Visual Communication - End of Module Self Evaluation

I found Visual Communication to be a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand my technical skills and professional attitude improved drastically but on the other I really didn't enjoy the group work aspect of Studio Brief 1, which I felt harmed my input somewhat. 

The group became somewhat fractured half way through Studio Brief 1 due to differing opinions and didn’t fully recover from it. I felt this was quite unprofessional of us all in the group and we should have tried harder to prevent disagreements from affecting our work. However, it happened and we’ve since moved on. In the future I must work harder to prevent things such as this from happening as it reflects poorly on us all and was unprofessional.

On the positive side of things, my digital skills improved within the timespan of this module. We were introduced to Adobe Illustrator in Studio Brief 2 and I’ve quickly grown to love it. I really appreciate  how smooth line work can be within it. I don’t have a smooth drawing ability so to have a tool that can produce this for me is fantastic. Using Illustrator has also allowed me to work more with shape. I am beginning to really see the beauty in imagery created using shape alone. In the concept stages, by concentrating more on shape and less on finer details I was also able to produce work quicker and more confidently. This carried over into my digital process where my production rate increased greatly, largely due to a focused decision to use shape rather than worry about texture.

My increased work rate can’t be entirely put down to the technique I was using though. I made a conscious choice to work harder and have a more professional attitude after the Easter Break. This meant staying later and getting distracted less. I was able to produce finer, better-executed outcomes for Studio Brief 3 as I’d allowed myself the time and thought to do it. My improved time management also allowed me to blog more often. I feel that my documentation was already strong for this module but after Easter my blog posts increased as more work was being produced, perhaps to the point of excess. In the future I will try to limit my blog posts and work to make them more refined.

Going forward into Level 5 I intend to maintain the professional attitude that has benefitted me so greatly in the past few weeks. I also plan on continuing my work with shape - however I need to research further into different illustrators who work with shape for ideas and inspiration. It is research that is possibly the area in which I need to improve upon the most. I’ve come to find that work I produce without the foundations of strong research is my weakest. A solid research base will result in work that is well informed and more impactful. This will help me greatly in Level 5 as I begin to think more about the purpose of my work.