I think this module has been very helpful when it comes to learning how to work with different teams and manage not only time, but also how to adjust to different workflow.
For most of my projects I have been applying the same principles when it came to my work development, research and analysis on my findings to understand better what are the requirements for particular deliverables within industry, but at the same time it has been different too. It wasn’t only the workflow that felt different, but there was more time management and it was quite mentally stimulating. I also gave myself some additional tasks and tried to work within industry standards and used InDesign and Figma to produce my work and tried to implement the use of grid way more than more where possible. I feel like this made me more ready for when I will be looking for a placement year. I think understanding how some of those things work better will be beneficial.
We were asked to provide our interests when it comes to particular field in graphic design, so I think that turned out quite well. I was able to pick in the projects what I would like to do and since I prefer screen design and website design, these where the things that I was mostly working on. While website design isn’t my strongest point, I took it as a challenge and spent my time trying to produce the best work to my capabilities and have tried out a lot of things while designing it. I have also used some UX/UI design tips like type scale website that I have found through Instagram. I think working with the negative space helped me to improve my overall website design experience and it will be really useful towards my future since the skills I have learned are transferable.
I have improved my time management skills during this semester way more. Previously I used to make lists for the whole week in advance, but in some cases I wasn’t able to keep up with them as I haven’t been giving myself enough time on particular tasks. During this semester I noticed my task management has improved since I was able to keep up, but also this time I wasn’t making massive lists and giving myself more realistic expectations since I’m starting to learn how much time I could need for a particular task. I also believe that working with the teams has helped on this matter as well, since in some cases I was initiating till when we will be doing particular tasks prior to our agreed meetings. While most of my time management has been in my head instead of the lists, Trello and Miro has been really helpful when it came to sharing my work on specifically agreed dates.
In some cases where needed I was initiating some of the work and/or helping my team to stay motivated to push on some tasks that could be done quite quickly, but would help to have some clarity on what’s happening with the project later as it helped us move forward. Since I was assigned to be a team leader for one of the projects, it still haven’t felt like I was the only one being responsible for it and I quite enjoyed this aspect, especially since the projects I had previous semesters were not always like that. Despite that, I still kept encouraging people if it was needed and provided my feedback at all times, I believe this could also count as team leading at some extent even though it wasn’t always the case. I enjoyed adapting to situations where someone else was also taking on such duties as I had no problem with it, if anything I have found that extremely fascinating to see as I had quite strong team members on some of the projects.
When it comes to feedback, with all the projects I was always there as well since I believe feedback helps me learn and deepen my knowledge, that is also one of the reasons why I like to give feedback myself. It not only helps to someone else and gives them support, but also it helps me to learn at the same time, so it’s a win win situation. As for the feedback I have received on projects, a lot of it was taken on board and I believe it has helped to improve the projects only for the better.
Things I have learned during this module:
- When proposing the idea to the team or client, it’s best already to have at least a sketch or some visuals that could help them to see what this idea is about. This could prevent some ideas from being discarded and will help negotiating as well since there is a clear visual.
- Counting on the teammates is good, but it would be ideal to have some extra time to spare in case of unforeseen circumstances.
- Providing feedback and always participating in discussions is the best way to ensure the best results
- Not everytime I will have enough time to produce the best idea, it might that it’s better to go by functionality and something that would work for client instead of trying to come up with that 1 million worth idea.
- Improved my time and task management skills where I was able to give myself more realistic deadlines and predict the time that was needed for particular tasks, which helped me stay on top and always been able to use it to teams advantage to get the feedback on time.
- Not everyone will agree with my ideas, but what is important is keep trying different ideas till the best possible solution is found.
- To remain calm and professional during sticky situations when some of the team members are not present and still try to produce the work up to industry and client standards.
- To challenge myself and give myself additional tasks or something to learn on top while doing a project, it saves time while gives skills.
To conclude all of this, I think this module has been really challenging, but also helpful in exploring how work environment could look like. All of my projects were different when it comes to overall experience, so it gave me a good variety of skills to learn and get the feel of how things could be like.
Cover image: Smith, A. (2017, June 8). Ori Toor’s “Gibberish” Drawings Rely on Happy Accidents. Hi-Fructose Magazine. https://hifructose.com/2017/06/08/ori-toors-gibberish-drawings-rely-on-happy-accidents
