Task: From images that I have posted in my blogs, choose two that I don't like, and two that I like, and write a short critical evaluation explaining why.
Don't
This is the first piece of graphic design that I really don't like. I'm a huge admirer of David Carson and his work, which I usually find innovative and fresh. However this piece just grates on me. It just isn't as visually exciting and appealing to me as the rest of his work. I feel that it is quite a bad piece of design because it doesn't really look that thought out or intended. It looks like just a few pieces of text and colour put together into one 'structured' mess.
This is the second piece of design that I don't like. It just doesn't appeal to me. Perhaps that's because of how old it is, but I find it too in your face and too showy of how amazing this company thinks they, and America are. I understand why it is like that, but I just find it unnecessary and off-putting. I'm not really a fan of graphic design which is done with illustrative realism either.
Do
This is the first piece of design which I love. Julien Vallee's advert for MTV One. This shows exactly what MTV is in one image. Fun, cool, innovative and doesn't take itself too seriously. The use of colour and text is the main thing that draws me to it, along with the fact it is all done 3D and edited by a computer afterwards. All the text is made, not added. This could have easily been done on the computer, but it would have certainly not had anywhere near the same effect as it does as a handmade piece.
This is the second piece of design which I love. I came across it recently and thought it was very clever for something so simple. Sometimes simple is best, and this is definitely one of those circumstances. It's just a simple print, one colour used, nothing fancy or decorative, just the text. It does exactly what graphic design is - visually communicates the message. It's straight to the point, and is completely successful in my eyes.
- D- Describe (What Do You See?)
- I- Interpret (What Is It About?)
- E- Evaluate (How Good Is It?)
- T- Theorise (How Could It Be Improved?)
Task 1:
Identify and explain 5 reasons why critical analysis is an important part of education, learning and developing your understanding.
Critical analysis in an important part of developing understanding because it gives us a chance to look over design work and see what makes it successful or unsuccessful. With this, it allows us to reflect on our own personal opinions on the piece and will help give us a more contextual and better judgement on other pieces of design in the future. Critical analysis allows us to make informed and educated judgements on piece of design, with a clear understanding and reasoning behind our opinion and judgement. By looking at other work and critically analysing it, it helps us think back to our own work and how to improve it and develop it, based on what has been learnt. It also allows us to develop our own understanding in what elements together make a good piece of design, and where we want to develop or work.
Identify and explain why the crit (group critique) is useful in the development of your work, skills and opinions.
Group crits are useful because it allows us to get feedback on our work. It gives us other people's opinions and helps us see design errors that perhaps we did not see before. If suggestions are given, it gives us a chance to look over our work and see how to improve it and develop it further. It gives an insight to other designers minds and what they perceive good design as. Even if it's not the same as what you feel, they will give something to think about. As everyone is in exactly the same situation in the design world, it gives you a better informed feedback. Feedback can also help with giving confidence in the work you are producing. It can confirm that you are going in the right direction and doing good design work as a whole. It opens up the idea of the industry to you as well, indicating exactly what it will be like when you are out working in the design world, where your work will be criticised and changed a lot.
Choose 5 criteria from the list that were generated during the studio session. For each criteria briefly summarise what will generally affect how you judge what you like and dislike when analysing examples of work. (you should aim to use the images that you brought to the session as examples). colour, layout, communication, visual content, non-visual content, function, quality of execution, legibility, audience, context, concept, message, media/method of production.
Colour
Likes:
Simplicity in two or three colours.
Bold colours.
Coloured stock - not a white background, something different.
Dislikes:
Excessive colours used - clashing and hard to look at design.
White used as just a background and not as a part of the image.
Layout
Likes:
Alignment to the right.
Simplistic layout
Smooth edges
Dislikes:
Random placements of text and images
Un-organised or not thought about placements and amount of information
Visual content
Likes:
Lines and shapes
Simple and related images
Type based design
Dislikes:
Info-graphics
realistic illustrations
Media/method of production
Likes:
Smooth simple computer designs
Screen printing
Hand made designs
Dislikes:
Tacky post-modernism style collages
Function
Likes:
Interesting approaches
Sometimes when aesthetic is considered to be more important than the meaning of the image (Carson)
No specific audience - more for everyone
Message that is communicated simply
Dislikes:
Completely over the top design for simple uses - (form over function in 3D objects etc)
