PPP Evaluation

I feel positive about my personal branding, as I spent time developing it throughout the year, to ensure that the outcomes of design presence would successfully communicate my practice and personality.

Working with Suzanne and Mike as an ongoing collaboration is definitely a positive I have taken from this year, I just wish that we could have spent more time developing ideas and plans for the design studio, although we intend to do this now that we are ready to hand in and can focus on this over the summer. This year I have been able to further develop my interests in both printing and publishing design, entering into competition briefs where I could to build up my confidence and improve my abilities. I have also attempted to actively seek out interesting information about publishing design and printing to help improve my understanding of these subjects. 

I feel that I have been weaker in design strategy, where I was expected to communicate with studios. At first this was to do with a lack of confidence in my abilities and my portfolio, as I felt that there were aspects I was still to improve upon, however once I began emailing people, I realised that there isn't really anything to worry. Unfortunately these people are obviously very busy and so the studios I targeted, which ended up being local and Northern studios, did not reply to me. There was some communication between myself and Made studio in Liverpool, however after several back and forths which seemed to be going well, the emails ended and I was left feeling a little confused. I did have more success with my communications with Leicester Print Workshop, and although I have not been able to successfully secure a placement with a studio within this year, I have successfully organised for a placement during September, as they were unable to accommodate me any earlier. I am excited for this placement as I will be able to shadow print apprentices, explore different traditional print processes, as well as learn more about the business side of the studio. 

 I would like to improve upon my communication skills, and not be so afraid to ask questions of design studios. I would also like to improve upon my time management, especially in terms of working collaboratively so that we could have organised more and had a better idea of our plans for the upcoming year. I would also have begun communicating with studios a lot earlier, and pursued this more actively and persistently to ensure more visits. I would also like to improve upon my online presence, which at the moment I am not happy with because I have not built it myself as I have limited skills. If I could do the year again, I would most definitely focus more on my future after the course instead of worrying a lot about the present, and I would also want to research more heavily into the business of design. 

All this being said, I do feel like at the end of this module, and the end of these three years, I have been able to successfully gain a better understanding of my practice and the path I would like to carve for myself upon graduation, and I am thankful for the opportunities I have been given on the course to further myself. I intend to continue exploring my practice and developing my skills.