Pathway Evaluation

Pathway Stage Evaluation

After completing the pathway stage of the course In my chosen specialist area graphic design I can confidently say I feel I have picked the right specialism for me and my skills. The different briefs we have been given over the past four months have been both engaging and excited, and have opened my eyes to different ways of working within a design related area.

Completing many quick paced projects I have found very demanding but ultimately rewarding. It has given me an insight into the pressures that can be faced In regards to time scale and how to tackle a project where you do not have quite as much time as you are used to. I think this has been particularly beneficial to me personally as I was very used to having months on projects during A Level Fine Art. So I found it really quite difficult to become accustomed to. After completing these different projects I now feel confident to tackle projects where I have less time, and I now know ways in which to start these kind of projects and get going and motivated in them from the beginning.

It has also helped me be more organised with how I use my time and aware of how fundamental time management is within this subject.

I have been introduced to new areas of Graphic Design such as typography and book making. I have found these projects really enjoyable and they have made me very excited for the types of projects I may face in the future.

As well as undertaking projects that gave me the ability to be more experimental with my drawing; using a mix of different medias and getting a lot looser. This was something I was really looking forward to doing prior to starting this course and I feel I have developed in this area.

After completing all the different pathway projects I do feel confident to now start the final major project and feel I have learnt skills that will help me work more independently.

One project that we spent a lot of time on was the “Trace Elements” Project. This project involved lots of observational drawing and mark-making. I had never really worked much in this way prior to this project. I did a lot of experimenting making grounds with so many different materials. The beginning of this project started with delving straight into discovering things to draw in the building we were in. I felt this was a really good way to begin a project. I was quite used to finding starting a project really hard, and used to always push myself to the library. So it was really interesting to try out a different approach to starting a project, and I felt doing this really got my ideas flowing a lot more. I found myself being involved in the project a lot quicker than previous ones.

The idiom project is a good example of one that I found hard to start. I think this is because it was our first typography project and it was difficult knowing where to start with it. I began by doing research which maybe was not the best approach. I think I felt because it was type based doing observational drawing was not necessary. Once I finally did get into doing drawing and trying out different medias I felt the project moved on a lot quicker. Trying out some thumbnails was very beneficial for this project and also creating mind maps of each of the idioms was very useful to refer back to when I felt like one idea did not work.

Some of the shorter projects such as the graphical portrait and the logo project I did mood boards to kick start ideas. I found this was a good technique I would definitely consider using again. It occurred to me that I haven’t really since these projects, so it is something I am interested to do more of in the future. When starting my next project a mood board would be a good idea to be able to look back on for inspiration and it is a lot more visual than a mind map.

The last two projects I feel are the ones I have enjoyed the most. I think this is mainly because I have felt a lot more confident with starting the projects and the briefs I have found really exciting. These two projects are the Looking Up & Looking Down book project and The Declare A National Holiday stamp project.

I feel the Looking Up & Looking Down Project has benefited me immensely. I love travelling anyway but when I've visited different places I had never really sketched whilst walking around. I thoroughly enjoyed doing this at Lisbon. I took round my small A5 journal to stop and do drawings at whatever caught my interest. Everything I had learnt about doing quick paced drawing benefited me a lot during the week I did this project. I found recording things I saw by drawing was a lot better than just writing notes. Being able to look back on something visual is a lot more helpful. I also enjoyed how we got to bring together both photography and drawing in this project. It was great to get the chance to experiment with doing that. It also gave me an insight into bookmaking, and made me excited to experiment more with it in the future.

It really made me think a lot more about composition and colour. It was actually a very challenging project but I am really happy with the outcome and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Doing the book project I think really helped get delve straight into my stamp project. I began with loads of observational drawing and visited some different cafes with my A5 journal to do drawings whilst I was out and about. I think this is something that I will definitely stick with; taking my journal out to new places and drawing from observation.

The stamp project has also been a great insight into advertising and promoting. Having the chance to promote our own ideas for a holiday as if they were real has been really fun and challenging. It has been interesting having to think about the audience, purpose and context for my work as i'm used to creating work that doesn't fit a particular purpose.

Overall I would not hesitate to say the pathway stage has been very valuable to my way of working now. I feel I have learnt many different skills from beginning projects and exploring initial ideas, experimenting in different ways, to creating finished work that I am proud of. I feel a lot more confident on how to communicate and develop my ideas, and ultimately very excited to use the skills I have learned in the final major projects and more projects in the future.