This week’s focus is on organising my portfolio and reflecting on the overall narrative of the project. I am considering how to use my portfolio to provide a clearer understanding of my project, from problem identification, conducting research, concept development and iterative refinement, right through to the final outcome.
Challenges
The most challenging part is that a project must be at least 50 pages, but I don’t want to include too many details of the iterative process or extensive research it can be summarised quite briefly. I’ll have to consider what to include within the page limit.
Structure
Online portfolio showcase
I also helped upload my project to the Edinburgh College of Art’s online graduation exhibition. As I did not take part in the in-person graduation exhibition, this was a valuable opportunity and a chance for me to re-evaluate my approach. As the website will be viewed by a wide range of audiences, I needed to consider how best to convey the essence of my project to those encountering it for the first time. This involved selecting representative images, writing a concise project description, and adapting the visual materials to meet the platform’s image specifications and file size requirements.
Reflection
Project Development
This project began with a personal observation. As a child, I disliked vegetables because I was constantly told that I had to eat them. As I grew older, however, I found myself choosing to eat vegetables voluntarily. This shift made me question what had changed. It was not the vegetables themselves, but my relationship with them.
I began to think why do so many people dislike vegetables despite knowing they are good for them? Throughout the research and design process, I realised that changing behaviour is not simply a matter of providing more information. People's relationships with food are shaped by memories, emotions, habits and social experiences.
Rather than designing another campaign that tells people what they should eat, I explored how graphic design can create curiosity, participation and positive experiences that encourage people to reconnect with vegetables in a more meaningful way. Developing the project across publications, public campaigns and an interactive dining experience challenged me to think beyond creating individual design outcomes. Instead, I focused on designing a connected experience where each stage supports the next, gradually encouraging people to engage with vegetables in different ways.
Design and Outcome
Throughout the project, I gained a deeper understanding of how visual language influences people’s emotional responses to a given topic. Rather than adopting the minimalist, didactic aesthetic commonly found in health campaigns, I created a more playful visual identity using vibrant colors, bold typography, and expressive graphic elements. Maintaining this visual consistency across various publications, promotional materials, and environmental graphics deepened my understanding of building a cohesive design system, while also allowing me to reflect different stages and processes of change through varied visual expressions.
Although the production process presented challenges, it also provided me with many insights. Because I used extremely saturated colors, the printing requirements were exceptionally high. By experimenting with different printing methods, paper textures, and binding techniques, I gained a deeper understanding of how material choices shape the design experience—for example, using art-grade inkjet printing in RGB mode to preserve vibrant colors and selecting papers with rich textures. This process reinforced my appreciation for the importance of craftsmanship and materials, and made me realize that graphic design is not limited to the screen, physical production also plays a crucial role in how people interact with the work.