Design Practice

1. What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?
Through out this module I have developed my After Effects Skills, Which greatly helped my Comedy Central, Coen Brothers DVD Menus and E4 Ident. I was able to use expressions and the speed graph to make more believable and effective movements. My technical ability with cameras and video footage has improved, as I now know what formats to use in DVD Studio Pro, and the correct export to use when working with HD footage. DVD Studio Pro was also a new software to me and I am now able to build menus, with the correct assets, including chapter select menus and burn them to make a functioning DVD.

2. What approaches to methods of research have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?
This term I spent a lot of time studying the Coen brothers films, firstly to acquaint myself with them in order to pick which film DVDs I wanted to produce, secondly to observe their current graphic representation, including photography, type, screen design and printed design. Thirdly it was to try and find definitive items for each film that could unify the DVDs.
The most successful method of research was trial and error when making the DVD menus, although exporting test formats took an unfortunately long time it was an arduous process, which I am not likely to forget.

3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?
I feel the strengths of my work lie in the research done for the Coen brothers DVD menus as it greatly influenced the final designs. Thinking methodically about the Menu structure and how to stay fitting to the film but also bring them all together.
I mostly think the strengths in my work are the final outcomes and the new knowledge that came along with them.

4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these more fully?
As usual my main weakness was time planning and organization, because of exporting and DVD building I failed to get my work handed in by the deadline, I should have allowed more time to deal with these issues.
I was incredibly disappointed to have missed the 2nd to final crit, which was our last chance to group crit the outcomes, but this could not have been avoided as my asthma flared up and I was unable to attend.
My design context blog I feel is lacking and I intend to keep on top of it next time. I have been trying to avoid “working in a bubble” and I don’t believe I have but I have failed to document everything Iv looked at, another organization issue.

5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?
1. Try not to take on too much, I think I sometimes am over ambitious with what I want to achieve and then disappointed with the outcomes, if I concentrate my idea and produce every aspect of one product as different projects I think I will be happier with the over all product.
2. Try to turn around briefs quicker so that I have time then to deal with any issues of formatting.
3. Organize my time a lot better and stick to quick self assessed deadlines, this should hopefully ensure a less stressful rush close to the final deadline.
4. Keep up to date with design context blog, document everything when I see it.
5. Book a print session before the deadline and have all boards or products designed and ready to print. This will allow me to get all my prints done in one session, instead of relying on getting to the drop in times early.

6. How would you grade yourself on the following areas:
(5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor)

Attendance 4
Punctuality 4
Motivation 4
Commitment 4
Quantity of work produced 3
Quality of work produced 4
Contribution to the group 3