Design Essay: Reflection

Grade 8 design has been an absolute joy this year, and I hope there is more to come. In many
ways design is a lot like any other subject, in a regard that it has homework, deadlines and
expectations. It is remarkably different as well however. It is quite different in a way that it is a
subject that I didn't do in primary school. It was quite a different experience in a way that
everything we did was something new to me. I think that one of the benefits of design is that
even though there is homework, it feels as though I can relax and complete my brief. I have also
had the opportunity to learn how to use my apps on my ipad, and it was a good time to figure
out how to use my creativity and some guidelines to create a design that I was quite proud of.
Even though I am not good at drawing, design still gave me an opportunity to stretch my
imagination with the help of technology. I have also learnt not only to create/draw design but to
also be critical and appreciative towards design even in the general world. I got to understand
the way the designer thought and I also started to notice more designs around me.

In brief one, we were told to do typography. In this design brief we designed our names in an
abstract way. In the process of this design I learnt two designing skills/terms, which are kerning
and negative space. Although this was not my best work, I got a little taste of what design
should be. I got to realise that my former understanding of design was completely wrong. I was
very new to this so it was definitely not the best design and I think that in this design I could
have been neater and used different sized fonts, however I do think that I did get the overall
idea of the brief.

Brief two was about designing an olympic ring design for a city that has not yet hosted an
olympic games yet. I made a mistake in this brief, and chose a country by accident. I had
misread the brief which proves my recklessness. I think I really did enjoy this design brief and I
tried to spend a lot of time on it. I remember being quite proud of this particular design, although
looking back on it I could have improved it a lot by making the olympic side of things pop more. I
also got to briefly know what “bleeding” is. I also tried to keep the design fresh and quite neat.

Brief three was something I was not expecting in a subject like design. I had to take several
photos and draw an interesting angle. This is one of the most memorable designs for me
because I remember finding it very difficult to find an “interesting angle” of my school shoe. I
also found it quite interesting how the brief called for a “square composition” which is something
I learnt to do. I also got to experiment with different types of angles to take pictures. Overall this
was quite an interesting and fun design.

I would say that I didn't do my best for brief 4, however I still learnt a lot. Although I am not
proud of what I submitted, I learnt about “bleeding” and it was also the first time we got to utilize
colour in our designs. I also got to see how my peers had interpreted the design brief and how I
could have improved my kitchen wallpaper.

Black and white photography was the topic for brief 5. I enjoyed this brief because I took several
pictures of my cat and tried to select one with good contrast. I learnt about contrast in colours,
as well as taking photos in a square composition. I took photos of my cat in hopes of capturing
good texture and contrast with the dark and light areas of the picture. I think that although I can
see major improvements to be made such as leaving more negative space in the picture, I was
and am satisfied with the picture I took.

Brief six was about crumpled paper and the DADA movement during world war 1. I was clueless
that the DADA movement had even existed previously and was very refreshing and exciting to
learn about something new. It also gave me a new perspective on the negative things we
experience in our day to day lives. I definitely think that using a technique like stippling or
scratchy lines instead of blurring the shadows to make it more clear and precise. I also learnt to
take pictures of interesting angles of a crumpled piece of paper.

Geometric Modernism being the seventh and final brief, I tried my best. I enjoyed using colour
and the simplicity yet difficulty of geometric modernism. I got to learn a whole lot about Laszlo
Maholy-Nagy that I had no idea existed previously. I tried to spend a lot of time making it look
clean and modern. After looking at my peers’ designs I have realised that I could have
implemented more textures and depth in my design.

I will try to rank my designs from one to seven in terms of my enjoyment of the creation of the
design as well as my own creative and imaginative development. In order from best to last, I
would say it would be in order of the following. Brief 5 (black and white photography), brief 2
(Olympic Rings), brief 6 (DADA movement), brief 7 (Geometric Modernism), brief 3 (school
shoe), brief 1 (Typography) and lastly brief 4 (kitchen wallpaper). I put it in this order because of
my enjoyment as well as how much I learnt from the brief as well as my creative development. I
think that in terms of coming out of my comfort zone and one that I found challenging I would
say the brief that most challenged my comfort zone is brief 7 (geometric modernism) because I
haven’t ever thought about how to make something have texture, but still making it look neat,
modern and precise. I have enjoyed design for grade 8 and even though sometimes it has been
challenging I think it was a great experience for me and my growth.