Despite having so much design work to complete ready for the final deadline next week we have also been taking time to prepare the spaces for the show. Now me being ADHD logical thought to myself what is the point in prepping the spaces in the day when we need to use the technicians and facilities in order to complete our work? So I spoke to a class mate and explained that to me that was basically pointless as I need to make use of the facilities in the day as I cant in the evening so can I prep spaces in the evening and ill stay late? He could totally understand where I was coming from and he was very understanding as he knows about my odd brain... So we decided to stay late that evening and crack on with the spaces and we had great fun! We had music playing we ordered dominoes and had a laugh! There was three of us that stayed until 10pm and it was great to be able to work as a team and do something that wasn't stressful which took us away from our work for a while in a sort of therapeutic way. As when you're in third year and its close to the end people seem to forget to find time for themselves which is understandable with the ammount of work needing to be done. It was also great to work closely with others as I feel that over the last three years this year I have bonded more with others on my course which is a shame in a way as I feel like it would have been nice to have those friendships throughout the entire three years but everything happens for a reason. Tuesday night we prepped some of the walls ready for painting the following day/eve and also did a bit of painting too and Wednesday night we got our art attack game on and painted some of the spaces in 17 and fingers crossed there wont be much more to do then we can hang our work!
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Throughout the year we have had numerous lectures where guest speakers from a wide range of art and design backgrounds to talk about their work, the industry and the journey they have been on to get where they are.
Unfortunately, as someone with ADHD there was absolutely no doubt that some of these lectures were going to be painful for me to listen to. For those with ADHD it is not that we can't pay attention at all but that we have difficulty regulating our attention. We need intrinsic motivation in order to be able to do things. So whatever we do it needs to have a purpose and be interesting to us or else what is the point? how is this going to benefit me? why do things that don't mean anything? It just makes NO sense to us? This is why we find it difficult to pay attention and get involved in things which are not of high interest to us or simulating/fun. Therefore, some of these lectures I probably was there physically but maybe not so much mentally but I will explain why. BBC: Callum peters and Al Jones This particular lecture is the only one I can actually remember and has stuck with me. They began by introducing themselves and their roles within the BBC and how the journey they went on to get there. The pair of them were enthusiastic, funny and took me with a pinch of salt when I would say things out loud as jokes (yes I'm still the class clown), this is really important because I often come across badly and some things I say and how I say them can be taken the wrong way, particularly if you don't know me and people perceive me in negative ways because of this, when in fact I'm actually a really caring person. ADHD means that I lack the filter between brain and mouth and this often gets worse if or when I feel comfortable around people, this causes problems with relationships with others as I can become quite offensive but because no one picks me up on it I continue because how am I supposed to know I'm doing something wrong if no one makes me aware? how can I stop if I don't know theres a problem? This can become particularly problematic if im bored so in lectures that are not of interest to me. Fortunately this wasn't one of them. anyway back to it... During this lecture we were able to interact with them and ask questions but not in the typical way of stick your hand up and we will pick someone and then everyone can roll their eyes and wonder why the hell we turned up. BUT nooo the guys from BBC made this FUN/STIMULATING and INTERACTIVE! Which exactly the kind of lectures I need and the reason why I remember this one the most amongst all the others. We did a quiz where we were asked numerous design based questions and had to submit answers and this was displayed on the screen and we interacted via our phones. This was a lot of fun because everyone was making up daft nicknames for themselves including myself of course.... and it made us think fast and was away to get everyone involved and keep us engaged. There were around 50 people participating in the quiz and to everyones shock... I WON.. We were then able to do a similar thing with questions where we submitted questions though our phones and they would appear on the screen and Callum and Al would answer them.. of course there were a few funny ones on there too ( Not from me of course because Im an angel *cough cough*). This was again an excellent way to get everyone to engage particularly as putting your hand up and asking/answering questions can be very anxiety provoking for a lot of people so this was an excellent way for everyone to anonymously submit questions without the added pressure! They came to talk to us about UX design and how this is applied within the BBC. The slides they were presenting were well designed which as designers/artists you would expect... this is super important particularly for those with ADHD because we need things that are going to capture our attention yet with minimal written information as this can just look overwhelming and off putting. In conclusion this lecture was rather ADHD friendly but not through anything super difficult! Just simply making it more interactive having slideshows which are well designed and being thorough but without talking for decades. Self employment talk? Unfortunately I can't actually remember the name of the person who delivered this so you can probably see where this is going. Now I remember this one A) because it wasn't that long ago and B) I remember it being painfully boring and my notetaker telling me to be quiet because I kept saying things and talkin. I also remember coming up with ways it could be improved and of course giving feedback at the end. This lecture was something along the lines of how to be an artist and be self employed or something along those lines. Now the person who was talking wasn't very enthusiastic and was just kind of talking at us. It was probably very informative but also very boring. The powerpoint was just plain white and boring which again isn't really going to capture a neurotypicals attention let alone someone with ADHD. In conclusion, you can probably see the difference between these two particular lectures and unfortunately the majority of them were very similar to the second one I've wrote about. But thats just me, one persons opinion. For others they were probably useful even if they weren't relevant to them they would have probably gained something but unfortunately/fortunately thats not how my brain works and thats ok too. The professional practice module has been challenging for me in many ways and for many reasons. Due to my ADHD if I'm not fully enthralled in something I'm going to do, I'm either not going to do it at all or do it but not to the best of my ability. This probably began when we were split off into smaller groups in our chosen area, as mentioned in my previous post the group I was put with weren't particularly enthusiastic or punctual so I think this had a knock on effect for me and was quite demotivating. Being split into the smaller groups with people two of them being people id not met before and being thrown straight into this big task with not a lot of time to get to know the group etc and also then theres the anxiety that comes with being in groups with people I don't know. Another thing that as been a challenge has been keeping up with the blog aspect of this module as I have difficulty getting started with things where I am expected to write which is a huge shame as I have done so much that could count for this module but unfortunately due to the difficulties those with ADHD have on getting started on things that we think are going to be mentally challenging I have not managed to write about all of them which is quite frustrating. But as you can see once I actually get started I then get carried away and end up writing a lot, its quite a vicious circle as then I get frustrated at myself for not just DOING IT. We are terrible for saying "ill do it later" "its okay I wont forget" and we forget or we keep putting it off and then we end up in a huge sticky situation. This kind of describes why I find things like writing difficult its not necessarily the actual writing but the getting started that is the issue which as you can imagine this effects a lot of areas of my life not just writing.
One of the biggest issues by far was the interview. Unfortunately, I don't really perform well in interviews based on art work, but this was even more difficult as there were people I knew watching me which you may think would help with my anxiety when in fact it probably made it worse. I have a habit of putting this front on with certain people and unfortunately thats what happened probably because people I knew were watching but I'm not sure. Therefore, this made a difficult situation even more difficult with the combination of both anxiety and ADHD its not ideal. I say the wrong things at the wrong time and sometimes in the wrong tone. The interview itself went awful and of course I had to announce that too the entire uni as I walked out the door.. yes this was before the door shut fully, which is not ok when there is an outsider in the room interviewing. Unfortunately, I didn't get a great mark for this but this was expected as I don't do well in these situations. Finally, in regards to the degree show, I feel I have not been involved in the preparation for this event as it seems that the chosen teams have kind of kept it to themselves which is unfortunate as there a lot of people who are in the same position and it would have been nice to be able to get more involved but this hasn't really been possible and due to poor communications within the three teams there are some things that probably aren't going to happen which should have but its done now and we have to make the best of what we have. However, having said this I have spent to evenings helping to prep the spaces which I have had a lot of fun doing! Overall this module has been quite challenging for me and I have enjoyed the live projects I have undertaken, even though I haven't wrote enough about them and not included them all which is a huge shame but its done and I can continue working on how to manage my ADHD and get things done! Jannine ADHD Wise UKI recently posted about being approached by Jannine from ADHD wise UK to create some designs for her online book club. I recently joined onto one of her online Adult ADHD courses as unfortunately there is no support of its kind provided by the NHS for adults with ADHD. Little did I know, that this woman was going to play a huge part in my life and become a crucial asset to my support network. I don't have a large support network outside of university which is beginning to worry me as I will hopefully be graduating this year and I'm not sure how I will cope without the support of my tutors and university staff. I began Jannine's course with the hope of learning and implementing strategies to help me better manage my ADHD and I got so much more than that...Despite 1-1 contact time not being part of the course, Jannine always goes above and beyond for me and I can always rely on her when I'm struggling and she will be at the other end of the phone even though she is always ridiculously bus and does in fact HAVE A LIFE. I know she will always find time for me wether it be 10 minutes or 2 hours and for someone with ADHD who needs someone there and then, not the next day when its passed, this is what I need. As Jannine has ADHD herself she understands me and helps me to understand myself better and she is always reminding me of little things that I need to hear constantly like: "Kristen you can't do everything" or "kristen you're just doing that one thing right now" She helps me to recognise my strengths and build on my weaknesses and tells me how proud she is of me which means a lot. I feel very lucky to have Jannine in my life and I am eternally grateful for everything she does for me. She is one of the strongest, craziest, funniest, kindest and most amazing people I have in my life and she inspires me daily. Thank you for being you. Thank you for listening to me moan, cry, laugh, rant, insult you and sulk. Thank you for taking me under your wing. Thank you for giving me amazing opportunities. Thank you for being proud of me. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your knowledge. Thank you for having my best interests at heart when you make me do things I don't want to. and lastly thank you for your patience, understanding and kindness. Oh and not murdering me yet... "The greatest gift you can give someone is your time, because when you give your time you are giving a portion of your life that you will never get back." LogoNow I started this project back in December as mentioned in a previous post I got realllllyyyy hyperfocused on it. Since then I have been sooo busy and this project feels like its been on my to do list FOREVER... but Amber is very understanding regarding my other priorities such as univeristy work and did not want to pressure me. Of course a bit of procrastination came with this... I received a message on Saturday from her mentioning that she had someone else to do it but not because she doesnt want me to do it, but because shes getting busier and im super busy with university. But I was like I'll do it tonight.... Again she didn't want to pressure me but I told her that now it has urgency ill be able to smash it out because hyperfocus willl kick in. I also didnt like the idea of anyone else doing it for her after some of the images she sent me of logos she liked. Of course I was right and managed to create a logo, business cards, facebook cover photo, appointment cards and a basic information leaflet in the space of one night.. with amendments and colour changes... and a very fussy amber! THANK YOU ADHD bAmazingU posting about my workAs mentioned in my previous post whilst at the family fun day I met Andrea from bAmazingU. She took one of my grounding cards away with her and bless her she reposted it on her instagram and facebook! Things like this make me feel hopeful about my future. Final workToday was the family fun day and it was such a nice feeling to see my work being passed around campus, being coloured in and being useful in many ways. I had the chance to chat with other people from different places outside of the university such as Andrea from bAmazingU. She was very kind about my work particularly the grounding cards and she comes from a holistic background within her work. We swapped details and are going to keep in touch! Here is the work I produced and was used at the event! Im super pleased with how it turned out although I didn't manage to do ALL of the things I wanted to, which would have been way more than expected but hey thats ADHD for you, but I need to remember I cant do everything! Logo amendment umbrella project.I was approached a while ago about ammending the ADHD foundations current logo for their umbrella project this year. Although I completed this a while ago I was recently approached and asked to add something to it, so here is the updated version of the logo and it being used on the umbrellas they will be displaying across the country in June in order to celebrate and raise awareness of ADHD and other neurodevlopmental conditions. Development workHere is some of my development work for the Active well being family fun day in may! Kind wordsI recently posted on my twitter about my marks for creative design practice and Jannine from ADHD Wise UK retweeted it and added this lovely message. For someone with ADHD who needs constant praise and seeks the approval of others things like this lift me up and affect me a lot more than neurotypicals due to my ADHD. Thank you Jannine! |
AD6110 Professional practice
AD6305 DISSERTATION
This module provides you with the opportunity to undertake an in-depth study of a topic or area of cultural, creative practice that is of particular interest to you. Through lecture, group and individual tutorial support you will determine a topic you are motivated to research, develop a research method to address the issues raised, review the existing literature on the topic area, establish a plan for the dissertation, collect information, make judgments and present a reasoned textual argument supporting your position. You will produce an 8,000 word document that complies with accepted academic writing standards in accordance with the APA style guide. AD6207 CREATIVE DESIGN PRACTICE
Component 1: (Wks 10 - 14) COLLECTED WORKS (25% of Module) A collection of works based on your Summer Collection that show playful exploration and experimentation, comprising of: 5 x Weekly Briefs - Reviewed Weekly Submitted Week 14 For the first part of this module (Component 1 - 25%) we will set briefs that will encourage you to play and experiment with areas of design. Alongside this you need to consider your personal development and to define and understand an approach that you may take to resolving a design problem that you will set yourself. Component 2: (Wks 15 - 34) NEGOTIATED PROJECT (50% of Module) You will devise, explore and complete a self directed brief that tackles a design problem. Submitted Week 34 You will be asked to devise a design brief around any subject or issue that you like (Component 2 - 50%) - your proposal can evolve, expand and even change direction as you continue to research, explore and create your solution but it must consider it's audience, method and platform for delivery and any potential elements of collaboration that could benefit it's development. The final deliverable can be in any format which addresses the needs that you will identify for the intended audience for this piece. Component 3: (Wks 35 - 44) EXHIBITION (25% of Module) You will devise, explore and complete an exhibition based on your Negotiated Project output. Submitted Week 44 FInally you will be asked to present your solution as an end of year exhibition piece (Component 3 - 25%) - this may require you to expand on your initial idea, to reformat the resources you have or to reimagine a way of displaying and promoting your final design. During this module we are your colleagues, we are here to advise and support the development of yourself and your ideas – take this opportunity and run with it! Archives
May 2019
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