To conclude on this entire year is a difficult thing to do considering all the ups and downs I’ve experienced. But I can safely say how it has done nothing but make me more passionate about my practise - through my developed professional personality and approach to briefs with various clients and collaborators, to the endless hours spent experimenting with tiny little changes in After Effects, it has all helped to sculpt who I am as a designer now and the ventures I will make in the future.
At the start of the year, I initially stated how I wanted to really experiment with my design style through my evolving acquired focus of motion and digital illustration. I can confirm how this was a firm success, as through my practise and engagement with the industry I have done nothing but consider how I can incorporate and further develop my skills in both, whilst ensuring the end product is appropriate and relevant to the brief and or client. By finding my focus quite early on, I think I have been able to succinctly evidence this development throughout all of my briefs, really pushing my engagement with design for screen and how I can approach the digital audience in a punchy, concise, engaging and interactive way which is professional yet considered.
Through carrying out in-depth research to better develop my understanding of the digital social platforms, I think I have been able to really reflect this within my practise and go on to building a striking and relevant collection of work for my portfolio to represent myself as the confident, professional yet fun designer I am.
I hope I can continue to push this focus of designing for a digital audience after university too - allowing me to think in more of a broad sense and consider how I could thoroughly enjoy a more flexible role as a brand social media consultant, solely specialising in the engagement of the audience through social media via interactive and moving content.
In terms of my time management this year I have rigorously improved. As I have naturally been more engaged with the work I am completing and had this passion and drive to develop my own practise, therefore it has felt much more manageable considering the stress of final year uni. I can honestly say how at the beginning of the year I was greatly under-estimating the render times through my interactive moving content, but I felt that as I became more experienced and comfortable with the After Effects software I was able to naturally evolve past this hurdle.
Through the variety of collaborative and live commissioned briefs I have worked on with clients it has pushed me and my communication skills massively - allowing me to be considerate and appropriate with my approaches to various clients and collaborators dependent on their personality, background and style. I was especially put to the test through the Ferguson project where I had to actively follow up on him to ensure I was getting the necessary information and confirmations I needed to evolve the project forward. Although not all bad, it also gave me a proper opportunity to take control of a brief and art direct through the commissioning of an external photographer too. Here I was able to exercise my directing skills, and specifically tailor each element of the composition to ensure I was getting the desired angles and moods to get the best results - to then go back and work digitally with. Although pressed for time in this particular project in the end it was a great success and I got good feedback from the photographer and the client, suggesting I took control of the shoot well and directed the subject and the photographer in a concise and clear manor which enabled me to then go onto developing the desired output to a professional level.
Although some briefs, were more difficult than others, I did enjoy all of them as I feel they have each developed me in different ways. Through working on briefs that had a strict deadline or time frame to complete the work within, it gave me a solid taste of what working quickly and efficiently to meet the clients expectations is like, readying me for after university in many ways. Examples of these briefs include the Intern commission and Secret 7, where I had to work under quite a lot of pressure on top of a busy schedule to ensure my output was ready in time yet up to an accepted standard. In both cases, I lived up to the expectations and produced both striking and thought-provoking responses. Especially through the Intern project were I was lucky enough to see my work at this huge scale infront of a room full of creative people. This was definitely a milestone for me as a designer, and I think it is safe to say it has done nothing but drive me further into the industry as well as giving me more confidence and passion within my practise.
Overall, I feel very well equipped to graduate into industry after my time at LUA. And within the course I have been able to develop an intriguing and hopeful plan for afterwards, whilst still giving me the opportunity to experiment with different directions if I so choose.
No comments:
Post a Comment