personality as well as getting the star trek message across obviously. I wanted my typeface to work well together simply and obviously which personally i think it does.

(Refering to the typeface that has been designed for you)

What personality traits do toy interpret from th typeface designed to represent you?

Its fun and colourful which i like - the zips show my love for the rocky horror picture show which works well with the colour.

Describe what you think of the typeface?

Each letter is legible and would be readable when all put together. Personally i think its a little simple and maybe doesn't show the complete aspects of me but visually it does work.

In what ways is it effective and in what way is it ineffective of representing you?

The use of colour with zips and curls defiantly shows what u spoke to Josh about. I know what Josh wanted to add more which would probably have represented me better.

Alphabet Soup - Evaluation 1.

Sunday 11 October 2009

This is the results of an evaluation from a student led crit that happened on friday.


Your Name: Robyn Russell Partners Name: Josh

How are the four words selected to represent the typeface explored:

Original 4 Words: Space, Cult, Uniform and Alien, i shortened it down to two - Space, Uniform. The type faces have interlocking factors as they sport the uniform and the uniform is for space.

Why is the existing typeface that has been selected to manipulate an inappropriate/appropriate?

Its on an obvious level - Star trek type which matches the theme and the serifs look like bodies making the idea visually clear.

What are the reasons behind the design decisions you have made for the typeface so far?

Main interest for Josh is star trek and he is a funny person so the type will be fun to look at. Wanted to get the message of him across in the most obvious sense i could and not over complicate the type face.

Action to be taken:

1. Experimenting with body/arms
2. Layout of letters
3. Colour?

How To... - Self Evaluation

Sunday 27 September 2009

What role(s) did you take on in the group?


We all took different roles as we split the group up into different groups. I was teamed up with Chris and we worked as one. We developed the idea for the flyer with the information on and developed and made the T-Shirt. We made the flyer and gave it to Ross to link with the poster. I also collected the items for the box, and Chris and I collected the Market Research. Also i think when it came to it all i helped a lot with the co-ordination of the group and getting everything together.

How well do you think you performed in the role(s)?

I think i performed them all well, we all met the deadlines with everything we wanted at a good standard.

How well do you think you worked as a group?

We worked well as a group utilizing each others talents to pull together our ideas. For example Ross is very god at using the computer so with Chris and I developing the ideas and then giving them to Ross to finish worked really well. As well as everyone else doing what they were supposed to do.

What were the positives of working in a group?

I've learnt a lot from everyone - when working in a group people have different strengths so you can be more inventive as you're not restricted by what you can do alone.

What were the negative of working in a group?

Some people weren't around all the time which meant we didn't know what was going on. You have to learn to trust and rely on one another, which can be hard at times. Having said that on a whole i would say its a very positive experience, you learn from the negatives.

What will you do differently next time?

Change the material of the box so as not to get the white lines a long the folds.

Where could you have improved your resolution?

* Bigger Box
* Plastic bags could have done with being more professional
* Done the wrist bands
* Done the inside of the box to match

these are all subject to us having more time.

What are the strengths of the presentation?

The interactive(ness) of the product and the visuals we used. With a mixture of power point, and examples to help illustrate what the speakers were saying.


10 Thing to achieve by the end of my first year.

Wednesday 23 September 2009

We were given the task to list 10 things that we wanted to achieve by the time our first year has finished. Here is the list i have come up with:


1. Improve my skills using digital photography
2. Learn the skill of printing, whether it be screen printing, mono-printing etc.
3. Improve my skills using computer software such as Photoshop and Illustrator. Although i know the basics i want to be able to produce professional work with them.
4. Establish a good working ethic with my year, when working in groups or having group crits etc.
5. Learn from the mistakes i make and not be perturbed by them.
6. Start to develop my style through various medias that all work together to produce strong work.
7. Experiment with as much as possible, i have the opportunities to use so much at College and i want to utilize as many of the facilities as possible.
8. Get a working routine of College work and socializing, i think it is important to get the right balance so as to avoid getting stressed with either of them.
9. Push myself to think outside the box and not go for the obvious answer, although it may appear the easiest option at the time.
10. Achieve my place for the second year.

Once i started writing this list i thought it would be hard to get 10 things i wanted to have done, but i found it quite easy. This list has helped me realize what i want to do with this year which is important as it will keep me focused.