Design Context

I have definitely developed a deeper understanding into the contextual theories of Art & Design as a whole, and feel that my writing skills have improved greatly since writing essays last year at college. I also feel that I am becoming better at strengthening my ideas, due to a lot of trial and error design choices and having to rethink my design plans. This has been applied effectively through my final publication design, which I am really proud of as it's different to a lot of work I have produced before.

2. What approaches to/methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?

My bookbinding skills have improved - I learnt how to coptic stitch (which I have done before, but with paperclay rather than actual paper) so it was interesting to learn how to stitch with single leaves of paper rather than signatures. I didn't intend on using a coptic stitch, as I originally intended to bind the double page spreads as full spreads, with possibly a simple stab stitch or maybe even with a stapler, rather than single recto and verso pages, however I enjoyed learning this alternative method of binding, even if it didn't work out amazingly well!

3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?

I have identified that I am a strong writer - I may have not altered my essay after my last bit of feedback to get a first, but I am really happy with a strong 2:1 on my essay, and know that next year I should be able to write even better with a bit more experience and support from the tutors. I have also found that working with different materials is a strong point of mine, and often leads to stronger design decisions and books that I am more proud of in the end. I also definitely feel that I am very confident in producing publications, since this particular publication is the 7th book I have made in the past year and my skills are definitely improving in this area.

4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?

I should've maybe considered the binding a bit more as the coptic stitch is a strong stitch, however tracing paper couldn't always withhold the thread used for the stitch and often ripped, which caused a lot of stress and addition of tape here and there to strengthen the bind. If I were to rebind this book in the future, I would definitely try to get it printed how I originally intended to, so that I can use a simpler bind that won't break the tracing paper pages! I have also found that I am rather too ambitious for my own good, and need to start negotiating with my own ideas so that I can come up with more achievable design choices from the get go, rather than 3 weeks before the hand in!

5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?

1. I will look at various type of book binding so that I can work out exactly what type of bind will work best with the materials that I intend to use, therefore making the binding process a hell of a lot easier!
2. I noticed that I didn't really produce any design sheets for this module, as my head was all over the place with the lack of strong ideas for weeks, so I will definitely produce more of these in the future earlier on, as I believe this could have helped me to come up with an idea much sooner.
3. I will try not to be so ambitious, in the way that my ambition gets the better of me and I give myself too much work because I'm trying to prove that I can do it, when really I should try to give myself something reasonable to work on, and show off my abilities in smaller bunches.
4. I will manage my time more effectively, so that I don't get all worried towards the end of the deadline when I've realised that I haven't booked a print slot in time and have to print the publication by myself in the studio, leaving myself a few days to cut and bind the book.
5. I found that my lecture and seminar notes maybe weren't as strong/consistent as they could have been, and will try to work on this in the future. Taking my macbook to the lectures helps as I'm a really speedy typer so will be able to type away whilst listening to the lecturer, rather than looking down whilst writing and missing half the stuff he/she says.

6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas: (please indicate using an ‘x’)  5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor
	1	2	3	4	5
Attendance					x
Punctuality					x
Motivation					x
Commitment					x
Quantity of work produced				x
Quality of work produced					x
Contribution to the group					x
The evaluation of your work is an important part of the assessment criteria and represents a percentage of the overall grade. It is essential that you give yourself enough time to complete your written evaluation fully and with appropriate depth and level of self-reflection. If you have any questions relating to the self evaluation process speak to a member of staff as soon as possible.