Skill Evaluation

Throughout my third year, I have developed my skills in a range of areas.

Illustrator

I learnt about new tools and short cuts such as alignment and pathfinders. These are things that I should have known about from the beginning yet, I did not. It makes designing so much easier now.

Indesign/Publication
How to set up of pages/publications for printing (Single pages/Doubles pages), after designing my own and the Fine Arts publication

Presentation / Speaking
The 10 minute presentation for PPP, although I was still a little nervous, allowed me to realise how far I have come when presenting. I completed this task in a very professional manner, making myself feel clam, confident and comfortable. I focussed on being straight to the point and speaking slowly as not to stumble or repeat myself.

Communication/Professionals
This year I have been contacting more professionals/studio's this year and even managed to get some industry experience through email, phone and even visiting the actual studio's
- Speaking to professional printers about documents and communicating effectively to ensure that the end product is correct

Planning/Time Management

I have been much more calm as I have learnt, over these three years how to manage my time

Interviews

After speaking to professionals and getting feedback on my portfolio, I have realised that there are projects that I have completed which I am very proud of. These make me speak more confidently and passionately about them. This meant that I seemed like a strong, confident person in my interviews. This is something which I will keep in mind when adding any further work into my portfolio

Blogging

I have always written too much, as you can see, yet this year I have really tried to condense everything

Websites

I bought my own domain and website this year to give myself a more professional platform. I am using it as a landing page at the moment as I already have lots of followers on my other design social media (behance and instagram). Over time I will transition over to use my website as my main 'online portfolio'. Yet, as mentioned by a visiting professional, I will not put everything up on there as I wouldn't ever have anything new to show in an interview.

Stress

This is still one of my downfalls. I am very much an all or nothing kind of person. I can be rather self critical which makes my job much harder, yet also makes me a strong willed, determined, motivated employee.

This year has been difficult, I have tried hard each year to get the best work and grade that I could, yet there was always a feeling that I could do more. This year I have pushed myself even harder in hope to see that number one when I get my results back in June. This would prove to me that I can make it.
 Through my work and the things that I have learnt over these years at Leeds College of Art, I know now that I can make it and I do deserve it. I just need to learn to deal with the stress and with time, I will. Yet I understand that it is something that no doubt I will always have to deal with (in the real world).