OUGD501 / MODULE EVALUATION

The context of practice module has been academically challenging, allowing me to build on my theoretical skills from last year and explore a topic that marries one of my favourite parts of A Level sociology and design. I chose to apply my knowledge of marxism and expand upon it in a more contextual and extensive way; applying this knowledge and research and linking it to branding & advertising. My research topic involved the effects that advertising and branding have on the class system in our society today, allowing me to further conduct research into the fundamentals of marxist theories and link this back to theories regarding advertising. Towards the end of the written piece I chose to focus on the methods involved in the production of women’s weekly magazines and how they attract a certain class. 

I found the written piece very challenging in parts, but rewarding. Although out of practice, writing essays is something I enjoy, especially when passionate and interested in the topic. Since I had a basic knowledge of certain sociological theories, I found this helpful when conducting research into marxist theories, and found my knowledge extend throughout the duration of writing the essay. The most difficult aspect of the written piece was learning to link the sociological and marxist theories to graphic design, and applying the concepts in terms of advertising and branding. 

The practical element was enjoyable too as once I had established a solid idea with supporting theory behind it. I chose to  distinguish what design decisions make a publication appeal to the certain class as it’s target audience. I then applied the principles of a high class magazine, in order to demonstrate that although the majority of the content remains the same, the publication can have a whole different aesthetic and ultimately change the target audience to a higher class. What I produced was three redesigns of three women’s weekly magazines, That’s Life, Chat & Heat. I feel as though I explored a range of design decisions spread across all three resolutions, and demonstrated the impact design has on audience. As editorial design is a discipline I am interested in, I felt that this allowed me to be engaged with the module more, as I had focused it on an area of interest to myself personally, which could eventually lead onto the research conducted for COP 3. 

Time management was something I considered throughout the module. It was important to ensure that the practical and research was conducted in an organised way, I made sure I purchased weekly magazines to analyse early on, so I was organised, and ensured the study tasks were completed promptly. Towards the end of the module I discovered more useful theorists to include later on, which could have been completed earlier, however everything was finished on time.

Overall the module has gone well, with some challenging yet rewarding aspects. It set the tone for next years Context of Practice module and allowed me to discover new theorist which could prove useful in the future.