Extended Practice: Crit

We had a mini first crit for our 10 briefs that we are tarting for Extended practice, I didn't really had a lot of ideas or brief drafts that I prepared, but thankfully it went well.

Competition Briefs:

1) STARPACK

• BRIEF C - Sustainable Solutions with Corrugated Cardboard
• Consider the structure and graphic design elements on the pack to enhance the consumers perception of brand (audience response etc.)
• Identify ANY product that's currently packed and distributed using single use polymers or mixed material
• *I like it as it's focused on forward thinking design (design for the people). 
• BRIEF G - Plastic Into Paper 
• Identify current products in plastic? 
• Consider user/environment for the the product
• *I like this brief as also focused on the environment and decreasing waste, using design as a tool to reduce damage to the planet. 

2) ISTD 

• Project 3 - Migration
• I was drawn to this brief as it's something that I have experienced myself and something that is closely related to me, therefore I think it would be really interesting for me to do this brief as I think that I can use my own experience as a migrant and relate it to me. On the other hand, I can also relate it to something that I really enjoy but may be something out of context from the initial meaning of 'migration' which is music. Similar to the Microgenre's of music module we did in first year maybe I can use typography as a way to express the 'migration of a specific microgenre' as I did struggle a lot in expressing Korean hiphop in type during that module, I thought revisiting the same theme with a better understanding of typography may help me produce a refined piece of work. 

Collaborative Briefs 

3 & 4) INTERNAL COLLABORATION

• REVISITING 503 Collaborative Brief (THAT'S SO ASTRO)
• Me and Jocel created a collaborative free publication themed around zodiac signs with two Illustration students, that was distributed for free in the university and in Village Books for our 503 brief last year. I got some messages and responses from some people who found it really fun and interesting when they picked a copy from uni, however we never got around to creating more editions. I thought this would be a great opportunity for us to create another edition- perhaps editions that we distribute around university again. Due to possible conflicting schedules, I think it'll be best to work on it together rather than contacting the Illustration students that e worked with last year as they were quite busy as well. I would be a great way to get our design out in the university and be a fun publication that hopefully everyone can get around to reading and relating to, just like our original intention for the publication last year.

• LAURADIO 
• Last year I grouped together with some people for our PPP project which we won centred around creating a university podcast aiming to open opportunities for people from other courses to have access to visiting professional talks from other courses and vice versa. It would also be a platform for current or graduating/alumni students to put their brand out for people as well as a fun podcast that everyone in the university can listen to. However, as the 2nd year got busy, the project became stagnant, though I do have some drafts to it. I thought it would be a great opportunity to actually start the podcast and test out if it actually works and can gain attention from people not just in our course but around the uni as well . We could start with the drafts we have already got, and build up to a more professional set up as it grows. Maybe it could become an official podcast in the university and be integrated in the Student Union just like NEST Magazine. 

5 & 6) EXTERNAL COLLABORATION

• Collaboration with Art and Design Student from University of Leeds. 
• A friend of mine who does Art and Design in Uni of Leeds has an extensive collection of photographs from her travels around Asia and other countries such as Seoul and Hongkong, and she has inquired  me to create a collaborative publication to showcase her photographs. I'll probably handle most of the publication production whilst continuously take to her about the design direction, theme etc. of the publication.
•  Collaboration with Dance Society in University of Leeds
• I have been a part of a dance society in University of Leeds and have created some connections with the committee members of the society. They've thought of creating a commemorative publication or similar printed design commemorating the year in the society, as they perform in a lots of events, do weekly dance tutorials and dance competitions. Also, as most of the members of the society are international students or postgraduate students, they thought it would be nice to distribute it to the members as a way of saying thank you to their members and something they can take home to remember the society with.

7) Research-led Brief

• Showcasing the emergence of ancient traditional Filipino writing system and Filipino culture (Baybayin)
• As I'm doing my dissertation on East Asian culture and beauty ideals, I've thought of also showcasing my own specific culture through a research led brief like this. I'm not quite sure what I want to do as a practical for this idea yet, but I thought it's a great way for me to find out more of my own traditional culture as it's a writing system that was diminished during the Spanish colonial era and is starting to be implemented again in modern Filipino education, mass media etc. I also want to actually learn the writing system and understand it so that's also a process that I could possibly show throughout this brief. I want to showcase the uniqueness and beauty of our traditional writing system and Filipino culture to an audience who are not familiar with it as it's something that I'm proud of and something that I want to share to people in a creative and interactive way.

Thoughts & Reflections:

I was initially very worried about the crit as I haven't done much on this module because of my focused towards COPm however as Amber and Nick reassured us that it's a good starting point, I think that I shouldn't be worried to much of what i have so far and seeing and hearing what other people have as well makes me feel reassured. Everyone's ideas were so diverse and interesting that I think it was really good to get some inspiration from them as well and really pick something that I'm passionate about or a niche or mundane topic that I could create something really interesting with. I think from the ideas that I have so far I think that I'm going to start with the Research led brief first purely because I think it will be quite hefty, therefore gradually doing small bits of it may help me with actually producing the practical for it.