OUIL501 End of Module Evaluation

This has been, once again, by far my least favourite module to complete of the year. Even so, it has pushed me to develop a number of skills further, putting me in better stead than I would have been for next year's research project and dissertation. I have learned the importance of primary research, through executing my own for the final practical brief, and how it can impact the quality of a final outcome; COP is not just about writing an essay, it's about developing knowledge by following your own interests and finding out about a subject that engages you yourself. The primary research gave me a wealth of material I could work with for my final book and gave me a better understanding of the subject I was trying to communicate; if I don't fully understand it, then how could anyone possibly else when looking at my book? It helped brilliantly with idea generation, what I usually struggle with the most under time pressure and what makes me dislike COP so much, as you have to be so engaged with your subject and ideas for it to become a successful module. 

The practical brief has strengthened my ability to be able to plan and successfully make a working concertina book; last time I attempted this there were tears and many late nights trying to work out where I had gone wrong and how to fix it. The key was basically to avoid Indesign (my nemesis), instead working out on paper the layouts, measurements and how it would all fit together. This probably isn't what most people would recommend but it is a method that definitely works for me; the ruler guides on Photoshop gave me everything I needed to know and I could create my own crop marks and everything that Indesign would normally do, except it was a lot easier. I would now consider making little books more than I previously would have for final pieces; they are lovely to have at the end when they are finished, such nice little objects! 

I have also learned how important it is to manage my time and workload (yet again); I have learned this the hard way, by letting the  module slip to the bottom of my pile as it slowly ran alongside other modules that I deemed as being more important to allocate my time to. As a result, I had to do most of my practical work in the space of about a week - luckily the outcome is pretty good and I am happy with it, but it could have easily swung the other way if there had been any problems, as I would have had no available time to deal with them. This is a mistake I absolutely have to address for next year; it is too heavily weighted in our grades to let it slip down to "less important" and will require too much time to simply pull it out of the bag in a week or so. I was also in a lucky position to conduct the further research towards the practical brief, as I was surrounded by my subject matter (people from all over the country who I could easily interview for their local slang). If the research had been harder to collect, for example if I had to go out of town or had been a slower and more thoughtful process, I would not have had as much to work with as I would not have had enough time. 

Using what I have learned from my experiences managing my time on this module, I am going to start my reading and research for COP3 as soon as possible; definitely over the summer and build up a bank of useful material that I can start working with when the time is ready. This is not something that needs to be left to simmer and I can't afford to make the same mistakes again, as I doubt I would be so lucky again for everything to go so smoothly so last minute. The research proposal has given me some good starting points and made me a little more excited about the prospect of having to undertake such a massive project completely based on my own interests and idea - before it just seemed terrifying. I would like to be able to enjoy COP3 as much as possible and get as much out of it as I can, definitely not having a third repeat of what COP has been for the past two years. 

COP3 Research Proposal

Essay final draft

Final Book: "Britannia Barbara"

Here are a selection of images to show my final book. I am really happy with the outcome; the heavyweight matte paper works really well with the reds and blues, as well as giving it a nice sturdy structure and clean folds. The concertina moves well and the little size gives it a nice touch; it's sort of like a pocket guide for northern slang! It could also look good hung up down a wall as well as a book. The safety pin was an accidental addition when the belly band was a little too small and wouldn't reach around the back but it looks pretty cool; sort of punk, which in itself is very British. The only downside is that my hand slipped when sticking the hinges and pages together (even though I did it very slowly and carefully) so some of them very slightly don't line up; you could look at it like it adds a nice hand made quality though!

It goes to show that when the effort to do proper research it put in, it makes a massive difference to the final outcome of a project; I had so much material to use and choose the best from. This has also made me enjoy making books slightly more, even though I still think they are a pain to make and probably won't choose them as my final pieces often!

Logistics...

As I am too lazy/have left it too late with too much to do to make a proper mock up, I have made a little visual map type of thing just so I know for sure how my concertina book will all fit together. 

It will be hinged with pieces behind with repeat pattern on them that are the exact same size as the illustrated internet pages; hopefully when it is all stuck together (double sided tape worked like a dream with my last concertina) it should look nice and seamless. Each number is a page and the yellow side is the printed side. It will be finished off with a belly band with the title "Britannia Barbara" written on it, so the concertina doesn't spring open all the time. 

This has been useful as I can easily see how it will all fit together and how many pages of continuous pattern I will need to hinge everything. I also want extra bits to neatly fold over like little half-end pages on either end. This makes perfect sense to me (even if it doesn't to outsiders!).

Photoshopped drawings and type

These are my final Photoshopped pages in order (left-right); I am really happy with them! I thought I would struggle a bit with the font choice and arrangement of the words but I really like the simplicity of it. I chose Futura as my font after a recommendation from a classmate and really like the effect. It does sort of remind me of children's book where you learn words upon a theme but with a darker, more humorous edge. It looks straight to the point and communicated what I wanted! The choice of red, white and blue is a good one for backing up the "Britannia" side of the story; I chose a more muted tones as I think it will be easier to view and read, plus it adds a bit of grime. The alteration will help separate the pages and hopefully make it look great as you read it from top to bottom.

Final slang words and drawings

I went through the lists of words and grouped together the ones that reoccured the most with different slang versions. I am happy with the groups; they do tell a sort of story, starting from being quite nice and almost amusing before moving towards a more 'uncivilised' theme (Britannia Barbara!)

I decided to draw using simple pencil, partly as I haven't done any pencil drawings in absolutely AGES and it would make a nice change, but also as I think the rough textures work quite well for the uncivilised theme. I just looked at the words and drew the first things that popped into my head - they are all pretty literal, but I think this works well for the 'illustrated guide' side of the idea. I want to put them into Photoshop and overlay different colours (two different colours for the book; maybe red and blue?) to make them a little more interesting.

Book ideas

I want to pursue the idea of making a concertina book that reads from 'north to south'; it's different to anything I have made before and links in nicely with the essay. I messed around with the idea of having it in the shape of England for a while, but after trying to sort it out into equal sized pages length-wise I've realised some will be way to small to have enough information of them, especially at the top and bottom. I am going to stick with a square format, 15 x 15cm to keep it nice and clean (plus when it's all folded into a square I think it will be a really nice little object to have). 

I have created a rough list of the pages I want to include - 10 different words and the slang for each of them. I realised that lots of the slang I gathered is for pretty uncivilised words or themes, like drunk/high, chav, beaten up, idiot etc; this works PERFECTLY with fitting in with "Britannia Barbara"! Theres also some other great British-y words, like alleyway (Englands full of lots of horrible alleyways) and bread roll, which for some reason always jumps into my head when people talk about Yorkshire (maybe it's because I now know there are about a million different words for it). 

This was a happy accident but it's the route I want to go down - start with the nicer/funnier words and then move towards the more brutal ones in a sort of story order.. the chav lurking down the alleyway gets drunk/high, beats someone up and then gets done by the policeman. 

UPDATE 18/04/16…
I am changing the format to 10 x 10cm… pretty much because I can easily fit two pages onto an A4 sheet and save on printing costs, whereas with 15 x 15cm I would have to size up to A3 sheets (which would cost double). I think the little size will be really nice though; a sort of pocket book of slang!

Primary research into dialects!

After thinking about what theme I could possibly venture down for a long time, I have decided to just go for the theme of dialects and slang; the fact that I couldn't think of anything to draw has changed now I have some more research behind it (this was the hope and I am glad it has paid off!)

I asked classmates and friends who I have previously heard saying words and phrases that I had never heard of before to give me some of their favourites and classics from where they were from; as it were, they were all northern towns and cities (probably as I would have heard of most things from down south or even midlands). I asked people from specific cities for words and phrases as well, specifically Manchester, Newcastle and Liverpool. 

The result is a massive list of words from all over the north; Hull, Middlesborough, Sunderland, Manchester, Liverpool, smaller Yorkshire towns, Newcastle and Ulverston. Some of them are absolutely untranslatable to my southern ear and brain without being told exactly what it means, for example "Gan yem like" ("going home" in Geordie) but they are all absolutely fantastic to work with!

Personal favourites:

• "Cake oyl" "lug oyl" and "chip oyl": mouth, ears and chip shop, from Barnsley.
• "Divenna son": I don't know, from Newcastle/Sunderland
• "Gadgey": old man, from Newcastle
• "Doylum": idiot, from various places
• "Tenfoot": alleyway, from Hull
• "Maftin": very very hot, from various places
• "Pukka": great, from Manchester

I also asked my good friend from Manchester via message so I could get some written down and in better context, as it was written by a true Mancunian. Some of it is complete gold in terms of humour and for this project; he kept accidentally using Manc words while trying to explain what other Manc words meant.

I need to group together some of these words as there are quite a few different ones for the same meaning from different areas, for example "Chav". Once they are grouped I think it will be easier to see them all and work out how I could draw from them/design a book around it. I'm currently thinking I could do a sort of picture and type book featuring the words with the most different slang versions, or the funniest ones that southerners or people not from the United Kingdom would never be able to work out (like a sort of guide book?)