SELF EVALUATION

At the end of this module I'm happy to say that I've really enjoyed it, which is a really nice feeling considering this is the module I usually struggle the most with. It has been satisfying to produce a body of work which directly relates to the themes within my essay, as again this is something I usually find very difficult. I feel quite confident that I have achieved what I set out to do, and I'm glad I chose the subject topic I did as I found it extremely interesting; especially looking more into Art Therapy as this is something I'd love to do in the future.

I have really learnt to manage my time a lot better, and starting the essay earlier and being able to work a bit slower made it a lot more manageable for me. It also meant I could research extensively instead of rushing things which I think has had a really positive effect on my writing. Something else I found to be really helpful (and interesting) was gathering my own research, for example the email conversation I had with Nous Vous really informed the case studies chapter of my essay; It was useful to get this kind of information as it's not something you can find on the internet. Looking back I actually wish I had done more of this and maybe emailed or got in touch with some more people, as I think these are some of the most valuable quotes within my essay. At the very beginning of this essay I almost felt like I had picked the wrong topic as it wasn't easy finding relatable sources or anything that seemed to link in, but when I delved in a bit deeper and sources some information myself, I began to really enjoy the topic I chose.

I definitely feel like all the research I gathered informed my practical work well, which I enjoyed making so much! It was interesting to think about what other people would like to fill in, and what would engage people instead of bore them. I feel happy with my final book, and from the pages that people have filled in it's evident people have engaged well with them. I do think there could have been more pages and a wider variety of tasks, so this is definitely something I'd like to have another go at in the future. I'm really happy I got some people to fill in the pages i'd created; it almost bought them to life! this is exactly what I wanted to achieve.

FINAL DESIGN BOARDS

FINAL ESSAY

FINAL PRACTICAL OUTCOME

WHAT I LIKE:

• I've said this before but I love the colour palette I chose! and i'm really glad I stuck to the same three colours throughout. I think they are so fun and bright, and using them on the covers I think will draw people in. 
• I'm really happy I had the time to put a good level of craftsmanship into the books. It feels really satisfying holding something in your hands you've made completely from scratch. 
• I like the idea of the blank covers, I was on the fence about whether to have a front page with the title on it but I think it works just as well having it on the inside covers
• The tasks I decided to include within the book i'm happy with. I wanted a mix of fun mindless activities to ones that engaged creative expression a bit more, for example the 'draw your day' page urges you to use colours to express how you are feeling
• I'm really glad I decided to use character design within my book; it gives it a playful tone of voice and feels more inviting 
• the combination of hand-drawn, digital and collaged elements works really well together. the collaged bits give it quite a 'cut and stick' aesthetic 
• my favourite page is definitely the art gallery page

WHAT I DON'T LIKE SO MUCH

• I know I wanted to keep it quite minimal but some of the pages look a little empty. Maybe I could have added in more characters 
• I noticed only afterwards one bit of the text on one of the pages is orange instead of black. very annoying
• some of the colours didn't come out quite how I wanted them to, they weren't as bright as I'd hoped
• I think some of the pages could be more refined; for example the 'draw a hat' page. it's difficult to say as they are made to be filled in by other people

WHAT I'D DO DIFFERENTLY?

• if i were to do it again I think i'd probably add in some more pages, as I had loads of ideas I didn't test out. I thought 20 would be enough but there is definitely room for more
• if i was to make a book I would think about adding another colour to the colour scheme
• maybe printed the title neatly on the front of the book? as much as I love the block colours they do look a bit like regular sketchbooks. although that might be a good thing? I don't know 

A VERY MESSY ESSAY PLAN

I feel like this probably won't make sense to anyone but me! It does seem really messy but this is what I have used to gather all my inspiration and quotes while writing my essay. I made sure to highlight the ones i'd used too. I found this helpful when coming to write my bibliography (which in hindsight I should have written as I went) but it was really handy that I had all my sources in one place.

Pages of my book filled in!

I decided it would be really cool to give out some of the pages i'd created to my family and friends to see how different people would interpret the same tasks, and I love the outcomes! It's really interesting to see the different ideas people have come up with and it's exciting that my work was the starting point.
I also made sure I gave it to some people who weren't very creative to see how they would fill it in, in this instance it was my cousins, and they said they really enjoyed going through the different tasks even though art isn't really a strong point for them.

Title pages

For the beginning of my book I decided i'd start it on what technically would be the second page; I decided against having a 'front cover' as I wanted to have the cover as a plain colour; I thought this way people could then pick the colour they liked the best as this would make it feel more personal. 

I titled it 'quite literally unfinished' as this was a quote which stuck out to me from Umberto Eco in his book 'the open work' which was what a lot of my essay was based around. 

I chose to use all three colours in the first image as I think it ties them all together! I want to make each of the covers blue, orange and red as well to carry on the colour scheme.