Brief Review

15/02/11

After having a process tutorial with Simon Jones, we discussed how it would be good for me to review the briefs I had wrote at the start of the year and I should look to see whether I still wanted to do them and what I would get from doing them. As I felt a bit lost with what I was doing and doing this might help me organise my time and projects. 

Now I need to focus on the areas of graphic design I like, and so I pretty sure in myself that I am a print designer. I also mainly create editorial and publication work. I also like creating promotional materials and I also like branding and identity, these are my main focus areas and so I think to show this in my portfolio I firstly need to create some more work based upon this. 

Current briefs completed:

I looked into print and print collateral I feel that my portfolio needs a wider scope of print collateral as I have only really one project that shows an extensive range. 

And so I mind mapped what types of print collateral there is and for what sectors. 

From this I reviewed the work I had in my 'portfolio' and the ones that I would definitely include that I was happy with, and I left out projects I was okay with. And so this left me with 4 projects. 

I looked at sectors I like and wanted to show that I like through my work and I wrote them down. 

At the bottom of the page I defined what I still needed to do to improve my portfolio. 

1. Create a project with more extensive and focused brand and identity. 
2. Show a range of print collateral (e.g. I haven't made menus before)
3. And then I also wanted to show my interests in particular sectors

I wrote down things I was sure I wasn't interested in so I knew what I wouldn't work towards and then I wrote the things I was interested in. 

From reviewing my interests I wrote all the briefs I had written at the start of the year in a list and I ticked the ones I had completed and then I crossed out the ones I definitely knew I had no interest in and wouldn't gain anything from. 

I then expanded from the ones I hadn't done and then wrote how I could do these and what they related to. 

For instance I knew that the travel brochure brief 7, would show my interests in travel and then my interests in print, editorial and branding, I was now going to do this brief in collaboration with Lizzy Gosney and so this would be adapted. I also changed two others, I then wrote a list of what else I could do that I hadn't written in. 

And so my new briefs I plan on doing are: 

• A brief associated with my interest in home lifestyle/design
• A collaborative brief based upon travel
• A brief based upon a restaurant or food establishment where I will be able to explore more print collateral.

I felt in doing this I learnt about myself as a designer more and I really established what I liked and what I need to do in preparation for my portfolio and graduation.