Evaluation

 

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

I definitely think my digital skills have improved vastly in this brief, especially my Illustrator skills, I have spent more time practicing an sticking with it where in the past I would get frustrated and move on and try find another way around.

I also think my drawing skills have improved, after the 150 logos task I got back into drawing my ideas and visualising my ideas a lot more. I also found that I do really enjoy drawing my ideas out on design sheets, it helps when you go to put your work on Illustrator or Photoshop.

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

Designing on paper before designing on screen is definitely a method I have developed in this module, I have always produced design sheets for projects but I feel in this project I have designed in a lot more depth and tried out many variations of size, colour and layout. I definitely think this helped for when I started designing on screen, it made it a lot easier because I already had ideas and visuals to work from. I have also started to consider how design is printed and what is practical and what isn’t, looking at colours and layout. It is important you check all your settings before printing so that when your design is printed you get it the way you want it, making sure the colours are inside the CMYK gamut and making sure the correct crop marks are in the right places.

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

I feel I have done a lot of research on design already out that there demonstrates the different type of print processes and finishes we have be learning about so I have developed a good understanding of how they can be applied to design and products. Also when it is appropriate and what type of print process is right to use for what your designing.

I also feel I have spent time developing my work within this project, I think we we’re helped along at the start by the tasks we were set with the logos and packaging. However I feel I carried this on throughout the project and it helped my work develop and lead me to produce a outcome that I am happy with and that I spent time developing to get to this stage.

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

I think I need to work at a faster pace, I am happy with my outcomes but I feel that if I had worked faster I could have produced more products in my range. I feel it is a weakness I often have with my briefs, I seem to spend too much time on one idea and then forget about other parts of my brief. In this brief I am happy with my final product but I feel more time could have been spent developing the packaging design, but this is something I have to learn to manage within briefs, the amount of time I dedicate to everything I need to do. I also need to improve my layout skills, when designing my top ten manual I struggled to design a layout that was exciting and interesting. I feel like I have not spent a lot of time developing these skills in the past so it is something I need to work on and improve for the future.

 

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

1- Make sure I time manage myself better and spread my time more equally between tasks within a brief so all my outcomes are up to the same standard.

2-Practice my layout skills so that I can produce better laid out designs in the future.

3-Stay calm! I have found that I have got very stressed out and worked up about my work during this brief and I have found this does not resolve anything, if anything it makes matters worse. If I stay clam and think logically there is normally a solution.

4-Go out of my comfort zone more, I feel like I have branched out of my comfort zone more than usual during this brief but I think I can still push myself further and try more new things I haven’t done before.

5-

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					X
Punctuality					X
Motivation				X
Commitment				X
Quantity of work produced			X
Quality of work produced			X
Contribution to the group				X
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.

 

 
 

Final Boards

Photography My Product

These are photos I have taken of my final products, I have already photographed my maps opend up which you can see earlier on my blog. It was hard to photograph my product as when my maps are fully open they open up to A2 so take up a lot of room. However I feel that I have some images that I will be able to use on my final boards.

Saving Document as PDF

I need to put my work onto CD to hand in for module submission, to do this I need to changed my files into PDFs. I have done this on all my illustrator files, I have also made sure all my printers marks are in place.

Packaging

This is my packaging design, and the devlopment of it, after putting my belly bands onto my box I have definitely decided that the grey stock works better than the white. There is a better contrast, and also I think the spot varnish would have more effect on the grey stock.

Belly Bands

I have printed my belly bands on white and grey stock, I think I prefer the grey stock but I will have to put it onto my packaging and see what works best with it.

I would have the ship logo and the writing done in a uv spot varnish to give it that edge. Also as my product is a very practical, hands on product that wil suffer from wear and tear so I didn't think any print finishes would be appropriate so I thought it would be a chance to use some on the packaging.

I'd like to get an effect like this on my packaging.

Packaging-Belly Band Designs

My designs for the packaging is to keep it simple, I was orginally going to put belly bands straight around my maps but I found that didn't work and looked messy, I then decided to put my work in a box and put a belly band around it.

I have keep the design the same as my designs throughout my project, as the backgrond of my packaging I have used the map but changed the opacity down to 25% of the orginal. I have used the orginal blue from the map PANTONE 3125 C.

 I am going to try printing it on a few different stocks to see which gives the best outcome.

Final Photos of Acetate Map

Here are the final images of my acetate map, opened up and unpackaged, these are the images I will use on my presentation boards.

Making the Map

These are the images of my map being constructed, I took the acaetate sheets and joined them together with metal rings. The idea being that both the materials are water resistant and the map will not get damaged if it comes into contact with water.

Paper Map Print Out

 Here is my final printed out map, printed double sided on 130GSM stock. I thought that the stock would be thin enough to fold it down to A6 size, however as you will see below it was too thick.

 If my product was to be mass produced to be stocked in shops it would needed to be printed on a thinner stock.

 

'Map Paper

Paper used for making maps must be subject to minimum change in dimensions with moisture to avoid poor register of colors. Wet strength properties are often demanded.'- This is what is recommended for printing maps on http://www.paperonweb.com/grade.htm

 

I think a lower GSM stock needs to be used, maybe 80GSM so it can be folded down with more ease and have a crisper edge.

If it was being produced for shops it would be printed on a lithography printer as a large amout would need to be printed but not enough to use gravure as it is a specialist product which would only appeal to certain stores and certain audience so about 500 would need to be printed.

Flyers/Advert Design

These are some simple designs I have done for some flyers or even adverts that could be out there about my product. My product is aimed at people who know about the shipping forecast and use it when they are out at sea. I have used quotes from the forecast as people who know about it will know what it is about. However if people see it and are not sure what it is about may then go off and find out.

Paper Map Design

 My map is design to be A2 in size when opened up, on one side is going to be my infographics and information on the shipping forcast. When it is folded down it will be A6 Size. Here is a quick example I have mocked up to show how it will fold.

On the other side will be my map with the shipping forecast areas marked out and named. All the colours used are the same as I have used throughout the project.

Printed Infographics

 Before I printed my infographics onto acetate I did a test run onto normal inkjet paper to check the layout was correct and all my images where in the correct places for when I cut them into their individual sections.

I got the acetate I was going to print on from the library, I am printing my infographics onto A4 pieces of acetate and them trimming them all down into A6, I didn't know how the colours would come out on the acetate, but if you look below you will see...

The colours came out how I wanted and I am really pleased overall with how they printed really. I am going to take these sections and connect them with metals rings so it can be folded and unfolded. After priniting onto acetate it gives me a clearer example of how my infographics would would being printed on a plastic material.