Looking back over the last semester I have realised this has been one of the hardest on the course so far, but hopefully one of the most rewarding. I have realised what it is like to run a project as the project manager of a team, deal with real clients in the real world, design and present a presentation on a design icon and be creative in reverse.
Our team assignment, A11, has turned out well with two websites that I believe suit the client’s requirements. Both the clients we found for this assignment have provided me with a great deal of experience because they couldn’t have been any different from one another. Our hairdresser client always had positive things to say and when we showed her ideas she always liked them and told us what we needed to add in a clear and straight forward manor.
Our second client owned a playhouse and we got always got the impression that we weren’t that welcome when we were presenting ideas and showing them our work, that’s when the client even turned up for a meeting we had arranged. There were two women who we say in the playhouse one was the owner and the other an employee who seemed to do all the computer work. This meant it was has to get the right feedback because we never knew who we were going to see. But over all I think it has been a valuable experience and one I am glad I took a major part in.
The team has worked relatively well together and has produced work I set, on time and to a good standard so I am pleased about that. I only threatened to hang Marc out of the window by his foot twice on the while assignment. If I am honest I will be happy to see the end of this assignment as I have found myself getting a little stressed at times with a number of things. I think this is something I could improve on for the future not to let myself get too worried about things that our out of my control.
The first three or four weeks of the A12 assignment were very interesting. The first part of this assignment we had to plan and then present a presentation on a design icon. After a lot of thought I chose Concorde as it would be interesting to learn about while planning the presentation. I think I enjoyed this presentation a lot more than previous presentations because I did enjoy the subject. I found I had a real interest in Concorde and learnt a lot more than I actually needed for the presentation, I think this is the main reason the presentation went so well and I was one of the few who didn’t have to do it again.
The second part of this assignment was to design for an unknown object. This meant designing in reverse. We simply had to design a number of ideas that we liked that could be adapted to suit any object. We had no idea what the object would be so I came up with a number of random designs that wouldn’t suit anything. I think I took the idea of just drawing anything that came into my head too literally, such as the drunken Packman and the lion shopping for zebras in the supermarket!
We have only last week discovered that the object we have been designing for is a Coca Cola bottle. I have around 100 ideas and a good 90% in my opinion wouldn’t suit a Coke bottle, so I was a little worried about the next phase of the task. I narrowed the designs down to three and then one final idea. I am fairly happy with my design but I do think I would have come up with a much better idea if I’d have known the object we were designing for from the beginning with.
To sum up this semester I would have to say it has been a though one. Planning and organising a team has been very difficult and something I’m sure I will learn a lot from. I don’t think I will ever design in reverse again because I have realised there are some pretty strange things hiding in the back of my head, but I have enjoyed this assignment much more than the team one.
2 comments:
I know exactly what you mean about comng up with designs that are meaningless. Often, especially late in the day when your mind just goes blank its impossible to come up with anything that would be credible.
Gererally the first few designs on the very first day are the ones that are now being digitised. Its a lot easier when your mind is clear to come up with fantastic designs.
Personally what i think should have happend is that we should have chosen a design for other people. Or even simply flick through them all and pick one at random, this would be a real test to see how good the designs actually were, because admitablly if someone did this to a number of my designs, i just don't see how it would be possible to adapt them.
Great experience though!
Reading your summary of the semester has been really useful to me so thanks for the insight.
I have to say I'm really looking forward to working with real clients, however difficult they are!
What would be really useful if maybe you and the other second years could draw up a few hints and tips about dealing with clients? I'm sure all of us first years would really appreciate it!
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