Reflection
In todays presentation I spoke about how my relationship with design had developed since the start of the year. I spoke about where I'd come from in terms of the creative field before uni and how my relationship with designed has changed from there, with particular references to events during the year.
I feel that my presentation didn't go very well, as I was very nervous, partly because I went first, and so went through my presentation quite quickly, without really going into much detail or justifying what I was saying. I was also quite nervous because parts of my presentation were myself expressing my very negative thoughts and feelings about the creative fields and the stereotypical people within them, and I was scared of offending people or sounding hypocritical given I'm on a Graphic Design course.
I had rehearsed at home a couple times roughly what I'd planned to say, and so I do feel quite a lot of regret about not saying it. To compensate for this, I'm writing a rough idea of what I planned to say below.
What I Would've Ideally Said
When I was thinking about this presentation, I wanted to focus on something that has changed drastically about me since the start of the course. I thought the best thing to concentrate on was my relationship with design and my opinions on it. This is because I never really used to have any opinions because of how I got into design.
I started doing a creative subject seriously in Y9 when I chose to do photography to avoid having to do Music and Drama, two subjects my former academically-based self hated. I didn't have any particular interest in photography and still don't.
My interest in the creative subjects started a while later when on a trip with photography to the Tate Modern in London, where one painting inspired my interest in the creative fields. The painting was Gerhard Richter's Abstract Number 439. I didn't know why I liked it and still don't to this day, but there's something about it that inspires me. This caused me to pick photography, art, and graphics as my GCSE choices.
Throughout my GCSE's it became clear to me that graphics was where my skills lied within these three subjects, and alongside my particularly strong grades in maths and physics, at this point I wanted to become an architect, something backed up by my interest in Lego and K'nex as a child.
From here I picked Maths, Physics, Graphic Design and ICT for my A Level choices. However, within a few weeks I'd established that the A Level I was enjoying the most was Graphics by far, and when I discovered that Architecture was a 7 year course at uni, I knew I would do graphics instead. I suppose all along I only really got into graphics through a lack of other options for me, which is why I didn't really have any opinions on it until I came here.
When I first arrived I was very excited about the enormity of what I was about to do, in my second year I'd only had 8 other people on my graphics course, so walking into uni and seeing 50 other people on the first day was hugely exciting. This soon turned to fear though because naturally I was worried about not making new friends or finding people I had stuff in common with.
From very early on in the course I was quite intimidated by some other people on the course's knowledge of typography and software, and I felt less than useless in comparison, and was worried that I shouldn't be or didn't deserve to be on the course. But at the same time I was happy that I was going to get the chance to learn about graphics and improve my skills alongside others who were doing the same. I quickly got into the graphic designers lifestyle and tried to help myself learn as much as I could.
I went back home for Christmas though, and after spending 3 weeks with my usual bunch of friends and back in my own lifestyle, I realised how much my life had changed and how much graphic design had changed me. I was thinking in a much broader context than I previously had done such is the nature of the course I'm on. I felt that even after being away just 3 or 4 months I no longer fitted in at home because of how I changed, and I hated this.
It made me realise that I didn't want to be the sort of stereotypical graphic designer that I was trying to be. More importantly, I didn't want to try to try to be that person either. I realised that I didn't mind that a company had a bad logo or branding, and that all that meant was that I appreciated good branding more. I didn't want to be that guy who went into Clas Ohlson rather than Wilkinsons just because it's Swedish with a prettier logo. I realised that the main reason behind me liking Graphic Design was because it gave me reason to be creative, rather than the reason being creativity itself, and I think this is why I'm a bit sceptical about going to exhibitions. The exhibitions I've been too, Leeds Print Festival and Dialogue both showed design out of context, I feel like exhibitions turn design into art, and I don't like that. I appreciate that they allow you to see more of whats going on in the world, but I really dislike the idea of design exhibitions. I found the trip to the print factory much more useful and valuable.
Reflecting on my first year at uni as a whole though, it's re-affirmed in my head who I am and how I enjoy spending my time, something which I was questioning over Christmas. It's also made me realise that to be successful in design I don't have to be that stereotypical graphic designer, because that's not the sort of life I want to lead. I think most importantly though I've realised that I'm quite a strong-willed person, much more than I ever gave myself credit for, because I think if I did have to fit that stereotype in order to be successful, then I'm adamant that I'd rather be unsuccessful. There is a quote from Albert Einstein that sums up perfectly my attitude to design, and that is.
"In order to form an immaculate member of a flock of sheep, one must, above all, be a sheep".
My Thoughts On Everyone Else's Presentations
It seemed to me that there were a lot of occurring themes throughout many of the presentations. A lot of people talked about how their skills as a designer had improved over the year, something which I didn't feel the need to talk about as I'd like to think it is obvious that I've improved. Many people also spoke about poor time management and having to rush work as deadlines and module hand-ins approached, and I was surprised to hear this, as I've never found time management a particularly difficult thing to consider. The same is true of budgeting money.
The most interesting thing of all though is that about half of the group spoke about their plans to travel in the summer, be it to the traditionally design-orientated cities like Berlin and New York, Europe in general, or even further afield to places such as Hong Kong and Bangkok. They spoke about how they want to learn about and experience different cultures. This is something that I have no desire at all to do.
In a way, other peoples presentations made me think about myself even further. I'm aware that different cultures exist and have experienced a few as I've been to various other countries for holidays in the past. I always find myself missing England however, and the culture we have here in Yorkshire especially. Frankly I have no desire to "experience another culture" ever again. If I chose to go abroad I'd pick a predominantly English-based holiday resort because I enjoy the culture we have. It may make others happy or excited to experience another culture, but I'm not a particularly excitable person, and am at my happiest when I'm consistently feeling content, something which has never been an issue whenever I've been in Yorkshire. I can't ever seeing me leaving the county permanently, and if that limits my opportunities as a designer then that's just something I'm going to have to accept.
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