End of Module Evaluation
Throughout this module, I feel as if I have learnt a huge amount about the research and design process and the way in which contextual studies can reinforce design. I have put a lot of hard work into this context of practice module and I think overall it has paid off with what I have achieved.
For my initial research topic, I started looking at the value of Graphic Design and Advertising in East Africa (Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania) before I travelled out to Uganda in the August - September 2013. Through this primary research I realised that the research topic needed refining down as looking at the whole of East Africa was too wide and broad spread. Before and while travelling, I read heavily into the history and culture of Uganda and also into the general subject of African art and crafts. This general research definitely informed my research process as I think it would have been difficult to write a dissertation on the topic without the general background research and understanding.
While in Uganda, I made observations on how globalisation and its history of British rule and colonialism has an impact on the design and advertising produced there. Also, the differences between design and advertising from the urban areas to the rural areas were definitely quite prominent in the photographic research I did. After returning from Uganda and organising the photographs I took, I decided to narrow down the topic to look at the impact that globalisation is having on design and advertising in Uganda, or more specifically the rural areas, while also looking at how the British rule and colonial period influenced the way the culture has grown. After I began researching into globalisation theories I soon realised that this was still a hugely broad topic and decided that to narrow it down to a topic where my own opinion and observations were relevant, it would be worth looking at the tourism industry within Uganda. This also matched up with my own personal design interests as I have completed a handful of different briefs and projects throughout my education on the subject of tourism design and expressing culture.
I have researched quite heavily into the Ugandan national identity, tourism in Uganda, design for tourism and tourism theories. Although, as I was not looking into this more specific topic while in Uganda, the primary research I have (other than visiting a number of tourism locations) was rather limited, so if I had the chance to do the module over again and visit Uganda again I would have narrowed my primary research down while I was there. However, I do feel as if I managed to gain a substantial amount of experiences, observations and information while in Uganda for the fact that I went out there with a very broad topic. Also, I do think I should have perhaps conducted more primary research in the form of surveys and questionnaires as I have a huge resource of other volunteers who have travelled from Britain to Uganda that I could have involved in my research. This would have strengthened the observations I made myself and introduced others' points of view.
Overall, I do think the practical project I produced and the written dissertation element were synthesised together and that the use of theory was evident in my rebrand of Crows Nest. I have definitely learnt more about how to use theory and critical analysis to aid the design process and I now understand more about how to synthesise theory to design. I now realise more of the importance of researching into the actual subject of the design and not just other work by other designers on the same subject. Once I got into the actual writing of the essay component, I did not really struggle with completing it as writing is one of my stronger points, but I also feel like through this module the design aspect was also successful. The grounding of the project in the theory gave me the confidence to simply apply what I had discovered through writing the dissertation onto the branding for a tourism location in Uganda, and I think it fully incorporated everything I discovered into the design and aesthetics.
Overall, this module has been an overwhelming learning curve and I'm happy with the level of research, both primary and secondary, that I managed to incorporate into both the written and practical elements. I now have a new appreciation for the research process and hope to incorporate this into all other areas of my work.
Context of Practice 3 - End of Module Evaluation
