Current Design Skills Profile

This is my current design skills profile. From doing this it is easier to see where I think my strengths lie and where I need to improve. I think my focus as a designer is within type & layout designing publications with a small interest in web design. I much prefer design for print as you are creating something tangible. I feel that I am good research and written communication including things like critical studies but fall short when it comes to verbal communication. I am much more comfortable writing things out on design sheets and blogs than talking about them out loud or over the phone.

I understand how to use layout and create readable body copy but am not so good at just pure typography. I want to try designing my own fonts more and maybe doing some more illustrative type. I am good at using most programs but feel I need to practice more in Illustrator. Although I love illustration, I've come to learn that I am awful at it and have accepted this fact. I do however plan to do some illustration this Summer, merely as something different to my studio work. I'm not at all concerned with ethical design and I don't want to be freelance, I want to work as part of an in-house design team as I prefer stability.

To improve my design practice this summer and get to where I want to be in September I'm going to play with type a lot more, create some more publication design, finish my website, update this blog as often as I can, use Illustrator more, do some creative briefs, do some commercial briefs. Hopefully my work placement will further confirm that I want to work as part of a design team. I will also create a thorough plan of everything I need to do each day to make sure that I keep busy and progress as a designer and on my dissertation.

Design Strategies

Design Strategies is the name of my summer brief. On Wednesday 23rd or Thursday 24th of September I will have to give a 10 minute presentation that reflects my experiences over the summer break and states my proposed plans for the third year of my degree. This presentation must include:

Work Placement/Professional Research

• What specific activities have you undertaken over the summer in order to broaden your understanding of the design industry?


• What have you learnt from these and how will they inform your design practice?


• How have you evidenced this in order to effectively evaluate your progress?

Dissertation/Theoretical Research

• Summarise the progress made on your dissertation with regards to primary and secondary research activities, visits and decisions made regarding the direction of your dissertation and its relationship to your studio practice.

Design Practice/Independent Research

• What do you want to be?


• Who do you want to work for/with?


• What kind of work do you want to produce?


• Are there specific audiences, contexts or areas of the Design industry that you want to engage with?


• You should also identify and discuss how you have maintained your design practice through type/visual journals, live briefs or independent practical research.

A Professional Skills Plan

• Evaluate current skills.


• Identify specific areas of focus in order to build an appropriate skills set for in order to help you fulfil your ambitions. You should include practical skills (software, print production etc.) as well as personal and professional skills.


• Make a plan that is informed by your experiences, ambitions, interests and skills. This is an opportunity to take control of your future and put strategies in place that will help you to establish and achieve your goals. Whatever they are.

Deliverables

• A 10 minute Powerpoint/PDF presentation.


• A completed skills profile and plan including rationale and statement of intent.


• Entries on your blog. that document your progress over the summer break.

Therefore over the summer break I need to:

• Find a work placement ASAP!


• Do some briefs


• Do some experiments


• Plan interviews & read books for dissertation


• Fill in the skills profile sheets


• Make the presentation

Oh dear God.