Review of Year 1

A review of my first year of HND Graphic Design with Photography

This year was not what I expected due to the pandemic. As my foundation course last year being cut short because of COVID I was relatively prepared for change. When we did lose a couple of months of in-person teaching over winter I adapted well and I am very proud of everything I have achieved and learnt.

I came into the course with little knowledge of graphic design as I had only studied visual communications for a few months. I was interested in design and I was hoping to learn lots about Adobe and digital design along with illustration and traditional practices. I also had very little experience of photography and had never done film photography before. I have really enjoyed every part of the course and am looking forward to learning and experiencing even more next year.

At the beginning of the year I didn’t consciously plan to achieve anything other than to be successful and to hand in work that I was proud of. With hindsight, I know the person I was then would definitely be proud of what I have achieved. I was confident and brave and said yes to a lot of opportunities that will been invaluable in helping my professional development. If I hadn’t of had the confidence then, I wouldn’t have the confidence I have now.

I am really glad I was brave in the first couple of weeks and got involved with Creative Mornings, as a lot of my success in the community this year has arisen from this connection. I have completed personal projects, worked and sold my artwork, volunteered on community projects and applied for numerous opportunities and competitions. I didn’t win all of the competitions, but there are some that I was successful in and I am really proud of this. I also don’t take the rejections personally. The point of applying is to give myself confidence and to get my name and work out there. And, if you don’t apply, you don’t have a chance of being successful.

I am pleased with all of my college work: I feel it shows my developing skills and creative vision. I now look back on the first stamp project and see many ways I could improve it but I only think this way because I have learnt and developed more skills since then.

I have enjoyed learning more about photography, especially film photography, and have bought more film to go in my grandad’s old cameras so I can create more images this way. I have also learnt a lot of new skills on Adobe as I had very little knowledge of Adobe CC at the beginning of the year.

One thing I need to improve on is time management. I have always struggled – not with planning, but with getting everything done quick enough to stick to my plan. At school I had extra time for my exams, so without this privilege in coursework I need to adapt so I’m not rushing to pull my projects together at the end. I need to keep up to date as I go. I have a habit of coming back to certain parts, like the reports for photography. Next year I need to challenge myself to get them completed on the day or the week that I did the task so that I keep on top of my workload.

The biggest thing I have realised this year is how to follow the brief. Coming into college at the start of the year I was just getting to grips with really following the brief. Through studying at school and sixth form I gradually learned how to answer the question, and with a creative brief the same applies. I have learnt to read the learning objectives and follow the marking criteria to make sure I include everything I need to get the grade I am aiming.

With reflection, I am proud of everything I have achieved this year. I am also excited for my future after the course. For a long time I didn’t know what I wanted to do or what I would be happy doing. This year has consolidated my future plans and has confirmed to me that this is what I want to do and will enjoy doing. This realisation gives me confidence and a drive to keep working hard, learning and enjoying being creative.