I am an average girl name Michelle Chan with an extraordinary mind and a passion for design. I am a bubbly girl with a heart that loves to encourage others. It is my habit that I look at things with joy & enthusiasm and with a positive heart. However I want to learn to look at things differently, from a different angle & perspective. I want to master the skill of having the eye- the eye that opens door to a whole new world.
Last year, my goal was to do well. I didn’t have a specific goal in mind and thus I only improve by a little. I failed to identify the important factor of being specific in my goal setting. I did well in modules that are of lower importance according to the credits and I did badly for those that are of higher important and weightage such as my core modules. This year, academically, I will weigh the importance of each assignment and allocate my time accordingly. Not that I am doing these work for the grades sake, but I am learning to work smart. In fact I enjoy every single module that I did. It is just that I only have a limited time and I can’t complete every assignment up to perfection. So this year, I will focus on its importance and work smartly.
There are 1 short-term goal (doodle book) and 2 mid term goals (to play well in Frisbee and having good relational ties with God, family and friends). These are the goals I set for this year. Currently, 6 weeks have past and I realize I am achieving it bit by bit. There is still a long way to go but I will preserve.
In times when I encounter difficulties, I will use the model that I created- F6. The effectiveness of the model is as shown.
Fathom- at this first stage, I am supposed to understand what I am supposed to do or where I am heading. This gives me a clearer view in my thinking process. This is effective because I know my aim and goal from the start.
Fantasize- before creating this creative mind map, I failed to realise that fantasizing is very important. I failed to let my imagination run. My thoughts & ideas was very restricted & I don’t dare to think out of the box, afraid of going off track, afraid of doing things wrongly and afraid of making mistakes. After identifying this problem, I added the “fantasize” stage into my creative journey. Through this method, I force myself to think out of the box, make free associations & not being afraid of imagining & fantasizing.
Fragment- this second stage is the hardest stage for me. I normally have a lot of ideas flying around and I am unable to organize and filter it. Therefore because of this, I am unable to decide and proceed on to my “focus” stage.
Focus- this is the stage where I put in more effort and focusing on my main idea. At this stage, I cannot just look at the surface of my ideas but keep continuing to explore, develop & experiment. I feel that many of my ideas lack further development resulting it not to be creative, special and shine above all other ideas.
Functional- in this stage, I start to refer, reflect, reaffirm & reconstruct. I will refer back to see my design aim, reflect whether I want this design, seeking advices and reaffirmation from others and after everything reconstruct to improve.
Finalise- this is the stage when I finalise my idea & design and is satisfied with it ONLY if I have gone through all the stages.
I realize that in order to achieve my goal of improving my grades, I had to have the right attitude in class. I promise myself not to be late, to pay attention and listen attentively in classes and not get distracted by other things.
I have a few USP, Unique Selling Proposition. I am someone who wants my work to be done of the best quality, up to my expectation and close to perfection. I will never give up improving in it until the very last minute. I will always seek advice from people in order to make my work better. I am a person that is able to take criticism and comments from others. However, I am bad at making decisions and is indecisive. I can take a really long time if you ask me to choose the best out of a few choices. I always find it a problem because my ideas cannot flow. My ideas are all very not creative and I seldom think out of the box. Also, I need to do lots of research in order to get inspiration.
I have reflected about the past semester. There are some bad habits and problems I encountered and I have thought about how I am going to change it. Firstly, I learnt to think deeper. I learnt to not only look at things at a superficial level but to think out of the box and not restrain my chain of thoughts and ideas. Secondly, “Just do it!” Put my imagination into paper is an important habit that I have to cultivate within me. I have learnt not be afraid to make mistakes because no ideas are wrong. Dare to imagine & think! Thirdly, I learnt which state of mind I am most productive and creative in. There is where I started out to grow to be a more creative person because I know myself better. By knowing which is my best thinking method, it is easier for me to work in future assignments. Fourthly, I learnt to have an open & receptive mind and a mind willing to learn.
As introduced to us in class the designer, Don Norman I agree with him that in order to produce good and creative works, it has to be entertaining to myself and to others. Thus I have been enjoying the process of having fun while thinking of new ideas. Maybe that is my creative state of mind, but I believe that we have to enjoy what we are doing in order for ourselves and others to enjoy our end product. I see no point in trying to squeeze my brain and producing something just because we ought to do so. In that case, the user or audience won’t be able to feel the emotion that we wanted to portray because it is not genuine. The element of fun and being creative does not only apply into situations we are in but it also applies to whatever we are designing, such as the example of the table tennis with the ripples and fishes that Don Norman gave.
Participating more actively in class is also one of the things I could do to provide a better learning environment for the class. Having more active participation makes the class a more fun and interesting learning environment. I want to make an effort to communicate more with each and every individual in the class despite their cliques. Fostering good friendships in class will help to motivate each other while doing work and build one another up whenever we fall.
In my next 3 years in DVMD, I will strive hard to learn new skills such as Maya software from the 3D model and web designing. I will also be more aware of which part of design do I want to specialize in. the path that I want to continue on after this course be it a graphic designer, illustrator, photographer, web designer or packaging design. Also in these 2 years left, I will learn and absorb all that I can from the modules and lecturers because I know in the working world there will be more things to learn, things will be tougher and more competitive. In the meanwhile, treasure the ability of studying and enjoying life as a student.
"Being creative is seeing the same thing as everybody else but thinking of something different"