All in all, I think this semester's work has gone really well for us! I'm finishing up this semester feeling that the project was a real success. But, naturally, I really want to learn from this project to take into next semester.
Key Points for Next Semester:-
- Continue working within a creative team.
- Continue with the educational prominence in our work.
- Continue to include the animated elements.
- Try again with app creation next time.
- Focus more on narrative, and maybe make the education slightly more subtle.
- Dedicate more time to create a really extravagant exhibition space.
- Possibly aim at a slightly higher age range.
Wednesday 12 December 2018
Self-Evaluation: Reflection, Analysis and Problem Solving
As is the nature of such a self-directed project, this semester a lot of self-criticism for me. Without having the constant feedback of a lecturer that comes at lower levels, I've really feel I've learnt to look at my own work in a more critical way and really pick out elements that need improving or altering. As previously mentioned, this affected my writing after the very first page!
Another example of how I've learnt to filter my work based on my own critiques is the development of my graphic pieces for the covers and inside cover. In the posts detailing how these elements came to be, you can see how many variants I had to go through, using my own critical thinking to make sure I really made the best result I could.
As much the independence is something that I've prioritised here, taking outside feedback is obviously still very relevant! Having the industry panels, in particular, was really useful for gaining an alternate (and professional) opinion, and I think their comments (particularly during the mid-project presentation).
Self-Evaluation: Communication
Communication has been a huge part of my project this semester. Not only have I had to think of communicating my work to my readers, my lectures and my peers. But, as previously said, communication between Katy and I has been absolutely crucial this semester. I've really developed my written communication skills through this semester, purely due to the volume and importance of things I had to explain to show my work.
As well as this, I'm really proud of my vocal communication this semester. Though I was - understandably - very nervous to do both of my presentations in front of the industry panels, but I'm really happy with how these went! I think I managed to get across everything that I wanted to, and took and discussed their feedback very naturally. Because of how worried I was about this element of my project, I'm really proud of myself for managing it as I did!
As well as this, I'm really proud of my vocal communication this semester. Though I was - understandably - very nervous to do both of my presentations in front of the industry panels, but I'm really happy with how these went! I think I managed to get across everything that I wanted to, and took and discussed their feedback very naturally. Because of how worried I was about this element of my project, I'm really proud of myself for managing it as I did!
Tuesday 11 December 2018
Self-Evaluation: Enquiry/Knowledge and Understanding
Throughout this project, I have had to keep myself on track with ensuring that everything I'm doing is not only done in the most efficient way possible, but also is done with producing something relevant and important in mind.
By this, I mean that I really had to hone my skills which elements of my current knowledge and practice were most relevant to the project, and would bring value to the project. As well as this, It was important to ensure my work was informing my future career, so as I was working through the module, I had to push myself and experiment with elements that I thought made me more employable (more of this can be found in my 'The Future' post, a few posts back).
Another side of this is research. I had to make sure that all research I conducted (can be found throughout my earlier posts, predominantly, with all secondary research referenced in the 'Useful Links' post) was relevant to my work and helped my project progress in the most successful and professional way possible.
By this, I mean that I really had to hone my skills which elements of my current knowledge and practice were most relevant to the project, and would bring value to the project. As well as this, It was important to ensure my work was informing my future career, so as I was working through the module, I had to push myself and experiment with elements that I thought made me more employable (more of this can be found in my 'The Future' post, a few posts back).
Another side of this is research. I had to make sure that all research I conducted (can be found throughout my earlier posts, predominantly, with all secondary research referenced in the 'Useful Links' post) was relevant to my work and helped my project progress in the most successful and professional way possible.
Self-Evaluation: Learning
In a project as self-directed and independent at this, learning and building knowledge is absolutely crucial. In the very nature of this (working in a creative team and producing something entirely of our own planning, with no pre-defined guidelines) being something new for me, it meant I had to learn to adapt to a lot of new situations that I hadn't pre-planned for.
As well as this, during this project, I've had to develop and expand my knowledge of prose and script-writing to ensure that it was extremely clear to another person (when previously I've only been script writing for myself). This means I've had to adapt my writing style to be more descriptive, and learn that it's okay to reference examples of what I'm looking for from a page! I specifically had to alter my plans and communication during the production of the comic when - after the first page of script was given to Katy - she altered it entirely, causing me to realises that I'd made my panels too flat, and alter this entirely for the rest of the comic (this issue was never a problem again after this).
Another example of learning I've had to undertake has been the actual, direct learning of teaching myself more in-depth knowledge of art history to ensure it was communicated accurately, correctly and - most importantly- in an engaging manner for my readership.
As well as this, during this project, I've had to develop and expand my knowledge of prose and script-writing to ensure that it was extremely clear to another person (when previously I've only been script writing for myself). This means I've had to adapt my writing style to be more descriptive, and learn that it's okay to reference examples of what I'm looking for from a page! I specifically had to alter my plans and communication during the production of the comic when - after the first page of script was given to Katy - she altered it entirely, causing me to realises that I'd made my panels too flat, and alter this entirely for the rest of the comic (this issue was never a problem again after this).
Another example of learning I've had to undertake has been the actual, direct learning of teaching myself more in-depth knowledge of art history to ensure it was communicated accurately, correctly and - most importantly- in an engaging manner for my readership.
The Future: Applying this Project to My Career
One of the key features of this project was that we wanted to be able to use it to help us towards our future career goals. As I'm not certain about my intended career at the moment, I wanted this project to give me experience in numerous areas of interest...
Comic Writer:-
Understandably, one of my biggest career options is heading into the comic industry as a writer or editor. One of the reasons I wanted to work with Katy is that this is a more likely experience to get into in the industry (group work instead of doing everything yourself), and wanted to be able to add that I'd worked both independently (last semester) and in a creative team to my portfolio. As well as this, in recent weeks I've been applying for writing internships for over the summer. For this, I had to construct a writing portfolio, and I think having this work and experience could really set me apart from other applicants.
Teaching:-
I've always had a keen interest in teaching as a career. Because of this, you can see that most of our initial ideas had a strong educational element. This comic itself was probably our most directly educational idea and I'm really glad we got to explore it. I really enjoyed trying to water down and translate the information into something that a younger person would find really engaging, it was a really great challenge and pushed me to learn a lot about my target audience.
Social Media, Marketing and Graphic Design:-
An industry I know I'd fit into well is digital marketing. I've always had real success with social media, and wanted to test that in a more structured manner in this project (hence; the Twelve Days of Christmas idea). As well as this, I've always been interested in the graphic design side of marketing, so the majority of the typography, design and marketing work in this project was done by me to bulk up my portfolio and let me practice new styles and hone my skills.
Comic Writer:-
Understandably, one of my biggest career options is heading into the comic industry as a writer or editor. One of the reasons I wanted to work with Katy is that this is a more likely experience to get into in the industry (group work instead of doing everything yourself), and wanted to be able to add that I'd worked both independently (last semester) and in a creative team to my portfolio. As well as this, in recent weeks I've been applying for writing internships for over the summer. For this, I had to construct a writing portfolio, and I think having this work and experience could really set me apart from other applicants.
Teaching:-
I've always had a keen interest in teaching as a career. Because of this, you can see that most of our initial ideas had a strong educational element. This comic itself was probably our most directly educational idea and I'm really glad we got to explore it. I really enjoyed trying to water down and translate the information into something that a younger person would find really engaging, it was a really great challenge and pushed me to learn a lot about my target audience.
Social Media, Marketing and Graphic Design:-
An industry I know I'd fit into well is digital marketing. I've always had real success with social media, and wanted to test that in a more structured manner in this project (hence; the Twelve Days of Christmas idea). As well as this, I've always been interested in the graphic design side of marketing, so the majority of the typography, design and marketing work in this project was done by me to bulk up my portfolio and let me practice new styles and hone my skills.
Exhibition Final Touches
Tomorrow we will add the finishing touches to our exhibition space. Firstly, we intend to a book stand with a few copies of our book in it so that people can flick through our work and test our QR codes for themselves whilst using a third party barcode scanner (as I recommended in the blurb I'd previously written). As well as this, when the UniQube was first spoke about, we brought the idea up of having a screen to display the animations on (as these are obviously a key element of our comic). Below you can see this initial discussion about this I had with Claire...
In the end it was decided that we would have one big screen in the Qube to be shared between everyone who wanted digital work displaying. But, when Katy asked everyone to send their digital work across, no one had anything. So, in the end we found ourselves with a screen of our own so we are just play our full comic on loop for the duration of the opening night!
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