End of my project

I'm just finishing up some changes in my report.

My summary and reflection

Undertaking the Expended Project Qualification (EPQ) allowed me to gain a better understanding of designing book covers, something that I have always wanted to do as I am passionate about literature and art. I very much enjoyed researching a topic of my choice and also making an artefact for it. The EPQ gave me a break and freedom from my academic subjects at A Level and forced me to expand my knowledge outside of these subjects. I felt that my skills as an artist have improved, especially within using the software Adobe Photoshop and designing the books with a client in mind. In A levels, I study 'Fine Art', which is more focused on what the artist is trying to convey and is not commercial like 'Art & Design'. The project has helped me become more aware of the target audience and design to accommodate their needs as readers. Also, I feel that the skills that I have learned will be very useful to the university course that I will study after my A levels as it is a design based subject which also includes a lot of client-based projects. By researching the needs of my target audience, through the surveys that I have conducted, I became more open-minded with criticisms and carried out the things that they have suggested. Before doing the EPQ I have done a similar qualification, which also involves researching that will result in a final product. I feel that the experience that I had gained from this qualification helped me to plan and organise my EPQ. For example, at times in my EPQ I forget to finish some of my tasks, especially since it is such a self-led project and not a part of my college timetable. However, to combat this I have learned from my previous projects to identify this lack of motivation as early as possible and create a schedule, based on my existing college timetable and exams that will be dedicated to my EPQ. This allowed me to make sure that I keep on top of things and meet the deadlines. If I were to do this project again, one of the things that I will improve is to make sure that I keep a balance of the time that I have spent on both researching and creating my artefact. I found that I spent too much time researching information and waiting for my experts to reply that I have left little time for me to create my final product. I felt like my artefact could have been improved by creating more drafts and gaining more feedback from my target audience. I would also make sure to not neglect my presentation, bibliography and report like I did in this project. This will allow me to make sure that I don’t rush when creating them and again, allow for several drafts to be checked before handing in my final version. In terms of my final product, listening to the demands of my target audience is necessary for my project to make sure that I meet my project’s aims, however, I felt that this made me lose the sense of originality in my final products’ designs. One of the main suggestions that I got from my feedback participants was to look at the ‘Huger Games’ and ‘Divergent’ book covers and get inspiration from them. However I felt that I focused so much on their designs that the final product that I have created looks similar to them. Although my target audience expressed the similarity in a positive way and very much liked the books cover, as an artist I wish I kept the level of originality in my designs. Also, I wish that I managed my time better so that I was able to conduct my own photo shoot for the designs, which I feel will also help me with creating more original book covers. In conclusion, I very much enjoyed doing the EPQ and I am happy with what I have achieved in this project. I hoped to create a hardcopy of my final product at the beginning of the project however, because of my budget and time, I was not able to do it. Nonetheless, I was still happy with what I was able to produce as my final product achieved that aims of my project. I feel that I gained valuable knowledge in creating book covers and also, understand the time, effort and other considerations involved in making them. If I were to give advice to students who will be taking the EPQ in the future, I would advise them to make a timetable around their other commitments, such as school or college, and stick to it as much as possible in order to make sure that they meet the deadlines. The project was very time consuming and involved a lot of effort to be put in by the candidate and people who are considering doing the qualification should bear this in mind. However, I feel that undertaking the EPQ was worth it because it helped me become more independent and knowledgeable about my chosen topic. Also, universities regard it highly and I feel that it enhanced my university personal statement as it showed my passion, dedication and my attitudes towards studying.