Design Context Publication Crits/ Tony Broomhead Crit

We had sign up crits to be able to get some feedback on the design publication that we have to produce for Extended Practice.  I thought that it would be really beneficial for me to get some feedback on my ideas as I had ben struggling to come up with some ideas for the book.

Ideas for Book and Feedback Notes

In the crit, I discussed the ideas that I had but how I was struggling to be able to come up with the content for them. I was told that all of my ideas would make sense and that they would answer the brief well as it ties into what my interests are and what I do. 

The brand guidelines idea was well received but I discussed how I knew that I would struggle presenting myself in this way. The interactive book idea was very similar to this one yet gave it an easier approach to produce content for. The most successful idea was the storybook idea as I had just completed the YCN submission and this idea was very similar so this would allow the idea to apply to an actual brief I've done so it would be contextualised.

Examples of Previous Students Design Publications

During this crit, we were able to have a look at examples of publications done by previous students and they were all very different. Some had just images from other designers about what influenced them, some had took a conceptual approach to it whilst others included some of their own work and experiences in there. I wasn't completely impressed by the books because I wouldn't want to just have images of others work seen as it is suppose to be about my practice. Saying that, I liked to be able to have a concept to work towards as this is similar to how I work.

Having had this crit, I was glad that I had some re-assurance on my ideas and that I had been answering the brief correctly. Despite this, I was still struggling because I just couldn't think of any way in which I could approach these ideas. 

Following on from this, we were able to sign up to another crit were we would be able to get feedback from visiting professional Tony Broomhead, who is an architecture lecturer at Sheffield University.

Feedback Notes from Tony Broomhead Crit

I discussed the problem I had with Tony and the other people who were in my crit and they liked the idea that I was trying to put myself into the book. One remark that was made was that I should do a little componant piece about what makes me me because apparently my personality influences my design. I had never thought about this before but having someone else notice this about my work and telling me this, it made me want to include my personality as part of this publication.

Having said that, this then brought about the idea of a cookbook where I could present a recipe of how to make me. I would be able to have myself as a person and how it reflects in my design and how it goes into my work. For the content, I would be able to talk about individual ingredients that are personality traits and have separate chapters showing how I work towards a brief. This would allow for me to be able to have my own work as content and have a concept towards the book, which is how I work as well thereby reflecting my methodology.

I found the crit very helpful as by having this conversation, I now have some direction as to where this can go and I felt like I wanted to get onto working towards the book straight away, having found a renewed sense of enthusiasm.