speaking from experience, self evaluation

I identified the problem through speaking from my own experience that, when you have freedom, independence and money you tend to make the wrong decisions. I aimed to help first years prioritise what they ate/bought etc... When I asked the current first years what they wanted, I received answers like "a really nice lunch everyday", and "a chocolate bar". When put alongside what they should actually get, in terms of what they 'need', the answers were "a homemade ham sandwich" and "special pens for my type and grid". I was aiming on constructing a piece of design that communicated the relation, and difference between what people want, but what they should actually get because it is what they need. My research fitted all into primary, with aspects of it including both quantitative and qualitative. I communicated directly to first years, I wanted to get feedback that actually happened to students this year, seeing as the brief was 'Speaking from experience'. I think my questionaire was useful, my overall project was dealing with quite a simple, straight forward idea which developed from a very simple design context. This method of research was easy to understand, relate to and also was fresh and realistic as it came from real situations. In terms of research development that could've helped me, I think I could have done more design context research in order to experiment with poster designs etc... Although I did find pieces I liked,

and they did influence me, there is never a limit on how much DC you can do. Throughout this project, basing my answers on design process, I have learnt:

1. Getting feedback from existing first years and yourself is more trustworthy and relevant, especially when dealing with a project that is trying to communicate to people who are currently in your own position
2. Never be completely satisfied with your work early on. I realised that trial and error is a good way to progress your work onto something better. I thought I was happy with the type and layout of my first design, but I changed it and tried something different and I actually preferred it a lot more.
3. Colour makes a huge difference, I have decided the colour pallet I used for this brief I actually really like.
4. SCREEN PRINTING IS LOVELY. I originally planned on digital printing my posters and all my work, for efficiency and just because I didn't think of any other way. Everything happens for a reason, my print slot was quite late and I wanted to have final visuals for Friday. I had a few days in which I decided to screen print, although the process itself is so long, the outcome is so much better. I also think the style of my poster (block colours, simple drawings, bold font), works well with screen printing. I will use screen printing again.
5. Sometimes simple is better, I went from choosing little phrases that would go on the designs, with detailed drawings, edited on photoshop etc... to just two type and two images set out in a simple way. This looked a lot more effective and assertive.

Next time, if I were to do things differently, I would:

1. Further research into my project, varied typefaces and design context.
2. Perhaps experiment more with overall content, what other ways could communicate this problem
3. Did I find a solution too early on?
4. Decide to screen print earlier so I could produce more of a variation of my posters, also, not produce 10 copies on the best paper
5. Maybe find a more complex way to solve this problem? Was it too simple?