As the years have gone on, Sustainability has become more and more a part of our every day lives. There have been a large amount of programmes on how to recycle properly and each household now must contain a different bin for what seems like every different item in the world. Some may say we have gong sustainability-mad. This statement will look at how we can reduce our impact on the environment by adopting sustainable practices for graphic communication.
Although many people may not think it, there are a number of practices we can make in order to provide sustainable development. This entails things like assessing the media used to make products For example; do posters on billboards use more or less energy in their production and use than electronic displays? For they create more or less pollution with their by products such as ink and waste paper than the production of electronic displays and the electricity to power them?
On a smaller scale, we can look at reducing the amount of printouts we make during the design process, turning off electronic devices that are not in use, using environmentally friendly materials such as ink and recycled paper, keeping sustainability and impact on the environment at the front of the design process.
Design can also be created in a sustainable way, for example, recommending and designing for sustainable packing with less plastic produced from oil and more produced from abundant, replenishable, recycled and biodegradable material, such as wood and paper. Sustainable messages and recommendations can even be incorporated into design by suggesting the use of the Recycled symbol, “Green” emblems and information on how to recycle the product at the end of its life.
Sustainability can have a positive effect on a company by reducing waste, also promoting a responsible image in the eyes of the customers and the staff, and leading to new green initiatives that can reduce cost and increase profit. For example, hotels now promote themselves as Green by encouraging their guests to use the towels for more than one day to reduce pollution from laundry detergent and energy from washing and drying them. What they don’t mention is that this sustainability reduces their costs and increases profit. This is also true of supermarkets stopping the free issuing of plastic bags. This is not a problem though as there are no losers, only winners. Everyone is pleased with the outcome.
So, although people have many different views on sustainability, it is clear to see that it is becoming more and more popular and features regularly in television adverts and others and as time goes on I can see it taking over the world! Everyone’s a winner.
I have included a letter requesting work experience from a company in Cardiff. To view a PDF of the letter, please click here
Here is a copy of my Curriculum Vitae, if you would like to view a PDF copy, please click here
Although I am yet to do any hands on work experience in graphic design, I have done a number of jobs involving team-work, such as working in various bars and restaurants.
At the beginning of the third year, during the project ‘The Link’ in which we worked in groups to produce a number of outcomes for a Youth Centre based in Newcastle, we worked closely with a Cardiff based designer, David from ‘The info group’. This proved extremely beneficial as we were given the opportunity to see how people work in a design agency. It was also useful to receive feedback from David, as he had different points of view from our tutors who had seen our work regularly.
We also went on a trip to London to visit various design agencies, I visited Together Design, they showed us a portfolio of their work, showed us round their studio and offered us advice on our work. Again, it was good to see how different companies work with their clients.
As I mentioned earlier, I have worked as a waitress and a barmaid for a few years. I feel this has helped me with communicating with people – an integral part of this course. I was also involved in a drama group for many years, getting involved with plays and taking exams in speech and drama, this helped improve my confidence massively. I also worked as a cleaner of HSBC Bank for a period of time. Although this does not seem like it would benefit me in terms of becoming a designer, I proved that I am a trustworthy person because I had a key to the bank and had to go in, in the evening when it was empty.
Module: Puffin Book Design Awards
This project required us to produce two book covers, one of which was for ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ by Lewis Carroll. This immediately excited me as I am very in touch with the story and it was a big part of my childhood. I wanted to ensure that as well as being child-friendly, this book was graphically engaging and different to ordinary books found on the shelves. This book was very well received by tutors and colleagues as they thought it was a clever ‘play on words’ with the rabbit pulling Alice out of the mad hatters hat. I felt the colour of Alice’s dress was significant, as it showed her innocence, as were the playing card shapes, so I exentuated their shape whilst keeping the rest of the image a simple line drawing. I used a hand-written effect to produce the title of the book as I felt this was suitable for the target audience, whilst still being legible. This module was probably the best received one for me, as I decided on my idea early on enough for it not to be a stressful rush to the finish line. It was also useful to have the other book to concentrate n because this meant I could allow myself some time off from thinking about one book in otder to come back to it with a fresh head. I got my book professionally bound which I would suggest doing as it makes a beautiful portfolio piece and shows off the true beauty of the cover.
Module: Student Set Project
This project required us to pick anything we wanted to focus on and communicate it graphically. After much deliberation I decided to focus on a topic that related to my dissertation. This was partly because I had done a large amount of research on the subject already and also because I wanted to look further into aspects I had only touched on in my dissertation. This book looks into the exploitation of contestants involved in reality television and ultimately shows the reality of reality television.
I was pleased with the final outcome of this project as I felt all the pages flowed together nicely and the colours and style of the book suited the topic. This book was designed as an artistic piece to be enjoyed by everybody, especially those interested in reality television.
My biggest challenge with this project was ensuring that each page was interesting and that the book was not repeating itself over and over again. I think I managed to overcome this well by including a number of historic tortures and modern day ‘tortures’. I felt the book was clear to understand, however, I would further improve this outcome by making the navigation of the pages a bit clearer as this was the main thing that stood out in my feedback. I would also consider taking this further by producing an installation or animation to go with the booklet; I feel this would be impressive for the exhibition.
How you have developed from the first day you arrived. Outline strengths and areas for development; include any personal tutorial sheets and other relevant information.
Since starting Graphic Communication at Cardiff School of Art and Design I feel I have developed in a number of areas; before starting here I studied an Art Foundation course at Weston College, which encouraged me to take my interest in Graphic Design further. I was not overly confident with the use of computers in my work at this stage and focused more on creating pieces that looked beautiful in an artistic way but had minimal graphic elements to them. I was pleased when I saw work from previous students that this was a big part of the course and it gave me some confidence that I could produce work of the same standard.
The area of work that I feel I have improved most in is my working method. Before attending UWIC, I tended to go for the first idea that came into my head rather than researching and trying out a number of different ideas. I was always dubious about making a mess of my sketchbook but I came to realise that experimenting more and discarding some ideas that weren’t as strong was definitely the better route to take.
The first few days of being on the course were all about getting to know other people, something I always enjoy and this pleased me especially as I often imagined university as being a place where you sit in a lecture theatre and don’t build relationships with other people who are obviously interested in the same things as you.
The first year offered a range of graphic design techniques which were new to me. We explored typography in great detail, I have always been interested in typography and this was a really great part of the year for me. We also learned about modernism and post-modernism. I always preferred the post-modernist design style but after 3 years of studying design solely I feel I have shifted over to the modernist style, not necessarily in my work, but when taking inspiration from others work.
Contextual Studies was another integral part of learning in the first year. This consisted of some essay writing, of which I felt confident with. We learnt about the history of design, I found this especially useful as it was something I wasn’t so familiar with and may not have looked into so early had it not been introduced to us so early on. We were also asked to produce a presentation about a painting of our choice from the National Museum in the centre of Cardiff. This was a nerve- racking experience but something I found extremely beneficial. It encouraged us to research into artists and improved our presentation skills as not only did we have to present in front of our group but any members of the public that happened to be in the museum at that time. Doing the presentation made writing up the review afterwards a much more appealing task.
Going into the second year made the experience all seem a bit more real. The briefs we were given were a lot more challenging than the ones in the first year of study. And the opportunity to work on ‘Competition Briefs’ really made me want to produce some great pieces of work. The idea that my work could be featured in a design book seemed like an opportunity not to miss. We were also given the opportunity to work with people in the third year which was daunting at first as I felt they may have looked down on my work because I was not as experienced as they were but in fact it proved a positive experience as they were able to offer criticism and seemed to take on bored constructive criticism I offered them. We also looked into producing websites. I found this project extremely challenging as there were a number of codes and techniques to be remembered but support was always on hand. Also, it was a live project which meant, we had to produce things that were appropriate for the client and not necessarily decisions we would have taken- this prepared us for the real world and also was a group work activity which I took a great deal of interest in. At the end of this project (producing a website for Splotlands) we were given the opportunity to present our website to the client, this was the first big presentation we had done and I felt it was a brilliant experience. We also had tutorials and learnt about production for print, with a trip to a local printer, Hartley Wilprint, it was great to see the process it all goes through and the size of the printers used!
The end of the second year saw the start of the dissertation module, a topic that had scared me since the start of university. However, on hearing that we were able to write about a topic of our choice that could be completely unrelated to Graphic Communication really got me thinking about where my interests lie. I had previously written an essay on Reality Television and I had really enjoyed it and this was reflected in my grade so I decided to stick with this route and I decided I would look into the history and modern day forms of Variety Entertainment. Regular tutorials enabled me to hone my topic to something suitable for the word length and encouraged me to keep working regularly.
Over the summer, I tried to do as much work as possible on my dissertation in order to prepare myself for lots of hard work on projects on my return to the final year.
The last year of Graphic Communcation has been an extremely challenging one, with the pressure of achieving good grades as well as impressive pieces of work. The only way to overcome this was to focus on producing impressive pieces of work for my portfolio rather than for a grade. The live and competition briefs, again were a really great experience and we were given the opportunity of working with a mentor from a design company in Cardiff, again it was nice to gain some criticism from someone outside of CSAD. Group work, again worked well for me and enabled me to build new relationships with people on the course I had not had an opportunity to work with before. The introduction of audio feedback proved very positive for myself, as tutors were able to go into more detail when offering criticism and the fact that it was more like a conversation made it easier to understand their points of view. I took part in an interview on audio feedback and this showed that many other members of the course also found it a beneficial move.
Overall, I feel the final year of Graphic Communication has been a very impressive and challenging one. It has really allowed me to realise that criticism of my work is not a personal one, but one to help me improve my already creative ideas. There are a large amount of things I will take away from the course and writing this reflection has reminded me of all the brilliant projects we undertook in the first two years as well as the third.
1. What have you enjoyed most about the course?
A) I have enjoyed the interactivity between students and course tutors throughout the three years of being here. Regular tutorials and group discussions have enabled me to look differently at my work and take constructive criticism well.
B) I have found the opportunity of working on ‘live’ and ‘competition briefs’ extremely useful, they have prepared me for life after university.
C) Doing presentations at the end of each project has enabled me to become a lot more confident and believe in myself. It has also given me a chance to explain my work creatively.
2. In what ways do you think you have developed or changed during the last year? Write about personal as well as professional issues pertinent to becoming a responsible, self-motivated student and becoming a creative and original designer.
A) In the last year I have become a lot more self- motivated and responsible. I have learnt to manage my time better as I have been made aware that it is down to me to make sure I achieve the best results possible for myself.
B) Linked with responsibility is my dissertation. I didn’t think I would enjoy it as much as I did. With the guidance of tutors, I produced a piece of work, which I am really proud of. I am very grateful for the fact that we were given the opportunity to write about something completely unrelated to graphic design as it gave me something else to focus on when I needed a break from creativity.
C) I believe the way in which I design has changed over the last year, I have been taking inspiration from blogs and design books and magazines and have been trying to become a bit more digital with my work.
3. What do you think your strengths are in relation to Graphic Communication and becoming a designer or working/training in a related area? Think about such things as creativity, appropriate working methods, skills and media, group and individual abilities, study skills etc.
A) I feel my main strengths within Graphic Communication are presenting pieces of work to clients. I am confident with speaking to people and have been given good feedback about it in the past.
B) I also enjoy working in groups, I am able to take orders from other people and feel I can take charge of a group without becoming too much of a leader, I will always speak out If I feel there is something wrong without causing more problems.
C) In relation to taking orders from people within a group, I am also good at taking orders from a brief, I feel I work better with briefs that have restrictions and rules rather than being free to do whatever as I feel that something I do may not be correct for the brief.
4. What has hampered your learning? This should include things that are to do with you and who you have been as much as about the course itself.
A) The lack of facilities available for use. On interview for the course I was doing a course in screen- printing and etching and asked if screen-printing in particular would be available for use in this course, I was told it would be. However, when I started here it was clear that this would not be as available as first anticipated.
B) I think if we had been allocated individual spaces in the studio it may have encouraged me to do more work, because everyone would have been displaying their work throughout each project and in turn, more people may attend university more often, enabling more ideas to be bounced off one another.
C) Although there have been workshops throughout the three years I have been in Cardiff, I feel that if we had more workshops in the first year, especially with programs such as ‘Flash’ and ‘Dreamweaver’ it may have encouraged me to learn more about these programs and use them in my work rather than just staying safe with print a lot of the time.
5. If you work outside college (voluntary or paid), What skills do you think you have gained or developed through doing this?
Name of organisation/workplace: Lindley Catering Skills gained or developed:
A) I have developed a number of skills working in the catering industry, the main ones being responsible and trustworthy. I am often left in charge of cashing up, and generally handling money. I also have to be responsible for keeping the place clean and tidy and adhering to the customers needs.
B) My self-confidence has also developed since working for the catering company. An integral part of serving customers, working as a waitress and barmaid is to be polite and make the customers feel at ease so over time I have built up the courage to start conversations with strangers and not worry about it too much.
C) Working as part of a team is a key part of being involved in catering, this is very similar of working in a graphic design company. The two of these professions have encouraged me to act as an equal member of a team.
6. What plans do you have after you finish the course to continue your development as a designer or related profession and make further progress in your field?
A) I have always been interested in advertising and packaging and am looking into going into doing something to do with television. I feel the ‘communication’ part of the course has rubbed off on me especially and although I am not sure whether I want to be a ‘designer’ as such I feel doing Graphic Communication has given me a great number of values that I can take away with me.
B) I am looking into companies with a strong group work ethic as I feel this is where I excel.
C) My father is in the process of producing a new product and has asked me to help with the production of it so I may take some time to go to Australia and work on this project with him.
A quiet evening round my friends house turned into a night of mayhem involving alcohol and power tools- never a winning combination. We played around with my friends old camera and these are a few of the images that came out. I think they look great and tell the story of the night perfectly!
My friend recommended this blog to me. It is from Cardiff based illustrator, Ian Watson. The detailing in these illustrations is impeccable. Must look up more info on him. View his blog here: http://uhoh-watson.blogspot.com/
Some fantastic photography i found from American photographer, Ryan McGinley. I love the originality of the photos and how natural and raw they are. I have never been overly interested in photography, but after seeing these, I feel it is something I will regularly keep in touch with. These have really made my day! 
These postcards have been designed for the Harvey Nichols Foodmarket by Ruan Milborrow and Mark Nightingale of Mr H. There are twelve designs and they can be purchased in packs of six - Girl or Boy. Other featured celebs include Cake Winslet, Banana Mouskouri or Pea Diddy. The simplicity of it all is brilliant and I am thinking of taking on a similar idea for a project I'm doing at the moment, showing the similarities between Religion and Consumerism.
