OUCE255 Module Self Evaluation

What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?
I have learnt a lot about the whole process of going about setting up a business, something which I didn't know anything about to begin with but would now feel confident enough to go ahead and give it a go. It opened my eyes to the possibilities of doing so and it has made it into a process which doesn't any longer feel like a scary one to even consider.


What approaches to/methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?
The whole process of this module was mainly focused on the research side and understanding of ot, and I do think that I tried to ensure that I took onboard what was being told to me. In terms of the design aspect, I applied skills which I am currently working on in other modules at the moment such at the type one and applied them into the designs that I produced. This allowed me a great opportunity to apply what I have learnt into something which feels more real, and I certainly saw the benefits of it through this.


What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?
As a group we worked really well in terms of getting things done and to a standard in which we were all satisfied with. In previous modules when it came to group work it definitely wasn't my strongest point, but I feel with this module I have learnt a whole lot about working in a group and do feel a lot more confident in myself now to do so in the future. Working amongst friends and people that I spend quite a bit of time with allowed me to focus on the task in hand, but also establish within myself where I felt my weaknesses lie and work on these throughout the module.


What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?
Even though I do feel that I learnt a lot about actually working within a group, I do still feel like I could have contributed more towards what we were doing at times. Because I don't feel confident enough to step up or take charge I would sometimes wait until an opportunity came up for me to do something as opposed to making sure I found something. This is certainly something I have learnt and realised now and will be something I ensure I don't let happen with future modules.


Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?

• I will speak up more within group situations. I am not too bad with this at times although sometimes when I don't understand something or don't 100% agree with what is being discussed I usually just sit back and let them happen, but after stepping up within this module at times I have definitely seen the benefits from doing so.
• I will blog more regularly. I say this with almost every module, but this one has really opened my eyes to how much easier I could make it on myself if I was to keep on top of my blogging.
• I will continue to learn about what we have covered within the module. I have learnt a whole lot during this module, and definitely think it will help with any future ventures which may come up in the future, therefore I will ensure that I don't let myself get out of touch with this stuff so that if something was to come up in the future then I would be ready for it.
• I will ask more questions. When ever there comes a time when I don't feel fully understanding of what is going on I will push myself to question it in order to help understanding. This will avoid any awkward situations which may come up if I don't do this.
• I will prioritise my time better. This is the module that I really let slip into the back seat so I didn't spend as much time on it as I feel that I could have, therefore I will make sure that with any similar future modules I will avoid this happening by prioritising and planning my time out better and more efficiently.

Attendance - 4

Punctuality - 3

Motivation - 3

Commitment - 4

Quantity of work produced - 4

Quality of work produced - 4

Contribution to the group - 3

Enterprise - We are: Presentation Reflection

Our presentation went alright. The utter shame when Jane announced we had spelt biscuits wrong at the start wasn't too pleasant though, especially because of the fact that even at that moment none of us still hadn't realised!

The main feedback that we got on the presentation that it wasn't particularly visual enough for Jane to keep focused on it and what was being said. I do understand what she means as I found I did this with a couple of other peoples presentations, but that was more with the type heavy ones for me. We kept they presentation as minimal as we did as we felt we didn't really need anything more on there. The other feedback that we got was that James presented like he was talking to his paper when it was his turn to speak, and Beth was engaging when she was speaking. We got asked at the end about the fact that me and Baljeet didn't contribute to the presentation, but I have already explained this in a previous post.

Overall, I do think that it could have gone better but there isn't really much that we can do about it now. Seeing what some others had done for theirs it is evident that if we had put a bit more time into it then maybe we could have tried to push ourselves to do something 'live' too. Never mind. This has been the module that has just been permanently on the back of my mind since we started as I have been focused more on completing the core modules and what not.

Baljeet did spend a little time adding images to the powerpoint to make it more visual, although in the PPD briefing with Fred, he used our presentation as a good example of one that looked professional and what not so I'm not sure personally if we need it, I guess it comes down to a matter of taste really. Here's how the updated presentation now looks:

Enterprise - We are: Direct Mail

One of the main things that we were really keen on doing from the start of this brief was producing something that we could give out during the presentations. We wanted to do something 'original' and creative, and what we ended up with was coming up with the idea around coffee. Everyone seemed to like this idea so we went from there. We discussed a few things, but the ultimate idea that we came up with and decided to pursue was that we would produce a take away cup that contained the ingredients to make a 'cuppa' (using cuppa playing on the fact that we're based in Leeds). 

I sketched down a quick idea of how I was visualising this idea (which I have now misplaced - oops!), and everyone really liked the idea. So, while I was at work the weekend before the presentations I got my sticky fingers on and got hold of something like 28 take away cups, 25 lids, 25 plastic spoons, and 50 packets of sugar. We had worked out that we would need something like 22 cups to give one to everyone in the presentation as well as one each to Bridget and Jane, so we decided on 25 to be sure we had more than enough. We bought the actual tea bags, coffee and biscuits from Tesco.

The Monday before the presentations was pretty much getting everything ready in time. We printed the folders and got these put together, and I designed the little packets that would contain each of the different components of the cups, as well as the cups design. I did sketch out how these would be and worked out the measurements, but again I have misplaced these as well. Once these were all ready we got them printed out and away we went at putting everything together - this took a hell of a lot longer than we had originally anticipated, and felt a bit like it was more trouble than it was worth at the time.

As well as these, we also decided to put a general business card for the studio in the cup as well which would be what would be kept from it and contained our contact details. Baljeet designed these in conjunction to the rest of the designs, and we printed these in yellow like we did the cups so that when people come to thinking back about the mail out, they will remember the yellow from the cup and reflect this over to the yellow the business card. 

Here is how it turned out:

In the end the sugar packets didn't work out as they were just popping back open and the sugar was going everywhere, so we scrapped them and I had a little trip back to work to get some more (good job my manager loves me haha), and we used these instead.

BUSCUITS - I have no idea how we didn't spot the dreadful spelling mistake, oh dear. After staring at them for hours on end as well. This was a terrible mistake to make, although everyone did laugh. This was definitely a lesson learnt and we will remember to always check, check and check again at any spelling, even if it is something as simple as these are as it clearly can happen.

Enterprise - We are: Presentation

Here is how our final presentation looks. 

It has been decided that James and Beth will be the ones to present for our group as me and Baljeet don't feel confident enough to do so, and we were advised early on to have someone/people who are shit hot to do it.

Enterprise - We are: Sexy Designs

It's coming to the end of this brief now and the presentation is drawing closer and closer. We're making decisions for the smaller details now as well as the bigger picture. I offered to put together all of the business plan, SWOT analysis', PEST analysis and everything else into a sexy design that will work across all areas of what would ultimately need to be included to actually do this for real. I'm quite excited to do this really to use some of what I learnt from the type module on something that is actually interesting (although I don't think I should say that...).

Using the branding that we already have of ourselves on the business cards, I used this as a starting point at putting them together. They don't need to be anything fancy, just simple and to the point, but also recognisable that it is within our studio sort of thing. Here's a few screen shots I took whilst putting them together which I used to post on the Facebook group to double check I was heading in the right direction with them. They basically just show a quick example of the development of them.

I am quite pleased with how these designs turned out really. They are simple and achieve what I originally set out to do so - I guess the type module is paying off after all. Here is how the finished designs look for each of the things:

As well as this, I also put together a folder that would contain all of the files that will be given to Jane and Bridget during our presentations. I kept this as simple as possible, and added a yellow belly band going around it to add that little extra touch. These turned out to look really nice, and the pack put together as a set works really well. James also produced profile sheets that were also included on the printers that we will be working with as well.

Here is how the finished business pack looked: