Identify strengths that you have developed during level 5.


In terms of design I have definitely learnt which areas I want to progress in and which aspects of design I don’t feel don’t want to work in. I think my main strength so far this year is simply being more confident in my own design practice. Obviously there are practical skills I have developed but really I think the biggest change and strength in my individual design practice is becoming more confident.
I’ve learnt what suits my style and what I enjoy doing as well which is useful and will help to expand and develop my way of working.
Although I didn’t enjoy it at the time, the design for screen module was something that when I reflect on it, I really enjoyed. I don’t think I would want to do it again but I loved the challenge and the chance to work with a different format than I’m used to.
The image module was brilliant, I really loved every second of it (apart from the animation brief) but I don’t think my work reflected that which was stupid of me. I liked the short briefs, I think I enjoy working under pressure because there isn’t really enough time to be lazy and not do anything; you just have to do it.


Although it isn’t a strength yet I really want to start working with older print processes and become a bit more of an expert because it’s something that fits in nicely with illustration. The PPD and enterprise sessions made me think about myself differently, I think those sessions gave me the drive to carry on with design. Before I thought of myself as a student amongst lots of other students and couldn’t see how I could be a designer when there were so many better people out there. Luckily working on my enterprise and PPD briefs I realised that it was what I wanted to do and I wanted to do it successfully. I think going over the details of what I wanted my business to be like made it seem more real and sudden which has given me a goal for the future, and it’s always nice to work towards something.




Weaknesses you have identified during level 5.


I don’t think this year has been particularly great, which is my own fault entirely. So it can be difficult to talk about strengths and weaknesses when I didn’t put the time in to be able to realise what they are. Although over the past few months I have really enjoyed the image module, the only weakness being my bad time keeping and disorganisation. I think I have yet to find the balance between how much time I should spend researching initially before I start designing. I spent far too much time researching my subject for my self written brief and then had to rush the product, which I was annoyed with myself about.


My reluctant attitude to digital media hasn’t changed, which almost annoys me about myself. I would like to re-train myself to enjoy design for digital because it’s more of a necessity than a choice now. It’s definitely a weakness I need to work on though.