I was unable to give my presentation due to personal issues. I typed out a script to go alongside my presentation so that it was still clear.
Ellen
Setterfield
PPP3
Final
Presentation
Slide 1
My logo
Slide 2
My
favourite piece of design is the London Underground map, originally designed by
Harry Beck in 1933. This map inspired me to look into a new sector within
Graphic Design – User Experience.
Slide 3
My hometown
is a small town called Todmorden. It is a very beautiful serene but also very
boring to a young person. I always knew that I would not end up living in
Todmorden for the rest of my life.
Slide 4
Moving to
Leeds was very daunting, as I had never lived in a city before but after one
evening of feeling homesick I have never looked back.
Slide 5
I came to
LCA without a foundation degree which meant I was one year younger than most of
the students. Though this meant that I was less experienced with skills such as
print making, I decided to use my first year to experiment with different
materials and processes, which would help me to decide what kind of designer I
was.
Slide 6
Some of the
highlights from my first year were the Coffee book that I produced in response
to an info-graphic brief. I enjoyed this project as it meant that I had to
carry out research into a topic that I had little knowledge about. I decided to
make a set of flashcards that each displayed facts about coffee. I envisioned
this collection to sit on a table within a coffee shop for coffee lovers to
read as they drank their coffee. I added this brief to my Behance portfolio and
a man in Düsseldorf who wanted to use the book in his new coffee shop
approached me.
Bliss Nails
and Beauty was my first paid design job which I completed over the summer
holiday between first and second year. This brief was interesting as I was
given full creative range, I was asked to come up with a logo and a pricelist
that I printed, trimmed, folded and stitched myself. Though I enjoyed this
brief I came to the conclusion that print design was not 100% for me.
Slide 7
I was
looking forward to starting second year, as I was very interested in learning
about web design. I felt a lot more confident starting second year as I had the
experience of first year to make informed decisions about my responses to the
briefs set.
Slide 8
One of my
favourite projects from second year was Redrow, which was a YCN brief that I
completed with Adam. I enjoyed this brief massively as it introduced me to User
Experience and also collaboration. Though this brief was a compulsory
collaboration it opened my eyes to the ‘real’ world of design. I realised that
within industry it is very rare for designers to complete a brief themselves.
My CoP work
in second year was a project I was very proud of. I made the mistake, in first
year, of choosing a topic that I was not 100% interested in. I made sure that
during second year I chose a topic that gave me scope to carry out research
that I would find useful and also interesting. I chose to look into wayfinding
and signage and how type and image work together within it. I used the London
Underground Map as a major case study within this body of work and also used it
as a framework to present my research findings.
Type
factory was the first web brief that I completed from start to finish, by
myself. I found it incredibly hard to code the website as well as designing it,
this meant that a lot of my design decisions were made during the coding process.
This brief made it clearer in my mind that collaboration within web design is
imperative.
Slide 9
Over the
summer between second year and third year I completed a placement at Numiko for
one week. I enjoyed my time at the studio but I did feel a little bit out of
place. I came to the conclusion that the first job I would have would not
necessarily be my dream job. It was at Numiko where I met Lowri Davies, a UX
Researcher. Lowri introduced me to Northern User Experience (NUX), which is a
group of UX professionals who gather each month for workshops, talks and pizza.
I really enjoyed the NUX meet up and I continued to stay in touch with Lowri.
Slide 10
Returning
for third year I felt that I had a direction to point myself in. I knew that I
was only really interested in digital briefs with a UX theme. The briefs that I
wrote for myself were mainly websites or mobile apps.
Slide 11
A few of my
highlights from third year are: Morrison’s groceries re-design, FE Taster Day
session and Commute. These briefs all had an essence of UX about them though
they were not simply web briefs. The Morrison’s Groceries brief was the
practical response to my dissertation. It focused on the idea of UX within a
supermarket transferred to an online platform. I paid particular attention to
the navigation of the website and chose specific features to ensure that users
fully understood each step they were about the take, such as images to
represent what would be found within each food category.
The FE
Taster Day and Commute briefs were both about UX but were not confined to web
design. The FE Taster Day was a collaboration with Laura Bruce. We devised a
lesson that we delivered to the FE students; this was with the aim to give an
insight into the BAGD course. Commute was a live brief set by Do Something
More. The brief was to design an experience of a train company. I chose to
target my company at commuters, I created a Commute card that users could
collect points and redeem gifts with and also made specific design decisions about
the train interior to adhere to commuter needs. Both of these briefs required
some essence of UX but presented themselves in a different way. These briefs
made me change my perspective about the kind of designer I want to be. I think
that sitting behind a desk all day will be boring and unsatisfying, I want to
do something that involves working with teams of people making creative
decisions and coming up with interesting ideas that present innovative User
Experience’s.
Slide 12
I kept in
touch with Lowri and she told me that she had recently left Numiko and started
a job as the Head of UX at Rentalcars.com in Manchester. She told me that they
were holding User tests at Media City in Salford and invited me to be her note
taker for the 5 days of tests. This was such an exciting prospect for me and
also presented me with the chance to find out what user testing is all about. I
really enjoyed the testing as it gave me an insight into what my job would be
like if I were to go into UX research instead of design. Though I enjoyed
taking notes I would have preferred to take on Lowri’s role, which was to
interview each user, and guide them through the tasks they were asked to do. I
feel that my skills would lean towards this role.
During my
time at Media City I fell in love with the atmosphere. I loved that each day as
I got my Costa Coffee paparazzi were taking photos of celebrities as they
arrived at the BBC, I loved that the Voice was filming in the same building as
me and I loved that the Coronation Street set was right across the road from
me. I did some research into the different businesses within Media City and
found that the BBC has a UX Design training course that is open to graduates. I
plan to apply for this and see where I get.
Slide 13
Knowing
that the BBC offered this course I attended Manchester Digital, which was a
gathering of all the digital agencies in Manchester that were hiring graduates.
I knew that the BBC would be there and I saw it as a perfect opportunity to
speak to them directly about the course and what I would be doing if I were
successful. I was very disappointed with the reception I was given by the BBC,
they were very uninviting and did not give any information except a really bad
print out of the information on the website. Whilst I was upset about this I
chose to look at other studios at the event, it was here where I came across
Code Computerlove. I had seen their work before but I had not considered them,
as I was too interested in the BBC. I handed in a CV and a business card to an
employee named Charles and was told to wait to hear from them.
Slide 14
Code got in
touch invited me to a graduate open day at their studios. I was told that I was
selected as I showed premise at the Manchester Digital Day. I went along to the
open day and I loved it. I, along with around 15 other graduates, was
introduced to some of the creative at Code. We were split into small groups and
were each told to come up with product ideas based off other products, this was
known as a ‘mash up’. We were then told to come up with a product from these
‘mash ups’ and given the chance to pitch them to the other groups and employees
at Code. The day was an excellent experience but unfortunately I have not heard
from them in a few weeks.
Slide 15
After my
time on this course I have to ask myself what have I learnt?
Slide 16
One of the
main life lessons that I have learnt it that money doesn’t grow on tress. As a
student I have had to learn how to live on a small budget, which for me was not
easy. I do feel that due to these financial restrictions I have learnt how to
be responsible with my money or I will simply starve.
Slide 17
Over the
past year I have learnt that Graphic Design isn’t at the centre of everything.
I have learnt that I should make more time for other things, even if they do
not offer me anything other than a laugh with some friends. Especially over the
past few weeks I have learnt that life is too short and that I need to make
sure that I take time for myself to do the things I want to do whilst I am
young and have the opportunity to do so.
Slide 18
I was always
told that the friends I make at university would be my friends for life. I know
that this is true, as I have never had such special friends who care so much
about me.
Slide 19
My plans
for the future involve me making the most of being young and having no
responsibilities.
Slide 20
I want to
travel to as many countries as possible and meet some amazing people, eat some
incredible food and make memories.
Slide 21
In the past
few weeks I have decided that I want to dedicate part of my creative career to
raising money for charity, specifically The Brain Tumour Charity as I recently
lost a loved one suddenly. I want to do all I can to make sure that no other
family has to go through what my family is going through and the best way I can
think to do this is to offer my skills to doing my bit for charity. I plan to
do this by organising an event where any money raised goes to charity.
Slide 22
I am
attending NUX Camp in June, which is a one-day workshop for UX beginners to
learn all they need to know about the practice of UX
Slide 23
I still
plan on applying for the BBC job – fingers crossed!
