Studio Brief 2 - Inspiration sharing and presenting

as part of the studio brief 2 presentation practice, we were to present our inspirations that had previously  been gathered as a group. We had researched the topics and inspirations related to our personal life and practice, so that we could get a feel for how a pitch can be presented. For our presentation, looking into the background of Pink Floyd and the inspirations for their music helped us to understand ways that our research could be broadened. By doing this our presentation would be more in depth and analytical and therefore would inform the listeners of information they would not have previously known. This can also be beneficial when receiving questions at the end of a presentation as it allows you to keep the interest of the listeners in the topics you are discussing.

After presenting to the class for the first time, I believe that I will know how to prepare myself better next time we need to present. This may include adding questions of my own to the listeners of what they think could be improved with the presentation.

studio brief 2 - inspiration gathering

As a group of 3 or 4 we were tasked with finding new ideas that could potentially be used as the basis for our self branding project. By doing this we can receive feedback quickly from peers on which ideas they think would work best. After discussing the ideas, we can then start to make sketches and mock ups of the brand image. This will include making the logo, the typeface to consider and the business cards that come with it.

After this session, I found that I was still unsure about which direction to take my project in. The two main ideas would be to reflect on my interest in music or to create a style similar to a survival guide. I also created mock ups of these ideas and what mediums may be used in the creation during the final stages.

First we would be participating in a practice presentation that will allow us to learn how a presentation might work well during the last sessions of the course. To do this we combined imagery as a group, of things we had researched in relation to our topics and our interests. For example, our presentation consists of the research into the Pink Floyd album Dark Side of The Moon. This way we can build up confidence on the ways that we were presenting our interests to others.

Studio brief 2 - self branding initiation

For the self branding project we will be tasked with creating a pitch to present to the rest of the group, which will show off personally qualities in the form of a made up brand image. To do this I started by looking at the possibilities for what my branding could be, in relation to things that are personal to me as a person and as a designer. This way I can begin to  construct a brand that is reflective of my practice, my styles and my preferred methods of production.

Initial Ideas

• the first idea would be to create a brand that reflects my interest in fashion 
• the second idea would be to reflect the music i listen to, including rap, rock and house music.
• the third idea could be to create a brand that can be communicated through the use of clothing. For example, printing the information of the presentation onto a t-shirt.
• the forth idea would be to look at a uni survival guide for others to follow.

Reflective Practice

Today we listened to a talk by Radim Malinic and received a copy of his book 'Book of Ideas - A Journal of Creative Direction and Graphic Design'. I found this talk particularly inspiring as it gave me a more in depth response from someone who is familiar with the professional world of graphic design and has shared knowledge about ways to start a business. This included the ideas stages used by Malinic and how he eventually went about printing his work in a book. The book in itself is a reminder of ways that the graphic design world can allow you to sell yourself to clients and creative organisations. After receiving the talk today, I then went onto the social media pages for Malinic and looked at other works that he had done in the past. This way I would be able to see some of his earlier work that may influence how I might go about networking myself in the future.

Time Planning

As part of this session we were tasked with creating a weekly time planner that would allow us to track our studio time and free time, so that we could allocate certain tasks to each hour. By doing this, the weekly planner allows us to utilise the most of the time we have and organise it so that we are able to balance work and free time. As different projects will be running on different days of the week it is important to plan ahead, so that we know which days to study certain areas. We also have time during the weekend which can be included in the planner and utilised for essay time or reflection on the work produced throughout the week.

I think that by creating a planner like this, each week will prove beneficial for my time on the course.

Dealing With Stress

During this exercise, we were to list several things relating to stress and looking for ways to deal with these issues.

What scares you?

• deadlines
• coursework piling up
• not being the best you can be
• not becoming successful as a creative designer
• being stuck in a job you hate
• ppp blogging
• living up to what's expected
• fear of the unknown

What stresses you out?

• comparing myself to others
• money
• competition
• time management
• work load
• deadline essays
• too many blogs
• 9:30 start

How do you de-stress?

• listening to music
• sleeping
• watching tv
• social media
• drink tea
• talking to friends

Negative thought you had today

• trying to manage money
• looking tired today
• too tired to function
• wanting to stay in bed all day
• worrying about a house next year

From this we were then tasked with creating a Haiku from these thoughts so that we can create a positive response that may help us to deal with things that stress us out. Shown below is my haiku based on my favourite thoughts shared by others in the class.

At the end of the day

Fearing the unknown

Procrastination and a heavy workload

I have friends...

Other examples of peoples haikus

Impediment

Having work pile up

my work isn't good enough

watch a funny film.

Deadlines

I can't be bothered

trying to meet my deadlines

theres too much to do

Repeat

Too much work

Too many plans

Cold beer

Too Much

Feeling Overwhelmed 

Many things going on

Fearing the unknown

Coping

I'm not good enough

I don't want to disappoint 

I need to write things down

Personal Qualities

As part of the exercise, we were tasked to create a list of what personal qualities you think you have. We also participated in a group activity which saw each person writing their opinions about one another, to see whether there were similarities in what you think of yourself, against what others think of you.

Here are the results of the activity:

What personal qualities I believe I have

• creative person
• calm
• presentable
• Scouse
• approachable
• friendly
• dedicated

What personal qualities others believe I have:

• calm
• Scouse
• brown hair / blue eyes
• approachable
• sarcastic
• funny
• confident
• friendly
• hard working
• quiet sometimes

From this I can see that there are differences in how I perceive myself, compared to how other people perceive me. In particular, I was surprised that some people thought I was a confident and talkative person, when I don't believe I am. This has also encouraged and given me more confidence to strive to my goals, as others say that I portray a different image from what I had imagined.