10 things that make a good brief:

1. Clear content
2. Enjoyable/appropriate
3. Target audience defined
4. Specific outcomes
5. Appropriate tone of voice
6. Scope for development
7. Realistic ambitions
8. Clear deadlines
9. Defined context
10. Gives you the opportunity to learn

Most of these were decided as a class, I think possibly only the last one was my own addition. I think it also links with being enjoyable/appropriate. Basically in sum a good brief to me is something I can read and know exactly what it wants. The prospect of being faced with something so open that I can run free with it I find very daunting.

Looking at this list, I'd say the majority of my wants are to do with aesthetics I want to explore and develop. This seems to fit with how I evaluated myself as a designer at the beginning of the module. I'm happy with the development of my thinking as a designer, conceptually I believe I have made good progress. Visually I need to be a lot stronger. This list touches on many of the visual aspects I wish I had made more progress on. The majority of these aesthetic goals are to do with image making. Doing the type module I have had chance to learn some of the technical considerations but I really need to spend some time developing my ability to create something that works visually.

Looking at the balance between wants that come from the brief and wants from me personally it's quite varied. Neither are particularly balanced but it is also reassuring to see that it's not the same list that's longest on each brief. Still, when I listed the things on a separate sheet of my wants and brief specific as just two lists, the things I wanted outweighed what the briefs wanted quite considerably. Although the list is quite heavily influenced by end of course goals as well as goals for the next 6 weeks or so.
Ideally I should be aiming for this:
Brief_____|_____Me
But currently I'm more like this:
Brief_______|___Me

Enterprise Evaluation

Enterprise has been a strange module for me. The marketing mix in particular I found very hard to apply to myself at the beginning of the module. However, when it came to writing the business plan I realised it's importance. I now see things such as SWOT and PEST as a starting point for things that I need to be looking at so that I can understand how my potential business can fit into the market, and how things may effect the success of the business. At the beginning of this module I didn't realise how much preparation starting a business would take. If I'm honest, I thought that I could just deal with things as I needed to. I now realise that this might work for 1 in 1000 people but rather than risk the chances it's better to be prepared and know yourself the importance of your business and how to market it.

I don't believe that after my third year I will be anywhere near confident or comfortable enough starting my own business. For me personally, it seems like a more appropriate option to aim for employment and learn about the industry in detail before I try to compete against those who already have the expertise and clients.

Gaining employment would hopefully give me knowledge about the industry and coupled with what I have learnt throughout this module, I think I would have quite a good starting point to setting up on my own.

I do think that it would have been useful to start the business plan at the beginning of the module, so that as we learnt about the marketing mix we could apply it to our theoretical businesses. For me this would have made the business plan more enjoyable and more like a plan in progress rather than something I left til the end and didn't enjoy doing.

6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas(5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor)Attendance: 4 Punctuality: 5, Motivation: 2, Commitment: 2, Quantity of work produced: 2 , Quality of work produced: 4, Contribution to the group: 3.

Type Evaluation

What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?

I did several tests using the laser printer to makesure everything was legible but when it came to printing my final maps the strokes on some of the icons almost completely disappeared because they were too thin. I was really disappointed with this, and if I had actually done a test print downstairs earlier on in the process this problem may have been resolved, and the same can be said for the printed photographs.

The skills I have developed during this module probably fall into 2 different categories. The first being "technical" and the second "way of thinking".

Firstly, the technical skills I have developed are more of a practical nature. I have learnt typographic 'rules' which if they are paid attention to, help make a lot of decisions to do with design as well as increasing readability. I have also had the chance to learn Quark, which will hopefully make me more adaptable as a designer/more employable.
Secondly, the way I think has also been improved thanks to this module. Now when handling type I am more concious of how readable it is for audiences and also how something might be read (considering hierarchy). The type journal was useful for me personally to realise that it's ok to take influences from other designers and this is a good way to design successful work. Up until now I have been very resistant in using other designers ideas to influence my own design. I can now accept that it's ok to do this (without plagiarising).

The way we worked within sessions also forced us to work quickly, forcing decision making and then evaluating it's success afterwards. This felt very unnatural to me and was something I really struggled with. I am hoping that despite this it has had some effect on my ability to make decisions and stop being too precious about things.

What approaches to/methods of research have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?

During the module we kept type journals. We were supposed to collect type that we liked and evaluate it within our type journals and use it as a tool. After spending the last two years avoiding working in sketch books and trying to get into the habit of blogging things of interest, to then start working within a journal was quite hard. Having the journal meant that I began collecting things more that interested me and I could analyse them in a tactile way.

3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?

Strengths gained from this module lie more in the way I work rather than final outcomes. I will continue to consider which typefaces are appropriate depending on the desired message and continue to test and try readability.

4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these more fully?

I am still not as confident with layout, although I do think I have improved. It's really important for me to be collecting layouts that I find interesting or that might be useful so that I can use these to help me develop my own work.

5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?

Spend more time outside of sessions dedicated to type - I think I relied too much on the sessions to teach me how to use type rather than taking an independant approach, which would help me learn more
Read around the subject - again this would have probably inspired me more, and made me more enthusiastic about the module
Take a more personal approach to investigation - the approach I took to collecting was just collecting bits here and there when I should've been documenting things that really interested me personally.
Not stress out as much - worry less about the time constraint and actually enjoy doing it
Blog the work - this way I won't lose the work or forget what work I did.

6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas(5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor)Attendance: 5 Punctuality: 4, Motivation: 3, Commitment: 2, Quantity of work produced: 4 , Quality of work produced: 2, Contribution to the group: 4.

Just a quick preview of my progress of putting my website together. Click to enlarge.