I think that my biggest weakness within this project was definitely the design development stage. I tried really hard to iterate my ideas and generate as much as possible but I still feel that I should have done so much more and that if I had, my final publication could be ten times better than it is. I tend to get really bogged down in this stage of the design process, this time I focused a lot more on setting myself rules instead of just generating work. In future projects, I am going to force myself to iterate a lot more, as this is something I've lacked during this project. I sometimes get scared of making work that doesn't 'look good' but I'm going to try and let go of these fears to allow myself to get better.
In contrast, I think that I did a really good job at considering the physical form of the publication - which is surprising, as I've never had to consider this before. This was definitely more of a success due to my research which informed the physicality of my publication. Researching is one of my favourite parts of the design process because I love to collate a lot of facts and information and use it as a base to create ideas. Within this project I started off really strong, considering a lot of different ideas and processes. I then, however, allowed myself to get into a slump - so the productivity stopped, and so did the generation of ideas.
One thing that I am determined to tackle within the next project, as I feel I haven't done it to my full potential in this project, is type. I always say that I struggle with type but I need to get over my fear and conquer it. Within this project I have become a lot more confident with typesetting, and this is something that I've learnt I actually enjoy doing, but I still need to gain a lot of confidence over what typeface to use or how to use it. I've felt like I haven't really known where to look for appropriate typeface but I'm going to start using fontsinuse.com a lot more and simply try more out during the experimental part of the process.
One strategy that I do have confidence in, however, is image treatment. My go-to is working with image physically, using the copier to add a certain grain to images. I also feel very confident in using the different settings like contrast and density on the copier to manipulate images. This feels very 'playing it safe' for me, but I think that the more work I generate this way, the better it gets - and I think it's just becoming part of my design style. Because this project has been so self-directed, I think that it has played a big part in developing my style, which I am trying to do more actively.
During the next project I am determined to use at least two resources within the uni, as I haven't during this project. At the start of the project I bought a printer and have been using the scanner a lot, but I also really want to screen print more. One thing that I learned throughout this project is that I love making things with my hands - so I really hope to focus on this in the future. I want to be screen printing and bookbinding as much as possible.
Finally, I've found the crits throughout this project extremely helpful as they've kept me on the right track and feeling reassured. The thing that I miss most about pre-CoronaVirus times is definitely receiving regular feedback on my work. In the future, I am going to make more use out of the eStudio page forum and reach out to more people for digital feedback.
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