This module has been hugely beneficial to changing the ethics and social political direction of my personal practice. When I think about and fully consider the distribution of my work and the target audience it will real it gives me a new sense of direction. Distribution considerations also massively informed my production methods, working for causes and essentially 'charities' meant I had to explore ways to produce work cheaply and easily. It also informed my decisions in terms of designing additional collateral content; I thought out of the box for ways to produce extra income for the campaigns to benefit the production and free distribution.
I allowed myself to express my passions, interests and personal opinions visually within both briefs and study tasks. Within the first brief I discussed possible options and solutions that were more aesthetically based but decided a more informed outcome was appropriate and different. My interests are becoming increasingly important and integrated within my work. It's clear that having a voice and the guts to express that as a designer is what will make you stand out and take you far as aesthetic application is the last element of importance, it's more about producing design that is informed.
The second brief was an opportunity to develop an expert level of research and knowledge on a topic. I challenged myself to look into transgender issues etc. it's an area that very little information is written about which meant my primary research avenues were of the up most importance. The lack of information and even online discussion on the topic though gave me the freedom to take it in any direction without it already been done before. The idea of producing something new, groundbreaking that could ultimately really help a young teenager in distress about these issues is really rewarding as a designer. Due to the work being important on a personal and emotional level to the target audience being critted throughout was really helpful to me. It gave me a chance to see just how people perceived the work produced to ensure it was appropriate, informative and most importantly didn't offend anyone. My favourite comment was "the illustrations & stickers are quite key stage 3" this was the exact target audience I was aiming my work towards so although it did not directly appeal to her it was a huge reassurance it was appealing to the young teens that needed it.
The increase ability to link bodies of research, exploration and practical visual outcomes is something that will completely change my practice and the type of work I choose to produce. I feel that activism and use the practical application of graphic design to make an impact and change is something I want to stand out and become a driving force for me. I want my graphic design to be an expression of moral, social, political voice that I can use to create impact.
My practice is also expanding in terms of interest in production methods and general output. My interest in traditional print methods, particularly screen printing is growing through each brief and is something I felt was important to include in order to improve my practical skills in the area. Making t-shirts is something I really enjoyed doing as it was completely new to me and could impact many projects and future career prospects by exploring these fields. My growing interest in web design has been influenced by the focus on distribution in this module also. Web design is a brilliant interest and skill to have as its the one tool that can be cheaply and easily spread across the entire world.
My time management during this module has been improved hugely possibly due to the lack of other work on at the same time. It has allowed me to focus and create a diverse range of well considered outcomes throughout. I have hugely enjoyed this module more than most as it has been very personally driven by topics I feel will influence me as a creative throughout my career and this was a brilliant place to start integrating that. The future direction of my design work will be affected by these explorations as I now have experiance with translating the opinions of the 99% (unheard people) into a visual dialogue and representation.
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