This year, I felt like I have put myself out there in terms of attending events, workshops and speaking to people in the industry. I have actively looked at places and speak to people to better myself as a creative and try and get an insight of the design industry. The Glug vs. Ladies Wine and Design was inspiring to me. The main thing that puts me off getting a design job is how heavily male-dominated it is which makes me feel uncomfortable so it was empowering and exciting to see an all-female list of speakers that are doing well for themselves in design. Abbie Moaks, a graduate of LAU was also inspiring to listen to as she explained her journey and how she felt at university and what she did after she graduated. The main thing that stuck to me was that she was speaking about jobs after university and that we shouldn't have a job for the sake of one but instead, because we would see ourselves enjoying the job/studio.
Although I did attend events, I didn't contact many designers/studios but instead I have been contacting bloggers and influencers to collaborate with the Mei Mi Studio brand which we did manage to achieve. I am aware that I should have contacted industry professionals but I'm not sure that I want to be a designer after I graduate as I want to focus on the Mei Mi Studio brand and I don't feel I can dedicate my time to it if I had a full-time studio job.
The most stressful thing was trying to find a placement at a studio that was either in Leeds or in Manchester as I didn't want to be in an unfamiliar place whilst I had other work I had to do. Luckily, I had found one in Manchester and saw that it specialised in branding and web design and I wanted to try and further my web designing skills so I tried there. The actual placement itself was not what I expected, I was hoping it would be creatively-led but instead, I didn't end up making any creative decisions as the studio was very much about what the customer wanted rather than what looked good. Even though it was not what I hoped, it has given me an insight of what to look for when/if I find a design job in the future.
The final PPP presentation was a relief as I know I wouldn't have to put myself in that position in a long time. Every year, whenever I do any sort of crit or presentation, my anxiety always gets the better of me and while I have CBT sessions and when I thought I had control over my anxiety, my anxiety hadn't been as bad since first year. Something about the PPP presentation and the attention was very very overwhelming for me and I felt wholly uncomfortable but I knew I had to do it as I need to pass the module. My anxiety is something that I am working on have have continued working on from years.
Despite some stressful experiences, I am very pleased with the final outcome of my self-branding as I feel it really does reflect me as a designer and a person (minus the anxiety). I feel that the pattern design, colours, typeface and the contents of the box is very me and it was even better that I was able to emphasise the 'She' in my name which is supposed to sound empowering.
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