Evaluation

When I first joined site text and practice, I was unsure as to what the whole class entailed, and even now explaining to people that you have to respond to a place is often met with confusion. However, once I realised what the plan was, I was really excited. I've always been quite an enthusiastic writer, I enjoy writing essays and have ventured into writing short stories in my spare time. The class was also an opportunity to explore my own skills as a graphic designer since I had free reign on how my response would look or what it would be.

Exploring has always been something that has interested me, even to this day I often go on urban exploration trips with friends to abandoned or derelict buildings. I find it really interesting, imagining how the place looked once upon a time and how much it would have meant to people back in the day. Abandoned places definitely have a certain mystery to them, you try and envisage how the places used to look before plants took over and kids graffitied. Through this project, my eyes have been opened to the world around me a little more, and has started me looking up, rather than just looking down as so many people in cities do.

I wanted to really explore my love for exploring in the sense of how imagination can play a massive part in it. I originally wanted to use a place that held an event in my life as my place to respond to but as I continued into research with this, I realised that I didn't want to reflect on the past, but on the future. This is where I got the idea to respond to my imaginary place, my future design studio. With my interest in interior design and my love to embrace imagination, this was the perfect place to respond to.

I chose a zine as my platform for my response since I wanted to explore a self publishing side of graphic design that I hadn't been able to really experiment with before. I'm actually so pleased with the result of this project, that I'm thinking of using it as a portfolio piece! This project allowed me to explore with my style of graphic design, but also allowed me to embrace my powerful imagination to create my future desgin studio, in every aspect of its aesthetic. Doing this has also been a massive encouragement for me to start working towards fulfilling this goal in later life, which is something that I hoped would happen.

Overall, the module has been really enjoyable and has been an inspiration for me in a number of ways. It's encouraged me to walk more, and to explore more and to look further than just a passing look. It's also helped me encourage myself to aim higher in my career and future, with the creation of my ideal design studio. It's also pushed me to experiment with writing more and use it more in general life (with journalling, for example) then I do already. I've really enjoyed site text and practice and think I've taken a lot from the module in a variety of ways.

Final Zine

Images of my final zine, printed from home onto A4 paper. Bound with staples.

Imposition Guide

This was the imposition guide I used to make sure that all my pages, when printed onto A4 landscape would work together when folded together. These guides are still commonly used in printing and publishing houses today.

Zine Production

These are just two double page spreads that are examples of not only how I'm designing the zine but also demonstrate how I'm designing my studio. I've gone into depth of the aesthetics of my design studio and how this relates to the atmosphere created by these small touches. I think the way in which a room is decorated and what kind of furniture is in that room can make the difference as to how you feel, especially when spending long periods of time in that place.

Zine Production

Front Cover: I wanted to call my zine something quite relevant to what I was creating inside it. Going places doesn't only mean visiting somewhere, but also works with what the studio is creating for me. It's encouraging me to move further in my career as a graphic designer, enough so to open my own studio.

Zine Idea

As my final piece for complementary studies, I have decided to use an imaginary place as my place to respond to. This imaginary place is somewhere that means a lot to me, and is a real big inspiration to me for the future. I've always wanted to run my own business and have my own design studio, so for this project, I wanted to bring my studio to life a little.

I've always been really interested in interior design, and have grown up designing my bedrooms, and being inspired by beautifully designed houses, apartments and workspaces. So to create my studio, I plan to virtually design my studio. From colour, to texture I want to bring my future design studio to life.

I also wanted to use my future design studio as a place for this project since I want it to be an encouragement to go and work for this place in the future. I want something to work towards and having the place visually created in my mind, I think that will make me work harder for that end result.

I've also decided to have my end response product as a zine. I've always been very interested in zines, magazines and publishing, and thought that having a bookwork final piece would suit this module quite well. I've taken inspiration from many different graphic design zines and wish to take influence from these designs and use them in my own style to create the design of my zine. I plan to create an A5 zine, out of folded over A4 pieces, all printed from home. This way, it maintains the self publish feel that zines are so well known for.

Corroboree Task

I have chosen the Guerilla Art Kit by Keri Smith as my corroboree object. It's a very influential and inspirational book to me in a numbers of ways, and it's definitely helped define a lot of my path in graphic design and also in the way I view life. Keri Smith inspired me before I joined PCAD to do my national diploma in 2008, with her cute books on inspiring others and bringing art into the world of the general public. She also inspired me to enjoy life, with her comments on how to spend time with yourself and enjoy it, and how to embrace the creative side to your personality. These factors helped spur me on towards doing a course at PCAD, which after almost 10 years of homeschooling, was a really big thing for me. Through joining PCAD, I've met loads of new people, who have become friends and the course gave me confidence to continue my education to a degree level. And here we are.