So far this academic year I have undertaken a large number of different briefs, creating new visuals and pieces of work that have stretched my knowledge and skills set. I have briefly discussed the more 'fun' and 'boring' side to the year here. However I want this blog post to specify things into larger detail.
Adobe Illustrate
When it comes to the adobe softwares such as indesign and illustrate I struggle slightly. Over the past few months (particularly Steve's lessons) he has encouraged us to use illustrate as opposed to photoshop, which used to be something completely out of my comfort zone, however by taking a more relaxed approach and a 'trial and error' manner I have seemed to make myself comfortable with it almost overnight. I used to struggle sketching and drawing in illustrate and then making it look exactly how I could in Photoshop with the different types of pens etc. After producing the paper engineering project which all in all didn't turn out too successful in my opinion (down to execution) I spent a long time drawing and using text on pages, meaning a lot of experimentation to achieve what I envisioned which can be seen below:
Adobe Indesign
One application that was repeated in my '12 month action plan' in unit 11 was indesign. this academic year I have not yet used indesign purely for the fact I have not created anything needed to go on indesign, however last year I produced a look book on there as well as my FMP. To my understanding you use indesign when sending something off to print as it is the correct way and better application/software for the job. All I have had to do on indesign however was import files in which I create don photoshop, so was the case of setting up the document with the appropriate slug and bleed, then just dragging my file into the empty pages. I think this is probably my largest weakness because it is a crucial software when it comes to print, but I almost wouldn't know where to start I had to produce a document solely using indesign.
When it came to tutorials with Steve he has been the most helpful, for example the short lessons on indesign style sheets and setting up documents. One lesson we had a thorough tutorial on style sheets, their uses, how to make one, and how to alter one, which went from very complicated to not so overwhelming as first appeared. Below are some screenshots of how my lesson went, showing the key points (which I remembered to screenshot!)
Marketing & Experimentation
Putting the software skills aside, this year I have conducted high amounts of research, particularly for the LJ Hug's brief, that has opened my eyes to the world of advertisement for a company. It was an extremely interesting part of the brief for me as I was able to look at statistics and the theory side of advisement for businesses, but also the visuals and aesthetic side to advertisement. With this project I looked into different point of views for a project rather than just my own and the person I'm creating it for, which has extended my knowledge and skills when it comes to research and advertisement as well as expansion on the current audience and demographic of a local business. Below are some of my final pieces taken from my presentation.
I would have to say one of my strengths this year is my thorough research into projects, gathering information for the brand i'm working for, the ways of advertising on social medias, down to location, time, demographic, successful ways and more. It has helped me complete a project to a high standard and form multiple point of views, taking into consideration lots of things I didn't think about in the previous academic year. I think Photoshop is also one of my strengths, I'm comfortable using it and all of it's tools, however am intrigued to learn more and I do this individually through youtube videos.
A weakness of mine I want to try and improve would have to be my visuals and the execution of them. When creating a product I envision things very creatively however wish i could execute them better to really show what my intentions were for the project. When it comes to things such as sketching however, for me 'practise makes perfect'. Tutorials do not personally help me, it's more so becoming comfortable and more confident with my drawing, doing this by using my sketchbook ALOT more in comparison to the last academic year. So far I am achieving my goal of using my book more, this is something I will continue to do throughout the FMP to visually get across my creative ideas.
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