End of Module Evaluation

This module has covered a range of different areas that I have practised and therefore has improved my practise. Due to the briefs in this module I have been able to self-direct my own work. This has resulted in a number of issues in relation to the production of the design as well as managing my time alongside others. However, I have been able to overcome these issues therefore improving my management and skills in areas such as screen printing. I have also been able to evaluate these errors and therefore highlighted how to improve this in the future. Due to the briefs being very open to what we wish to interpret from it, I have been able to collaborate with other students (Studio Brief 03) as well as use methods of production and design that I would not necessarily think to use (Studio Brief 02) which has meant that I have been able to use more traditional print methods. Using such methods have expanded my skills set and has meant that I have been able to practise in these areas. 

My management skills have vastly improved from having to manage my own work as well as direct and organise a group (Studio Brief 03). This has given me the responsability of ensuring that all team members were contributing to the project as well as ensuring that a consistent workload was achieved. This has resulted in us being chosen as one of the four groups to to pitch to produce the branding, identity and promotional collateral. This has demonstrated to me the result that can come from being organised and committed to a group brief. This has inspired me to be as ambitious in the future as the result can be very rewarding!

Evaluation

After printing the final resolution I have been able to reflect on the designs/resolution to the brief. Through modification to the design I have been able to ensure that the resolution is appropriate to the brief that I wrote, therefore to the specific audience. Although I used digital print the resolutions have not come out as high quality as I would have wished. I would have liked to reprint because of this however as it is now the day before the hand in, there is not time to do this. Once again, this is something that I need to plan further in advance so that I can test print in Digital Print a week before the hand in, rather than using other printers. However, if I were to hand these out to students I would ensure that the designs were reprinted to a high finish. 

My time management with this brief has lacked as I have struggled with managing numerous modules and briefs at the same time. This has been something that I have previously been able to manage however have lacked with this brief. However, I have been able to learn from my mistakes and therefore will not make them again in the future. It is also important that I remember the intensity of completing a brief in such a short time so that the resolution is completed to a high standard. 

Final Resolutions

Digital Print:

Due to the double sided printed not being 100% accurate, the designs have not printed to a the highest quality that I would've hoped for. A way round this in the future would be to send away the designs to a company that deals specifically with post card prints. However, the resolutions are still fitting to the brief that I wrote and will be beneficial to Level 04 freshers. As the only print appointment that I could get was the day before submission, I was also not able to photograph the final resolutions in a studio environment. This is a skill that I have developed throughout the year and I am disappointed that I have not been able to do this for the final brief/module. 

Final Designs

After talking through the designs with the other members of the group we have chosen the final six prints. They will be printed in A3 and located around Leeds as well as in and around the Leeds College of Art buildings.

Evaluation

Apart from the original errors that I occurred, the outcome has been much more successful than I had thought it would be when screen printed. On screen this design lacked the 'wow' factor that I wanted to maintain with the design. However, when printed on the Peregrina Majestic, Anthracite paper the true potential of the design is brought through. The shine to the paper adds to the space theme of the design which adds a small touch to the overall appearance of the print. Although the stock thickness is not appropriate as actual money, I wanted a thicker stock so that the print would not be damaged in the exhibition as well as it also providing an interesting texture to the design. 

It is unfortunate that I have been unable to experiment with more of the designs that I had initially sketched in digital and print form, however due to having a number of deadlines within a short space of time, I have struggled to balance my time equally between each of the modules as well as finding the time to spend in the print room. As I have not screen printed before this brief I was unaware of the time that is required to prepare, set up and print with a screen which has meant a large proportion of my time has been spent in the print room over the past couple of week. However, as I am now more aware of the print process and the errors that can occur, I will be more prepared for future briefs therefore will be able to plan my time more effectively. To do this I need to set myself internal deadlines so that I am fully prepared for the hand in and that my work is completed to the highest standard. 

Screen Print - Round 3

 After realising the spelling error in the print I decided to reprint the design. I experimented on the 'red' stock to see whether the design worked better with a bright or dark background. As the silver ink had previously been visually effective I chose to stick with this for the third print attempt. 
Although the 'red' colour would stand out in the exhibition, against the white wall and the other designs, the silver was less effective on this coloured stock. There was also another issue with my screen therefore the prints weren't 100% successful. Through the help of the technicians in the print room I was able to solve this (to a certain extent) so that the final print would show through more than on what happened to the ink on the red. 

After removing the ink from the screen and washing it thoroughly to remove any ink that was blocking the screen I then printed again. Before using my final piece of the Anthracite stock I praciced printing on an A3 piece of black card. This meant that I was able to see whether the ink was coming through onto the paper. As the prints were becoming more and more successful I decided to print on the chosen paper for my design. This decision was informed by the second screen prints that I produced. From this I was able to use my own opinion and that of others to determine which stock was the most appropriate for the design. 

The above image is the final printed design for my bank note. The bottom right 5 is not as clean as I would have liked and I was going to touch this up with a paintbrush, however my ink was snapped up in the print room therefore I could not do this. Something that I will learn from in the future is to ensure that I have a sufficient amount of paper stock in case I need to reprint multiple times. This has been something that has happened numerous times within this brief and is something that I have now learnt from and will be able to apply to future briefs. 

Reprint

After realising the spelling mistake I have decided to reprint the design for submission. This will also give me the opportunity to print on a bright coloured stock. For this I have chosen G.F Smith Plike, Red as well as Colour Plan, Bright Red. I have chosen to use a coloured stock rather than a coloured ink as I think that the transparency effect that the Silver ink has will be more effective than printing colour on white stock. To save time I have already prepared the screen for printing which I will complete early this week.

Designs - Typography

For the more typographical design I have used Anthony Burrell's style as my main inspiration. Through a discussion with peers I had a couple of ideas for the wording of the design. This design will mainly focus on University related quotes/subjects. Something that I picked up on through the discussion was the lack of knowledge on how to cook and how now they cannot eat certain foods as they were eaten too much in the first few weeks of university. This is something that the students will be able to relate to and will link to the advisory topic of gaining information of a specific recipe of their choice. 

Bold type:

Calligraphy experiments:

After experimenting with the two different typographic styles I have had a feedback discussion with some peers. The aim of this feedback was to determine whether both or one design in particular are appropriate to the brief as well as being visually appealing to the audience. The overall comments were that both designs are visually engaging and appropriate to the brief. It was also said that these designs would be appropriate to Level 04 freshers as it will be something that they will be able to relate to. However, the calligraphy style type was said to be more feminine rather than gender neutral. Neutrality was something that I wanted to achieve with this approach to the design therefore I have chosen to print the 'bold type' designs. 

Designs - Traditional

After reflecting on the feedback session and completing another set of sketched ideas I have now began gathering the content required to produce the designs. I have firstly completed the traditional designs using watercolour. This is a method that I am continuing to practise therefore decided to complete the designs in this way before digitally manipulating them.

Once I had completed the designs with watercolour I then scanned them in to the computer. This will allow me to sharpen the quality of the design and to fix any areas that have been smudged or where there is a lack of accuracy. This will also mean that when it comes to printing the designs I will be able to print multiple copies for the set of prints. 

I chose to digitally render the type for the second design. This will mean that the result will be sharp and produced to a high quality finish. This is something that was not achieved with completing the type with watercolour as the quality was not guaranteed however is still something that I am going to practise. 

Designs - Photography

The idea behind the photographs is to capture particular areas of the university that are 'fun' and 'interesting'. Sending a postcard with these images on will provide the audience with a visual of elements of the university and would be a starting point to the note.

Using the photographs as the front of the design, I have mocked up some designs. I will then be able to gain feedback on the designs to determine which is the most successful.