OUGD502 Studio Brief 01 - A Creative Strategy

Studio Brief 01 - A Creative Strategy

PART 1
Collect, categorise and reflect on a body of investigative research, creative references and responses to set tasks in the form of your PPP blog. You should make regular posts to your blog that demonstrate an increasingly individual/independent exploration of graphic design, the broader creative industries and general visual culture. You should use this brief as a starting point for the development of an increasingly informed understanding of the nature of contemporary graphic design practices and their role in our local, national and international culture

You will need to maintain an ongoing evaluation of your individual progress in Level 05 of the programme by regularly reflecting on what you have learned, how you have developed and how this relates to your own creative ambitions. As part of this process you should post copies of each End of Module Self-evaluation to your blog in order to maintain an ongoing record of your reflective skills and analytical responses to your own development.


Study tasks will be set and you will need to record your responses to them but you should use them as a starting point for your own independent research activities.

PART 2

Produce and present a 10 minute Powerpoint/pdf or similar presentation that reflects on your experience & response to the PPP and Responsive modules. You should aim to understand who you are as a learner and an graphic designer as well as how the things you have experienced over the past nine months have affected your current aims and ambitions. You should also identify creative concerns, personal aims and professional ambitions that you intend to explore further over the Summer and during Level 6 of the programme

Considerations:

We are not asking you to simply produce a scrapbook of images or a day-to-day diary of what you have seen/where you have been. Keep your reference broad by searching out new and interesting connections.

Take the opportunity to attend lectures, events and exhibitions. Organise study visits to studios, galleries etc. and remember to record and reflect on all that you see.


Set time aside on a regular basis to reflect on the work you have produced and its relation to your emerging creative interests and areas of individual focus.

Requirements:

Your presentation should last 10 minutes (you will be penalised for a presentation that is shorter or longer than this).
Although the content, tone and conclusions of this reflective process should reflect your own experiences, personality and ambitions, you should aim to focus on the learning journey through the PPP and Responsive modules and how this has informed the decisions that you are making about your future. To this end you should use examples of your own work, creative skills and interest in the contemporary field of graphics & design as part of your presentation.

You should be prepared to answer questions on your presentation posed by your colleagues.
Responses to this task should be recorded on your PPP Blog and should be labelled with the module code and appropriate 'Studio Brief Number'.
Please note that it is your responsibility to ensure that all work for this brief has been presented and labelled in line with these guidelines by the submission deadline. Work that is incorrectly labelled, posted to the wrong blog or is in anyway unclear or inaccessible will not be assessed

You should ensure that any material, discussions and reflections generated during taught sessions, workshop and group critiques are evidenced for assessment.

Deliverables:

- 1 x 10 minute Powerpoint/ pdf  presentation.

- Evidence of critical and reflective engagement with personally relevant contemporary graphic design and responses to set tasks in the form of a blog.

- Assessed Presentations W/C 08 / 05 / 2017

OUGD502 Module Overview

Module Aims:

• To develop an integrated understanding of the practical and professional concerns of individual creative practices.
• To encourage an investigation of the personal, professional, innovative and entrepreneurial aspects of external creative industries and communities of practice.
• To establish an increasingly independent understanding of the practical and contextual location of individual creative ambitions through sustained approaches to research and investigation.
• To develop higher level communication skills through programme specific practical and contextual research, development and presentation.

Brief:

It is important to see this brief as starting point for an ongoing and increasingly individual/independent enquiry that underpins your studio practice. Your approach to this brief in relation to the rest of your work. should be distinct enough to allow for a sufficient level of objective reflection but integrated enough to maintain relevance to your practical work. The brief is in two parts that will run concurrently throughout the year.

1. CREATIVE BRIEF

2. DESIGN STRATEGY PRESENTATIONS

Both of these elements should be seen as interrelated and reflect a growing independence and ability to make decisions from an increasingly informed position. You will be briefed separately on each element. It is important that you keep your PPP blog up to date as they will offer yourself, your peers and the programme team an insight into your individual progress and ambitions.

You will be expected to thoroughly research design companies and agencies in order to gain an understanding of contemporary design business and how this relates to your own practice.

Evidence for Submission:

1. PPP BLOG demonstrating a range of approaches to sourcing, analysing and evaluating a breadth of professional/industrial research appropriate to the development of your practical work and professional ambitions. Your PPP Blog should provide a thorough, consistent and organised record of your research into contemporary creative practice, professional concerns and issues relating to your own practice in its relationship to the wider design industry. The blog posts for this module also have to be submitted as a PDF.

2. REPORT demonstrating your ability to identify, research and present a successful overview of a practitioner and their own route into industry that incorporates material drawn from your own interview process. This can be printed or submitted as a digital project. Give consideration to how this is visually supported and how the design itself may communicate the essence of the interviewee and/or the content of the interview.

3. ORAL PRESENTATION AND INDIVIDUAL DESIGN PRESENCE demonstrating your ability to communicate reflective observations on your own work and design practice/brand in relation to appropriate professional contexts and practices. This may be presented with Powerpoint, as a PDF and/or alongside other supporting material.

OUGD502 Last years challenges

Last years challenges:

Sharing my ideas
Last year I found it hard to share my ideas with my peers, I think this was because I was overwhelmed with how talented people on the course are. I preferred smaller groups to larger crit groups as it didn't feel as intimidating, making me more relaxed. I have noticed within second year that I am still struggling with this problem, i'll rush through what I'm saying or won't get to say everything that I wanted to. This is definitely something that I need to try and gain more confidence with, as it will have an impact on my work, I might not get the feedback that I need to develop as a designer. To improve in these situations I just need to keep pushing myself into them and be clear, point by point what it is I need to talk about.

Presentations
Whether it's individually or in a group this is something that I really struggled with and my nerves are extremely obvious. I think it might be the action of getting up and standing in front of everyone, it's usually when all eyes are on me. Last year for the PPP presentation I asked to go into a smaller group as I didn't feel confident to present to more than a couple of people. Next time I'm going to try and make myself more at ease, going over my presentation and practicing really helps me so that I don't freeze up. I am going to try and look into presentation skills more by watching other peoples such as TED talks. I could also look at tips online and in books.

Workload jump
The shift from an art and foundation to a graphic design degree seemed quite substantial, and I initially felt overwhelmed. As the first year went on it gradually did improve, but I still felt like I could have been better organised and prepared for dealing with different deadlines all at the same time. This year time management needs to be really kept in check to keep on top of a heavy workload. I intend to plan out my time week by week so that I am motivated and know what needs to be done, instead of being lost under a mountain of work where I don't know where to start.

Using the design programs
As I come from a fine art background I haven't much skill on the design programs. I have noticed where this has limited and impacted my work last year, slowing my down. I need to try and watch tutorials and go to tutors when I am stuck so that I start to slowly get to grips with things.