FRASER HARDWICK IDP Reflections

1. Innovative design practice reflection
Week1:
Our task the 1st week was to make a map that could be followed we were given creative
freedom do design this map how we wanted with a design of our choice. Benefit was before
hand we were given a good presentation on all of the types of design we could use. Some issues
I had was making the type of design I wanted work and that was due to my basic knowledge of
photoshop it took some time to get around although in the end I was able to do close to the
thing I wanted if I had the full 4 weeks to make something I would of gone a lot more in depth
for sure.
Week2:
Week 2 we were given the task to design symbols for something that we chose in this regard I
chose symbols for a game. What I didn’t read into on the task was the symbols was meant to be
quite minimalistic. Therefore id sketch a full design for a space man symbol when I didn’t need
to. Therefore next time I will read the task more toughly so I don’t end up making mistakes that
isn’t technically what we were meant to do although has a lot of promise for future work. Being
one of the best designs I’ve made so far in my opinion.
Week3:
This was one of the biggest task for this semester giving us a set of symbols to make for our
chosen topic. I decided to pick something I know, being video game icons. What these need to
be is easy to read and give an understanding on what they are intently. Therefore, I mad them
basic colours and really easy to read. Some feedback I got was to change the blues in the
friendly objective because it crashed with the blacks too much but apart from that a lot of the
symbols were easy enough to understand. Therefor thinking this task was a success.
Week4:
This week proved to be one of the most difficult due to the amount of content I had to put on
one page. As well as this making sure I kept track of every asset I used to reference it later on.
With this project I talked to my teacher about doing something for the society I run like a basic
tick list for new airsoft players. This proved to be a good idea although making sure the graphics
kept to the same quality seemed to be a problem that my teacher and I had took up on.
Although with this the basic premise is there and id does fulfill the task that was given.

2. Week5:
This week we had a different task of looking into audiences and trying to empathy’s with them.
This was a mass group task so everyone could get involved however some issues that occurred
was repeating as well as some people sitting back. This meant a handful of people did a lot of
the work although let people who were less confident have and read similar ideas. This task
also helped us investigate what type of people would come to these events. Therefore meaning
we can have a infographic on the types of people there. As well as who to expect this did seem
that I could help us in the future if more projects require a certain audience.
Week 6/7:
These weeks I had to combine into one due to a lot of the work in week 6 being repeated as
well as the missing of a lecture in 7 meaning I had to catch up. This put me at a high
disadvantage. As well as this having to catch up online for certain tasks I missed out on. Benefits
of this is that I came into week 7 with my own ideas so to say and was to add to my own
personal project. what I make in my spare time is that I brew beer and I though for the previous
project I had already done a airsoft mood bored and research therefor id save time by making
an airsoft beer meaning I can reach deadlines, hopefully. I felt this went well because it was two
things, I enjoyed a lot that I was bringing together however. This did mean trying to combine
the two ideas did prove difficult. And to find the right balance of beer and airsoft would prove
a challenge. Although when finding the right audience worked seemed to go quick and
efficiently. Problems with doing something close to me however would mean I’m not
continuing the task and linking from last week that could of brought my mark down. However I
feel like doing something I’m interested in and proud of would come off as better as well as
spending my spare time and money to make brew and label my own beer physically instead of
doing it all online, and virtual.
Week 8:
This week working on the infographics we did for week 5 did seem a lot harder due to our
headspace being in a different area. Moving back to the festival that was on in Lincoln may
have made my judgment that the previous week I would go off tracks a little. This meant I had
to create an all new stepping stone to come off from meaning the work that I started. What I
thought went well was the ability to have more freedom in what we may make as long as
there’s good reason. Therefor looking in some aspects the ideas and the rough links I made
benefited the work making it more original than others I’d like to think especially with the
water in a can idea). Therefore I’m happy that I was able to think outside the box a little and
explain what I had in mind. Further more with the products I made the designs fitted really well
due to the type of event as well as the colours for the event were. As well as this I think that If I

3. could improve on anything it would be a different font as well as a different logo for festival, I
made myself due to it being able to have my own spin on it.
Week 9:
In this week we had been given our next module in Colour, image and mark-making where we
were introduced to our next assignments as well as introduced to the type of methods of
creating content. One of these ways seemed too free in a way where we listened to music and
the teacher let us go “home free” on what we drew on what we felt. I could only picture these in
certain ways meaning not much variety of art styles happed, although in this method it let me be
more free with my ideas but if I was told beforehand to do it in a different way I may have been
pushed to try more styles. Meaning all the things I sketched may give me more verity for later.
The other task was listening to music and getting the ideas down for our posters. This was done
quite quickly and gave me so many different ideas due to the tune of the song and who its
aimed at. This method helped because it let me see the types of things I could produce with just
a rough sketch. As well as this I did help me explore my art styles more making more individual
content for each poster. What I felt I could of done more of with the posters is researching into
the artists back ground or some of the deeper bits in the song. Meaning the poster would have
more detailed and in depth pieces that link together to sell the story of the song rather than my
quite literal approach. I felt like the “I am a Walrus” poster showed off the Beatles the most due
to it being a very similar design to what they had.
Week10:
Week 10 was looking into making a side profile design. This work was quite fun however was
mainly a good way to get our personal taste onto our work. With our freedom I went for quite a
happy approach to the tasks making sure that my work was something I wanted to make. As
well as this trying to go down a artistic path that I hadn’t done before. I felt like if this task gave
more direction I would of made something I may have not liked therefore I fell with this extra
freedom that the work I made looked and felt more personal to me.
As well as this take we were meant to wright a Illustrator brief that they would go by when
design a children’s book for us. This at 1st
felt like quite an easy task although I released soon
after I needed to put much more exact detail in. The best way to find this out was giving it to
someone and see if they understood what I wanted however this wasn’t the case and made me
think that writing and understanding these briefs aren’t my strong point.
Week 11:
This week we looked at reversing what we knew and instead of making something visual with
sounds we made the sounds that would link to something visual. I felt like this was one of my
most strongest pieces of work being that I was able to use skill I had learned in technical
workflows and use other knowledge to my advantage. However I did feel like if this
visualization of the task was taken in a much more artistic approach it would of effected the
the workshop and may have made my work a lot harder to do, as well as I may have not been
happy with the final product I created. Therefor I’m glad my freedom land skills let me do
something that would get my point across. As well as this week let me sound scape images

4. using different sound to the original content to give the video a completely new feel to it.
furthermore I learned about new websites I can use for free sound and images that are non-
copywrite that will defiantly be saved for future content creation. How I would of improved my
work however is finding a higher quality video and sound scape to work with. Due to it being
very pixelated and full of macro blocking when exported.