Week24 : There

The week of our final hand-in and I can't believe we've made it!!!

My Studio PDF was completed at the end of last week, with final tweask and updqates made I'm handing it in today! I've already uploaded the link to this blog, I will put a link on this site somewhere to direct people to my previous blog on WordPress as it contains a lot of work for previous Modules and demonstrates my progression over the 2 years we've completed this Degree.

It's astonishing to think we've got this far - We had our final webinars about Career Progression and it's made me consideer how far we've come with our work so far.

I am now working as a Website designer and builder for a larger nationwide Vet company and really enjoying myself - it's the first career I've had where I am allowed to be fully creative and can make creative decisions myself. This degree has allowed me to push beyond what I thought I was capable of. It's also taught me to take criticism and feedback and use this to improve. I no longer feel like I've got terrible imposter syndrome when i start a project, and now, when I have a new website build to design, I no longer feel like I'm no good at what I do, I have the confidence to make changes I feel are mnecessary and listen to my own creative voice.

I've set up my own small Calligraphy and Stationary company Oslo&Foy and am selling my creative work here - it's a lovely thing to do, to create the work I want to do and sell it. I don't have to respond to someone else's brief or requests, I have the creative freedom to do what I please! It's lovely!

I also got married during this final module - we'd spent the past yeaar thinking we'd never be able to get married abroad but somehow luck was on our side and allowed us to go away in September to finally get married.

It's been a rollercoaster module for sure, the support of my peers is amazing and we've all been there for each other when it's needed. Considering we've never met, it's pretty astonishing how we've managed to help each other along the way.

I feel, without this degree, I really would be at a stale point in my career, and quitting my job 2 years ago to embark on this degree felt insane at the time, but it's really helped me to find a job and career in which I can finally develop in a creative environment.

Throughout this degree I've recognised that I am not at the same calibre as other students, that I've not got years of design experience under my belt, but that was the beauty of this degree - we've been able to mingle with people of this level and it's given me the opportunity to see some amazing designers progress and develop. For me, that's the inspiration I needed that Design isn't just a standstill life, it develops and changes as the world around us does so.

This module has been really important to me, I feel there's a lot of work I could have imprved upon and have reflected upon this in my Studio PDF.

Working on my research question took an unnecessary amount of time - I was incapable of making a decision on where I wanted this project to go and therefore my research question changed and adapted with each decision change.

This causes evident confusion in the initial process - causing me to doubt the work I was creating and not focusing enough on the correct aspects. Only in the run up to the Critical Report did I really see the direction I wanted this project to go in, and I was able to work hard on creating a question which fulfilled the brief.

Phase 3 is where I felt quite lost and confused, and this reflects in my blog posts. Differing identities and confused designs, as well as my lack of confidence in the project led to quite a change in the pace of work. Only when discussing this with the tutors and peers, did I see my work begin to proceed in the right direction.

Also, speaking to others outside of the course, it made me reconsider the project direction.

Delving further into the research and information around not only Climate Change, but also the psychology behind immersive exhibitions and design led me to explore a whole new avenue of Graphic Design. time on the Critical Report for me was vital to progressing this project - I gained so much more clarity and understanding of the outcome by writing this Critical Report and hugely enjoyed my time researching and producing this document. My SWOT analysis also gave me more to consider at this stage of my project.

Having said that, however, more time could definitely have been spent on physical sketches and drawings again to help guide my work further, after each development. It would also have helped to refine my project earlier on in this process and perhaps have encouraged me to learn the software such as SketchUp earlier; resulting in much nicer and more beautiful renders/mockups.

Definitely, for me, Phase 4 is where a lot of the design and identity of the proposal developed more swiftly. Using my skills in Premiere Pro, Wix and Figma, I could bring these together and hugely enjoyed developing the identity of this project. This aspect of the project, over the course of the module, was definitely my favourite time; and I saw my project come to life.