Reflection on my first year so far

I've been studying at LCC for nearly 10 months now and this blog has been a great way for me to remind myself of the things I've experienced from week to week- because time always goes too quickly so it's nice to be able to read about what you were thinking on a Tuesday 6 weeks ago. I feel with every project, or talk, I've learnt new things: how I learn best, what appeals to me as a designer, my strengths and weaknesses and most of all how I can improve as a designer.

The first project taught me literal new ways of starting and developing ideas - we were given specific workshops about good techniques to do this, to prepare us for future briefs. For example the 4 Step thought process, where you challenge concepts that first come to mind and take an idea and push it to an outrageous extreme, it all really helps to push your ideas. In the second project, mine being a brochure for an adult college, I learnt a load of technical skills within type and using InDesign for more than just page layout.

The third project, a children's illustration brief, was my toughest. I chose this project to try and develop my illustration skills, however, we were working with industry partners who don't 'teach' as such, they kind of let you get on with it. So I let my lack of confidence get in the way of focusing on the brief and lost sight of how playful designing for kids could be! I had some cute illustrations in the end, but didn't quite translate them well enough in the final outcome- it's okay though, I can always recycle them at another time- which is something Rachel Ortas, the leader of the project said.

Next year I know I want to visit more exhibitions and galleries on a weekly basis and I want to make sure I manage my time better in a project to allow me to get down to the letterpress and printing area. I'm going to keep this blog up for sure, it's not only kind of therapeutic by making you think and say what you've learnt or made, it's a great space for advertising yourself, so I’ll probably try and keep a lot of my own work on here and up to date- you never know who might be looking!