Typically, I've found design more interesting when I'm working on websites, UX, information architecture, and emerging technology like AR. So when the prospect of doing traditional graphic design was looming, I can't say it wasn't a daunting project. I haven't had much experience with Photoshop before so I jumped into the deep end on this one. I was relived by the fact that the first 3 weeks of the class were structured so well. For some reason I really enjoyed the challenges we did in class, and having a set deadline every day for a poster challenged me so much – in a good way. As a learner, I really benefit from constraints, because I sometimes find it hard to limit my choices down. The first exercise we did where we took Pictionary drawings was an awesome start to the class, and I found the lecturers every week really good because they explored a range of different styles – from very simple to messy & photographic grunge. I also found the exercise where we wrote down all of the objects or tangible things (buildings, briefcase, tie) down and made posters from that.

In the second half of the course I struggled a lot more – none of the ideas that I presented in my interim were sticking, they were all quite flat vector styles and all used black white and red, it was hard for me to develop them into more impactful posters, so I explored a range of different ideas in week 4 5 and 6, until eventually landing on my final two – one of which was a development of one of my interim posters and the other was somewhat of a development from a previous poster, which didn't suit the business theme.

Thoughtout the course the things I've learnt are to be succinct – not nesserily simple, but to keep the message super clear. I've learnt that I actually really enjoy having constraints and due dates set, and I was able to get a lot more done in class than any other subject. While it wasn't so much about user experience, I think what I learnt was a really valuable lesson in capturing people's attention, and moving them to act with clear, impactful messaging and a strong call to action. I'm really happy with my final posters, after struggling in week 4 and 5 to come up with something more clear and more suitable for the business theme I was going for, I think both of my posters have a strong message while being quite different styles.