-Develop three themes and make them visually.
It is a challenge for me to develop a theme for myself, because I need to consider the feasibility of this theme, also the development space of this theme, not like usual, this time there are lots of factor to think about.
Also how to make you thinking visually is another challenge. Because, we usually depend on writing to explain our ideas, it is the first time for me to do a visual explanation. For this visual explanation, tutor suggested us to make a collage, but they the collage he showed us are very creative, it is a outcome for the artist, but for us it is like we make a mind map like a collage outcome, it is very challenging.

-Today, I went to the Natural History Museum and Wellcome Collection to do some research.
-Mainly investigate the sea life and memory, in the meantime, tried to find something about mental health in these two places. About the sea life, I took some pictures of skeletons and specimens of marine life, because I want to know more about the species in the sea and find more pattern on the sea life. About memory, I found some knowledge about the memory of brain in Natural History Museum and some artwork can link to memory in Wellcome Collection.

Improvement:
-Have a more detailed plan, like which exhibition we should visit first, ensure we finish the exhibition related to our theme first, if there is extra time, we can visit the rest.
-In the visit, we not only need to take photo, but also do some sketches.

Plan:
-Sorting out the photos were taken today.
- Print the pictures and stick them on the sketchbook. Write a concise overview of the purpose and meaning of each photo or a series of photo which taken by me.
-Think about what can I develop from the research I did today and write them down.
- Continue investigate the artists related to my theme. Find more inspiration, find the theme have more development space.

-Consider the audiences, the location and sustainability.
-Decide a theme you want to develop.

I was struggle with two themes, one is about memory, another one is the sea life. The reason I struggle is I interested in both theme, I have lots of thoughts on both theme. I asked tutor for help, he told me if I am working on memory, I will be a curator, collecting plenty of old things and my creation will be based on the material I collected. As for the sea life, it is more about my imagination and creativity. But also, there are some questions for the sea life. Why I develop my sea life into monster, because there is no monster in the world, why I create the thing do not exist? What is monster meaning to us?

Plan:
- Measure the development potential of both themes.
-Decide the final theme. Think about the audience, the location and sustainability.
-Do further research.

Improvement:
-The theme is too wide, should be more specified. Arouse people’s awareness of protecting environment is too superficial, also it should be related to my discipline.
-More research about graphic.

Plan:
-Research a certain place, research its pollution and species.
-Figure out what you want to express.
-Organize the language, make it clear in proposal.

-I am very enjoyed the process, although I met some troubles such as had an unclear direction for the project. Because this is my choice, I do not have any reluctant. I am willing to overcome any difficulty for it.
-I found it is hard to explore cultural context for pollution. Because it is a global issue, it has nothing to do with boundaries and races. However, for the direction I want to develop, I think maybe there are interesting cultural context, like what is monster mean to different countries.
-Materials. I am worried about collecting the material from water physically. We know the water has been polluted, but I am not sure I can collect the material I expected. Because there will be someone clean up waterway regularly. So, I think I may reduce the amount of rubbish in my work, but thinking a more perfect solution to make my outcome.
-At first, I was fascinated by the pattern on sea life, but with the development of my research, I found pattern cannot link to my discipline very well, this theme is more suitable for fashion students. Then, I found many artists use the material which they collected from
Polluted water created installations or drawings. I think it is a better starting point, so, I put my focus on pollution. What can I create graphic design with polluted water? What can I do for polluted water? How to express my thought in my design?
-In my plan, I want to create my own character and make up a story. All these things need to be modified constantly, they cannot be done overnight. Also, I need time to collect material. Protecting environment is duty to everyone. So, I am sure it is suitable.
-As I said above, cultural context is the hardest part. Because it is a global issue.

Today we had a printing workshop.
My original idea is draw my character first, then scan them on computer, finally use printer print it out. I never think about using different techniques to print. But I started to think about it today and tried linocut print.
The effect of printing is better than imagined. Especially the one which colouring unevenly. Because my character is a three-eyes fish, it is hideous, so, the uneven colour created a thrilling atmosphere which is match to the fish’s characteristic.
I always want to try screen printing, because I never do this. I was also planned to make screen printing today, but my three-eyes fish has lots of details, it is too difficult to cut the details and control the positive and negative space, also, in my opinion, screen printing is suitable for big scale graphic design and typography.
I am going to create more characters in the weekend that I can do more experimentation with them.

-Paper
-Clay
-Mesh
-Water.
-I was going to use plastic as my main material, but from the research I did these day, I think I will use plastic in somewhere but not all my work. I want to present my characters and the polluted situation underwater, so, the main thing is the mutated animals and polluted water, plastic just a little part in polluted water. I have thought of using plastic to make mutated animals, but if I want the effect is completely reach what I expect, it takes long time, our project is not long but not short, I think what I chose should suitable for the time.
- My theme is about pollution, so, what I do will try to be as environmental friendly as possible.
-My priority material is paper, I need to know some principle about making paper.

• It is a challenge to introduce such a long-time project briefly by a poster, and I cannot develop my poster following through on my ides, because we have asked to what should be included.
• I think present at least 3 research references are the hardest part for me, because I develop my project by my own imagination basically, I had some artist research, but they are similar or you cannot realize what I got from the research.
• Improve my ability in all aspects, like the research skill and time management.
• Always keep your work simply, clear, and special.
• I am a graphic student, so, I need to have a good command of these software in the future to help me layout, print and design. It is good to have some basic knowledge about these technical skills that I will get started faster in future.

-They thought the text is not quite interesting. To be honest, I think it is no interesting indeed. It is a science report, the metaphor is the only thing which not so serious. So, the text I find have to be more attractive in the next week.

-The metaphor attracted me the most. When I saw this sentence, I form an image in my brain. I used to think the rubbish is the accumulation, but actually they are floating in every place in the ocean. It corrects my understanding of marine pollution. It helps me to modify a more real situation underwater.

-Thinking about the material of the board used to support. I was suggested that using carton to support the homemade paper. Because using waste carton is waste utilization, it can reflect the theme of environmental protection. However, carton is thick, it is a bit different to make it bend, even if it is bend, the crease is not always straight. To reduce the probability of error, I decide to use other material.
I chose foam board finally, because it is tough but easy to cut, I also can buy different sizes of it. I do not need to worry about the size of it, it is a kind of time-saving.

-The most important part of the installation is homemade paper and how to place my characters. I do not just only draw on the wall of box, I was also planned to make use of both size of paper, one side is normal animal, another side is mutated animal. I am going to hang them on the roof on the box and use different length of transparent rope to present animals in different depth in the ocean.

Today is making day.

-Prepare the cardboard to support the homemade paper and cut them down according the size I measured.

-Keep collecting rubbish.

-Continue making homemade paper.

Plan:

-Pack inside and outside the box with waste newspaper and homemade paper.

- Reduce the size of the actual waste.

Today I had a tutorial about my final.

The tutor said the biggest problem of my outcome is the scale. She thinks it is too small and I got lots of material, I did not make good use of them. Also, she thinks audience cannot see the details because of the small scale. What’s more, why it should be a box, why it cannot be others interesting shape.

A first, I want to make a big box, but I afraid the material is not enough and it takes at least three days to make homemade paper that is why I made them small and made them more. Also, I think the import of pollutants from many rivers into the ocean has led to serious pollution of the original marine pollution, so, I made the boxes more than one. But when I make them, I found that I worried too much, the material

About audience cannot see the details, I made some characters today and I tried to put some characters in it to see if I can see the character clearly, after my trying, although they are small, I am sure that audiences can definitely see the details.

Talking to the shape of the box, why it is square, the tutor thinks square cannot make her think of the water. For me, the fish tank in aquarium is square and we can see the situation inside without dead angle.

-Took photography of my final outcome.

-Had a lesson about cover design and Indesign.

From today's book cover lesson, I saw a lot of style. Some of them used picture as the main element, some of them used character as the main element. When the tutor showing us different covers, I was thinking about how to present my cover. I felt a little confoused, because I did not have an image can summarize my project and I did not have a unifiend tone in my project to colour the typeface. After class, I think it is better to use character as the main element, because a short word can summarize the whole theme clearly, I do not force myself to use a image as the backgroud, sometimes a white background is not a bad choice.  

-Had a tutorial about publication.

Problem:
-Did not use Indesign.
-No grid.

One tutor said that it is about paper layout, photoshop is a picture processor, I should not use it to make publication.

Another tutor said he think it is fine to use photoshop to make publication, because we have lots of picture to process, photoshop can help us process the photos in a short time.

I think when we have limited time, the best way to finish a thing quick and perfect relatively is combine two software. Only use Indesign is a one-track minded behavior. I did not have Indesign software on my computer before Wednesday, I cannot do nothing at home because I had no Indesign. Under these circumstances, I must do something on other software to help me catch up.

Last day.
-Finish publication.
-Finish final evaluation.

Publication:
From this publication, it is vividly shows art is a subjective matter. One tutor said it is good, it is fine, but another tutor said I do not like it, you need to change. Classmate and I think it looks not so good, but tutor think it is better after I changed.

Sometimes there are too many voice that you do not know what you should follow. After I printed my brochure out, I do not think it reach what I expected. Because my picture style is not particularly uniform, it makes me feel they lack continuity. It looks not so professional.

Final evaluation:
-Many sentences are too short. I can integrate sentences with similar content.
-Some content is too general, they should be more specific.
-More about my own feeling.

Writing proposal on my own helped me clearly know what is the project intention, what should I do, how to manage my time. When processing my proposal, I did plenty of research which gave me lots of interesting idea of this project. The research about different environmental artists like Max Liboiron and Anthony Burrill inspiring me most, they let me know pollutant and rubbish can turn into art.

Inspired by the research I did. I did experimentation on waste and my final are three boxes made by rubbish. I consider that they are suitable for display in gallery, because lots of audiences can have interact with it and they can improve their environmental awareness from the introduction text beside the work. Basically, the process of developing my ideas is research first, and then do experiment and artist respond, after that, I would research again to develop more idea, finally, choose one of them, make sample for it and make it as final outcome.

If time permits, I usually make a model for every project. Because what is done is not completely the same as what is expected. I need to make a sample first, to make sure the making process is all right, the probability of a product error is low. Like this time, I made a model and from the model I found I need to leave some space for the thickness. I think I have better time management than before, because I used less days to finish my final piece which is I unexpected. In the past, I did not start to do the task until last minutes which make me very streeful, but now, I followed the plan every day which lighten my burden at end of term.

The most challenging thing in this project was making plenty of homemade paper in a short time and make them into the shape I want. Because I do not have a blender, making paper pulp became very difficult, I must tear forty a few waste papers into tiny pieces by hand. To achieve the aim, I overcame the difficulty by patience, Publication is not a big problem for a graphic student, but Indesign is more professional software, it need time to explore. So, I did my publication in Photoshop. Actually, I hope I have more time to do publication and try to use Indesign.

Reflection is a record of my rethinking. It is a proof of I do reflect on myself every day. In my view, it is not so important to use reflective journal, the most significate thing is the process of reflecting and a conclusion drawn from reflective journal. Summarize the whole project in concise language is a big challenge. English is foreign language for me, how to use precise words and clear logic should be improved gradually. So, I spent a long time on language organization.

From this project, I think my practical ability has been greatly improved. Because from experimentation to making, they are all hand made. Unit 7 is an independent project. From the beginning to the end, everything is done by ourselves. To finish this whole project, it needs all aspects of competence which is invisible requirement when we are studying at university. College’s study need us independent study and self-management. These abilities are all needed for this unit. Like time management, self-control, and so on. This unit is a kind of transition to undergraduate course.