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So this is it. It is the end of my first year as a Graphic Design Student at Coventry University. I must say and I think anyone who interacted with me over this past year knows I had many ups and downs. I move to a brand new city which for me, was a massive step. I knew no-one and went to a freshers party by myself. Then I met some amazing people and haven’t spoken a lot to them since. Then I met some amazing friends and stayed with them till the very end. I gave up twice on Paulas book publication module and then got a 2:1. I thought my typeface for the typography module was absolutely bad and I got a 1st and third of all, I thought was I was best at, computer design, would get me the highest grade; and it got me the lowest! 

So yes, no shadow of a doubt I have learnt a lot in the first semester. I think the first semester was a learning curve, as for anyone but for me especially because of my, should we say, inventive and tragic past! 

Second semester bought me closer with my friends, Paulina, Katie, Melenie and Ellie. I had KFC popcorn chicken for the first time ever, (even though I didn’t tell them that!) I worked in a team, I did coding, which I tried before a number of times and gave up every time, I created a functional website and it works! I was robbed and my money was used :( . I moved back home and worked with my team over 200 miles apart. I had a mental breakdown and wanted to quit and forget about uni! And I even got a job as a middleweight designer. 

So second semester didn’t sound a whole lot better but it was a more of a technical learning point for me. I finally mastered the skill of coding and was able to create a somewhat fully function website. That in and of itself is a massive achievement for me. My personal goals and relationships with my friends have also grown and we became closer and more of a family than those average uni friends. I tried new things which I can’t be more proud of because any learning is good learning. 

So i just want to reflect and say how much of a pleasure it was to reflect and share my life on this blog. I was as open as I will ever be. Even critiquing those horrible humanist typefaces has now made me a little fan of them and I even gathered a library of fonts dedicated to just fonts like them! So yes, an eventful year to say the least but lots and lots of learning and reflection through the process has happened so I can’t be anymore prouder. 

Next year will mark the official beginning of the half way point to which I am going to become a professional graphic designer. I’ll be continuing my studies at a different institution which will hopefully bring a wealth of fresh new ideas, new creative thinking and most importantly a new opportunity to excel and show off my design skills. 

When I hear the word Holidays, I don’t think much of it. This is the time I think I am ready to admit I am a workocholic. Going on holiday makes me a little if not more than that anxious of where I would stand on my return to work. Especially since the past year and a half my only jobs were in the the design industry, going on a long vacation or for that matter, a short one could leave me stranded in overtime upon my return, trying to catch up on briefs and more importantly fulfilling them. 

Once, I went away to Ireland for 5 days to enjoy some time with my cousin and when I came back to work, I’ve had a massive mailbox filled with 200+ emails asking for work which I missed deadlines of by that point, new projects and campaign work that needed to be proofed and send to print. Arrrrgh! 

Thinking back to it now, I have learnt a few valuable lessons using the couple of projects we did this year. Here are my learning for the future:

Deadlines:

Always do them before leaving for holiday and if you can’t meet them, pass them onto someone else who can fulfil them in your absence

Briefs:

Get them in person, that way you can understand more about the project and furthermore you can ignore those cheeky emails!

Don’t stress!:

This short but sweet entry definitely highlights the strengths and weaknesses of me as a designer. 

My Strenghts

I think I am a capable designer in a array of fields within the design and I like to experiment by linking and playing around with them, such as real life photography with illustration as I think it brings around a genre of something new and ultimately, we as designers, our job is to employ new possibilities and imaginative ways of putting information across from one to another. 

My Weaknesses

I think sometimes I estimate the amount of time I have to complete a project and then rush in the end to complete it on time, hence why meeting deadlines is not my favourite thing. Now in one of my previous posts I discussed the opportunity within the unexpected. I thoroughly agree with the notion I argued there because some of the best things in design happen last minute however in a commercial environment where money is the make or break factor of whether you will be known for what you do or will just be the next designer working in a commercial agency is key. Hence why I think organisation, regular reviews and timekeeping is hugely important in meeting the demand in graphic design. 

My oppurtunities

Well, as previously mentioned in my blog and probably it is becoming rather repetitive, my ultimate goal is to work in Fluid, a very creative agency that I admire from far! For some, this might be a very realistic and achievable goal, and I think it is, but for person like me who has been looking up to their creativeness and ways of working since the very early stages of my career as a designer, I think this will be an amazing opportunity to develop should I be successful in achieving my goal. Other opportunities have already risen for me where I can get invaluable experience for the future such as my job as a mid-weight designer, or my previous interning / junior role at Veolia, a large waste and recycling company. 

The Threats

As an opener, I sincerely apologise to those people who will read this and completely disagree with me. I know they will disagree because I had this argument plenty of times before and it always turns out to be something bigger than it is. Opinions! It is just my opinion!

Now lets be honest, I’m not the most amazing at drawing. I’m just not. I try, and I can communicate my ideas but I’m just not the best. When it comes to computers and technology, I like to call myself a little Wizz. Not a wizz just a little tiny one. A miniature version essentially. 

For me, design is playing up to your promises and putting yourself, the campaign or idea across in a form that is creative, imaginative and understood by the wider public. That is definitely not to say that you can only do it through technology but for me it is the best medium to do so. It’s easy, you can do different things and most importantly time. It’s so much faster than doing it by hand. We all know the saying, time is money and money is time. For sure. So many good designs get turned down because of their lack of organisation or time keeping; simply because the production will break the time scale or because the deadline was missed. Hence why I think technology advancements enable you to meet all important aspects of design and clients needs. 

Everyday we make design choices as mentioned in my previous post. Be it choice of nickers or the way our hair will look; those intuitive decisions can happen unexpectedly, for whatever reason but there are ways that unexpected decisions can be made expected. 

Writing, copywriting, design writing. Whatever your role in a design agency you are always a writer, or wordsmith for that matter. Why? Because with every campaign, every design and every piece of artwork that leaves your computer to be critiqued and praised by the client is written and composed by you. That is why I think that designers are more than creative. 

To be frank, the interpretation of the word writing or creative can have a very different approach from different people. One may think creativity is the sole act of using your mind to come up with new and intuitive ways of working. For me, everyone is creative. Everyone has their sense of style and albeit not everyone has that thing to be a designer, people can certainly call themselves one. Just look at how well some people dress, one may call it weird fashion but for them it probably took couple hours swapping 50 different t-shirts before saying ‘That’s the right one!’. People just don’t make decisions because they do. We even don’t think of it but the amount of creativity and thinking that goes into every action we perform everyday, even the little ones, is just amazing and wholly satisfying, to me at least. 

So in one of my recent blog posts, I have talked about my targets. Well I am pleased to say that some of these targets are in progress of being achieved.

One of my targets was to achieve a promotion in design and become a mid-weight designer. Even though I didn’t say this in the post, I thought to myself, if I achieve this, what’s the point of doing uni? From there, there are 2 points of progression and I have my career set. Well not really.

Yes, I managed to catch a part time job as a designer in a commercial print and design agency in my town, Wembley. Yes, it is of a middleweight position and yes I have been promoted. Is this good though? Well, I was ecstatic at the time but now, after speaking to a design professional, a lecturer of another university he put some stuff straight to me. I am currently doing well, working as a mid-weight before even reaching 20, however, as I progress, this agency, probably in 5 years time will still be medium size with the clients it has now and if I want to progress into larger agencies, such as Fluid (my all time favourite agency I keep on banging on about), doing university and having a professional degree behind my back will enable me to make this progression faster. And yes, as good as it is that I have this job, it’s good for experience and making me some extra pocket money during the last 2 years of my degree, but in the future, to make progression fairly quickly into larger institutions and agencies, I must pull through and continue with my studies.

So yes, I am going to continue my studies at another institution next year, closer to home but if there is one thing Coventry taught me is the art of individualism. It’s so difficult and at the same time amazing. You have more freedom but have to be very careful as one little mistake could turn out to be quite large than it has to be. Maybe it isn’t design related but it definitely is a point of discussion for this personal development blog because I learnt one thing. I am more of an achiever when I have people around me that I know I can always rely on, friends, family and places I know and feel safe in.

Since this target has now been partly achieved, I feel the need to set a new one, which, will definitely not get achieved before submission but if you keep an eye on this blog, maybe in 2 years time, I’ll reach it.

GOAL: Apply for a role within Fluid Creative Communications and be the designer you are.

In this blog post, I take a much rather academic approach to evaluating typography in graphic design.

In todays digitally savvy era, graphic designers have to come up with new innovative ideas that are out of the box but simotunesley ideas that fit within the time scale, budget and creative identity that is already in place. My personal experience plays up to that notion because during my time as a Junior Designer at Perfume Shop, I was challenged with a brief for the Learning & Development department to come up with an innovative training campaign that will transform new recruits into perfume experts. After all, this was my first big project I was put at the lead position of. It did teach me quite a lot, purely because it was making sure that I not only develop   d a creative campaign but also something that will not put a massive hole in the business budget. So after numerous attempts at creating campaigns which impressed the directors, they were turned down for either expensive setup and maintenance costs or the latter question, its nice but will it last? Simon Bells lecture about ‘contemporary design’ is appropriate to mention here. Designs are contemporary at the time of production but it’s not aways going to last forever. I mean, those humanist sans serif typefaces are already going out of fashion and brands like Subway are already regretting the costly rebrands.

Graphic design can be described as the ways information is played out on a page to convey or communicate a message or brand value. Typography therefore plays a key role in making an ‘out of the box’ idea communicate this essential information. Without it, a lot of beautiful designs, images and illustrations will simply not make sense. This is because their abstract or because typography is the simplest way of communicating a message which is widely understood by the widest selection of the demographic representation, dating as far back as the Roman alphabet which began to shape letters in the way we understand today.

That was the kind of thoughts going through my brain when I was turned down for almost every single idea I put forward in the past 3 months. So typography. The Perfume Shop already uses a timeless typeface - Futura. It’s timeless because it’s so appropriate for many applications and it hasn’t gone our of fashion just yet.

Previously I have talked about the way that we keep on relying on the use of humanist and geometric sans-serif typefaces for so many rebrands. After thinking about it, I managed to reflect and understand the importance of these. 

Back in the 2000s when not everyone was set on rebranding themselves as crazy as they do now, fonts like Times new roman have ruled the market. They are see as the corporate and clean alternative to whatever was produced beforehand. They weren’t wrong. After all, you don’t see many of the older projects that used many sans-serif fonts. Of course, some classics like Franklin Gothic were used but thats not to say that they have accounted for much of the design market during this era. In fact, looking at it, there were very few of those sans-serif fonts in use. 

Therefore I wanted to reflect on some of the more icon rebrands that began using very geometric sans-serif typefaces after their rebrand, but consider the facts that a good rebrand also utilises the traditional fonts and interplays and mixes it with the technological advancements to create beautiful new identities with cleaner use of traditional typefaces. For example, gumtree, a fairly large company opted in for the geometric font and off they went, in the basked with the other rebranding projects. However, what Pentagram always amazes me with is their ability to use traditional methods of design to create beautiful identities and designs. What caught my attention is the rebrand they did for Uni of Sussex. They combined very traditional typefaces, Franklin Gothic and Baskerville with a bright and modern colour palette and stylistic use of imagery.  

A studio - can be quite a fun place or it could be HELL. I came across two ways of viewing a studio. 

The fun studio. I came across this whilst working for Perfume Shop as a Junior Graphic Designer. Being there for 7 months, I was able to gain lots of experience and ideas that I would like to develop. The Mid Weight Designer, Sarah, in the end became one of my best mates to date. She is fun and super creative. I loved everyday working with her and it was the best couple of months I ever had. Even though the commute was AWFUL, the studio was amazing. We had access to a wealth of ideas and even though we didn’t have much time to execute them, I think for the time and the small team we were, we did decent. During my time in TPS, I gained lots of valuable skills. I had the chance to work upon my soft skills of management and presentation skills, such as taking a lead on a campaign or presenting the final visuals to the Marketing Director - it took a lot of sweaty armpits but I got there in the end. This has helped me to develop my skills at university. I became a lot more confident in presenting my ideas to the tutors or asking for feedback, purely because I had that professional experience before. Further to my current studies, I am now able to seek potential help or get others views on  my work to improve. Even though the critique and reflection part isn’t the strongest part in my abilities; this could become a goal for me to personally develop upon. 

This mid-semester reflection ties in quite nicely with my previous post - PDP. I have discussed what PDP means to me and what I want to get out of it. In short, I want this journal to be about me, myself and I. About my concerns, my life, what I do and what I stand for in order to improve and be different; not only as a designer but as a human being. 

I feel like today’s media and general public overwhelms me with what I am meant to be or what I am meant to be. I am me and I do what I do. I have my own ways of working and a method of organisation - no one should tell me that I should be different from what I am. Yes, a lot of the time I will be stuck in the my own comfort zone but I am different in many ways to what my comfortable is. With my mates, I am more open and truthful where as in a professional or education setting, I am more closed and keep a lot more things to myself. Why? Because I don’t want people I don’t know and more importantly people that don’t know me to be forced to build a false perception of me. It’s not what I stand for. Here it is. Writing this paragraph I just found one of the things that I stand for - PERCEPTION.

This module has also been a time out where I can sit with a cup or coffee in my bed and reflect on everything and then write it down. It was like a time to escape and figure out my life, write it on paper and then go back to it later. Brilliant right? Yes - very much but reading back through the entries makes me feel very rewarded, like those stick men from that american express billboards. At the same time though, it makes me reflect even more and think - wow I have come a long way in only a few weeks time!

'Personal development planning is the process of creating an action plan based on awareness, values, reflection, goal-setting and planning for personal development within the context of a career, education, relationship or for self-improvement’.

This is the definition of personal development planning when typed into Google. Now what does it mean for me? It means a lot of things really but more importantly; how does it help me to develop?’ Let’s be honest now; a lot of people create action plans, stick to them for a few weeks and then never see the progress they make. 

Today, before writing this entry I had read back over my past entries to reflect on the targets I have set. Honestly, from a person who doesn’t know me will probably say I set myself very little targets however I took the time to consider and reflect upon the idea or concept I was writing about before taking the time to write it. That, in and of itself for me is an accomplishment and I can see the subliminal targets I have set myself along the way. For example, in my post about Three using Helvetica Neue Bold across all of their POS as the primary typeface has led me to limiting my self to the use of Helvetica in the next design project I do, and I did in fact take this approach trying to work in this font to my design; even though it wasn’t the one that got approved, I subliminally knew that I wanted to make me and Helvetica work and so it did; not quite. 

Furthermore, writing these entries has led me to always consolidate and think about my life. Now here I’m not speaking about how I behave as a designer but to consider my daily life. What could I do to improve and be more efficient? What steps can I take to approach tasks with a different attitude? It has helped me to really consider what I want to do in the future versus what I am doing now. On the flip side of things, it led to countless nights considering whether Graphic Design is for me or if I really want to study something different. Considering whether I want to do a degree or go straight into work. Considering whether I am even a designer or just an artworker. These were all the different thoughts I had before writing every entry.

Everyone has goals. My mums is to lose weight, my sister’s is to achieve 100% in her SATs and my dads is to look for a new job. Everyone has goals. Be it small or large, they should always be attainable. My ones are realistic and because I am such a freak in design, these are mostly related to what I want to achieve as a designer. 

My first goal is to achieve the Mid-Weight Designer position in a well - established design agency that deals with both print and digital media. I will know I achieved my goal because not only will I have that position but I will feel proud and excited to learn new things and get more design responsibility. I think this goal is achievable by me because I have 2 years Junior Designer experience in two really well established institutions and I have a wealth of knowledge in design as well as a creative portfolio. Achieving this goal will enable me to climb the design positions ladder to ultimately become a Senior Designer. I will learn new things and experience new avenues in design that I didn’t have the chance to whilst being a Junior. I’d like to achieve this target by 2021, when I graduate in my design degree. 

My second goal is to learn coding in-depth and begin experimenting with java script to bring my digital knowledge to life. I will know I have achieve this goal because I can create a fully functional and animated website similar to that of Day of the Dead. This goal is achievable by me because I am currently coding a website for my Design Practise module and even though I am finding it quite tough I am persisting and looking for ways to make my website fun and lively. Achieving this goal would give me a personal feeling of reward and give me more knowledge to design new exciting stuff for my clients. I’d like to see myself have something achieve by next year. However a constant check up and review of my progress will be necessary as well as reflection and critique from my friends, family, other designers as well as the audience. 

My final goal is to work on my soft skills as a designer. Being a creative is only half the job description of being a Graphic Designer. You must also have good leadership skills and good selling techniques. In the end, if we think about it, Pentagram uses simple fonts such as Arial or Helvetica Neue for a lot of their designs yet they are able to market these ideas as the best ones and going forward, they will continue to be contemporary. As, Simon Bell has mentioned in all his lectures last semester; all ideas are contemporary, when they were made. I will have known I have achieved this goal because I would have been awarded the position of a Mid-Weight designer in a reputable design agency. I think this goal is achievable by me because I always practise it. Wherever I go or pitch an idea, I ensure that I market myself just as well as Pentagram does. I also try to be friendly but have my voice when working around other creative individuals. Achieving this goal will teach me new ideas and experiences I could currently brush upon. It will allow me to show that I am serious about my job and therefore I will be able to climb the positions ladder rather quickly. This goal doesn’t have a specific end time. I would like to work on these soft skills continually as you can never know everything. 

We all need to consider what’s going to happen in the future, because you never know; the technology advancements and new discoveries could all lead onto something unexpected. Thinking of the future for mean means thinking of how design can be bespoke and different; trying to be innovative and different against what is already out there. 

We all know the phrase of ‘Print is going Digital’ or ‘Print is circling the drain’. No? You need to think again. Today’s print industry is becoming a hard one not only to get into but also to maintain. You see designers with degrees and masters in design trying to get into a agency specialising in print but it just doesn’t happen as magically as it used to. 

The degree I am studying at the moment is quite broad and allows me to experience different avenues within design. Design practice for example isn’t purely a poster / business card brief. It is more than that. A cross - platform campaign is something that isn’t only set as a university brief but it is something you get in the real world. 

I think everyone has concerns whether you’re a designer or not, you will always have some sort of concern regarding your life. Talking from a personal perspective, I have concerns everyday and these concerns sometimes cease my personal development. My mental health problems can definitely cease my creativity and want me to quit all-together. 

You see, when you work so hard for something and really want something to happen; and then it doesn't happen, it just puts you down. Now imagine this let down 100 times worse. That is how I feel - something simple - something that might be nothing major to a normal person is very major to me and it hurts and concerns me. There comes days where I cannot even get out of bed and be bothered to leave my house let alone be creative and start something new. Its draughting and a feeling that shouldn’t exists, yet is does. 

My concern is that I want to be creative - all the time, everyday yet I can’t. Unless I do something about it, I wont be creative as much as I’d like to be. 

Reflection. It is embedded within us. We do it everyday and don’t even notice it. I noticed it though. I am never happy with my work. It could be a Picasso piece and I would still throw the idea out the window. This is why I learnt the idea of reflection and suddenly understand why it is so important to be reflective and get others people critique. Designing my catalogue and poster for the Design Practise module has made be go through at least 10 different designs and I still don’t think I am there. 

Everyday, I take an evening to look back at the poster, slap some headphones on and try to crank out another one. That is how I am reflecting. I look at what I have done before and try to work on it. I am even at the point now that I reference Britney Spears music in my work because I think it works. 

Therefore I seek reflection. Reflection from my peers, my friends, my parents, the audience. THE AUDIENCE. The audience is the one that will ultimately consume the work I produce. It will invite them to the event I advertise. It will seek their participation. 

Today, I will put all of the posters I have designed thus far and send all of them to different design friends and seek their feedback. Their reflection and their input. Sometimes, reflection by yourself is simply not enough. It is a good start but reflecting collectively as a group is what is important. Hence why I am doing it. I want to reflect and improve. There’s absolutely not point doing what you’re always doing because you will get what you always get, and I don’t want that. I want to improve and get new result everyday, get new goals set up; reflect upon them and set new ones to feel rewarded with the progression I am making.