OUGD406 | Studio Brief 01 - Final Evaluation

This brief has been very enjoyable for me as I enjoy music and it has been interesting to express music through artwork. Also, having the chance to enter a competition was an exciting experience. The time constraints of the brief proved challenging but this forced me to improve my planning and project management skills.
I was pleased with how my illustration skills have improved throughout this project. I have further developed my Adobe illustrator skills. I feel that during this project, I have been more creative with my approach to design. For example, experimenting with acrylic paint and ink and bringing this into my illustrations. I feel this gave my work a more authentic feel and the designs became more visually interesting.
My DSLR skills have vastly improved throughout this project. I became more familiar with the resources available to me and having a good quality camera with me improved the documentation of my work and the professionalism of my images. I was able to bounce of the skills I learned in my induction and apply these to a brief. As a result of this, I plan to borrow cameras for future projects to improve my overall approach to briefs.
I felt that what let my project down was the research which I carried out. I feel that I failed to research anything other than the obvious and the depth of my research was minimal. My research did inform my designs, however this was not usually the primary reason for any design decisions.
A further issue that I need to improve on, particularly with this project is the documentation of my design decisions. Often I would forget to explain the reasons behind elements such as colour choice.
I am still unsure as to whether I approached this brief from the right angle. Often it crits, I would receive feedback that the designs did not represent The Maccabees as a band. I was under the  understanding that our work should not necessarily be too similar to the current art directions of the artist, but it should be our own interpretation of the song. I would agree that my final designs were not obviously about The Maccabees, but there is supposed to be an element of secrecy.
Although I was pleased with my final designs, I feel the main improvement I need to make is refining my design process overall. I feel that I need to spend more time in the research/planning/sketching phase, as often I am too keen to begin designing.