Where do I fit?

Where do I fit?

Initially being asked the question ‘What is Visual Communications’ felt really tedious in the sense we have all signed up to do this course and if we didn’t know what it was, then why are we here? However after the discussion unfolded I began to realise that in actual fact there is a lot more to the subject than you initially realise. I realised there was a whole field of opportunities around the subject that I had never considered before. For example I could work as a designer, illustrator, film maker, animator, a documenter, editor or reporter for example. These are just a select few out of many choices that visual communications opens up to you.
I was also asked the question ‘Why am I here?’ which was so interesting to answer. I realised I am keen to experiment with myself in a variety of disciplines. I would like to be creative with briefs, work within the public and the community, hopefully find which career field I would like to enter in and possibly learn to sell my skills. The next part to this brief was being introduced to a few areas and analysing our thoughts.
I found the lecture on the two product designers who were designing a new bin very interesting. The workshop was on problem solving. I really enjoyed seeing how that market industry works. It was impressing how they came up with the designs. It was intriguing to watch the whole process unfold and see the end result. They both worked so well together and they bounced ideas off each other which I reckon is how they are both successful as a team. I am interested in that area of communication and could happily see myself working in this industry.
I was then put into a group of three and as a team had to come up with a solution to ‘making a strangers’ day better’. We brainstormed a few ideas including; rose tinted spectacles, a human hamster ball, digital recycling bins and a penis costume for ‘penis appreciation day’. I didn’t particularly enjoy this exercise as I didn’t feel my group worked well as a team. We didn’t seem to generate ideas off each other it was very much a slow and droning process that didn’t feel to be going anywhere. We decided to go with ‘national penis appreciation day’ and thought someone dressed in a giant penis costume on the street would be an original idea to make people smile. Adversely, we were aware it may not make everyone smile. However we decided it would be still be a good idea. We produced mock up outfits with the materials available and little badges to hand out. I was a little disappointed with our ideas in comparison with the other groups however we did get a positive reception from the audience which was a good conclusion for the day.
The next area we were introduced to was persuasion. The lecture was so interesting looking at different adverts and found I engaged instantly with the topic. It was useful to know the difference between concept and idea. We were then put in pairs to work together to produce a campaign to persuade people to give money to cancer research UK. We initially came up with a concept: if you give money to cancer research UK you can change lives. We changed the slant from ‘save’ lives to ‘change’ lives to give us more scope and less of a narrowed focus. We then thought of more ideas and came up with a television advert campaign interviewing three cancer victims along with their stories and how cancer research helped to improve and ‘change’ their lives. I thoroughly enjoyed this task, working under pressure and having to think quickly to produce a solution. This way of working suits my personality of fast thinking and coming up with catchy slogans and ways of connecting with the audience. I was pleased with how ours worked out and it helped working in a pair for this task as my partner and I really benefited from bouncing ideas off each other. Our strengths as a pair are what made it such a successful campaign.
The following lecture included various interesting elements however there were a lot of irrelevant and in depth information fed to us for a preliminary taster into persuasion. I did feel it was a bit long winded and tedious however we did a reading exercise and had an interesting discussion group towards positive and negative attitudes towards advertising which I found interesting and relevant towards forming an opinion on a diverse subject.
The next part of visual communication that we were introduced to was narrative. It was great learning the format of a narrative and the technical terminology. It felt like a combination of Art and English language. Having studied both disciplines separately it was good to finally combine the two into something I enjoy. I enjoyed seeing the visualisation put into place by watching two very contrasting narratives. These were Pingu and Stripes, both were fun to watch and fascinating to see the difference between you what you took away from them.
The workshop consisted of us creating our own narrative on a topic of our choice in a story board format. I chose to do mine based on the rural countryside where I live. We then had to present our ideas to each other. It was really fun having to do quick bold images however after looking at other peoples I did feel I wasn’t as skilled in this area as opposed to the design/persuasion exercise. This wouldn’t put me off going into this but I did realise that my passion is more related to other disciplines. I believe these exercises were so worth while in making me test and realise what I like and don’t like so much. I have to admit that I was beginning to stress about what ‘category’ I would into in the world of visual communications but now I have more of an idea.
The last question I was asked was ‘where do I go next?’ Hypothetically if I was to further this project I would like to work with children and the concept that children are at their peak artistic ability before they learn the disciples of colouring in the lines etc. As I love working with children I would like to combine their artistic ability with something to do with advertising and the disciplines I have recently been introduced to, which one I am not too sure!