Thursday 26 April 2012

Design Strategy Presentation

Today we had our design strategy presentations. I was incredibly apprehensive about the presentation, most probably because I didn't feel as though what I had to say would be worth listening to. Especially by John and Lorenzo. It's not that I didn't have anything to say, it's just none of it was positive.

Nevertheless I prepared a presentation, but I didn't feel like writing a script this time. If presenting on multiple occasions has taught me anything its that you can't write word for word what you intend to say. It never works. You start to read then look away from the page, before you know it you're looking back and you've lost your place. You start to stutter and basically make a show of yourself. Instead I wrote a few bullet points for each slide, and trusted myself to freestyle. I think it worked and a few people told me I seemed relaxed when presenting. This was exactly what I was going for. I didn't want to it seem as though I wasn't interested, I just didn't want to make the people watching me feel nervous. I think doing three years of PPD has had at least one positive effect; I'm much better at public speaking.

There where certain parts of the presentation that I felt where more important than others, certain points that I wanted to stress more. These where primarily the fact that I have realised my own limitations whilst on the course. This may seem a little pessimistic but it allows me to look at my future with a clear head. I am never going to be a 'creative director' or have people working under me. I will never want to be in charge of a 'team', the thought alone scares me to death. I am not that way inclined. But I personally feel there is nothing wrong with that. I realised I like 'mindless' design a while ago, but was told this wasn't

Another point I wanted to stress in my presentation was that London is NOT the place for me. I can't stand the South; the fast paced lifestyle, the traffic, the people, the stress, the weather, the noise, the buildings, the accent... I could go on for a while. I've always felt you have to incredibly driven to succeed in London. They don't just hand out opportunities, you have to really strive for them. I realise this is the case everywhere, but if I'm going to be working 24/7, I want to be in a place that I at least enjoy. A place where I may actually look forward to the weekends. Also, I know a lot of graduating students from this year will be venturing to the South, so I guess that leaves less competition up here.

After spending two weeks previously on placement at Hallmark in Bradford I was feeling incredibly down. I had spent 14 solid days drawing, and to be perfectly honest I was sick to the back teeth of it. This was pretty shocking as I went into the experience thinking it would be perfect, I'd come out the other side greatful ofor the opportunity, desperate to do some freelance work. This was not the case. It was incredibly disheartening, and it kind of affected the rest of my module. This was something I wanted to express in my presentation but felt may be a little too pessimistic. So I tried to put a positive spin on it. I think I did.

The slides from the presentation can be seen below.



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