Level 6

I have learnt a monumental amount within this module. I have developed my skills within many areas, including collaborating, producing work for creatives, how to communicate within this process to those outside of design, the importance of presentation and applying visual identities to a range of outputs, how to research quickly and thoroughly (and the importance of this in every brief), my abilities in adobe software and so on. There have been many exciting parts, including learning to love branding and seeing it as an area which can be experimental and creative. Alongside this my love for editorial has had amazing chances to grow and expand, and the opportunities I've had to be experimental and have fun with design have been amazing. While my organisation and work ethic continues to be strong skills, I've recognised that there are smarter ways to work within specific briefs. For example, the me no pause movement did not need as much work done on the Instagram visuals, and thi...

Alike to GAIA EXRTH, it was disappointing not being able to complete the brief within the timescale set out. I recognise that I like working a lot on passion projects and pushing them further and further, to the point that perhaps the goals I set are unrealistic or I spend too long on one level/area of the project. In this case this was a research brief and I set out to spend a lot of time doing research and testing ideas. I found this a more difficult brief to do within the covid landscape and felt less inspired, as I wanted to go out into the world and look at things, ask people, visit places and so on. This meant this project took a back seat and by the end of the year revisiting it so late on meant there was no time to fulfil the visions I had for the project. It's exciting however to have so many projects I'm interested in to be continuing after uni as it means I can keep the momentum up of designing and producing more ideas and more work. The overall concept of this inter...

 > Minimal time to fully developed this project before deadline but will look to developing this into an interactive website that carries the user through different options and to what the end may look like as a result of these choices  eg.   choose your difficulty (user picks hard)  choose your character (user picks angry)  GAME OVER > Your life may be harder to manoeuvre when trying to deal with every day problems you can face. Want to try again?   > Posters on their own work well as the foundation and direction of aesthetic for website  > Could be used later on as physical and digital publicity and as add ons for the website  > Want to present its digital sphere, 3D spinning poster? > Animation of different coloured textures in each poster?  > Added glow onto poster to enhance the ethereal tone, which is good for creating a sense of new life or something real and changing within a digital space > Used...

Unlike Preternatural, this collaboration was less developed and finished than I would've hoped. Unfortunately with the time frames of the designers, then photography, then editing and then designing it all cut too close to Rhianna's deadline. We are both looking to develop and finish this project after uni, especially EX1RTH by June 5th as the designers want to show it to Hunger Magazine and iD Magazine, which is a really good opportunity to showcase my work as well. As a team Rhianna and I again proved our working relationship is great and we were both able to inspire and rely on each other during the stress of deadlines while trying to complete some of this project. I think what I managed for the time frame is good but could have been better, and am aware there are definitely refinements that can be made for the first book designed book. Once we had both agreed that only one should be designed and the other laid out in a more simple way, this made it much less stressful. Howe...

Overall the website design is very successful in presenting my practice. It reflects my aesthetic without being too complicated and showcases my projects clearly and in an interesting flowing way, just as the sites I was inspired by through my research. As a result, my work looks professional and my practice feels developed, enough for me to feel confident in making my presence as a designer more known. To do this I need to keep the momentum which I have had throughout this year, including in the talks and workshops I've been attended, which have been really helpful in helping me see if there are any areas outside of my realm of knowledge I could be interested in. The talks have also been really helpful for having any worries about the future and how to get into industry quelled, and to see that my thoughts are shared by a lot of people in design, such as imposter syndrome. Alongside making more of an effort to engage with talks and other areas, investing in the Creative Review, St...

 COVER DEVELOPMENT  > Covers of both publications need to be cohesive together, but distinctive between their two different tones and colours  > Main colour tones within second publication = purple and pinks = This should be main colour of cover, and works well with the bright green as the first publication's main colour  > Adding in cracked earth texture instead of water to reflect the earthy images inside hasn't worked  > Different levels of light and opacity within water texture image is what works well overlaid on photos, whereas this hasn't translated in the same way with the dirt image  > Image on publication one also more distorted, tried to replicate a sense of this by duplicating this image and layering it above, makes it feel more alien  > Use of water texture works better, but water texture that is more earth like and condensed waves rather than soft water light forms to reflect the different tone  > Layer styles on...

 > With minimal time and her needing to present her work in publication format, simple approach taken  > Matching up images and placing them in simple ways to best elevate her images  > Cover concept: Also distorted effect same as EX1RTH, use mirrored image from this publication but utilise dirt, more terrain effect rather than milky water to reflect this publication tone  > Content page made the same for consistency between both publications, brings together two books on same concept of GAIA EXRTH > Change this to EX2RTH  > Make colour different ? Reflect purple tones in this publication, bright green for other  > Consistency and mirroring will come from treatment of images by tone of text, subject and covers  > Rhianna: Change third image to face on photo? > Not as compositionally balanced > Zoom into third woman's face to create consistency, also need Rhianna to change background colour of images to brighter white of le...

> Additional images Rhianna wants to add in  > Despite my argument that it feels repetitive and under values the images, we agreed that this could be discussed after the deadline as she needs as many images as possible for her submission  > As this is close to the deadline these are going to be added in a simple way, with utilising the simplicity of full bleed spreads and simple text and stroke rounded rectangle details  > Sense of dimension through the use of these stroke shapes and cutting it around the model in the image  > Idea of key words from GAIA replicated here and use of content aware fill to extend the photo to create it into a full bleed spread  > Makes the clothing feel like a landscape in the background, emphasising how these women depicted are messages a about GAIA and are a connection with the planet and its nature  > Added in text for graphic detail  > Sense of distortion and perspective works well in ...

> Separation of the initial very experimental pages design to spread out the already made graphics across the publication  > Also means the two spreads will work better with the more simple designs, as having the initial designs put with the more simple ones would feel inconsistent as a submission  > Strong powerful images that can be made into simple full bleed spreads  > Could use additional graphics, perhaps a rounded box around her? Small amount of vertical text on edges? > Another spread that uses the pulled apart initial experimental design spread  > Playing around with the photos when there are a lot of the same type of image that Rhianna wants including  > Have to find ways that doesn't make them feel repetitive and boring, or make them feel less impactful and interesting as the viewer looks at them more  > Inspired by the David Benski use of paint tool in his publication, this also works well with the stroke and drop shadow ...