FMP

FMP Evaluation

This final major project has been an interesting yet different experience to what I preconceived when I signed up for the course 3 years ago. I assumed it would be one project based on a single investigation on a subject lasting for the duration of for to five months. And in truth, it was exactly that. Yet it did not feel like a single project for the five to six months, but more of an encompassing body of varied types of project resolutions and research, under a chosen theme. This allowed freedom and fulfilment throughout the stretch of the project, as I could have foreseen myself becoming fatigued from working on something as such for a long period of time.

The way in which the FMP was organised suited the way that I want to work post-graduation. It gave me the control and freedom to do the type of work that I wanted and got to do. I produced a body of work surrounding “clarity”, which is a subject that I defined within my design context section of the module. Clarity is important to graphic design, I believe it differentiates our discipline from fine art. The ability to control audience thought, as opposed to ambiguous suggestion (where in some cases, graphic designers fall into).

My original statement of intent explains how I aimed to be a useful designer, in the respect that I wanted to be versatile and able to solve problems and produce appropriate solutions, through my specialist interest in type and layout. Nothing has changed that, as I am still largely aware of the power that typography has as form.

In all, I produced five live briefs from designing a way-finding system to designing the course yearbook in a collaborative effort. Both of which I have never done before, and as always, enjoy rising to new challenges and taking opportunities when they are handed to me. The library signage developed into a rather large body of work where I produced a branding and guidelines section to it.

When I began this module, I was working under the theme of accessibility. That eventually changed through research, as I quickly understood that even though accessibility was relevant, it was only part of something more that I had an interest in. Accessibility often deals with consideration for those with disability, the idea of designing for a defined audience. Using boundaries and restrictions to design for an audience, but not just those with accessibility issues. I wanted to concentrate my research and work on designing clear graphic design, however in order to define whether graphic design is successful in being clear, one must design for a specified audience, otherwise one would be designing for no one. This would be my focus for my design context and the way in which I worked for my design practice projects.

I began by working on the End of Year show promotion brief, distributed by the marketing department. This was a quick turn around brief, which I continued to develop further on from the deadline as I felt there was more legwork in terms of a project. I developed a typeface, which is possibly the most expressive piece of design I have ever done, yet the process and development of it made sense. I really enjoyed the brief; it had plenty of boundaries and an audience to which I was familiar with. The typeface itself was something unplanned and really suits and supports my portfolio.

I had by this point began and ended a YCN brief which I have explained earlier on in this blog. As a reminder, it was due to the fact that I didn’t want to produce work of that tone of voice any longer and neither did my ideas and initial proposals suited the media that I specialised in.

I chose to do an ISTD brief called 3 Minutes, which was a typographic exercise that I can call my “fun” project. I really enjoyed it, it told me a lot about myself as well as the resolution being appropriate to my discipline (type and layout). It was also a test to see whether I would be able to produce and commit to content which is something that I have always struggled with, yet felt this was a success as I was not held down by a lack of commitment. It was a project to which I was dipping in and out of whilst working on the library signage and the yearbook.

I also took part in a collaborative challenge with a local creative agency, ICM. The experience was somewhat interesting, however I am not sure as of yet that I was able to get the reward I wanted from it. The brief they set was for the infamous Chip Shop awards, and dare I say, if it was not for ICM, I doubt I would have ever entered the competition. The brief did not suit mine, or any of the participants in my group’s creative specialisms. We pitched an idea, which they felt did not work or was not “funny enough”, however I think humour is subjective to personal belief. It is the weakest work I have produced from this module yet I think it was important in reinforcing my beliefs in design. Aesthetically, I think the resolution suits my FMP; it is a simple and clear piece of graphic design, just a shame that someone did not find it funny.

The yearbook was a really pleasing experience to participate in this year. Working collaboratively with Jimmy was a great as I think we bounced confidence and professionalism between each other very well. It is important to trust and place reliance on others whom you are working collaboratively. It didn’t at any point seem like a difficult project as I knew that any department that I lacked knowledge or confidence in, Jimmy would be able to help and carry the burden as vice versa. We were both admirable in our decision-making; we worked systematically booking in every Saturday as a day to work on the project together. However it obviously spilled into midweek timetabling that was not a problem, and meant that we could be more constant with the progress. When we ran into problems (such as waiting for course mates to supply us with information), we didn’t think for a second that it was something impossible to fix or find a solution to. We were well organised and stuck to our commitments, along with juggling other projects at the same time.

Overall it was a great experience at a live brief and I am fortunate to have been given the responsibility to deal with it. Working with printers was also an interesting experience, from researching local companies to readying the document for print was great yet nerve racking knowing a lot of money was being placed on our thinking and design capability. Negotiations with a third party is always a difficult

We learnt a lot about photography and art direction during the project, which is something I think I could go on to progress in if not appreciate the task when done by somebody else, more so. The project was essentially a continuation of the “assembled” project that I produced last module, however we changed a lot of things to do with it to make it more suitable, one important thing being colour. We went through a massive amount of research into current colour trends, but ultimately wanted something that wasn’t “now”

One of my favourite articles I have ever read in Creative Review, was Lance Wyman’s Mexico 66 Olympic signage system, it talks of his development and designing of such a complex task of ordering a way-finding signage system. People take for granted the difficulty and beauty of good signage systems. It is one of those design solutions where the designer really is an anonymous hero. In Lance Wyman’s case, he also had a number of people to help him out with the task, which is something I realised would be useful if one were to design a signage system on a much larger scale. Understanding the environment through research, then implementing an appropriate design solution is a very complex task.

I enjoyed designing the signage system, however experienced numerous setbacks throughout. It was suppose to be a brief, which I would turn around by the end of Easter made up of development, research and production. I soon found that working with a few members of staff of the library meant I would be working with 4 sets of decision makers with different opinions. Some of which agreed with me and some of which conflicted, and the final confliction (changing the typeface once again, from Avant-Garde, to Helvetica, to finally Arial) just after Easter when I was suppose to wrap up the brief meant I was unable to produce and implement the signage in the library. However, I had finished the designing, and produced proposal boards explaining how it would all work.

I felt at times I was unable to be as creative as I would like to have been, however I think it was a valuable lesson in client negotiation and appreciating the needs of a client. The client is always the reason why you have a job, and I had to learn to accept that their needs went beyond my own. Their priority was to do with accessibility and meeting the needs of health regulations and wanted to suit users with dyslexia. I had no problems with this, however I did find it difficult to alter my design solution every few weeks whenever I was close to producing it.

Towards the end of the module came the post Easter period where I found myself wanting to produce some sort of packaging and promoting the design appropriately. I struggled to find the content to do this and went from numerous proposals for content yet settling for none. This was juggled whilst trying to complete my design context synthesis, which I had been working towards from a few weeks prior to this.

I eventually decided to brand the Blenheim Walk Library and in doing so found that the logo was applicable to existing content within the library itself such as leaflets and posters that they had asked me to design for the photocopying section. It strengthened the body of I had proposed to do as it gave even more depth to the signage system. This was a very quick turn around solution within the last few weeks of the module, as I have had a fair bit of experience with designing logo’s I felt as though I was very efficient this time around in doing so.

I had also proposed to hand them over something that they could use to maintain, make and add changes to the signage system after I had moved on from the college. A guideline manual seemed most appropriate, where it contained simplified and digestible information. It came in the form of small booklets using simple binding and display formats, which is essentially what I wanted to produce all along. I managed to finally content and promotion, not exactly how I initially wanted it to but still able to fulfil the needs for my portfolio.

The design context part of the module was a very interesting experience. I learnt so much from in-depth research into the design context of others. It reinforced my beliefs to know that so many renowned designers also shared the same views. It was difficult to find and depict exact quotes but I think I managed to find some really memorable ones, which were useful for my synthesis.

I named my synthesis Clarity because that is what I believe graphic design should be. I chose not to filter my research down to specific, singular piece of work by designers/ agencies. But by the overall standard of work that these designers have produced; consistent and clear graphic design using typography and layout as a key discipline. I follow graphic design similar to how I follow music, I don’t listen or buy one song by an artist, if I like a band I will buy the whole back catalogue because I will know and have faith that all their work is good.

I was very selective with my examples, showing projects and not single pieces of work, an attempt to display the way in which these designers have the ability to produce appropriate solutions beyond say, a simple logo or a typeface. It has been a rewarding project and I also got to use colour, which is something I said early on to try and implement in my work from now on. I do however believe colour should be used sparingly or with great consideration and thought. Even though the books themselves did not arrive how I imagined they would, this was due to problems out of my control and I have attempted to resolve it but have still not had a reply from the publishers themselves.

On the PPD section, I had been seeking an opening where I would be able to work with type and layout on a day -o-day basis. Luckily I have been able to secure an internship at Creative Review that will put me in good steed for the future and teach me a lot about art direction for a magazine. It is an opportunity I had always wanted and wished for and through a lot of luck and strategy, have got what I wanted. My short-term aim now is to maintain my focus on producing publication style work and developing my thinking towards that. And after the placement, I hope to continue that interest by settling within the publication sector within the London area.

I spent a large chunk of my time during the FMP module (especially the early stages during the dissertation period) developing and printing my portfolio and branding, I even designed my own website using Dream weaver which I always wanted to learn how to use. Doing that really helped me when it came to emailing and approaching agencies such as Creative Review, as I had my work ready to be shown to people.

In all I have really enjoyed the FMP module; it has been a long and tough part of the course. There was a lot of time management and sacrifice involved, but I am glad I got through it and have produced work that I am very proud of. Working on a set of live briefs has put helped me define myself as a designer (being a problem solver) which is a real bonus, as I would not like to have finished the course not really knowing who I was and in which direction I was heading towards. I knew I wanted to help people and society using graphic design, I now also know I am able to work more efficiently with confidence, on my own and with others in collaboration. I have improved the ability to deal with clients and external parties and think I have gained that extra foot of experience from this module as a whole. I can predict now that I will one day look back on my FMP and realise how big a step I really took.