Evaluation

Over the summer I learnt a lot about the graphic design industry and a lot about myself.
Before the summer I had no idea what direction I wanted to go in. I was scared of defining myself more specifically as a designer because i didn't want to rule anything out in case I made the wrong decision. I found it hard to let go of the thought that I wanted to be an animator since this is what I wanted to do from the age of 6 but after last year, actually experiencing the technical process (and difficulty) of producing it, and also being not very good at it, I feel this is maybe not for me as a career path. Ive realised I dont have to stress about it because there's no reason why I can't pick it up at a later point as a hobby, producing personal work in my free time if I want to.
My first work placement at Calvert & Pyrah was a small company near York. Here i gained an interest in design for exhibitions, museums and visitor attractions and I plan to research this area further. I also confirmed that I want to do work for print, although I realised I need to know more about it. The second one was in France, at a house, doing some work for a married couple who were setting up their own business. I learned that it won't matter what work I think is good work out in a job because ultimately the client (or your bosses) decide. Sometimes they will already know what they want and they just want you to be a technical monkey to do it for them. I was unmotivated after this experience in France but was glad that I did it because sometimes its more useful to have bad experiences because you learn more, and also it will look good on my CV. When I got back to the UK I was very happy to hear C & P asked me to go back in December.
Doing two work placements was very helpful because, as they were very different in every way possible, it made it easier to making decisions what I want to do in the future. These decisions were:

- I don't want anything to do with web design.

- I want to work for a company as opposed to freelance, at least for the first few years, because I like to be around people for general company and because there's people to ask for help which I will need in my early designer years.

- I would rather this company was small because I liked the 'family' atmosphere at placement number one.

- I want to do work which I see as being morally sound or for clients who I share a common ground with in terms of values.

- I still want to travel or work abroad, but not unless I am going to into a job which fills the above criteria!

So now I need to put in place some goals to achieve this year in order to get me to the place that I want to be. I feel I am coming back into the third year a lot more confident but I still have problems trying to define what I want to do. However, I feel I have eliminated a few things that I don't want to do which should be helpful, and I still feel committed to the course and to Graphics!