Wants & Needs

What do I want to do & why?
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For the 3rd year, I aim to be able to work on a range of branding materials for corporate, cultural and independent clients. Not only does this tie in with my dissertation, I want to develop my skills with brand identities and working on more realistic briefs that has a relatively fixed format.

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I finished my 2nd year with a focus on design for print, and after gaining some industry experience over the summer I have decided that it is the direction that I would like to be heading for the final year and beyond. Print focused work would therefore be another main area that I would like to work more on, with more focus on publications, editorial and promotional material.

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Some of the most enjoyable and more successful briefs I worked on last year were the ones which were more research driven, projects that were information heavy. I enjoyed the process of collecting and filtering information to help inform the design decision and final outcome so this is an area that I'd definitely like to work on again. This would hopefully give me the opportunity to work on projects that I am completely unfamiliar with.

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My work ethics has always been focused on the design process itself, therefore want to do atleast another collaborative brief either with someone in the same course or someone who studies in a different creative field. I hope that this would allow be to develop my professional practice and prodivde an opportunity to art direct/ project manage a brief from initial ideas to the production and execution of final finishes.

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Finally I'd like to work on a range of different briefs that deal with different clients and subject matters this would ideally allow me to work on a range of different types of work, that would contribute to different types of work that would contribute towards a more diverse portfolio.

What I don't want to do & why?
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Web design in terms of the coding and physical construction of a webpage is an area that I'd be avoiding. Although I enjoy working on the design direction and layout of a website, I am completely useless at coding and the technical aspects, this would be a problem that I could resolve by collaborating with someone who is confident with the skills that I'm looking for.

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Another area that I wouldn't really focus on would be motion graphics and pure digital design work, again mainly because I'm unfamiliar with the work process towards it such as story boarding and generally thinking with motion in mind. I feel that I am already accustomed to think towards printed design solutions, which I will prioritize on but this does not mean that I will completely rule out design for digital.

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During the past 2 years, I feel that I am establishing myself as a designer who focuses on the design process, tackling each brief analytically and developing design solutions that are both functional and aesthetically interesting that fulfills the client/briefs needs. I would definitely like to continue this work ethic and am therefore going to avoid design work that is produced purely/mainly for it's aesthetics. I am not interested in work that doesn't carry much of a concept behind it as I find these quite limiting and dull to work, quite often these briefs are incredibly open with an undefined target audience.

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Again relating to my previous statement, I wouldn't like to be an art worker because I don't want to process someone else's ideas.

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Looking back at my previous work, I think the most successful briefs were the ones that developed the most from start to finish, the ones that I myself had no idea what I would end up with at the end, therefore I would not be looking to work on briefs that have a predefined outcome as it won't have much scope, therefore leaving little space for development. I would aim to work on projects that allow me to explore different routes, allowing the design practice and research to determine the design solutions.