End of module evaluation
Overall, I feel like my final outcome for the 505 brief definitely pushed my confidence in setting my own briefs and challenged me to design in order to resolve issues; this is something I have touched upon in other modules, but because the nature of this brief was surrounding specific issues I feel like I took this into consideration a lot more. I feel like my strengths in this module were focusing more on conceptually driven work, as the techno tourist guide was heavily influenced by research and context. I'm pretty happy with how the final outcome turned out, as it feels a lot more refined than previous projects due to this conceptual nature; I feel like I was way more successful in justifying my design decisions because everything was more reinforced by my research. In light of this, I found it really fun to apply concepts to things I might have previously overlooked, such as the format of my publication and its interactive user experience; I feel like the outcome considered audience participation and user experience more because of this, as well as the fact that I was designing to quite a niche audience.
In terms of my own ambitions as a designer, this project definitely took a direction of the kind of work I want to produce, as it challenged me to think a lot more about range and distribution and how I could design across multiple platforms. As well as this, the actual issue I selected for the brief was something I was interested in, so I feel like the outcome aligns with my own personal interests; this is mainly the case in the context of designing within the music industry, but I found it quite fun to play around with themes of censorship as it pushed me to think more outside of the box.
My weaknesses within this module were probably the fact that I feel like I could have taken more risks; because my designs followed strict rules and had the same visual language, I feel like I kind of limited myself and could have maybe experimented a bit more. This is especially the case with the QR code side of my outcome, as I feel like I could have delved more into user interface design, or possibly motion graphics? Despite this, I'm still happy with my outcome, but I think I could have been more confident in trying new things instead of sticking to what I was comfortable with. I also feel like I could have produced my work or experimented more with creating physical outcomes, but obviously I was limited because the logistics of my outcome were pretty complex; it would have been nice to finish 2nd year with a physical publication, or just something to show physically for the project.
In regards to time management, I feel like even though I have an extension and all things considered, I've managed to keep motivated and complete the final outcome pretty fast. I definitely feel like I organised my time pretty well, as I have finished the project only a couple of days after the original submission. However, due to having an extension I feel like I could have given myself more time to take breaks from my work, as this has definitely impacted my confidence in the final outcome. For example, I was working a lot on this project over easter when in retrospect I feel like I could have given myself more of a break for my wellbeing, etc. This is something I want to have more of a balance of in next year, as although I have produced my outcome on time, I want to give myself more time to take a break in order to help me stay motivated and confident with my work.
