Developing my Practise

It was requirement of my PPP Presentation that I discuss the responsive briefs I took part in - looking at how they each developed my practise in new ways and also opened my eyes to the kind of styles of design I wanted to explore more and pursue. 
The most useful projects which I felt the most developments were made were:

1. D&AD Monotype collab project (moving tattoos) 
2. Penguin (book cover design)
3. Papyrus (illustration for an adults colouring book) 
4. OnYerBike (504: Design for Screen - Public Bike Scheme) 

Working in a collaborative group was much more of an enjoyable experience in comparison to last year. My team fitted together perfectly bringing unique and fresh accolades to the table, and we found ourselves bouncing off one another during all team meetings and concept development sessions.
I was quick to notice how the benefit of being a team of 4 Graphic Designers meant we could all understand the specialist language and terminology from the offset, which in turn sped up the process as we could have more advanced and in-detail discussions and analysis than if we ended up working with an animator or illustrator. 
However, I think it would have been beneficial for me if I did experience what it would have been like to work with someone from a different course as it would have given me a taste of what working with external designers could be like, and I probably would have found it more of a challenge to communicate and discuss ideas due to their completely different approaches and structuring of projects. 

I did state how I wanted to improve my illustration and animation skills further, and this could have been done through working with someone who actually specialises in this and studies it strictly at uni; however I feel as I approached my group from the start with the intention of providing them with illustration/animation services it allowed me to fulfill that desire and really build my skills on my own, trying out things I haven't even considered before on After Effects - also gaining more motion design experience work for my portfolio. The clean and more professional concise touch this provided drew the whole project in my opinion, building on from just the poster and touchpoint design making it a much more elaborate and interactive tone of voice and message for the audience to be attracted to. 
In the future I plan to explore working collaboratively across more platforms, and the possibilities of working within a creative team within a close-knit studio and now know from experience the standard of work which can be produced with the right heads together.

I thoroughly enjoyed producing a quick but considered response to the Papyrus brief as it gave me the opportunity to actually produce design for a change, as well as develop my illustration skills and practise a different approach; I felt strongly about the concept of my work actually impacting someones life for the better, and I feel like my final approach to the illustration carefully considered the individual colour-er, allowing them to develop on sections which I left blank for them, e.g- inside the hut, and on the beach, etc. 

I hope the combination of a relaxed summer mindset with the trippy repeat patterns effectively satisfied what the brief was looking for and my design does get chosen and published. I effectively met the guidelines within this brief and was able to respond to the whole project within 48 hours teaching me vital lessons in how to research, idea generate, develop and reflect and then finalise and evaluate my work for a quick turn around brief - a valued skill once in industry, when working for clients who need the work publishing asap.



For my last smaller/medium brief within the responsive module I chose to respond to the Penguin Book Cover Competition, with this project I initially stated how I aimed to readdress my skills in Illustrator as it had been a long time and I desperately wanted to enhance my practise within this program/style of work. After completing the project and looking back I can confidently say how my development within this project was nothing but positive. I completely met those initial aims/objectives and was able to completely restore my skills in Illustrator after extensive experimentation - this building my confidence in my own work, and directly feeding into the other modules and projects I was working towards alongside this one. Also opening new doors of potential for my animation deign - evidenced through my interactive, vectorised ‘OnYerBike’ project for Design for Screen (where my little animation brings life, character and more of an approachable and attractive feel to the bike scheme) and also the illustrations within both my Papyrus and Monotype briefs. 

In turn, I enhanced my eye for illustration and how I can incorporate light and shadows into a vectorised approach, resulting in a sophisticated and more considered response to the brief.





I was pleased to submit the Responsive module and I thoroughly enjoyed the direct focus into the real world this module gave me. I feel as though it has developed my time management skills for next year as it has taught me valuable lessons in both contingency, but also advancing my skills within programs, allowing me to produce my considered response even more efficiently than before. 

To conclude, I do hope my submissions may provide me with some more connections and discussions with people from the industry, but this can be pushed by myself by documenting my responses on my online portfolio after the winners have been announced and then distributing it accordingly.