Interaction With The Industry, Current Feelings About The Course, and My Development This Year So Far

Throughout of all last years task in PPP I didn't really make any attempt to interact with anyone or any company within the Design Industry. Yesterday I arguably made my first meaningful interactions with the industry. This post explains how doing so, even in a small way, has benefitted me.

Yesterday I posted this to my Design Practice blog. It shows my thoughts on how I'll produce my prints, and how I would go about doing it if it was a big commercial project. 

I ended up ordering my playing cards to be printed and produced by an external company, this is the first time I've ever used an external resource in any of my work, and I feel like it could potentially be an important step for me. This time last year I probably would have looked at the price and thought, "no, it's not worth it", and I think this change in attitude I'm having at the moment is pretty important, not only for my course, but my wider life in general. I'm starting to become more open-minded, but at my own pace, not the pace which the course tries to make me go at, which makes me feel a lot more comfortable now than I was feeling this time last year.  

I also ended up ordering some paper samples from G.F Smith for my project. I know it seems like a pretty small and insignificant step, but I think it shows how I'm slowly familiarising myself with the industry, even if it is only through the talks that the course put on for us. Again, this time last year I don't think I'd have done this, and probably would've looked round some craft shops for some paper to use, as I like seeing the paper in person. I think the fact that we had someone from G.F Smith come in and talk to us probably acted in place of me physically seeing the paper. 

All things considered, I think both of these things come down to me trusting someone else with my work, which is something I wouldn't have done last year as my working knowledge of the industry wasn't good enough, and this is a real benefit that I'm starting to get from the course, particularly over the last couple of months.

In all honesty, the reason I wanted to get this project finished properly is probably because I'm quite proud of it, which isn't something I often find about my work. The menu cards in particular are what I'm proud of the most, and looking back at it and how it's come on from my previous project, I can really see the benefit of the Design For Print Workshops, as they really aided my understanding of colour in practice, something which I think it's clear I have struggled with in my work over the past 18 months or so, despite enjoying and understanding the colour theory sessions with Fred last year.

I looked through my blog and found pieces of work from my last 5 fully finished projects that illustrate the struggles I've had with colour, weather it be through poor choices, or a complete lack of colour in order to avoid poor choices.

I think when you compare the quality of any of those 5 pieces to my menu cards, the difference is quite drastic, and I definitely think colour is a big part of that.

 

Even comparing this to the website I came up with, I think the difference is noticeable, and I don't think it's any coincidence that this has happened over the period where my Design For Print Workshops have happened.

To summarise, I'm feeling really happy with the course and myself at the moment because I'm starting to notice an improvement in my work that's directly because of the course, which isn't something that's been as prominent as I'd have liked so far, but I definitely think my slow change in attitude, as spoke about briefly in my last post, has something to do with this, and hopefully it'll continue.