10 Things

10 Things I want to learn this year: 

1. How to do foiling. This is a print process which is new to me, as I have never tried it, I am keen to have a go and learn how its achieved.

2. How to create my own website. I am aware of how useful this will be to promote myself as an individual and as a designer as part of my design practice.

3. I'd like to extend my knowledge of InDesign and Illustrator. These are both programmes which I was introduced to for the first time last year. Although I now know the basics for each, I would ideally like to learn more about how to use them most effectively.

4. Learning to communicate / get involved with other designers. I need to try and get in contact with designers who inspire me to broaden my knowledge on their work ethic. This would also boost my confidence in taking to other people and would be a great first-hard way to gather inspiration.

5. I want to explore using a wider range of medias. I was aware that I became strongly dependant on digital processes last year. This meant I became more confident with the Adobe Suite, but I would like to work with a broader range of processes in future.

6. Experimentation outside of my comfort zone. I need to push myself into situations which I usually tend to avoid. Each project needs to be easily definable from one another as opposed to following a similar form or strategy as another brief. Sometimes I find myself tempted to incorporate ideas into two briefs which makes the outcomes slightly less satisfying.

7. Become more confident in myself as a Graphic Designer. I still sometimes find it difficult to believe in my own ideas. I have a common habit of knocking the initial ideas before giving them a chance. This is definitely something I need to improve as it often wastes a lot of time early into a project.

8. Seek more feedback. Each time I present my work, I am surprised with how much difference a small bit of useful feedback can make. Although we are consistently asked to be giving and receiving feedback with our peers, this is something I need to learn to also initiate for myself. This links to point 7; the more I believe in my own ideas, the more I will feel confident to show my work and seek feedback from other people.

9. Time management. During a few of the projects last year I learnt how important it was to make a plan early into a new brief. The times my projects were most successful were when I allowed time for things to go wrong. I have always been ban at time management but I proved to myself that I can achieve it. This is something I want to try and apply to the course as a whole and not just the occasional project.

10. Keeping up and staying focused. My main aim this year is to ensure I am engaging properly with every task and keeping a positive attitude towards every new problem we are given. It can be easy to get distracted and lose motivation. This is something I want to try my hardest to avoid.