404 Evaluation

Overall

Throughout this module I have learnt an awful lot, some not directly from the teaching of the module but from other module's and reading around the subject more; I am a more aware designer contextually and where skills are concerned. One of the areas I have improved the most on is layout, when I look back to the first design boards I created for 403, the layout is all over the place, I clearly didn't use a grid and the images and text are posted wherever they fit. Since then I have learnt how essential a grid is even for the simplest of documents, it keeps everything together and creates structure - it also helps with typographic hierarchy. I have also learnt a lot about typography, in terms of the terminology and how to use leading, kerning and tracking effectively dependent on the requirements. I also enjoy using regular, bold, italic etc to differentiate between information rather than using multiple different typefaces.

Penguin Books

When the deadline for this module was extended I knew the task I had to focus on making better was the penguin books. Although I used the Marber grid for two of the original designs, they were poor and didn't show my skills today, I wanted to keep them on my blog to show my progress however couldn't bring myself to submit them. I used some of the illustrations from the original designs, the most successful design for 'The Great Gatsby' and created similar concepts for the other two books. Also taking inspiration for the types of colours I had originally used it was  a development process. This is something else I have learnt over the course of the module, there must be a tonne of development as the first design will never be the best you can produce; sometimes coming away from it and back a few days later can help you realise this - as well as having critiques for a fresh set of eyes to give feedback. I am now happy with my final designs and believe they look part of a set thanks to the use of colour, font and type of illustration/pattern.

V&A Poster

This I feel was the most successful of the tasks as it combines all of the principles we are to think about - the choice of colour to match the website, the typeface to contrast with the old illustrations and be easy to read, the pairing together of vital information (V&A Logo) and illustration, a long with the essential copy for people to know what it is for. I had a lot of development work for this poster, some of them only being minor changes however they are all relevant and made it what it is now. Research was used to develop this design as well, looking at previous V&A poster designs for fashion exhibitions really helped me to understand the message V&A want to deliver with their design.

Pantone Booklet

If I had more time I would perhaps print this booklet in a more professional manner down in the digital print resource however it was fully booked up until past the deadline, and I felt that what I had already produced showed successfully what I was trying to achieve - it could be called a mockup. Something I would change in the design on the booklet would be to keep the text width the same throughout each page as it is different in some areas, being consistent with text size and paragraph alignment is something I have learnt throughout the course of this module. As well as keeping the text the same I would consider more carefully the placement of the images so that the overall layout doesn't feel messy. I am happy with the stock used within the booklet however would reconsider the use of the tracing paper, perhaps acetate would be a better alternative as that wouldn't become dirty looking. I would also reconsider the leading in the title as it overlaps in an unpleasant way. I have learnt the most since completing this design, you can see my improvements in some of the examples from design boards as well as the redone penguin books and exhibition poster.