Practical Peer Review

Today was actually quite useful. The session was organised a lot better than other practical peer reviews we've had in the past as everyone's work was looked at in depth by four people as opposed to everyone having a quick look a writing some rushed comments down. It was also great to have a wander round and see what other people have been getting up to as well.

The practical element of my project is very much process-based and involves a lot of exhaustive drawing for each word/phrase. This meant that I didn't have as much practical work as I'd have liked to take with me to the crit, however it was still beneficial to see what people thought was working and whether it made sense.

Most of the comments were to do with the purpose and function of the symbols I am trying to create. This isn't something I was really thinking about yet as I wanted to just get cracking with simplifying some verbs to start me off. A possible outcome discussed with Jamie in a previous tutorial was to create a dictionary of symbols. One of my peers mentioned this idea being a bit too ambitious and the need to pick a theme. This is something I need to sit and think about properly, or something that could potentially come to me a little later, once I have done more practical work. 

Questions:

• 'Will you use/ consider colour, animation?' - I discussed in a previous group tutorial not to look into colour and just to look into form. However, this was more for the purpose of focusing my essay question more. I could still potentially look into colour for the practical work. Animation could be a good idea. 
• 'What is the function? Playful, educational, will you lose tone of voice?' - Visual metaphors have been used often in my tests so far as it makes it easier to communicate lots of things in one. I believe this naturally makes them quite playful. Need another function also, but not sure of this yet.
• 'Maybe impose a limit on quantity, a dictionary of symbols could be exspansive.' - need to choose a specific theme. 
• 'Could you implicate colour or method into this?' - see answer to first question. I haven't thought about process yet. Most symbols I've seen are digital (vectors). Stick with this or choose something analog to make it different?
• 'What are the links between the words?' - Again, need to choose a specific theme. 

Suggestions (to research):

• Look into the development of the radioactive symbol.