Joe Warburton OUGD303 FMP Evaluation

Prior to starting the course, I knew I wanted to pursue a career in graphic design what this career was I had no idea. The FMP has provided the opportunity to extensively explore what I believe best defines my practice branding, iconography and publication design. Ultimately, I am doing what I love doing. In hindsight, I know I could have pushed the projects further and I sometimes wonder what I could have produced if I worked as hard as I have in the past few weeks, throughout the entire process. Certain elements, for example, have hindered (or on the other hand, enhanced) the development of my practice. Looking through my final resolutions, however, it is clear to see an evolution from first year to last; something that I am extremely proud of. I wish I had a clearer understanding of the time we had available, which is ultimately why I chose to pursue several live projects. Not only was this to help gain more insight into working with clients, ready to open a collaborative studio practice with Luke OBrien, but also, it offered a set of restrictions set about by the client themselves. Two of my substantial briefs centered around the development of a brand for two students rd rd Nicole Holcroft-Emmess, a 3 year photography student and Rebekah Hill, a 3 year fashion student. Both of these had an element of creative freedom yet each still had their own restrictions in regards to time and aesthetic elements. Although great to explore, develop and produce, these briefs did not offer as much in terms of varied resolutions than some of my other projects, perhaps. Collaboration became a prominent aspect of the projects I undertook whether this is with the two students or with others on the course. One of these briefs was Form and writing, a continuation of a brief undertaken during the OUGD301 module. Due to our mutual interest in typography and font design, Max, Yaf and I, aimed to develop, and thoroughly explore, more avenues within the brief. We initially planned to create a number of typefaces, each with a set of print collateral; however, due to the demand of other projects, it was difficult to ensure as much effort went into the development of the typefaces than it did on other briefs. In the end, however, we each produced a fully extensive font design; ones that were well-informed, refined and with a clear underlying concept the fonts were also accompanied by a range of print collateral that were later housed under the Form and writing brand. The brief I seemed to enjoy the most was Reel the fictional identity and promotional material for a weeklong film festival. I am not sure whether it was the subject matter that ensured I engaged with the brief or the designs I produced, but in the end, it is the project I am most proud of. The brief was a continuation (albeit a reinterpretation) of an earlier project yet I decided to re-devise the identity to connote a new set of values. It was interesting to re-brand an already existing identity of mine but useful to evaluate what aspects were successful and unsuccessful with the existing brand. Along with Luke OBrien, Max Gregory and Charlotte Bourke, we decided to pitch for the Graphic Design yearbook once the brief was available to us. Focusing more so on the concept as opposed to the resolution, I believe this was our downfall. However, we were asked to devise the PDF yearbook for DFGA. Although this offered limitations in terms of print (which ultimately formed the defining concept in our initial pitch), it provided the opportunity to explore interactive media and UI. Although interesting to explore, I found producing the 3D elements more engaging than the interactivity. Luke and me decided to collaborate on the end of year show artwork. Despite a late decision to pitch our concept, we fortunately won and were elated to be working on the designs. So far, it has been an enjoyable project to work on I am especially looking

forward to receiving the scratch-off invitations we proposed. Working with purely typographic treatment was also a refreshing relief from the heavy use of photographic imagery within the other projects it also limited the amount of pitfalls we might have otherwise faced. The FMP has been an insightful and rewarding few weeks it has resulted in a body of work I am proud of and work I believe effectively reflects my practice. Despite the pitfalls along the way, and the odd sleepless night, Im pleased. Really pleased.