I decided to do the Foundation Diploma in Art and Design because I wanted to expand my experience of the subject, and decide which area I wanted to progress into at University. I enjoyed the Textiles and Visual Communication Rotations, particularly the illustration aspect in both of them, and this is what I wanted to develop. I chose to specialise in Visual Communication as I wanted to improve my illustration skills and use of digital software in refining my work. Throughout specialism I have become more confident in using Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign, as well as using different hand-rendered methods such as collage and line drawings. I think my Typography project was successful as I was able to use a range of bolder colours and a simplified style of illustration, which developed my illustration skills. The Branding project was also successful because it helped me to understand more about surface design, which is what I am most interested in, and I was able to learn about creating a pattern in InDesign and Illustrator. Although I feel that these two projects were my most successful in Specialism, the Responses project did allow me to develop my way of thinking and responding to a brief, as we were told not to use a drawing-based method to respond to the word in the brief. This meant I had to think of another method of visually communicating the word ‘mistake’, leading me to experimenting with ink and stencils which I would not have done otherwise. From my projects at Specialism I would like to learn more about how to colour a final piece digitally, and how to create a surface design or pattern using digital methods, which is what I will develop during FMP. I will also continue to develop my use of colour within FMP.
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