Final Evaluation

Overall in PPP this year, I feel like it has been a successful ongoing module - I have been able to address the module much more consistently in comparison to last year, actively getting involved with much more of a range of professional talks and exhibitions/events. This, in turn, has resulted in me becoming familiar with a much larger pool of creatives - local and nationwide - boosting my confidence and self-belief through just hearing them talk and through realising they are just passionate creatives similar to myself. 
This is what predominantly put the fire in my belly - feeling inspired at a much more personal level to produce work that I am passionate about. As from these talks but more specifically the interview I carried out, I have realised how in order to have the 110% work ethic that a successful designer requires, it demands having that deep-routed passion and love for what you are producing work for. Instinctively I found myself able to present my ideas/works much more confidently and concisely too (in the presentation), as it was often something which I was eager to invest my time into to share and reflect on.

I think naturally this realisation caused me to push myself to start exploring disciplines of design which I am increasingly appreciating, but also identify how they are becoming more prevalent in the real word, not just my growing design circle which I interact with on social media & Behance. 
More specifically this links to the modern illustration style - my blog evidences how I began by re-addressing my skills on illustrator and then applied those skills to start experimenting with my actual illustration 'style' project to project. From the AE workshops, this pushed me to build and adapt my already growing skills into another more advanced discipline which is clearly back on the map in terms of ads & design - motion graphics. Motion design perfectly fed straight into the other modules I was responding to throughout the year, adding that extra interactive and experience invoking touch to projects.

With this development of initiative within my individual personal practise, I have been able to actively seek feedback and replies from both course-mates as well as professionals in industry of whom I look up to. Although not all of these messages sent out into industry have been successful in terms of receiving a reply, my experience of actually being within a working design studio (Vapour) has made me realise and understand a lot of things about what life after uni will be like - as well as just how busy studios/designers are day to day, so for next year I need to re-address how it is that I am approaching them, thinking about how I can make myself un-ignorable! 
In saying this, I am still negotiating 2 potential local placements for summer - so I haven't done too badly, I just want to keep expanding my online presence to give me that upper hand of being able to chat more openly and confidently, aswell as receive that online feedback from more experienced and advanced heads in the industry who I cannot hassle around Leeds in person!

To conclude PPP, I hope my learning curves this year are effectively evidenced not just through uni projects but through my external freelance projects I have been a part of too (I definitely learnt a lot from them with regards to designer-client relationship and how to be taken seriously as a designer). Through the development of my Behance I plan to keep accepting these sideline projects, especially over summer, to keep my practise evolving in the right direction.