This year I have learnt a lot more skills and techniques I didn’t in first and second year. Firstly, I will start off my reflection by writing about my first two projects at the start of the year under the professional practice unit.
For the first part, I chose the competition brief for AOI London transport museum where I really pushed my skills on illustrator. Before I started this project my skills on illustrator was quiet poor and I did not know how to use basic tools. Choosing this project in a way forced me to advance my skills on illustrator and also my drawing skills. I did this by asking for help, visiting galleries, reading up on latest trends and looking at online tutorials. At the end of this project I had gained a better understanding of illustrator and how important it is to see through something even If it is not in my comfort zone. The second part of the professional practise unit was my favourite. The Retail & Brand project was a chance for me to have another practise at branding and it was even better that it was in a real shop space. For my product I chose tea and I started to do a lot of research on existing tea companies abroad and in the UK and how they brand they business and products. I came up with a concept that had a unique selling point and would create interesting and dynamic visual concepts. I was able to get very hands on with this project and be extremely creative with my ideas and concepts.
‘All the class things” was my final major project. My project was about all the small things in class that we often see today but is hidden in the different class societies. My initial goal was to create an A0 size image containing a series of different images relating to the different classes in the UK. My information would then be organised in a way that my audience can understand the coding and key I would use. For this I had to find (through research) a deeper analysis of class that has not been used before.
My aim was to bring a new meaning to class from things like where we live, our homes, brands we own, cars we own and so on. When I first started this project I knew I wanted it to be a photography project where I went around the UK and took images of people in different social classes as well as other factors that contribute to their class. As the project advanced and I learnt a great detail more about different classes I decided to create an illustration project that will run along side my final major project. This idea came from a number of sources and mainly my aspiration to gain better skill with creating illustrations. I also did this because it was another way I could show my audience the details of class that I may have not been able to capture through photography.
In doing this project I learnt how important it is to keep on time and manage it well. Sometimes I found myself going to a location more then once because I wasn’t able to always get great shots on the first day I went to a pacific location. I found this quiet hard because I didn’t want my photographs to be staged or fixed- I wanted to capture people and things in their natural environment of the social class location it was in.
I have developed skills in photography and screen printing and also gained new knowledge about book binding, printing and editorial work through creating two books to support my final outcome along side the A0 series of images.
I would change some aspects of my experimental work where I tried to use a black and white film camera to take photographs and print them in the dark room. I would change this by giving my self more time to take a new set of photographs and get the exposure right.
Overall, I really like and have enjoyed this project. I chose it because I wanted to show my understanding of advertising and how important it is to understand people weather it is in class, gender, race or ethnicity. As an advertiser it is important to know your target audience, learn their behaviour, and adapt to their tastes. Therefore selling/ advertising a product or service to a pacific audience becomes less of a challenge. I have learnt a lot of skills this last year and really pushed my self and my idea further and I know in the future I can look back at all projects and gain inspiration from them in different ways. It may even help me in a future project I take on my own or for a business. I feel as I have significantly improved myself as a designer and I am looking forward to learning more in the future.
JULIA FW //AD DESIGN. 