Evaluation
What design brief did you choose and why?
Well, I didn't really have a choice, but the brief was to design and make some sort of artefact based around the idea of natural forms. I chose this because, well, I had to do it and I didn't have any other choice, unless there was another brief that I've forgotten about. Natural forms seems like a rather flexible topic, as long as it's all got something to do with nature then it's okay - I chose to design the packaging for a video game about vegetables at war, which seems to be going rather well.
What type of research have you done? Where did you look for it? Were there any difficulties?
I did quite a bit of reasearch on the nature of advertisements involving animals and fruits or vegetables. This was a bit tricky, but I managed to get enough research from the internet, a museum of advertising and packaging and one or two books. Most of the research is from the internet, because it was all I had at the time. There were a few difficulties, as many articles on the internet are generally rather short and the images are low resolution, which was a bit of a disappointment. I couldn't really bring anything home from the museum due to there being nothing for me to take and I forgot to bring a camera, and I couldn't really find that many books on advertisement.
Which artists/designers work have you looked at? Has it helped to give you ideas?
I'm afraid to say that I didn't really look at certain artists, but actual styles. I looked at the fifties style quite a bit, which gave me lots of ideas on how to do things, what they should look like, where those things should be, what colours they need to be, etc... I like the fifties style because it's quite simple, yet sophisticated. It's got something about it which makes it effortless cool.
How could you improve the research section of your project?
By doing more research, looking for artists who've done lots of fifties style artwork and just generally not being so much of a slacker.
Where did you get your ideas from?
I'm unsure, but it's a mixture of my imagination and old useless tat nobody wants anymore. When I try to think of ideas, I tend to just use my formula; subject + insane plot + theme = idea. (this would be nature + epic wars + fifties = my final piece) I then take that idea and try to make sense of it.
Some of my ideas came from my research, such as the idea of using game packaging as an advert in itself and the fifties theme.
What did you find difficult about designing?
Not much really, I can quite easily go about designing things. I would say that the hardest part of designing something would be to turn rough ideas into neat and tidy presentable pieces of work. That lets me down quite a lot.
What do you think about your work? How could it be improved?
I think my work is rather good - it's not perfect, but what is? I think that there could be some things added to it, but I'm unsure as to what. It's quite strange, but there's something I'd like to put onto it that would make me happy with it but it's just not there.
(DRAW SEQUENCE DIAGRAM SHOWING THE MAIN STAGES IN MAKING YOUR PROJECT)
What was the most difficult part of making your project? What were the main difficulties and how did you overcome them?
Well, I wouldn't call it difficult, just irritating, but the paintbrushes don't go small enough and they don't hold as much paint as larger ones! I'd love to have worked on a bigger scale maybe, but I don't want to take up huge amounts of space trying to paint it, or paint, for that matter. I didn't really overcome any of it, I jut have to put up with it, sadly.
What do you think of your final project piece? What changes could be made to improve it?
I'm relatively happy with it, but not totally satisfied. I feel like it needs something extra, but I don't know what. I might have to experiment somehow, maybe try doing little sketches to see what it would look like.
What have you learned from looking at the work of others?
That other people's work is always better than yours, and that trying to copy will never be good as humans are not Xerox machines. I sometimes find other people's work to be better than mine, which usually it is, and then look at all the negative points about my work. It's a shame really, for some reason the harshest critic is usually the artist themselves.