Design Process Project

Here it is! Finally got around to posting the final installment of the Design Process Project. 

I quite enjoyed this project as it really got me thinking about designing within a time limit. Admittedly I didn’t quite have a perfected final outcome, rather a a proposal of what the final piece may be. I spent too much time worrying and not enough time doing, which on occasion can be a problem of mine.

The day consisted of us finishing our final concepts and then walking around leaving anonymous feedback on sheets next to each workstation. I quite like this idea of feedback as everyone gets a chance to look at each others work, and leave constructive criticism  without the pressure of preparing a presentation.

Last week was a lot of work, what with having to do the project proposal presentation the day before, I feel that I got some positive experience from it.

These are my final pieces consisting of a layout idea, and a rough mock up of what the final piece may have looked like. 

The concept for the cover was the advancement of the prosthetic limb. Originally I had done a marker visual of a pirate with a peg leg as a little joke, but it seemed the concept worked well, with just one minor change of making the peg leg a robotic limb. The idea was to play on irony, and I think it spoke to the target audience of being a literary character of Long John Silver juxtaposed with scientific achievement.

The feedback i recieved from the group was:

• This idea has turned out really nicely, all I would do is put a chrome finish on the leg and change the font. Great idea!
• I like it very much, traditional painting combined with modern technology is great idea
• At one look, I didn’t notice about foot. I think you need to more strong appeal that point, because it is good idea!
• Love the concept-the layout may need some slight shifts but overall, great idea!
• Very good idea!
• Really like the final piece in colour, it’s a really simple piece to understand
• Mix’n'match ^^ nice
• Smart concept just needs polishing
•  (post it) Clear idea-well done. Good use of media (collage). Layout could be improved easily (sub-headings don’t work with illustration at the moment-it’s easy to change this!)
• A very credible concept. This stems from effective research and broad idea exploration. I agree with the post-it comments too-sort the typo out!
• Very nice idea, I prefer the coloured image, you can see the leg more easily!

I was very pleased with my feedback, it reiterated a lot of the problems I can have with type and layout sometimes, but gave some helpful advice. As is usual with me the idea is there, I just sometimes have a problem with the execution.

Design Practice Second Session

This week for the design practice project I have been working on some marker visuals for the final idea. I have given myself a choice, one of which I did as a joke but seemed to get the best repsonse! Through using this idea I am going to explore how to take it further, and make it a sounder final idea. You’ll have to wait unitl next week to see if it works!

Anywho on with the questions…

What have you learned from this session to improve your idea development for this brief?

The session began with talking our ideas in groups. Simran and Jonghsiang and I had a fairly productive morning looking through our work. After this I spoke with Peter and Stuart about my ideas. I had done marker visuals for my ideas to give a basic idea of what concepts I might use. Through this discussion I told them this is how I always worked, and it seemed to go down well.

My idea development didn’t really change with this session as I am used to doing sketches and visuals to jot down my ideas. Through the tutorial though I found out that sometimes the simplest idea can be the most effective, and this is the idea I’m going with for the final. I am going to look a little more into the concepts to make it work.

What have you learned with this session to apply to your MA research project?

I have basically learned to constantly try to develop ideas from the beginning. To begin thinking straight away allows you to develop your ideas thoroughly. I have always found the more ideas you have near the beginning, you can always go back to earlier ones if a different idea hasn’t worked when you have developed it further.

This session has given me some insight into visual development, but I have found that it is quite similar to the way I usually work but in a much smaller time frame.

Design Practice Project

Last friday we started a new 3 week mini project. Of the three choices I chose to do a cover for New Scientist magazine. The theme is to create an illustrated cover about an idea or discovery that has shaped the world we live in. My chosen theme was medicine and within this, I have decided to look at the prosthetic limb. Many people suffer amputation through various factors including disease, accidents or congenital defects. Within this theme I found out about bio-mechanics which is  the advancement of new robotic limbs that react to sensors in the body.

What have you learned from the first session to improve your ideas for the brief?

The session talked a lot about research, which is one of my  weaknesses. It has opened my eyes to a new way of researching, and I think it will prove quite beneficial. The feedback I received on my initial ideas was quite encouraging and I quite enjoyed the idea of doing initial sketches as research first. I used to do this whilst doing my BA projects and it can really just get some basic ideas flowing.

What have you learnt from this session to apply to your MA research project?

This has taught me to be constantly visualising my ideas throughout my research process. As you research you gain new information and inspiration, which can be translated in to ideas for design. Experimentation is important and the more development and ideas you can get generated early on gives you much more to work with.

Is the design process discussed similar/different to your process similar to your previous experience?

The process is quite similar as we were encouraged to generate some ideas pretty much straight away after an initial brainstorming session. It was a quicker way of working for me though as I’d usually spend a little more time researching before doing thumbnail drawings. I learnt a new style of not worrying to much about the design straight away, and just drawing what comes to mind. The research process is on going along side the design process, providing a constant partner to each other. I discovered that without research, your design  cannot evolve, but without ideas your research can lose focus.