School of Further Education
Final Major Project (FMP), Final Project Critical Review Sheet 20010/11
Foundation, National Diploma Yr2 & Access to HE
Name: Zoe Doubleday
Pathway: Visual Communication
Project Title: A Fascination with Pregnancy
How did you use your project proposal to manage your Final Project development?
- My project proposal from helped me to gather all my ideas and put it into a structured, planned project. The 10 week time plan really helped me because it gave me a clear guide of what I needed to do at what time, and seeing as this was such a self directed project, I found I did need that initial plan of action.
How successful was your original proposal and what adaptations did you need to make?
- My first draft of my project proposal form was a totally different idea than what I actually done. When I wrote my first proposal form, my idea was to have a project based on printing and looking at surface patterns such as animal prints, human finger prints and using this as a starting point. So yes, I had a lot of adaptation to make; I changed my whole concept all together.
How successfully have you conveyed your contextual research and how have you communicated its relevance to your project?
- I feel I have done a lot of contextual research throughout the whole of this 10 week project and I have shown what I have learnt from doing it in all of my designs and my final piece. All of the research I have done really helped me in this project, and personally made me think about what I want to do career wise in the future.
How wide ranging is your research? Is it from a diverse range of sources including primary research?
- My research came from a range of sources. I mainly looked at artists and designers through the internet as I found this was the quickest, easiest, method for me. I also watched a DVD of a documentary, which I found useful l and I was able to write a review on it. I also looked at some books on the medical sides of pregnancy to find out about the baby’s growth and development while in the womb. Throughout the whole project, I was trying my hardest to arrange to go to a life drawing class that had a pregnant model. Every company and organiser I phone called, text and emailed all said they tried for me but failed. I felt this would have been such a good aspect of this project to have those life drawings in the portfolio.
How well have you used your original bibliography and have you updated and expanded this through the project development?
- I used my original bibliography a lot, and I watched all of the DVDs I wrote, and looked at all of the books and websites. Some I found very useful and others not so much. I expanded on my bibliography by adding a lot more to it. I looked at many more sources of information than I quoted on my project proposal form.
How well did your original idea/concept sustain you throughout the project?
- My concept of pregnancy did sustain me throughout my whole project, however, the areas I was looking at of it, i.e., the appearance of pregnancy, I don’t think I would have had much more I could focus on with this.
How successfully have you conveyed your ideas and concepts through your working processes and your final piece?
- My concept was to show how much I was interested in this subject; I just wanted to get across how fascinated I am with the whole idea of pregnancy. I feel like I have conveyed this, through my working progress, by all of my research, all of the DVDs I watched and books I looked at. Finally, in my final piece I feel like I have shown that I think that pregnancy can be beautiful, and the female figure can look just as feminine and slim with, or with out a pregnant belly.
How successfully have you used different techniques, materials, technology and processes?
- I have experimented throughout this project with different Medias. I used lots of techniques such as screen printing, cut outs, painting and drawing. By experimenting with these it lead me to decide what technique I was going to use for my final piece. I chose my strongest and most successful technique that I experimented with, and that was cut outs and a small amount of acrylic painting.
How well have you documented your work through your blog?
- This was the first time I have ever used a blog to document my work and development. I think it was successful, however it took me while to get used to using it, finding where everything is and getting to know the blogger website. I feel this set me back slightly, but when I picked it up it was fine. I had done all of my annotation and explanation on there and I am happy with the outcome of it.
How successful is your final outcome?
- I am very happy with my final outcome. It took me a while to decide what it would be, but eventually I feel I have achieved something that I am proud of.
How well have you presented your final outcome?
-My final outcome is very neat, clean and it will be presented nicely on foam board. I feel satisfied with the presentation of my final piece(s).
How well have you used evaluative and analytical techniques to develop and improve your project?
- A few times throughout the project I wrote a summary of how I felt the project was progressing and what the next steps would be to develop it. This helped me organise my work. Also, every design I created I have annotated, evaluated and related back to my research.
How responsive have you been to tutorial/critique advice and guidance?
- Throughout the 10 weeks I barely had any advice or guidance given to me. However, I used this to my own advantage so I could do what I want to do with this project which I feel has given it a personal touch. I did take into consideration some peoples opinions on my work, and used that to help me decide what route my project would take.
Provide a bullet point summary for each of the following headings of the main strengths and weaknesses in your project:
Research: My research was really helpful with the development of my project, and it inspired me for my own designs and my final piece. If I was to do this project again, I would do more secondary research to make it more original.
Concept: I enjoyed doing all the research to do with my concept. My strength on this was that because I enjoyed it, it really kept me interested in the project for the whole 10 weeks. The weakness of it was that I think it should have more of a point, a statement to get across, maybe an issue or a strong opinion on pregnancy, rather than it in general.
Practical Skills and Methods: For alto of the project I done my cut out designs, and I created these using a knife. Also, I used screen printing right at the start of the project. I enjoyed doing this, but I thought the prints themselves weren’t very successful and that’s why I chose not to continue using that technique for other areas of the project.
Presentation: I am really pleased with the presentation with my blog, I kept it simple looking so it was clear to read and easy to navigate. I also chose to put all of the posts on one long page, so it’s quicker and easier to reach a certain post if they are looking for a certain one. The only thing I would change is if I was to do the blog again, I would maybe change
Evaluation and Reflection: The project as a whole I have really enjoyed, there has been strengths shown especially through the cut out designs and my final piece, and weaknesses such as the screen printing and initial ideas. If I was to go back and do the project again I would put even more effort into it than I did, and there was room for improvement of the amount of designs I created. Apart from this though, I am pleased with how my final major project has turned out.
