Identify and explain 5 reasons why you chose to study on this programme.
- Already at LCA - I studied ND Graphic Design at Leeds College of Art before starting this course, so I already knew what the facilities were like and what things we have available to us as students, and I had a brief idea (so I thought) of what it would be like to study BA here.
- Fred's passion - In total, I attended 4 open days for this course whilst making decisions on where I wanted to apply to for Uni, and each time Fred was so enthusiastic about the course and what it was about it was highly convincing. Hearing it once is good, but after the 4th time you realise that it is actually a genuine passion, and wasn't just some sort of fake act to try and get as many people to apply to the course as he could.
- Tutor time - the amount of tutor time that is available to us on this course is outstanding compared to a lot of other Graphic Design courses all over the country. There is always someone around if you need them, and the tutors that do work on the course, most still do or have a lot of experience of actually working in the industry which makes their feedback and opinions a lot more informed as they know first hand what is going on out there.
- Industry links - the links that the course has with different design studios and what not was really impressive to me as I believe that by a course having these good links, ensures a better chance of work placements and what not throughout the course as well as when we finish. Also, the employment rate for the previous graduating years has been really good, and I hope that if I work and push myself enough, then I can also be one of the ones who graduates and gets a great work opportunity.
- Dedication/demands - what we are expected as students is of a really high level, with us being required to be in and around Uni for so much throughout the week, and then expected to go away and still put in the same amount of effort was a really big decision maker for me. I like working under pressure and being pushed farer than I thought I could, as I believe this is one of the best ways to learn - although not always enjoyable.
- Not too far from home - whilst I do like living away from home, I do appreciate the fact that I do only come from like 40 minutes away from Leeds so I can call home when ever I want/need to and it wouldn't be too expensive or time consuming to do so. Also, by choosing to study in Leeds it meant that I could keep my part time job for that bit of extra income and didn't have to worry about finding a new one/surviving with what I have.
Identify and explain 5 things that you want to learn during your time on the programme.
- Who am I? - Obviously, I know who I am, but I want to discover who I am as a designer, and where I would fit within the design world. I already have a pretty vague idea of this, but I want to experiment more within it and other disciplines before making any certain decisions to ensure I will end up doing what I will truly want to be doing.
- How to network - Not a long the lines of how to write a tweet or upload a photo to Facebook - everyone can do this, but how to contact design studios in an appropriate manner, and try to secure a variety of portfolio reviews and studio visits to design studios that I would be highly interested in once I finish the course - as well as maybe ones that I am not so interested in to develop a different perspective to just what I want/know.
- How to think 'big' - we had a quick taste of thinking big during a workshop last year with John, and I found the whole thing a little daunting at first, but once I got into it it made the workshop more enjoyable. I want to be able to think further than I usually do to both expand my knowledge, and also take future briefs to a newer level I didn't necessarily believe I could achieve.
- Be fluent with the whole print process - I want to be the type of designer who knows off the top of their head what needs to be done, and what would look good. I don't want to have to keep double checking or finding out what wold be the best process for what I am working on, I want to just know it. Not only will this save a lot of time, but it will make me a lot more professional in that sense.
Identify and explain 5 skills that you think are your strengths.
- Quantity and quality - although I know there is always plenty of room for improvement, I do push myself as much as I can do to produce work to what I believe at the time to be a good enough quality. Combining this with the constant thoughts in my head along the lines of 'what more could I do?' I do think that I have found a pretty decent balance with this. I would never actually compromise the quality of something I am doing to produce more quantity, as that just isn't how it works.
Identify and explain 5 things that you would want to improve.
- Concentration skills - I find that a lot of the time I get distracted really easily, which means I end up wasting time that could be well spent doing something useful.
- Presentation skills - just the thought of standing up and doing a presentation makes my stomach flip and I forget how to breathe. Obviously this is a problem as a lot of the process of being a designer would be to stand up in front of people and present my ideas, so I need to try push myself to get better and be more confident in doing this - or at least remembering how to breathe would be a start!
- Digital skills - I do believe I have a decent knowledge of digital skills, along the lines of basic website building and vector illustrations and what not, but when it comes to choosing whether to produce something print or digital, I have always choose print as I feel a lot more confident with this. So I want to maybe experiment more with digital techniques and skills for relevant responses to appropriate briefs.
- Remembering software shortcuts - not only would this be one of the small aspects that would make me look more like a 'professional' designer, but once you get into the flow of using shortcuts it could save valuable time which could then be used wisely on something else. Hopefully by the end of this year, or at least by the end of the course I will know them well enough to not have to double check, or make sure I will be using the right one first.
Identify and explain 5 ways that you will evaluate your progress.
- Take a step back - one of the main problems a lot of people have, not just me, is being so close to a project and concentrating on it so hard that you just forget to take a step back for a minute and see it from a different perspective. I will ensure that I do this constantly (but not too much) with the briefs that I work on throughout the year, as usually when you do take a step back is when you realise the obvious.
- Crits/feedback - I will make sure that I make the most of these, and fully explore and consider any kind of feedback I receive for what ever it is I am doing, whether it be from a timetables crit session, or a quick 'why not try this' from someone looking over my shoulder. I want to leave behind the 'I like it this way' approach I sometimes get and at least experiment more.
- Design Diary - yes, although
Identify 5 questions that you want to find the answer to.
- Am I going to survive on this course? - I will bloody well try!
- Am I a print or digital based designer? - I do lean a lot more towards print, but when I do do a bit of digital work I do often enjoy it, so I want to be more certain with this.
- Where do I want to go? - Not only do I want to know what sort of designer I would like to be, but I also want to know where I would actually like to go. I had a conversation with someone I know recently who is also at Uni, and we discussed how by being at uni, it feels like we have started a journey we won't come back from. It has got me thinking a lot more about the little things, and where my journey may end up.
- Will I be as good as them? - When ever we are shown examples of previous students work who have graduated from this course, I always wonder to myself wether I will actually turn out to be that good. I think so long as I keep pushing myself as I have been doing, and take on a lot of points I have raised in this task, I will at least finish the course knowing I tried.
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