Monday, 2 April 2018

S.M.A.R.T targets – 02/04/18

In the industry and during education it can often be hard to find the time to self-reflect and aim my projects in a direction that is accurate regarding self-improvement and artistic growth. This is often due to been immersed in the creative process and creating engaging content for personal interest and that of a client. There is a time though where a line must be drawn, and an artist must be self-critical and decisive, this is where ‘S.M.A.R.T’ targets come in! ‘S.M.A.R.T’ Is an acronym that stands for ‘Small’, ‘Measurable’, ‘And’, ‘Realistic’, ‘Targets’. This translates into a weekly review of my current projects and goals for the purposes of artistic growth through accurate and appropriate target setting regarding my current goals and skillset into a concise action plan.

Context of last week
Last week saw the pitching of my project production, ideas, and process as well as an effective time plan which I will apply to each day of my production moving forward. From afore mentioned pitch I received feedback on which of my 3 proposed ideas was the most engaging and began my pre-production process by following my time plan moving into the weeks tasks. At the beginning of the week I refined my idea and began to visually study 3 artists that I identified as been desirable for the stylised intentions I intend for this projects vision (these artists are Jasmine Lai, James Gilleard, and Cruschiform). From there I created a style scene experiment following the best composition I had concluded at that point in time. Upon the completion of my style experiment (In adobe Photoshop) I then moved across to Adobe Illustrator to experiment with different plants, leaf shapes, and ecological assets which I intend to immerse my illustration and animation in. Here is where I am at currently ready to move forward into a second composition experiment based of the visual development I have created currently. 

What I need to reflect on
The two areas which I am keen to reflect and action plan adjustments against are my communication skills based off my pitched presentation and my pre-production process based of my work against my outlined proposal and treatment. The presentation which I pitched was first communication centric experience that I have taken part in for sizable amount of time and I admit that I was rusty. In reflection of this I intend to create an action plan to improve upon these skills which are an integral part of my future career aspirations. Due to the quality of production I am intending to create, the pre-production stage of my development is integral to the design outcome within my project. Therefore, by reflecting on this week’s current pre-production processes regarding time plan and execution I can plan against my weaknesses to ensure next weeks production is more effective and impactful.

Target 1 – Don’t just plan the content of the production to pitch, rehearse a flexible script so there is no break in seamless experience
When it came to pitch my presentation regarding my current project, I had created a presentation that was informative and impactful. I knew every bit of information about my intended vision and how I wanted to execute the project including its intended visual and effect. When I got up in front of everyone to express my project and pitch it I found myself fumbling for words even getting lost the slides I dedicated my time to perfecting. I feel that this all boils down to a lack of decisive script and afore planning regarding script flexible or not.

The small, measurable, and realistic target I am setting in reflection to this identified issue is to take the time to write a script when creating my next presentation that will be pitched. I will review my previous PowerPoint and extract all relevant information and convert it into script as a talking point for necessary communication needs. I must express that this is significant in the development of an aspirational content creator intending to thrive to industry standards. Communication is key for projects to go ahead and move forward securing pay and therefore an income to myself and other potential designers I could one day be responsible for.

Target 2 – When unsure of how I want the production to look, research, copy, study, recreate, edit, adjust, and then finalize the design.
As mentioned above this week I spent my time exploring and developing the visual aesthetic that my illustration and animation will portray by researching and designing such assets as style tests and composition results. Admittingly along this process I become unsure how exactly I wanted to create this production which was an issue that was outlined in last weeks SMART targets and in my animation production feedback. Despite this I attempted to execute my action plan by pushing through and picking a style I was keen to device and running with it. I feel that this process helped my production, but I feel I could have done more to streamline and improve this overall effect.

The small, measurable, and realistic target I am setting in reflection to this is to just start creating something. Sometimes as a content creator it can be difficult when your unsure of what style or the visuals of the production will look like, but the best thing to do is to pick something you have seen in another’s work, real life reference or so worth and just experiment with it. Through all this as a designer a result will surface. As an action plan in the following week I intend to move forward and continue been proactive and practical with my time given by creating potential designs and assets in response to my decided upon style and visual aesthetic. Once I have something I have created in front of me, I can analysis it and improve it. The key is to start, therefore moving forward I will make sure to create at least 3 design concepts at each iteration before refining them into a design outcome.

Conclusion
I am satisfied that these 2 goals are enough for me to focus on during the production of this week’s projects. In the following week I will update you all on the success of these targets as well as create new ones in reflection to the previous weeks workflow, successes, and failures. Thank you all for taking the time to read! Till next time.

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