What have you learned and what do you want to learn?
As an individual i have learnt:
-To handle being away from home for long periods of time, moved to london for a year last year, and leeds this year.
-Became a fan of cooking and eating healthier, not such a fan of tuna pasta anymore.
-Budget my money a lot more, no more shopping sprees.
As an individual i want to learn:
-How to bake.
-More about film photography.
-How to organise my money a lot more.
-More about Leeds, the best places to go to find new music.
As a designer i have learnt:
-How to work under pressure, and in a studio environment
-Juggle brief, and meet strict deadlines
-How to work as an individual and within groups
-Gained practical skills in photography, screen printing and digital software
As a designer i would like to learn:
-A lot more about typography
-Photoshop
-Laser cutting and letter press
-How to be more confident in explaining my work, and promoting it
-More contextual knowledge about graphic design
-How to combine my interests of fashion, illustration, installation and photography into my designs sometimes.
What mistakes have you made and how have you learned from them?
As an individual:
-Always run out of money: I have hidden a bank card which i use for emergencies only
-That home bargains is a deceiving shop: from now on i only buy heinz beans in there, no more sweets and pot noodles.
-Sometimes my social life comes before the course which isn't a good thing sometimes because i fall behind with work: From now on i need to plan my tim effectively
How will this affect your future development?
I think if i plan my time more effectively i will be able to enjoy being a student as well as do well on the course, being more organised with money and with work will make me a stress free individual.
What are your strengths and how have you/will you develop them further?
As an individual:
-I think of myself as a friendly, chatty person sometimes a bit too talkative.
-But i'd like to think i'm a fun and approachable person easy for people to get along with.
As a designer:
-I enjoy designing, and try not to get too stressed.
-Feel like i've gained a lot of skills over the past year with digital software.
-I love to draw and like to put some of my illustrations into practice.
-I use many sources of inspiration not just graphic designers, i'm highly influenced my photographers and illustrators.
What are your weaknesses and how do you intend to address these?
As an individual:
-I'm not a very confident person, especially in situations like these.
-I tend to worry a lot and get myself stressed over silly things.
-I'm a shoe and bag-oholic, could be the reason for my horrendous money management.
As a designer:
-Public speaking
-I tend to play it safe a lot in my designs, don't push myself enough
-I'm not very good on photoshop and some of the design work i wish to do is done on that program, so i'm going to practice a lot over summer which will give me opportunity to design work of my own interest too.
-I don't know an awful lot about practical things such as book binding, letterpress and screen printing, this is something i'm going to get more hands on with.
What have you enjoyed and why?
As an individual:
-Loved living in Leeds, it's a really cool layer back city, with a great student vibe.
-Love the music scene here, nights out are always eventful.
-Met a great group of friends in my halls and on the course, feel really settled in to the city and can't wait to live in a house next year in Hyde Park.
As a designer:
-I've enjoyed sharing the studio environment with a bunch of friendly people who are all here for the same thing.
I've enjoyed some of the briefs, the ones we could fully get absorbed by such as 100 things, Theory into practice and What is a line i was really happy with the outcomes of my work.
-Love how over the year i've grown to like things i initially dint think i would love such as typography
What have you disliked and why?
As an individual:
-This course is really full on and does need full commitment, so what you put into the course is what you get out of it and sometimes sacrifices to nights out have to be made!
-Hated not having a job this year and being short of money, so i'm going to work over the summer to make up for this.
As an designer:
-Majority of my work i did at the beginning of the year, shocked i even passed, but i suppose it's a good thing to show progression throughout the year to be able to make a difference as a learning student and as a young designer.
-I dislike the fact i'm not a fast learner, takes me a while to feel comfortable designing in certain ways, never the less practice makes perfect, hopefully.
How does this affect your ambitions?
This year has definitely made me realise what i want to do past college years whereas last year when i was studying BA Photography in London i didn't really see any career prospects from it, i wanted to be able to put all my skills into practice, and a do a degree worth while and relevant to me for future ambitions.
What did you want to get from the year?
As an individual:
-I wanted to live in a calmer city, not as hectic and fast going as london for my student years and enjoy the experience of trying new things and meeting new people, and to just look after myself as as an individual.
As a designer:
-As a designer i wanted to move on from my A-level habbitts and start a fresh on a degree where i could gain new skills and be in a working environment with people of similar interests and personalities.
Have you achieved this?
-I definitely feel like i've grown up a lot over the past year, and now have new ambitions as a designer and a as a person to full fill while i'm young and have the opportunities to do it.
-Towards the end of the year i've been really happy with some of my work i have produced, and found that i want to experiment with new medias and would like to do collaboration work with other designers in the college, such as in fashion and photography.
What have you discovered that you weren’t expecting?
-That this course takes dedication, and the graphic design is a hard subject to study, but hard work pays off and from now on i defiantly want to knuckle down and do well as a young designer to take full advantage of the course.
