OUGD102 - Self Evaluation

1. What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?


I think that the main skill that  have developed is to look through research and identify the research that is appropriate and understand how to take that forward. I think that I did a lot of research during this module and have realised that although it might be interesting or informative it might just not be useful or appropriate to the brief or the direction that I am taking the brief in. 
I have also learned to understand that the link between the research, development and resolution is important and each part has to have a strong link to the next for the resolution to work effectively. 
When we started the final part of the collection 100 brief I was thinking about producing skateboard deck designs as a solution. Looking over my research and development so far I eventually realised that a series of 100 skateboard decks was not an appropriate resolution. There was no research to suggest that designing 100 skateboard deck graphics would solve any problem and actually there were no problems that I could even relate skateboard decks to. Trying to go in a direction that I wanted to instead of needed to was a waste of time because I spent too long thinking about an unnecessary resolution and then had to rethink the whole thing anyway. 


In terms of physical skills I have developed my crafting skill a lot since the beginning of the module. The book binding workshop was really helpful in showing how crafting detail and the quality of the finished product is really important in making the product as good as it can be. I usually have issues with making marks on final prints and when gluing is involved I almost always make the work look messy and leave marks. This showed a lot in the prototype resolution of the collection 100 brief and this was mainly an issue with the stock. I only tested the colours on the stock and not the thickness of the stock itself, so when it came to folding and gluing then a lot of the measurements were out by a few millimeters and caused the whole product to be thicker and not fit together as well. When it came to gluing parts together it was really difficult to make things line up and the end result was a total mess.
When I remade the product I used a much thinner stock and was really careful in the crafting of it. I think it really shows that the final resolution is much better quality than the prototype. 

2. What approaches to/methods of research have you developed and how have they informed your design development process? In the What If... brief it was made really obvious that research is one of the most important parts of solving a brief. If you can get as much research as possible covering all different types and kinds of research then you can analyze the whole thing and find patterns and issues within the bulk of research which you can take forward and specify more and more towards a solution. Primary research is probably the most important and useful kind of research. Primary research is always correct and there can be no doubt of the source. Primary research can be totally controlled exactly the way you want it so the results that you get will always be useful. I used Quantitative research to make statistics. Examples of this are things like during the Collection 100 brief when I got percentages of peoples opinions by asking a yes/no question. Quantitative is kind of like a broad method of research used to gather an overall understanding of something. Qualitative is the exact opposite and is useful for being specific and understanding  exactly why the statistics show what they do. I used this again in the Collection 100 brief by asking open ended questions which gave a much longer answer and showed people's personal opinions and experience on the topic of skateboarding. We also used qualitative research in the What If... brief by asking open ended questions in the online survey and by calling the Crypt homeless shelter and asking questions directly over the phone. Secondary research has definitely had it's uses in this module as well. Using qualitative and quantitative secondary research is almost like a basis for conducting your own research. By finding existing research you can see patterns and issues that other people have researched and then conduct your own research along those lines to make it reliable. 3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these? The strengths in my work during this module were mostly around the use of design software. I used Photoshop and Illustrator quite a lot over the briefs and I think I am becoming really good at using different aspects of the programs properly and appropriately. Another strength in my work during this module was my time management and the quantity of work produced. I could tell myself just by the amount of work that I was producing each day that I was working a lot better and getting a lot more done in a specific time. Looking over my sketchbook and the regularity and detail of my blog posts I can see that I have produced a lot of work which I am actually really surprised and pleased about. I have always been more into quality than quantity but I think I'm really balancing both and keeping them at a high standard. Other strengths would be decision making and crafting skill which I can see have improved over a short space of time. I have learned to make decisions quickly and not spend too long in wondering where to go next and just keep on working to get the best result. My crafting skill has definitely got better with the help of book binding and taking care in cutting precisely and making sure that any gluing doesn't leave dirty marks or patches. 4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these more fully? My most obvious weakness that I can see is that I need to spend more time thinking about the production of the resolution. I have managed to make sure that I have a lot of development and given myself enough time to design an appropriate resolution but I keep making mistakes when it comes to printing and refining the final resolution. In the instance of the collection 100 resolution it was the printing and the stock that I had not thought about enough. Because the poster needed to be folded four times it had to be a thin stock. I focussed too much on the quality of the print that I didn't think about the stock thickness and it spoilt ever layer of the resolution from that point because it affected all of my measurements. Another weakness that I notice is working with colour, but I think that I am getting better at this. Sometimes I find it really difficult to choose appropriate colours and make them work together but through trial and error I am learning to work with colour a lot more effectively. 5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these? - Give myself more time to deal with issues in the production of my resolutions to make sure that they are the highest quality possible. - Make sure that I have thought about each part of the resolution including the stock that I use to make sure there are no problems with the resolution. - Think about how the resolution would have a place in the outside world (e.g. product branding, distribution etc). This module made me realise that it is important to put the resolution into context within the world outside of the course. - Do more research into similar design as well as just the topics. I focussed a lot more on the subject than design based on the subject. Existing design could really help to influence my design decisions. - Make a time plan to help show me what has to be done by a specific day or date. This should help me keep on top of my work and give me enough time to deal with every aspect of it as best as I can. 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 Attendance = 5 Punctuality = 5 Motivation = 4 Commitment = 4 Quantity of work produced = 4 Quality of work produced = 3 Contribution to the group = 4

Collection 100... Rational

Product & Promotion/ Product & Packaging/ Product & Distribution.
Why have you made this decision?





Who is the audience and how do you intend to engage with them?

Either skateboarders and people actively involed in skateboarding (most likely teens between about 12 and 18) or people who are very anti-skateboarding depending on which route i take

What is the function of the product - is it supposed to inform/ educate/ document/ entertain/ instruct? What has informed this decision?

Either to inform or to instruct. To inform I would be informing/persuading anti-skateboarders that it is not a bad thing and that there is no reason to be anti skateboarding. To instruct I would be instructing/persuading skateboarders to be safer (although statistically it is not as dangerous as other sports, any danger in a sport should be avoided and it can easily be with skateboarding)

How will the audience interact with the product?

Collection 100. Research Proposal

My Subject matter is:

Skateboarding.

Possible categories will include:

The parts of the skateboard (wheels, trucks, deck etc), Parks for skateboarding, ramps, rails, flat banks, Price of parts, quality, size, weight, durability, associated clothing, shoes.

Research Processes will include:

Visiting skateparks to find ramps, rails, other skaters and their skateboards.

Visiting skateboarding shops.

Using my own skateboard for parts.

How will you research?

Primary Sources: Visiting parks, talking to other skateboarders,

visiting shops, using my own skateboard.

Secondary Sources: Using internet shops such as routeone.co.uk, watching skateboarding videos, finding skateboarding reviews, looking through skateboard magazines and catalogues.

Who/Where will you research?

Primary Sources: Other skateboarders, skate parks, skate shops and at home

Secondary Sources: Other skateboarders reviews, online skateboarding stores, skating catalogues and skate video websites and examples.

What If... Self Evaluation

What problem did you identify?

As a group, we identified what we thought was the most important problem regarding rough sleepers. This problem was that rough sleepers are unaware of the nearest homeless medical centres.

What evidence did you find to support your decisions?

As a group we had a lot of research to support this problem. For example, we found that the life expectancy of someone sleeping rough is only half the average life expectancy of the country. We also had research regarding drug abuse and death caused by drugs. In the last eight weeks we found that there were 4 drug related deaths among rough sleepers and as many as 48 when going back 12 months.
My personal research was less relevant to this specific topic. I found some information to support the problem in the PDF report which showed the main reasons for homelessness and included drug and alcohol abuse as one of the most prominent. However, most of my research was based around the things that already exist for rough sleepers such as support, charities, accommodation and council support to see what things work well and what things don't.

What methods did you use to gather your evidence and what forms did it take?

My individual research was a mixture of secondary qualitative and quantitative research. My research was almost entirely based on the internet which is often frowned upon. I know that the internet has many flaws when used for research but I re-checked and referenced most of my information to make sure it was backed up by similar information. Although this is still not at all 100% reliable it does make it much more likely to be correct information and makes me happier to reference it and use it as research. I had a piece of secondary qualitative research that was gathered from the Leeds.gov website. It is the official council website that gives information on what they do to help the homeless.
Another piece of research was the PDF report on homeless from 2002 to 2006. Reading through the report and analysing it was secondary qualitative and finding and recording the facts and figures was an example of secondary quantitative research.
Other secondary qualitative research included finding information about charities and homeless organisations, accommodation for the homeless and support for other psychological and physical illnesses.

Late on in the project I was lucky enough to get some primary qualitative research by talking in person to a rough sleeper near millennium square. I discussed my project and research with him and asked if he was comfortable to answer my questions and then continued to go into more depth of the project and ask a few questions about his experience with the health system for homeless people. This research was completely based around the chosen problem because it was later through the brief, but it definitely turned out to be useful and I knew I could trust the source and his answers .

What methods of research did you find useful and why?

Each method of research is useful for different reasons. I used secondary research as my main type of research and this is easily the least useful between it and primary. Fortunately the group was split between gathering primary and secondary so most information could be backed up or replaced by a useful primary source. Qualitative and quantitative secondary research are pretty similar in reliability, but at least with qualitative research you are able to analyse and make opinions of the research. With quantitative research there is no room for change or opinion, it is just as it is. Although these forms of research have their downfalls, they are definitely still a credible source. Even if the information they hold is false or misguided, they are almost always based on some fact which if researched more is a good link to other aspects of the subject. In fact secondary research can create many links to other important information and the more that there is the better. I think that my secondary research did well in creating these links and furthering my research a lot.

Primary research is definitely the most reliable and most useful type of research. There is no doubt about the validity of the research and whether a person was lying or the evidence is not 100% true, it is definitely 100% as true as you can possibly get from your first hand research. Although primary research is useful, it is always possible to misinterpret what information is being given to you. More importantly, primary research may throw up a lot of blocks in the way of progressing the research and may stunt your ability to create more links to other aspects but at least the research is genuine and factual.

How did these inform your response to the problem?

Secondary research was almost a basis for more relaible research. The qualitative research gave us an idea of what things were happening and what things were not happeneing and the quantitative research was the facts and figures to back it up or even give us an idea of other aspects that needed to be looked at. The primary research was a completely truthful and relable source that was evidence of exactly the points that we were interested in or were trying to prove with further support.

What methods did you encounter as problematic?

The most problematic research was secondary research. Primary research was entirely useful because of its reliability. The secondary research had no basis of fact because I could have found it anywhere. In fact I could have written it myself and on the internet and posted it on a website with no links to any factuality or evidence that the research was true at all.
I found the secondary research from the council PDF report the most dificult to understand because of the way they structured sentences and used language and because of the way they represented their graphs in a completely biased way. It was proof that either the creators of the document did it incredibly poorly or that they were incredibly biased and manipulatd the graph and the data to show what they wanted it to show. It was complete evidence of how secondary research can be incredibly useless as research and how primary research can always be understood as reliable, whether it supports your current research or not.

How did you overcome this?

The best way to overcome the problem of secondary research being unreliable is to double or triple check it with other secondary sources that relate directly to the original. If a subject has been written or discussed 3 times it is much more likely to be true or to at least have many aspects that are true between the 3 sources. This is one way to assume that the secondary research is probably mostly correct. The only other way to beat the problem is to to attempt th research in terms of secondary research. It would often be difficult to do this depending on how complicated the original secondary research is but it is likely that there is a similar, smaller scale type of primary research that relates to the sam etopic and would give you a similar response.

What research could you have carried out that would have proved more useful?

It would have been much more useful to have focussed on research relating to our problem from the beggining. I would conduct a large amount of secondary research into the subject to begin with. Secondary research is much eaiser than primary research because it takes almost no time at all to find and primary reserach in comparison takes a long time to plan and conduct and then understand. The secondary research would also help to gather a bigger range of information to see what is relevant or irrelevant and then could be narrowed down into certain aspects to be investigated through primary research. The primary research could then be used to back up the secondary research and prove that the information is genuine.

List five things you have learnt about the design process over the last two weeks.

1. I have learnt that idea generation is definitely increased and made much clearer through group work. The overall group can generate ideas really quickly and define them really well whereas the individual might not immediately pick up on things that do or do not work in the idea. It is definitely useful to gain outside perpective on an idea to realise how other people view it.
2. The reserch of the problem is literally 70% of the answer too. Unless the proper research is done then the resolution will mean nothing in terms of the original problem and could easily turn out to be no solution at all.
3. Sometimes it can be easy to over complicate design when trying to come up with a solution to the extent that the solution is not relevant anymore. In the past I have definitely always tried to make my design as graphically and aesthetically pleasing as possible. I have learnd that this isn't always a good idea, especially when dealing with audience. If we had created a fancy design in a highly script based font with 10 different colours then the message would not be as simple as is intended and the message could easily be lost. using two simple colours which together have connotations of a hospital together with a plain easily readable font and language I think we created a really effective method of conveying the message to our target audience.
4. I have also learned that you cannot always assume that the average normal design processes are the correct answer to the problem. the typical ways of solving a problem such as posters, leafters, adverts etc. are not always the way to solve a problem. Sometimes a different, simpler approach can solve the same problem in a much more effective way. I have definitely learnt that we should always think of all the ways that one idea can be actually produced before deciding on one.
5. One of the most important things that I have learned is that you have to understand and specify the problem before moving on. There is absolutely no point in coming up with ideas for a resoluition when the problem is too vague or just no where near defined enough. Without the final problem 100% clearly defined, there is no way to move on or else the decisions and other aspects of design wil change accordingly. There has to be one finally fixed specific issue or the research and idea development could become completely irrelevant.

List five things you would do differently next time.

1. Develop the final idea further. I think that it is a really good start to solving the problem but there could be a lot more added to the resolution to make it even more effective. Rather than adding to the resolution itself (the stencil), There could be other types of stencils to give the whole campaign a bit more range and they could have an element the same in each to make them all identifiable as a series (for example, the + sign instead of a T). The project could easily be extended to incorporate different needs of homeless people and different places to go to to receive help and support.

2. Generate some more ideas before taking the final idea and developing the resolution. We found it really hard to come up with many good starting points, so when the idea of a stencil came up we took it on board quite quickly. I don't think that any of us regret this because the brief turned out to work really well, but we could have easily missed a starting idea that was even better.

3. Keep the research up to date and relative. I found it difficult to keep up at some points when my research was going off track and spanning into other problems so I will have to try and concentrate on being specific to the issue.

4. Try to manage my own sketchbook work and the work as a group. Sometime I concentrated too much on one and got a bit behind in the other but this wasn't a major issue.

5. Try to conduct more primary research myself. The majority of my research was secondary and I left it to others in the group to do the primary research, which probably turned out to be more useful.