OUGD603 - Mass Art Evaluation

Collaborating with Students from Mass Art provided the knowledge and insight into ways to work as part of a design team. We had worked together efficiently and effectively when managing our time, which as a result allowed us to firstly envision a narrative of Leeds as a city. By exploring the city and its icons points of interest, we found out more about the city's culture, diversity and things to do in different areas. As a team, our work together was managed easily, as we were able to assign roles within the group, which gave each person the chance to work to the best of their abilities and specialties. As it was decided we would be creating a publication to celebrate the student life in Leeds, the roles within the group worked to everyone's benefit. Those of us who did not have much experience with editorial design could learn from those who did, while others were able to contribute ideas and layout sketches for the publication itself.

The use of primary research also worked in our favour, especially as this publication aimed to be 'for students, by students'. This meant we would be making the magazine more personalised to the group in explaining our own student experiences and how others could relate to this. Exploring the history of Leeds revealed more about the city that we had not previously known, which as a result provided further evidence and ideas to use for the publication. By the end of this collaboration it was clear that the contribution made by each member had helped to combine different practices together in a way that would celebrate diversity and promote the finish piece as a student orientated publication. Research was key to this brief, and allowed everyone involved to present their opinions on colour schemes, layouts and content to include.

Overall the experience on this collaborative brief was one of my favourite, as this gave me the opportunity to understand how international students go about their practice and what design choices they would make differently to our own. This also provided a more in depth look at how to create a publication that would reflect a certain narrative, through its visual choices. Completing this brief within a week also allowed me to consider my time planning, and it inspired me to work longer hours as a result.