Look at the 10 things you wanted to do last year - review it and write whether you did each thing, then write a new 10 things for this year.
10 Things I wanted to achieve last year:
- How to present my work in front of others in a confident and professional manner
- How to develop my skills and strengthen my weaknesses
- How to find out if I have any form of specialist design skills
- How to manage my time
- How to remain enthusiastic and positive throughout the course
- How to become organised
- How to understand the basic principles of type eg kerning, leading etc
- How to produce good developmental work (for example visuals, scamps, analysis etc)
- How to improve on my Adobe software skills
- How to improve on my essay writing skills
Did I achieve them?
- I think that I have definitely improved upon this from last year - when I started university I was terrified of presenting in front of new people, as I was used to being in such a small class and knowing everyone really well in the class so it wasn't very scary. We also never really presented formally, and usually had group crits every now and then. The past year has definitely helped me improve upon these skills and I'm a lot more confident with my presentation skills. This area still needs a lot of work, but I'm much happier with presenting at the start of this year in comparison to the start of first year.
- I have a feeling that a lot of my skills have developed over the year - I've developed my drawing ability when it comes to typography, I've found out loads of new things about the adobe software and I can now use the pen tool like a pro. I think my weaknesses across Graphic Design and the course have also improved, for example my attendance is so much better than at college and I can also come up with interesting concepts.
- I don't think I have my own form of specialist design skill just yet, but I plan to find this out over the next 2 years.
- My time management has improved significantly - I did slack at times last year, but coming into second year and having a new start that counts towards the final grade has really pushed me to work hard and keep on top of my work. Hopefully, I'll keep up the regime!
- At times last year I was really negative about the course, when things weren't going as planned, I was falling behind on work, experiencing family problems or being ill. Luckily I've met a few really great people from the course who keep me motivated and encourage me to do my best and keep at it. I think I wouldn't have gotten through the year as well as I did if it wasn't for people around me. I think I'm going to enjoy this year a lot more now that I fully understand the programme and how to go about everything.
- My organisation skills are still something to improve upon. I've discovered that I can be organised if I set my mind to it, but I can also lack organisation quite easily. One thing I've found that helps is keeping my room tidy, like the saying - a tidy house, a tidy mind. And it really does work!
- My knowledge on the basic principles of typography has improved considerably, thanks to all the design principles sessions with Fred as well as the course over the year in general. I am much more confident when it comes to using and analysing typography.
- My developmental visuals and sketches are coming along. I can definitely produce quality visuals that I can work from, I just tend to find that I don't dedicate my time to it so will often produce less drawings and developments than I want to, so this is something I will work on this year.
- My Adobe software skills have definitely improved. I know so much about Illustrator and InDesign now. There are still loads of things I'd like to touch upon over the next 2 years so that I can create things to the highest of quality - I'd also like to learn more about Photoshop as I don't really use this software as often.
- I think my essay writing skills are where I want them to be. After writing my first essay of the course, I've realised how useful it was to go to such an academic secondary school and all those fees definitely paid off! Hopefully I can improve upon my writing skills this year so that my dissertation is written to my highest potential.
10 things I want to learn this year:
- I would like to discover my 'design style' and apply it to a variety of briefs.
- I want to make sure that I stay motivated this year and keep on top of my work like I'm currently doing. I don't want to fall behind like last year.
- I would like to learn how to use new software, for example Fontographer or Dreamweaver.
- I would like to be able to improve upon my presentation skills further so that I am confident enough to speak about my work in front of new people as well as those I know.
- I'd like to gain some work experience within the areas of design that I'm interested in, and maybe even find some work abroad for over the summer.
- I want to produce enough design sheets this year so that I feel happy with the amount of work I have produced when it comes to submission. This will also help with my concepts.
- I would like to learn more about coding and how I can develop my own working website.
- I want to develop my knowledge for fashion and editorial design, as this is an area that I am interested to pursue for a future career.
- I want to buy lots of design books and read them to help improve upon my knowledge for design principles outside of the classroom.
- I would like to get involved with workshops and learn different methods of printing and production, eg screen printing, etching or spot varnishing.
