CIARATOPPINGDESIGNADVENTURES

12 Weeks.

Foundation year - done. First year - done. Second year - done. Placement - all done. First semester of final year, and a month of cramming - done. This is it. Over half way through the year and only 12 weeks until Adult life begins. Time to start planning and perfecting.

Having received my first set of marks I now know where I stand and what I have to work on this semester to improve. I have to think more in-depth about my future. What kind of work I would like to be doing, what kind of setting I would like to work in etc. Then work towards it. Truth be told, I know I love graphic design and the creative studios it is often produced in, but until now I have never sat down and thought about what I am personally working towards. My aim has always been to create a portfolio I am proud of and I am still working on that, I reckon I always will be. However, now I feel it is important to adventure into the industry a little bit more, discover what it is that I enjoy doing most and where I would like to do it.

So, apart from the obvious amount of work put into preparing a degree show and the many nights spent in front of the screen(s) - over the next 12 weeks I will explore, interview and document this explorative journey.

I am the worst at keeping this blog up to date. And I feel like every post will always start with that sentence. However, 2 weeks later and here is my annual Offset post.  To anyone out there that doesn’t know what I am talking about, check it out.  http://www.iloveoffset.com/ It is the best thing for anyone into anything graphic designy or illustratory. But it always expands out to more diverse speakers too, from the fashion industry, to photography, architecture, all the creatives! It is one event in the year I know I will benefit from. I always come home so inspired and want to create EVERYTHING! I want to be better at everything, try everything, all at once. I got to see soo many speakers, drank many free beers and bought one too many books. One book being Mr Bingo’s book of insults on postcards. Why do I love that shit soo much. It’s a great book, well finished. Mr Bingo however taught us how to make a rap video. No regrets. I learned so much and my aim was to write it all down in this post. However that would take more time than I would like it too. So, like every year I will just recommend Offset. 

It’s been a while since my last design post. A lot has changed between this and the last post. My home, lifestyle and occupation. I started my new placement job in a small and busy graphic design/ motion graphics/ web design studio. 

So it is only day two but already I am glad of the choice I have made. My boss surprised me and the members of the team with little business cards today. It is so weird seeing my name in there on a professional business card. 

WE WON!!!!! So I have been kind of M.I.A recently. It's all thanks to this ad campaign we created within the Pani workshop for students. This last month I have been part of team working to win a live pitch to advertise for a local charity, Action Cancer. We were put in teams and paired with a local agency to help us. Myself and my four beautiful team members were paired with ASG. They were a pleasure to work with, pushing us to further with our ideas and helping where possible. We couldn't have won it without them. It was a great experience and I would recommend it to any student its offered to. Yes, it was a lot of work but I think its safe to say, you get back what you put in and this time it definitely paid off. The campaign will be seen around Northern Ireland in September. 

 Above, our judges at either side, our mentors at the back and our team members that weren’t on holidays in the front.

 Then our winning pitch. I am still in shock. 

And this is how they came.

Ciara Topping Adventurer

ONLY JOKING!

I’m just a graphic designer

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