Identify 5 reasons why you chose to study on this programme.
- Whilst in the process of choosing a university i wanted to study at i went to a ucas convention showing where you could basically speak to representatives from each university in the UK where the told you about the courses and the facilities that they have, before going their i had never actually heard of leeds college of art however the woman that i spoke pretty much said it would be the best course for me, told me about the reprotation the course has and the facilities which instantly got me interested.
- After coming home from the ucas convention i began researching the course more, looking at the level of work produced by students, which i saw to be a much higher level than other courses i had looked at, also the general style of work produced by students was really nice all design driven, ready for the industry.
- My old course tutor told me how big graphic design and art was in leeds, made it sound like if you wanted to study graphic design leeds was the place to be, therefore i applied for the graphic design course at leeds met and college of arts, i even foolishly applied for vis com at college of arts. Leeds is also i really nice city which i had been to quite a few times previously and always had nice experiences their so it was the place i definitely wanted to spend the next 3 years of my life.
- By the end of looking at universities it was a toss up between leeds met and leeds college of arts, however luckily i cocked up my leeds met interview by actually applying for the wrong course, i applied for garden design instead of graphic design.. somehow. Got an interview for garden design though, even though i had a graphic design based personal statement, maybe i should of gone to it and pursued my a gardening carear, how can you even get a degree in gardening anyway? It was actually quite a blessing applying for the wrong course because i think if i got on at leeds met i would of gone and looking back and seeing the work produced by that course and how the course is run it is no where near as good as leeds college of art.
- Finally i had to decide between the vis com course and the graphic design course, i was interested in vis com because i have always worked in an illustrative style and wanted to be an illustrator and apparently the vis com course would be quite good for that. However the way the course is ran didn't seem as focused on becoming a graphic designer and ready for industry as the graphic design course, also the work produced on the graphic design course seem to be at a much higher level than the vis com course.
Identify and explain 5 things that you want to learn during your time on the programme.
- One of the things that i feel is my weakness within my design work is Type and layout, being interested in illustration i always leave type and type layout to one side and focus mainly on image, although learning allot about type throughout first year i still dont feel like i am fully aware of the capabilities type and layout can have to a design so hopefully i will improve upon this throughout the course. Throughout out this year i am going to focus more on type and layout for my projects instead of just drawing silly illustrations, hopefully to build up my knowledge and improve my skills. For the first brief i have chose to focus on minimal editorial where i aim to produce a book filled with minimal type and layout work, hopefully getting me started in the wright direction.
- One thing i feel i need to learn/find is an overal unique style of working, an illustrative style which is unique to me and instantly recognisable as my work, throughout each brief i have been toying around working in different styles each time, i think i just need to find a style that i am happy with and focus on that, developing it also producing personal work drawings and illustrations that i put out their to get my name known. Try to do some commissioned work around leeds so people start to actually see my work and become interested in me as an illustrator.
- Time management, one thing that am really bad at is time management, im far too lazy. I need to start spending my time either doing my uni work or practising drawing and illustration to get me ready for industry.
- Learn more about the print process in order to maximise the full potential of my work, last year pretty much everything i created was printed digitally whereas now i feel i need to experiment with other print methods to really make my work stand out and to create a unique piece of work.
- Another thing i need to learn and work on is my organisation skills, im constantly falling behind or getting stuck with work because i cant seem to organise myself. Everything gets left till the last minute and rushed, i feel that if i am able to sort this out asap my overall grade and work will definitely improve dramatically.
- Quark express, really would like to learn how to use this software, Graham explained how it was so much better than the adobe software for create things such as type and i feel it would be really useful to start using this.
Identify and explain 5 skills that you think are your strengths.
- Software skills, i am fairly clued up on most of the design software, i've been using programmes such as illustrator, indesign and photoshop since school so im quite confident on them.
- Illustration, pretty much all of my work is illustrative based, i feel my drawing skills and illustrative skills are definitely one of my strengths however can still be improved, still need to find that style which will help me stand out from everyone else.
- Idea generation, one thing which i never really get stuck on is ideas, i try to make work which never is really serious taking a humorous approach which is something i feel i am quite strong at doing, being able to come up with tons of ideas on how to tackle a brief, however this year i would like to make more serious work, making less silly illustrations and more hard crisp type and image pieces.
- Even though having pretty bad time management and organisation, one of my skills is that once i get started on something i am very committed to finishing it, very motivated, once starting a design or an idea i have i can sit on illustrator none stop for hours and hours until i am happy with how it looks.
- Crits, another one of my skills is being critical, i feel that i am quite good at observing other peoples work and giving them constructive ways to improve it.
Identify and explain 5 things that you want to improve.
improvements, i think i have already outlined most of the things that i need to improve on.
- Time managements
- organisation
- type and layout skill and knowledge
- Even though i feel my illustration skills are quite strong they can still definitely be improved, i need to sit down and sketch and sketch and sketch until i find an illustrations style that is unique to me and i feel works really well.
- knowledge of graphic design.
Identify and explain 5 ways that you will evaluate your progress.
- documenting my work via blogger, so it is accessible you can reflect upon it.
- being honest with my self, am i working to the best of my abilities am i actually happy with what i have produced and does it actually work.
- Criticism, asking piers for constructive criticism, what works and what doesn't within my design, showing other people your work because they will be able to spot mistakes and improvements which you might necessarily see.
- Tutor feedback, be more interactive with the tutors, asking them for guidance where needed and to see if im heading in the right direction.
- Get my work out in the real world.
Identify 5 questions that you want to find the answer to.
- Where do i stand in relation to being ready for industry, selling work, working to commissions.
- How to improve my style and designs, and where can i take my design work.
- How do i get my work out their into the real word?
- How can incorporate illustration within the industry standard of graphic design that is out their?
- How to motivate myself to produce more work and be more successful on the course?
