Evaluation

When I began this module I was very focused on producing briefs that had a educational drive behind them. Although I began this way and started the DT Typefaces and the Screw Catalogue I strangely ended up with more briefs focusing on other things. However my underlining statement has always been ‘Research driven publications focusing on photography and typography and its relationship with layout’. This I’m happy to say has never changed, only the research.

I’ve had two main briefs that focus a lot on photography, Wharfedale Valley and Beginners guide to… I truly feel that this module has allowed me to develop as a photographer; I now consider lighting, composition and perspective a lot more. The Wharfedale Valley brief allowed me to take an array of different photos focusing on different aspects. This gave the overall booklet a great deal of interest and makes the viewer wanting to go through the publication. The other brief where photography is an aspect is Beginners guide to. However I didn’t experiment with photography as I did in Wharfedale Valley. This brief was more about drawing in a relationship between the photography and its audience. I wanted to give the photography character that a young child would enjoy. I think I’ve managed this, rather then focusing on getting a pretty picture these images had to carry message which I think works.

As my rationale says I want to focus on layout in publications which I think my Screw Catalogue brief strongly does. To start with I was focusing on illustration as I thought illustrative images of the screws would draw focus to the catalogue. However when I began laying out the text on a grid I couldn’t get a good relationship between the two. It became clear that I had two clashing styles and I had to drop one. As I wanted this brief to focus on layout I dropped the illustrations and began to think about how I could very simply represent the screws. The final outcome worked brilliantly with the type and allowed me to focus more on the grid. The grid became very important in this brief. I wanted it to be very clearly that the text and images were bound to a grid on each page and then I began to experiment within the boundaries. I began to play with the relationship between the screw and text, having the screw appearing to sink into the text. This worked fantastically. After producing the booklet I realised that my next task was to bind the catalogue. What would be more appropriate then to bind it with screws? I’m happy with the end result and I feel like this brief was a big learning curve for me in understanding grid and layout, which puts me into a great position for my final major project.

Although the Ali Poster brief was a one day brief I did enjoy being able to just focus on typography and how it can speak to the viewer. It allowed me to be playful with type and words and try create a sense that the words are talking allowed. I feel that this brief allowed me to gain more understanding of how typography can communicate then my big DT typefaces brief. I enjoyed creating my typefaces and making type look visually interesting and engaging however this didn’t teach me on how I can communicate in design using type. Although what this did teach me is the technicality of typography and how letters are composed. It allowed me to experiment with legibility and push the boundaries of letters, shape and form. Again it was my research that drove this as I announced in my rationale.

Overall I strongly feel that although I haven’t stuck to briefs focusing on Design and Technology I have stuck to producing briefs that focus on photography, layout and typography and how these can be product of publications. The module has been one big learning curve and I feel ready to venture onto my final major project with the same rationale.