PPP

Reflecting on where I was at the started the course to now, I feel more confident as I have identified artists, designers and studios that relate to my practice. PPP encouraged me to explore all areas of design and focus on what makes happy. This was refreshing as it made me put my own personal interests into my briefs. I can now follow blogs and studios such as Hey, People of Print, Heretic and It's Nice That for inspiration and to also stat up to date with creative news. People of Print and Jealous are really useful sites because they provide continuous inspiration.

Writing my COP essay has been really beneficial because I am writing about the role of print media in the digital age. This is a topic that I have a passion for. I have discovered publications such as Print Isn't Dead which I have used as a source in my essay and also to inspire my work. Without reflecting on my practice, I wouldn't have found these websites and publications that I use to inspire my work and shape me as a designer.

PPP made me think about my future as a designer and I am glad I made the most of this opportunity because I have more direction and aspirations. I would like to go back to Berlin and Copenhagen because I have identified studios such as Gloria Glitzer that I want to visit. It would be a really enjoyable and beneficial experience if I was to visit these international studios because I can see different studio environments.

My confidence has grown throughout the course because I have found designers and studios that use analogue processes. Their outcomes are not always completely refined which makes them tactile, engaging and personal. I found that modernist design was useful for learning design principles but I want to start pushing the boundaries to create contemporary outcomes. It's important that I do this when appropriate.

I noticed that a lot of designers rely on social events such as exhibition launches to network. I want to attend more of these events and be confident enough to approach designers that I appreciate and talk to them about there practice. In the long run this will build my confidence and open up more opportunities in the future.

My time management will need to improve because analogue techniques often take much longer than digital outcomes. This means I need to start planning at least a week ahead. I find blogging useful for planning because it makes me reflect on my progress and discover any problems that I may come across before they happen. As I progress into Level 5 I will need to be more proactive in order to produce a large body of work and gain a lot of experience using different techniques and processes. This will benefit me in the future as I will be confident going into a studio such as People of Print and We Make and using/interacting with other artists.