OUGD602: Me as a creative

What I know I like:
-Social Media
-Networking
-Digital Marketing
-Events
-Festivals & Music

What I do:
-Online shop everythingisfine.bigcartel.com
-Craft fairs
-Have made over 400+ print sales across depop, shop, etsy, in person- featured on depops homepage a lot last year that have been featured on blogs and in youtube videos such as Gabriella Lindley and Louise Pentland's


What I want to get into:
-35mm, would love to create a series of art prints of locations within the uk for example things that are quintessentially british - london, seaside etc. n put some type or doodle on it.
or zine and sell it on my shop ((don't know what about yet))

Where I wanna be:
-???
-Interested in London atm, but expensive

Placements:
-Sent letter to Hallmark (haven't sent anything to wrap or fred aldous yet)
-Apply for Outlook Festival (their work experience is 10 weeks) - digital marketing / junior graphic design
-Boomtown also offer jobs for Graphic Design dunno if it's placement or actual job tho
-Basically need more places to apply to

OUGD602: Girl Gang Leeds - Christmas Craft Fair

The craft fair was not as busy as I expected but I think this is due to it being on a sunday and people were probably out from the night before. However, from the sales made and people that did come in I found this a good learning experience. It was good to hear people's in person feedback because with an online store unless someone emails or writes a review on depop or a blog/vlog then you can't really hear if they fully enjoy the product whereas in person you see the persons face light up or laugh at a funny illustration. The favourite has always been the cacti print. A lot of people laughed and picked it up and said "I love this" or "that's really nice." It's helpful to know that this is still the most popular print and a style I want to reintroduce into the brand with new products. I would definitely do a craft fair again because this was an educational experience. I found it interesting seeing what everyone else had to offer but personally I think it's something you would need someone to help you with even if it's just to sit with you so you don't get bored if it isn't as busy at times etc and it's just good to share the experience with someone else. 

OUGD602: Craft fair

OUGD602: You Think Complaining Helps You? | McKennah Watson | TEDxPaysonJuniorHigh

"The greatest discovery of my generation is that man can alter his life simply by altering his attitude of mind" - William James

I'm going to approach projects more positively instead of saying "this is too hard" or "I can't do this" because I can I'm just choosing to complain instead whereas I should be taking productive action.

OUGD602: To find work you love, don't follow your passion | Benjamin Todd | TEDxYouth@Tallinn

"80,000 hours that's the number of hours you have in your working life. That's a long time so it's worth doing some research and trying to work out how best to use them."

Free online careers guide at 80,000 hours .org

"Our generation grew up with different careers advice "follow your passion" we need to move beyond following your passion."

"We should be focusing on what we can do for other people and make the world a better place."

He gives an example of someone who is extroverted and should get a job in sales. Passionate sales people, persuasive sales types actually burned out and died younger. Following their passionate made them more likely to die young. 

1. Achievement - get good at something

2. Meaning - do something that isn't just helping yourself 

If you focus on helping others, lots of people want you to succeed instead of doing it for yourself.

Focus on doing what's valuable then that will lead to passion. 

"Altruism is one thing you'll never regret."

OUGD602: How to unfollow your dreams | Charlie "charlieissocoollike" McDonnell | TEDxYouth@Bath

"Dreams can be unrealistically positive." 

It's not to say that dreaming is a bad thing but you only see the best possible outcome because

"You're imagining yourself in a scenario you have never been in."

Nobody dreams about losing awards or face all the hardships of life. They aren't the things we dream about but they're the things that happen.

He speaks about how he never dreamed about being a YouTuber but that became his career. In Charlie's talk he tries to make people not feel bad for not knowing what they want to do because their future career might not even exist yet. In his era of YouTubers, nobody had made a full career out of making video content online yet. This set of YouTubers were the first to do it. He then thought he needed a real career.  So his new focus was a film maker, it was his dream to focus on. "I wanna be a filmmaker because that seems more legitimate than what I wanna do." but this isn't always accurate.

There's a pathway that people believe they need to follow through life - having a dream and doing everything possible to achieve that goal but Charlie says "that path is simply not for everyone. I do not want to find people that are disappointed that tried to fulfil their dreams but didn't because it doesn't fit them personally."

"Don't romanticise your dreams." There are always failures. People just don't talk about them as often.

"You shouldn't let your past self be the person who makes choices for you today. Make those choices today."

"I don't know who I'm going to be tomorrow, I don't think that's failure I think that's progress."

OUGD602: Cool For Crafts Festive Arts Market - Next Week

In preparation for the festive craft fair I'm going to:

• design a few more new products
• getting a friend to help me take stock up
• organising boxes of stock, packaging, business cards
• writing a price list
• counting my stock before hand to take so i can tick off what i have sold
• getting float/change for notes etc

OUGD602: Mind mapping / draft for physical thing to post.

The message I want to send out:

Positive.

• Happy.
• Promote collaborative.
• Witty humour.
• Short and simple messages.

Could send art prints as a little package - personalised messages // doodles on the back specific to each person or company. Could also put little illustrations on the envelope.

This means it shows companies and businesses the work I already have + a hand written note makes it more personable.

Go to some local studios and companies in Leeds and hand them out by hand so studios in the tetley or duke studios.

Means potentially meeting people face to face, more personable and engaging.

Purpose to gain exposure, possible collaborations.

Contact small businesses to think about possible collaborations.

OUGD602: How to write effectively about your work

What is it responding to, trying to solve, improving or communicating? 

Pick your favourite project -  now use the elevator pitch to exercise: 

Use one sentence that covers everything. 

What, How & why?

• What is the core idea? - Consist and clear introduction.

• How does it work? - Punchy, summary how it does what its trying to do?

• Why does it work? - What is the drive behind it, what are you trying to change in the world, why is the current thing not working and how does your project solve it? Why this innovation is necessary 

Reduce this down. Not be repetitive, strip it back to its essential elements.

______________________________________________________________________________________

Favourite project from last year:

Thirsty Planet Campaign 

• The core idea is to promote drinking water to everyone.

• It's an app that is designed to track your water intake and reward you for drinking.

• It's interactive and sociable you can keep track with friends and reminds you to drink whereas people usually forget to.

OUGD602: You've Got Mail

I sent a physical letter to Hallmark because they are people I would be interested in doing a placement with.

What I included in the letter:

- A Don't Be A Prick art print

-A You Are Lovely Art Print

-A business card with a note on the back

-A letter

I included the art prints to demonstrate my work and I feel like these two best reflect my style and personality. On the business card I just said a little bit about who I am and in the letter I spoke about placements and work experience enquiries. I only posted this Thursday morning so I haven't had a response yet but hopefully.

Proof of postage:

OUGD602: Updated Shop Photos

I had updated product photos for my online shop done by a photography student in preparation for relauching new products in the coming year and for a craft fair in November. I wanted the images to be more vibrant and colourful so that the minimalistic designs would be more prominent within the images and I'm happy with the results. I think it does exactly that and it will be good to have updated professional images compared to my old ones that were just taken in halls. 

OUGD602: You've Got Mail Notes

You've got mail - Real.

Make something physical we can send to someone. Make something physical to send to at least one person on your list.

Next friday, present documentation of the product.
Show me that you've sent it. Ideally if you're quick enough, you might even get a reply in time to tell us about too.

Add that to your presentation.
Make a meaningful and lasting first impression.

Don't overthink it, this is just an icebreaker for now.

If you're planning a grander gesture, consider this a practice run.

The only rule is that it needs to be physical.
1 minute pitch you can explain the rationale for sending to the person in question.

Let the context of who you choose inform the design and tone.

How can we draw a parallel between what they do and what they wanna do.

Ensure the final thing is produced to a professional standard.

Use good stock, communicate a simpler idea if it means it won't get destroyed in the post.

Inject some personality into it.

Catch someones eye.

Make sure the recipient can easily trace it back to you.

Any evidence of a response could be crowned "task champion."

OUGD602: Remastered Exhibition

This exhibition was dotted around university. 

OUGD602: Overcoming Obstacles | Maya Jama | TEDxYouth@ISA

Maya Jama is one of my personal role models. She is the embodiment of a strong and powerful woman and she's only 23. She had gone through family obstacles in her life but still continued with her television passion which developed into a career.

People always see the end credits and what people's lifes are like as they're successful. You hardly ever see the grind unless you look for talks like this. Maya talks about motivating herself and her personal life mixed with trying to get her dream career. She talks about her life being perfect at 16, with her "happy bubble" of her boyfriend and her career and she was in London but in an accident her boyfriend was killed and she realised life isn't fair.

I found second year really hard emotionally and listened to a few of these kind of talks and they always reiterate that the negative and harder times don't last forever they're temporary and hardships are a part of life. Always keep in vision the idea you had at the beginning no matter what happens through life.

OUGD602: Cool For Crafts Festive Arts Market - Craft Fair

This year I wanted to do a craft fair. My friend sent me an advertisement that Girl Gang Leeds wanted creatives to apply for tables at this festive market. I've been offered a table and will be attending and selling products from my shop (everythingisifine.bigcartel.com). 

OUGD602: Young Love, an Exhibition by Ewen Spencer

"Today we stay younger longer and become grown up sooner. The successes of making any sort of story around youth is to recognise that we've all been there at sometime in our lives. Being a Teenager is life a concentrated moment of the human condition - all of the successes and pitfalls all being played out in one messy drama."

- Ewen Spencer

This exhibition was based in Village in Leeds. Although I think the images and quote on the wall are strong and representative of a reckless teenage love. I see it as more frivolous and kissing strangers in clubs and public spaces not so much love. Love has a deeper connection even if your young and doesn't look like how it does in these images but it is a good concept and I like that it's quite a small exhibition.

OUGD602: Time Table - Potential Things To Do/Visit For PPP

-18th October - Love Arts Highlights Exhibition - The Light
-LCA Remastered - October
-Nov 4th/5th - Leeds Print Fair
-Nov 11th - Girls Make Art 2: Reclaiming Pink
-Nov 26th - Girl Gang Leeds Craft Fair
-Dec 2nd/3rd - Etsy Made Local

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Other - Can Do Whenever:

-Leeds Art Gallery
-Yorkshire Sculpture Park
-The Tetley, look at it as a space.

OUGD602: New Product Shots For My Shop

On 09/10/17 I asked Kim (a photography student) to take new product shots for me. I wanted the new product photos to be more fun and colourful because my last ones were shot mostly on a white background and looked quite unprofessional. I think this will make the products stand out more against the bright and pastel paper. 

This also gives me the opportunity to reboot my shop and work on it more over third year to release new products over the final year. 

OUGD602: Designing A Logo For A Photography Student

Kim Stuart is a photography student from LCA. I told her to create a mood board of ideas and potential concepts for a logo design as she approached me for branding. She sent me some rough ideas she would like and was very broad with what I was allowed to do with the design. She said to maybe feature a camera illustration so I gave her an option with and without it and then she wanted just the camera on it's own too. I did this fairly quickly and she was happy with the results. It was a nice short evening brief to do and a lot of fun designing with someone that gives you enough direction and freedom. 

OUGD602: Exhibition at LS6 as "Painters Are In" Collective

Photo by Claire

A girl gang called "Painters Are In" was created through the responsive brief of creating a collaborative group and presentations. Cloe curated our first exhibition at LS6 Cafe in Hyde Park on the 14th May 2017. Work is by Cloe Stead, Anna Wiggan, Bethany Wood, Claire McClean, Ella Barnes, Eva Gould and I.  I featured work from my shop www.everythingisfine.bigcartel.com which consisted of four A4 art prints. It was a good opportunity to get more work out there in the real world especially as part of a collective and as our first exhibition together and our last personal project of the term. It has made me more excited for collaborations within Level 6.

OUGD502: Self Evaluation

I find PPP my strongest module because I enjoy engaging with industry and speaking to people. I found this was my favourite part of the course in Level 4 when I created Tea and Talks discussions which was incredibly helpful and inspiring in terms of motivation and gaining an insight on the way people think about their current or past degrees and work now. I want to expand into a series of podcasts or videos within Level 6 just to expand and give a more personal aspect to the blog. I also have found through Level 5 I enjoy watching talks and it's easier to multitask work and gaining extra information by listening to talks such as Ted Talks.

I revisited YSP this year because I enjoyed it last year. It was good to revisit sculptures and i like that all the art work is outside. I found that this year being outside or doing work outside in a public location helps clear the mind and let you work to the best of your ability. I find it harder to work in the house because it's a cramped room. It's important to separate work from play so I take myself out of the environment I would usually use to relax and found that it has made me so much more productive. Even if I just separate the day so I'm working all morning/afternoon and have nights off to turn my brain off and stop staring at screens. It's more productive to organise time and found myself improving and better at setting my own small deadlines this year. Other things I have enjoyed in particular is going to Glug in Leeds. It was inspiring to see people we had already met such as Only do a chat about their background and how they are within industry. It was an extremely chilled environment and easy to engage with the creative community.

This year has been the most difficult for me mentally. A point of the course I struggled with this year was motivation and happiness which when speaking to other people I thought would come across weird and an overreaction but it's completely normal because everyone else seemed to be having it too.As a creative you do get mental block but it is your job to get out of them this is why I enjoyed YSP so much because it was food for the soul not only the mind. As second year is the middle point and third year becomes real and it is terrifying things can get a bit too much. I found ways to make myself happier and sometimes that is taking a day to completely not think about Graphic Design or anything but making sure your mental health is better. This can be confused for laziness but it's cleaning your mind and stopping yourself from becoming overwhelmed. I found listening to interviews of celebrities and people in industry going through the same things and talking about issues such as depression helpful. There are also Ted Talks based on happiness such as "What makes a good life? Lessons from the longest study on happiness | Robert Waldinger." The most important thing I have learned since being at university is at the end of the day if you're not happy what is the point.

Moving on to Level 6: next year I'm going to be even more industry driven and focus on getting my work out there via social media and shop. I want to go to an art/craft fair and sell things more physically because I sold a few prints locally by advertising more to friends and their friends but I want to branch out and expand even more. I want to speak to more creatives and get at much advice as possible whilst I'm a student. I also need to find a place to go on placement for. In terms of work I need to put my visual identity into my practise more. I think it has become more rounded this year and I can focus on my individual specialisms and focus on my self branding next year so that it is more fluid.

OUGD502: Creative Report

https://issuu.com/natashachan1/docs/ougd502_-_ppp_creative_report