FMP: evaluation

Review of Final Major Project 

‘Look past the sign’

My final outcome is in the form of a series of posters that bring to light the issue of negative perceptions faced by some disabled individuals. In addition to the posters is a sticker campaign that takes a fun approach to showing that although disabled, disabled individuals are just people. This differs from my original proposal as it focuses less on the idea of freedom and more on challenging perceptions of disability.

Prior to starting my project, I made an action plan. Initially, I found this useful as it provided an element of structure to my work. However, it didn’t help with the development of my work as well as I thought it would because I was unable to stick to it strictly. The methods I have used to show how my learning has affected my project is different to that of my previous methods as in this particular project, I decided to take a different approach. I decided to separate my project into different sections by using a notebook for writing and sketching out any ideas I had. I believe this aided the development of my work, as I was able to refine my concept to that of a higher standard. In addition to my notebook, I also used a sketchbook as a means for more visual/experimental purposes. I think using my sketchbook solely for visual purposes enabled me to focus on/consider visualising as I developed my project. In regards to my blog, this has aided in the development of my work by enabling me to reflect on my work on a weekly basis. I found doing this very helpful as it helped me to also realise how much I had achieved each week.

Prior to my action plan, I set myself three main aims, which I believe I achieved. The targets I met are as follows:

• To carry out extensive research within an appropriate period of time.
• To develop my ideas visually.
• To complete this project with a final outcome that is reflective of the set period of time.

In addition to theses three aims I also wanted to create an outcome that was ‘more than just a poster’ which I believe I achieved by incorporating the sticker campaign into my final outcome.

Overall, the developments that have contributed to the final outcome of my final major project were: focusing on the concept of physical disability rather than my initial of idea of freedom, which was not working out. In addition to this, focusing on creating visuals in response to the concept rather than the other way around. Both these developments had a great impact on the direction I decided to take my project. If I hadn’t taken these decisions, my final outcome would not work, nor would it be coherent.

In terms of feedback from others, I received advice from a range of people during my project. This was inclusive of friends, family and tutors. I found all the feedback I received beneficial to an extent, as the majority of the advice was very useful. However, I found that as I struggled with what I wanted to communicate, speaking to others about my idea during evaluation groups was unhelpful as I became even more confused. Nevertheless, as I confirmed my concept and began developing visually and was unsure about if visually, what I was trying to communicate was clear. I received criticism from both a tutor and a friend who were unfamiliar with my project, which I found very helpful as they gave me fresher insights into where I was going wrong as they were both confused about my visuals which made it obvious that my project lacked clarity.

The key points I would like to take away are:

• To be more confident in my approach to design as I often become quite scared/nervous, which has an impact on my project as the outcome, does not do my concept justice.
•  I want to be more organised in how I do things as a lot of mistakes/problems could be easily avoided.
•  I need to be more realistic about the type of project I decide to do in terms of how challenging it is.

The skills I have developed are: being able to improvise which will affect my future course/career in graphic design as I think improvising is a key skill to have as things can easily go wrong in this field. I have also been able to meet deadlines/catch up as according to my action plan I was behind schedule. Regardless of the set backs I managed to finish my project with a final outcome.

The things I will endeavour to continue doing and to build on are:

•  Refining my idea to the best possible outcome in order to successfully complete each project.
•  Making references to both the mundane as well as designed and enabling them to influence my future projects by contextualising.

I intend to apply all the skills I have learnt from not only my final major project but also the art and design foundation course as a whole. These will be of help to me as I continue further my studies next year on a BA Graphic Design course in higher institution.