1. What skills have you developed through this project and how effectively do you think you have applied them?
Illustration
I mainly developed my illustration skills during this project, and I worked in a more retro style than clean which I sometimes do. I did it in this style to reflect the era and the music, and I felt it was the most appropriate for the brief. I think I applied it well to the design and you can tell it isn't trying to mimic a contemporary style.
2. What approaches to/methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?
Development
I spent the longest on the design development process, making lots of amendments and changes to get something that I was happy with and reflected the song and era well. I developed most of my ideas on screen rather than through sketches, and this worked well for this project. I knew what I wanted to illustrate, and it was more beneficial for me to work mainly on screen and develop things based on experiments that worked since the style requires lots of imperfections, different angles and elements such as backgrounds and add ons to get the look right. It was easier for me to do this on Illustrator than in sketches as I can see exactly how it is going to look and in colour right in front of me.
3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?
Digital Design
I used both Illustrator and Photoshop to create the outcome, mixing vector illustrations with Photoshop textured brushes to create the effect. This is something I am comfortable with doing, and this year I have experimented with bringing illustrations into Photoshop and using textures and gradient maps and seeing how I can
Contextual Knowledge
I love the song I was designing for as well as the band and era, so I already have quite a bit of knowledge on Motown and that era of music. This was an advantage because I knew what styles and colours would reflect that, and it also made the project a lot more fun - in turn making me very enthusiastic throughout.
4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?
Thinking outside the box
Although I like the concept that I came up with and I am really happy with the outcome of the design, I feel like my idea was quite safe. Which is fine, but I could have produced more than one outcome to submit but I didn't really have anymore ideas so I only stuck to one.
5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?
- Do more! I should have submitted more designs for more songs to have a better chance of being part of the project
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