OUGD603_Extended Practice: May 2014

Wednesday, 21 May 2014

Overall evaluation.

Overall I am happy with how this final year and module has gone and developed my practice to what it is today. I have taken massive steps after submitting my dissertation and realised how this has affected me massively. My practice has developed into one which is focussed around print, type and brand.
The briefs which I have undergone I have altered and selected based on this change in my practice and throughout the year I have tried to tailer them to my strengths but also ones which are more challenging so I could develop skills and techniques especially those in screen print as this is a method I want to use in the end of year show. I have realised my enjoyment for collaboration and live briefs and the challenges which are presented in these.
I realise now that I do have some elements still to develop on. These are photographing my final products. Although this has improved dramatically since the beginning of the year I still recognise that I need to spend more time doing so because it effects the outcome so much. I know that if I had planned my time better at the beginning of the year instead of working so slow I could have had time at the end to really focus on these skills. More time printing and choosing stocks more carefully would have also improved this final quality displayed on the boards. I don't think they are bad but definitely could be better.

Friday, 16 May 2014

Research book- Production.

Production stage of the publication was very difficult and became a stressful process. This was because I had left little time to complete this before my final presentation boards needed to be produce ready to be sent to print at Media 21a.

During the process I had a great number of difficulties with printing. Because of time restrictions at this stage I chose to produce and print all of the booklet at home. My printer caused printer jams, lines and smudges of ink everywhere. To overcome this I had to reduce the stock thickness so that the printer could handle it better which removed a lot of the inking issues. This also made binding much easier and quicker, making up for lost time. The stock was still thick enough to be handled well and this was also helped because the publication had a large volume of them. If I was to repeat this process again I would definitely try to be more organised and get some print slots. Less stress for me and more reliable.

Stitching of the bind went relatively well with a few issues with thread along the way. This was overcome quickly with some re stitching in places and overall I was happy with the outcome. It worked well in showing the concept of open stitching and the anatomy/basis of the publication, being seen at high quality too. I am happy with the amount of content displayed and feel that it accurately shows the context and influences of my practice as it has changed throughout the year.