Final Major Project Evaluation

Relaxation is a very wide topic. You can find something connected to it practically anywhere. In order to understand relaxation and engage myself completely in the project, I used a wide range of research methods .I handed out questionnaires, used the internet, visited exhibitions, parks and so on. I observed how people behaved while they relaxed, and also experienced relaxation techniques firsthand.

 I found photographers such as Gregory Crewdson and Annie Leibovitz as relevant contextual references. I took inspiration from their stage-like work and use of light in order to improve my photographs. In reference to my work, I looked at a number of ad campaigns as well, such as the HSBC adverts.  Not everything that I had researched proved to be directly useful in my final piece. However, I feel that this ‘extra research’ helped indirectly in giving me a wider view of the topic.

In the beginning, my intention was to find fun ways to relax on the go, taking a cue from Japanese chin rests. My research made me move a lot outdoors. This led to an idea of ‘relaxing on the go in crowded places’. I wanted to show ‘relaxation’ as a goal and make people want to relax by showing the contrast between happy, relaxed people and stressed people who don’t relax. This, however, wasn’t strong enough in communicating a message of relaxation. After a number of experiments taking photographs, looking at questionnaires and getting feedback, I came up with the concept of selling relaxation and making people want to do it because of its many benefits. In my development of ideas,I used a wide variety of materials and processes including type and photography. It finally culminated into the ‘Close Your Eyes’ campaign. It’s a simple, yet powerful idea showing that relaxation is as easy as just closing your eyes. You can do it anytime, anywhere.  I was keen to use photography in my final piece as I felt that it was the best way to communicate my message. The use of gray scale was strong; it was selling a simple idea and was classic. I used photomontage to see how my ads would look in real environments. I also combined my images with 3D objects such as bags and badges in order to make a full campaign. It was extremely difficult to find people who manufactured small quantities of printed bags; hence, I decided to make them myself; this also proved to be a cost and time effective solution!

I managed my time quite effectively, with to-do lists and reflections on my progress which helped me stay on track.  My action plan was fairly successful and I almost managed to stick to it. 

I learnt that I should find out the goals earlier in order to allow more time to plan out things that I need to do in advance. Furthermore, I need to learn to narrow down my research, not in terms of quantity, but with regard to importance and relevance towards the development of the final piece.

I learnt a lot from the final major project: how to organise resources, run a campaign, keep a budget and make pivotal decisions – this is of course in addition to all I learnt from the research material itself.

But the greatest lesson learnt was to be independent and self motivated. Having to initiate your own work is much harder than it seems. Motivation and determination turn out to be extremely helpful and important as these things can lead to a well developed final piece, and help you make the best of your time.