Fred - Feedback Tutorial

I had my feedback tutorial with Fred today. It went well. Feedback on the last module was good. Fred mentioned that he could see a professional restraint in my design that is now showing through, which was nice to hear. It is in response to my second year habit of going process crazy. Now I feel that I embrace the content and concept of a project much more and use a particular process only if necessary or if it will enhance an element of it. Everything is much more considered. I guess you could say I've grown up and become that little more sophisticated.


Moving onto my FMP statement of intent, it became apparent that I need to be more specific on a couple of things. Rather than just stating my desired themes or my design disciplines via bullet points it would be better to provide options, questions and possible problems to the statements. This should give the reader a much better idea of what my practice is about.


Probably the most important thing to come out of the tutorial is the recognition of a shift in FMP from the previous module. The emphasis is on demonstrating what you have learnt and pushing yourself in new directions so that you produce an expanded body of work. To this effect Fred said I need to get out of my comfort zone (music packaging). I couldn't agree more. It dawned on me a while ago that I could always somehow wangle a music packaging element into a brief and that I have plenty of briefs like this already. No need to demonstrate this again and again or I will have a pretty boring portfolio. 
What's needed now is to expand the range and diversity of my work through interesting and challenging briefs. For this reason I am going to assess all of my briefs in order to guarantee plenty of challenges and opportunities to demonstrate my knowledge of print, process and delivery. My Royal Mail competition stamp brief epitomises the type of brief I'm talking about. Plenty of room for development, print testing, delivery options and range. It could be a very substantial brief - stamps (ranges of), packaging, promotion material, screen printed posters to name a few. I'm going to spend some time thinking of similar challenging briefs I can do in addition to my collaborative work (yearbook, end of year show promo + identity). 


All in all a good chat with Fred. It clarified lots of things and confirmed some suspicions of mine. Plenty to build upon. FMP is going to be ace! Just need to get my bloody dissertation finished so I can focus properly on graphic design! Nearly there.