@lilla_cseh
lillacseh.com

I'm Lilla, and I'm enrolled in the Graphic and Media Design course at LCC. During my DPS year, I had a 5-month internship with a sustainable British menswear clothing company called Sirplus where I had experience in Branding, fashion photography, and illustration. I'm in the middle of securing my second internship, in the meantime, I worked on two separate creative briefs about sustainable green future with Selfridges, Project Earth, and Team London Bridge for an Augmented Reality project for Earth Day. 
I will be writing about the important impacts on my professional and creative developments this year.

What is a graphic designer in the future? Is this role secure or is it going to shift with the media we use in the future? 
The digital world of design lets us see other designers around the world to get inspired and learn but giving the pandemic this shifted to comparing oneself to others. Stepping into the creative industry feels far away from art students, and the university is supposed to be the time to find our style and ambitions. 

This placement year made me see how other designers fixate on the thought of creating something new that can be called their own. The impostor syndrome "(IS) refers to an internal experience of believing that you are not as competent as others perceive you to be."  That we have to create something new over and over again. I read a few articles and books about the future of the creative industry. During the professional practice tutorials, we talked about the decolonisation of design that we learned a way to think, and now we have to learn to question it. The importance of a trend in design, or the rule that we learned from Swiss design, which typeface is in season at this moment. All these thoughts that we question daily and follow, but who exactly sets these rules? One of my fellow students mentioned that they grew up in Switzerland surrounded by great design. In comparison, I grew up in Hungary surrounded by "ugly design" which was the word I was thought. That eastern European graphic design is grey and not great like Swiss design. 
Sustainable design learning is not really about sustainability but the way we learn things to develop our designs. Sustainable learning is about our design thinking that what New is not New. For example, copying an idea is not sustainable design thinking. Developing a new idea through inspiration from surroundings is creative even if the base of a project is inspired by something or someone else. Design is built on similar ideas, so creating a new idea is almost impossible. I started to read femme-type.com articles about female designers, and their creative thinking opened up my creative flow as well.

​During the tutorial, we talked about understanding identity, power, and equity in design leadership. Last month my social media feed was fully posted with magazines/articles that talked about women in the power of their future that inclusive politics are changing the industry, and that powerful women can become influential. Creative posts that can inspire me without words. The last couple of weeks I felt pushed down but empowered by all these happenings.
Design Activism has become a powerful new tool of communication. There's this interesting Kickstarter crowdfunded book called notamuse- It's about new perspectives on women graphic designers with interviews of people in the industry to investigate this imbalance in Europe. In the creative field, there is a big lack of female role models. this book shares the work of 54 new female graphic designers.

Last two years I found my idealistic design team and the idea of women in power created by Jessica Walsh with the studio "& Walsh". A studio run by mostly women joins the 1% of creative agencies founded by women. She also created a global non-profit initiative called Ladies*, Wine** & Design. "Only .1% of creative agencies are founded by women & non-binary people, and the numbers are even smaller for women/non-binary BIPOC. Our mission is to see more diversity in the creative industry, especially within leadership roles." (Walsh,2015) I'm manifesting a future where I could visit this studio in New York because they gave me a reason to work for in the future. Even if women are a small percentage in the industry I'm angry but proud to be a woman, and I plan to work towards a change and not talking about women only. 

The internship with Sirplus widened my view on environmental changes and sustainable fashion. Responsible design means more than being aware, but acting towards a goal to ensure the least impact possible on the planet. I think about everything I do now as a creative and a person. The 5 months helped me strengthen my communicational skills about expressing ideas and communicating visually in a professional environment. 
1. making things happen: Reaching out to studios and designers is a less stressful act after all these months not like when I started this year. 
​2. Showcasing Abilities: Developing storytelling skills with illustration and   Skillshare is a great tool for illustrational skills that I pushed aside for a while and now started a poster illustration series called “Plants are friends”.

3. Navigating change: The research process is important to acknowledge,  explore and target the positive impact of design.
This year did not live up to my expectations of experiencing work in a creative studio with a design team where people could get to know my work and me in a professional environment but I’m confident now in the future of my practice, my place and to work towards my goal after graduation to work in the industry. How to sustain a new but not new viewpoint? I'll talk to my future self in this situation. Designers should work towards their goal and interest and stop questioning their worth as creatives. Every idea has a future even if it's shifted by modern tools in the future.

References: 
https://andwalsh.com/articles/all/walsh-launches-joining-the-1-of-women-founded-creative-agencies-/
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/notamuse/notamuse-the-book
https://sirplus.co.uk/
https://femme-type.com/​



Lilla Cseh
​GMD - Graphic and Media design
@lilla_cseh
lillacseh.com

​Jake Richardson 
jakerichardon.uk
@jake.richardson__
GMD - Graphic and Media design

​Its officially been 1 year since the start of the pandemic which has affected every part of our lives; socially, economically, technologically and even creatively for some of us on DPS. It’s daunting how time has passed since then when things were “normal”, especially when I started DPS back in September and how much has been affected due to the virus. Since my last blog post, I was extremely lucky enough to gain a remote internship working for Pentagram in Yuri Suzukis small team. His work consists of the focus on sound - through various mediums of interactive experiences, installation art, product design and exploring the importance of sound design and “sonic logos’ to accompany visual design. His work is extremely interesting to learn about, considering it’s something so different to my traditional design skill set and unique part of the greater field of design. Being able to help them in several projects and understanding their practice (especially in a world now of full of visual communication in so many platforms) opened up my own interest in this idea of multi-sensory design and how can the realms of visual be merged with sound and the other senses.

Working for a designer who’s practice stems of the need for physical engagement with audiences and utilising sound to communicate during this pandemic has shown the need of adapting to the current climate, and how important that is as a designer especially in such a unique field. As work has shifted online for the time being, it’s been interesting to see how technology has played a big role in being forced to adapt to these new online environments; for work, socialising and even for entertainment purposes. From my own perspective, I have realised how important the spaces we inhabit are to our own wellbeing and personal creative growth. For me especially, the biggest challenge so far for DPS was adapting to my own workspace, which has been difficult mentally working long days in my bedroom with no physical separation from work and personal life. I have tried my best to constantly rearrange my bedroom and desk, switching up ways I work inside those 4 walls but overtime it becomes demotivating and hard to stay focused creatively. The importance of social interaction in work like this is forever needed - from the face to face meeting with clients to quick coffee breaks where you have the most important breakthroughs in casual conversation is something I have missed during this time. Going back to the idea of senses - it shows how important it is to work in conditions where all of them can be fully explored and stimulate how we work as designers. It was interesting to be part of a project for Space 10, where Yuri and his team had to propose fun and interesting ways of showing how sound can affect mental well being and privacy in the current “work from home” environment - something extremely relevant to a lot of us now. The project explored how sound could be used to create separations in a house in a form of a “sound curtain” and how it could be possible to make your room feel bigger so when working from home, you feel less claustrophobic and would improve your mental well being all through sound and spacial-audio design. For me this was an exciting project to be a part of that sparked my interest into wanting to explore these new territories of design and again questioning the importance of our own domestic spaces.

Design plays a huge part in our world as I mentioned earlier with new emerging technologies and the importance or design in relation to our senses and spaces, but it is so much more. Design has influenced everything we have built - in our networks of communities, cultures and society as a whole. I think reflecting on my own experience this year with design, it has really helped me further understand its importance even more and how it will always have a key role in our lives, whether we can see it or not. So what will the design future be post covid and when will our desired physical connections re-open? At this rate, who is to tell how we would go back to normal but all we can say when it does, there will definitely be new wave of reflection on this past year that will question a lot we take for granted; especially in our own spaces we create.

References: 
https://www.pentagram.com/
https://dribbble.com/shots/2517152-Five-Senses-Icon-Set​

In this placement year, I have had an opportunity to work with two knitwear brands. Both are tended to high quality, hand-knitted garment production. While working with these brands, I got to learn trends of the fashion market during a pandemic and insights into the knitwear market online. Also, social media and marketing engagement obstacles that they have that I found interesting. 

Due to the constant growth of mass production, we are used to the fact that handmade, great material products are exclusive and tend to be more expensive. But the pandemic is changing the craftsmanship market. Many people are left without a job and are searching for hobbies to do during their free time spent at home. John Lewis reports that they received a massive jump in haberdashery sales during a lockdown. Also, people are not just making crafts at home but thinking about secondary income and selling their products on the e-commerce site Etsy. Etsy reports that in the second quarter of 2020, they experienced 34% seller growth compared to the previous year. This situation creates competition in the market and leads to a reduction in prices to keep those seller heads above water whose primary income is Etsy sales. But also, Etsy mentions massive growth in buyers that could be linked to store closing, boredness and the need for treating ourselves that comes from the pandemic and general capitalism. Even though there is a buyer increase, that doesn't mean it is fashion targeted. In Etsy curated podcast, the trend expert explains that trends during the pandemic are still mostly home related. Home goods, room dividers, workspaces and anything related to work at home. Fashion mostly is not needed during this time, which makes it even tougher to convince a consumer to buy your product, not the competitor's one. To summarize, I had a realisation that handmade products are becoming more popular due to more time people have to create them and sometimes linked to lack of primary income. This problem appears in my placement and as an intern, I needed to search my ways to get the brand into this jammed market.

In these placements, I got to manage three platforms - Instagram, Shopify and Etsy. One brand’s main audience is gained on Instagram but confusing was the follower and like per post ratio. Even though the brand has worked hard to gain many followers it is not visible on post likes. This difference made me look into the influencers worst enemy (or best friend?)  - algorithm. What even is it, how and why is it changing from time to time? How do people know how it works? I had so many questions that I didn’t know if I will even get answers. From research, I found out that Instagram’s algorithm was unknown until recently when they shared the truth about common myths that are talked about on the platform. As it is a Facebook-owned platform, it wasn’t surprising that they took down the chronological feed and changed it to an algorithm-led feed that shows posts that it thinks is the most suitable to the user. Things that work for the benefit of creators change and at some point your profile can be in the spotlight, but after not sticking to the posting schedule for a moment, you can fade from the algorithm and not be visible to many of your followers. The biggest challenge of social media managers, brand owners and influencers is to keep up with the algorithm and know how to play with it. When you are managing a business account on Instagram or Facebook, you always end up seeing ads from a platform for you to promote posts or create ads. Ad usage as a marketing tool is important and it helps to get more engagement. But is it even possible to grow a start-up from zero without a budget allocated for ads? This made me compare the innocent start of Instagram where people just shared pictures of their lives, to the present - one of the most powerful marketing platforms that exist. 

These obstacles made me curious about the world of marketing and created a desire to understand it in more depth. It feels like there are few rules that you know what to do to grow your business with marketing, and the outcome is like a lottery- either you win, or nothing happens. But is it like that? I started to learn the basics of marketing. Starting with a marketing funnel that showed me that there are many steps in goes into it, from scouting the general audience that could be interested, to analyzing the basis of getting the target audience that will eventually end up purchasing product/service and make conversion rate higher. For any business, social media appearance comes as an advantage if it is done well. While studying Design Management, we touch on many different management sides, and it gets confusing when you know a bit from each section, but you are not specialising in one of them. I am grateful for this year because it allows me to try them out and potentially find the right one for me. 

Digital marketing is even more evolved during the pandemic. Social media platforms are saturated with a wide range of businesses trying to get their audience attention. Marketing is an industry that changes and evolves all the time. It is in businesses hands to choose how much time and money they want to invest in it. 

References:
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/may/04/a-good-yarn-uk-coronavirus-lockdown-spawns-arts-and-craft-renaissance
https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/2020/08/07/sales-spike-146-on-etsys-marketplaces-in-q2/
https://podcasts.apple.com/lv/podcast/etsy-success-podcast/id1239556187
https://later.com/blog/how-instagram-algorithm-works/

Eliza Apsite
Design Management

Since I can remember, I always have been interested in alterating and reusing things I have found around.
As I always say, it’s probably more related to the tight budget than to being fully concious with the planet.
I feel I got this from my dad. I remember him spending the weekends in his little workshop fixing some radio he found in the street or making little notebooks for my mum to write the shopping list by taking the unused side of some small pieces of paper and staple them together.
In a uncounscious way, I guess that made me connected more with artists and designers that would work in that way instead of being impressed by some ostentatious artists.
Not only because of their lack of money for their pieces, just as the work was based in finding beauty in the everyday life.
To explain what I am talking about, I could mention the work of the photgrapher William Eggleston which photographies were mostly taken in his daily walks around his hometown in Memphis.
​

k​Another artist that really inspired me was the multidisciplinary artist, Aleksandr Rodchenko.
As part of the constructivist art movement, he defended abstract, austere art to reflect modern industrial society. I am not fully agree with the total rejection to decorative style the Constructivism defended but I found really interesting and inspiring how they started to assemblage industrial materials and found objects. Beyond the way they were using the materials, I found Rodchenko’s practice interesting as he defended art for social purposes.

​This bring me to the following point: I am not interested in a skull with diamonds besides the conversation, reaction or emotions the artist wants to create If that message can only be appreciated or understood by a small portion of the population.
Not trying to be critical here because I think that at the end of the day, you have to do what you have to do and what is interesting and exciting for you. But I guess because the execution of certain ideas are far away from my reach, I just learned how to work in a different way. Working with what I have available.
 
Besides the economically aspect, even that I will have access to expensive materials or I will have the chance to use them in my work, what’s the point of wasting? Even If you are not paying a penny for it. Why creating more waste?
Why not creating from other materials that have been industrially produced, which making has already left some mark in the environment and now they are abandoned without a purpose? As designers and makers, we must be aware of this regardless we can pay for materials or not. There is not need of waste.
During this lockdown, I have been working with materials I have at home (hello hoarder) and some I found in my morning walks.
Figuring out how to work with them has been keeping me excited and motivated.

For my self initiated project proposal, I want to develop a business idea for reusing clothes and printing on top of them. Like looking to our boring and forgotten clothes and given them a second chance.
Through my practice as a print maker and as a beginner maker, I realised the amount of waste and stock you can produce. Even though I have mainly done art prints, my interest is combining my practice with reusing and upcycling materials so I will like to apply that to fast fashion.
Having that on mind and being aware of the problem that fast fashion is globally for the environment, I would like to set a business where I could rework second hand clothes and where people could send me their clothes and I could print some of my designs on them and send them back.
During the pandemic, I have been developing ways of printing from home from digital prints to other more handcrafted techniques like marbling paper or run my own t-shirt campaign through the platform Everpress.
Both practices made me realise about the amount of waste you can produce as a creative.
Doing the t-shirt campaign, made me realise that producing a line of t-shirts is a waste (in terms of having stock around, the money you have to pay upfront to produce those t-shirts and the comissioning that the platform gets from each order). But beyond that, is not only wrong as a business idea but it is not sustainable.
I have been all my life buying second hand clothes (initially, because of my tight budget mainly) but eventually because I realised the joy I find when I buy “new” clothes (even that they are second hand) is that they bring something fresh to my wardrobe. I also enjoy cutting them, sewing patches, painting or printing some idea on them, etc.
During this pandemic, I have been doing this way more as the charity shops were closed, and then I thought turning this into a service where people will send me over clothes because they want a new fresh look on them or as a designer, I will chose some second hand clothes and apply my ideas into them. Instead of just throwing them or giving them to the charity (in the future, maybe I could collaborate with some charity shops like Traid), they could turn it into something new.

To accomplish this, I have done some research in how this could be running and how to do it fully sustainable.
By instance, I researched about sustainable packaging like potato starch delivery bags and natural dyes and organic screen printing inks.
On my research I found companies like Ceres Studio, an artist collective run by Florence Hawkins, who used to be a screen printing technician at LCC and now works in the textile department at Central Saint Martins runs their own workshops in how to make your own handmade dyes.
My next step is to experiment by making them at home using the left overs of fruits and vegetables.
Blueberries, blackberries and red cabbage create blue. Raspberries and create red. Tumeric , orange and lemon peel create yellow. Spinach create green.
In terms of organic inks for screen printing I found the Australian company called Permaset which colour range Permaset Aqua and Permaset Permatone has been granted approval by the Soil Association in the UK, having successfully met the requirements of the Global Organic Textiles Standards (GOTS) for non-organic chemical inputs for use in organic textile processing.Their inks are also 100% vegan.
My plan is start thinking about all of this and keep developing it through my last year of university.

I’m Abi and I’m enrolled on the BA Graphic Branding & Identity course at LCC. During my DPS year I have had two internships; the first was with high-end fashion brand, JOSEPH, and my current placement is with The Evening Standard Paper & Magazine. I will be drawing upon my experiences this year, namely my time at JOSEPH as well as the live brief with Selfridges I worked on alongside my internships.

The role of a graphic designer has long been thought of as a communicator; they assist in visually communicating ideas, a story or brand. However, this role has evolved over recent years in line with society’s technology-driven advancements. I have found the developments in technology truly astounding throughout the past year; a recent McKinsey report suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically sped up the adoption of digital technologies by several years.

This pandemic has affected almost all business sectors in one way or another, retail is no exception. With brick and mortar being an impossible point of access for consumers during a state of lockdown, all sales are the result of online shopping. Online sales managed to achieve 33.8% of total retail during the peak in May last year. Footfall in retail stores is declining year-on-year, regardless of the government guidelines restricting consumer access. Therefore it is imperative that brands adapt quickly in order to remain competitive within the retail sector. I witnessed this urgency during my placement at JOSEPH Fashion and quickly learned the value of technology when combined with online retail. One of my research projects was to investigate how competitors were integrating technology to present their items in new and innovative ways on their product display page. I reported that many forward-thinking companies were incorporating videography as a means to showcase their product on their display page. This method is inherently less static and allows the consumer to get an idea about how, perhaps, a garment may move when modelled in motion. The response to this research was very positive and has led to the investigation as to how JOSEPH might utilise this tool themselves. These small developments to a brand’s website can have a significant, often positive, effect on a consumer’s purchasing decision; they are given more information regarding each product. This increased transparency, on the brand’s part, with regards to the presentation of their products will only elevate their consumers’ online shopping experience. All-in-all, this should hopefully translate to the reduced rate of returns and exchanges. This benefits both parties financially, logistically and practically. ​

Whilst JOSEPH was eager to adapt and progress their method of exhibiting some of their best-selling/higher priced items using videography online, I noticed they are, in general, rather resistant to embrace technology and change. Some other brands have really capitalised on this opportunity to expand further into the digital world. This is especially the case since they’ve been unable to rely upon their physical stores and traditional shop front window displays as a means of advertising their products and concepts. One brand that stands out in my mind is Selfridges. During this period of lockdowns and heavy government restrictions, they’ve continued to innovate. When I was working on Selfridges’ Project Earth live brief, I heavily researched their website and soon uncovered all the effort they’ve invested into creating such insightful and interesting content for both their website and instagram page. Noticeably, they developed a series of video material to keep their audience engaged; these varied from ‘Beauty Broadcasting’, which shared tips and tricks from various beauty and makeup artists, to more educational video clips which discussed important current topics, such as Diversity and Inclusion. I find this approach from Selfridges very strategic and rather ingenious; the past year has allowed many to slow down and reflect. It has invited people to spend time doing things they otherwise would not have had time for, for example supplementing their knowledge by learning new languages, skills or even, more about a subject area to which was unfamiliar. Education paired with technology has been truly invaluable, especially during this pandemic; it has allowed for the renowned homeschooling. However, this education has not been limited to children; it has been extended to anyone and everyone who desires to learn more in ways such as seminars, live workshops and other virtual events. Selfridges offering these very accessible resources has not only benefitted their audience, but also the brand itself. When working on the live brief, it was immediately apparent they had set their sights on becoming a B-Corp. By definition, this community of businesses are a force for good. Therefore, Selfridges is supporting their aims in achieving this certificate.

My current placement at The Evening Standard has really opened my eyes to the way a newspaper and magazine operates. I was somewhat nervous about starting a role at a newspaper publisher during a time when traditional newspaper sales are in decline. However, I was rather surprised to see their efforts to pivot the brand to become much more digital. They are really developing their online presence; this was first made apparent to me when I was introduced to their newly appointed Head of Social Media. I work closely with this individual to ensure the content posted on their social media accounts is designed in a way that aligns with their pre-existing visual identity. I am also fascinated by the power and influence social media can have in elevating, or in some cases, hindering a brand and its public image. I have learned that it is paramount a brand is conscious of the content it posts as feedback is instant and damage can be irreversible. I have also learned the nuanced art of content-making in order to avoid such instances. During my time here I have also learned it is very important to maintain, or even grow, engagement levels and increase a brand’s reach. I have enjoyed working with the Head of Social Media to develop new ways to drive interaction, such as creating daily posts that pose complex and thought-provoking questions to their followers. Additionally, I create moving image content, namely gifs and short clips, to fully utilise the platform and ensure content isn’t too static. I am keen on learning more in-depth about the strategic decisions regarding a brand’s social media and look forward to developing further ways to use these digital platforms to complement the brand and their work.

Bibliography
https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/how-covid-19-has-pushed-companies-over-the-technology-tipping-point-and-transformed-business-forever

​https://www.selfridges.com/GB/en/features/project-earth/events/

https://www.joseph-fashion.com/en-gb/home

https://esmag.co.uk

https://www.standard.co.uk

Hello, I’m Abraham E.👋🏾, an aspiring motion graphic designer from the Graphic and Media Design course. 
 
​Like many of my peers, both in DPS and outside, I had to find ways to adjust to the endless lockdowns, increasingly competitive job market and keeping my mental health in check, something I naively thought I could keep afloat with my digital devices, entertainment and making “pretty” stuff alone... when I actually got round even doing that. 

​The reality is that I’ve missed interacting with people wayyyy more than I thought I could. From seeing many of my peers frustratingly brainstorming ideas for a brief we still didn’t quite understand, to the fortunate stroke of serendipity when I’d see a mate in the tube on a commutes to/from Uni, all those experiences and routines were giving me a chance to get outside my bubble and find many creative common grounds and passions – I actually had a life! something I can’t quite uphold to as much right now, especially as all of the few placement I’ve  (fortunately) had, were a constant reminder of the value of actually being around people, and not communicate via Zoom, Slack, IG or whatever app promises to be just like the “real deal”, ‘cause they aren't. ​

​As I looked deeper into what various players, like Antionette D. Carroll, in the creative industry are doing to advocate, discuss and usher Design Equity for BAME communities and decolonize design at its roots, I can’t help but respect and admire them all for having these uncomfortable discussions with other industry leaders and give them both a reality check of what our communities and people at large really need, and shatter some of the legacy frameworks that’ve held us from making real change.   

While I am no design leader, nor do I intend to be one, I’m realising that even as a black, aspiring junior designer it’s my responsibility to start diversifying where I find my visual inspiration from, what I consider to be “good design” and most importantly start taking myself out of the equation when designing for an audience that I don’t represent, as well as adding my experience as a minority to the equation when something is being designed for the BAME community.      

With more thoughtful notions about the potential of my design and motion work, I look forward to riding out the remaining months of DPS, getting out of my shell and connecting more with the DPS cohort however possible, and hopefully share some of the high & lows we’ve all undoubtedly had... and some good memes of course 👀. 
 
 
Thanks for scrolling this far 👋🏾 

REFERENCES: 
-  Antionette D. Carroll: Understanding Identity, Power, & Equity in Design Leadership 
- What Does It Mean to Decolonize Design? 
- Q&A with Sandy Speicher —Where are the Black Designers? 

Abraham E. 
Graphic & Media Design 

Reflecting on the past year, it seems like the start of the pandemic was a life-time ago. I remember today, one year ago, feeling in denial of the possibility that the pandemic might cause me not to achieve my dreams and goals I had set myself for DPS. Like many others, I hoped the situation would be temporary and that life would return back to normal come autumn. Finishing my second year at UAL from my room initially didn't seem so bad. I finally was free of any distractions and had the time to produce work I was genuinely proud of. But as the situation with COVID-19 worsened, so did my mental health (and I can probably speak for many people). 


My progression of thoughts over time
First lockdown: This situation isn't good, but I have time to improve my skills, learn new things, produce good quality work. I'm quite enjoying being home and having all this spare time.
Second Lockdown: Summer was a good distraction, but things are getting worse again. I feel overwhelmed with the news, and I feel less focussed. I feel like I'm trying to achieve the goals I have set myself, but my progress is plodding.
Third Lockdown: I don't feel like I have achieved anything near as much as I wanted to. I feel disconnected from other people, yet I still compare myself constantly to others and feel not good enough. 


I recognise my privilege and understand that some people had a much worse time than me. However, it's important to remember to acknowledge your own feelings and take them seriously. 


I found myself feeling sick of feeling sorry for myself and burning myself out. I put so much pressure on myself that I wasn't as proactive as others. Seeing other people creating more than I did, upskilling more than I did, taking part in more creative initiatives than I was. 
It was so hard to get to a point where I realised that there was so much more to it.
My anxiety caused insomnia; I was so wound up in my head and letting my thoughts manifest like a disease in my head. I'm proud of myself to have taken the courage to get myself out of this zone by speaking to friends, reaching out to peers and talking to professionals in the industry I want to work in.
 I finally started to realise (and I might be stating the obvious here, but by realise, I mean: truly internalise):
The people I'm comparing myself to..
..might have had not suffered from the same mental health issues as me.
..might have been in more privileged positions than me.
..might have been luckier than me.
..might have had a worse time than me, but I just got to see their highlights.


I do believe that comparing oneself to others is one of the most significant issues of our generation. With the pandemic causing everything to move online, people using social media more than ever only exacerbated this issue. 
It's so easy to forget that social media serves as a platform to showcase the highlights of one's life and professional journey. 
STOP COMPARING YOURSELF TO OTHERS


A Study from 2015 by Nicole E. Henniger & Christine R. Harris about envy assessed across adulthood revealed how envy shifts with age. Overall, older people reported fewer envy-incidents whereas younger same aged and the same gender reported the highest. Luck and overall better life (=priviledge) was envied consistently across the lifespan. "scholastic success, social success, looks, and romantic success were less envied with age, whereas money was more envied with age."


Design your environment to achieve your goals

According to James Clear, humans are constantly influenced by their environment in good and bad ways.
We tend to do or consume the things around us simply because they are an option; we have been biologically programmed to behave that way. In fact, many habits are shaped because our environment influences us. Luckily, nowadays, we can be the designer of our environment to help us adopt healthier habits. Stepping into the role of being the architect of my environment, these are the things I have implemented according to James Clear "Atomic Habits" Book (and have successfully maintained) to keep up and adopt healthy habits:
I wanted to read more, so I followed Clears' advice and put a book on my pillow or bedside table. 
After a while, I realised I learn better by listening to audiobooks and like to doodle to keep up with my creative skills, so I set up an audible account and put headphones and pen and paper next to my bed.

I wanted to be more organised, so I ditched my 100 apps and moved everything to Notion (I highly recommend it).
After looking through many Notion templates and customising them, they have enabled me to have a clear overview of my goals, what I achieve each week, if I'm on track with my daily habits, which errands need doing, and so on. It has also allowed me to make space for a daily 5-minute reflection routine, acting as a gratitude journal and checking in with myself on my mental health. A gratitude journal is a great tool to value the things you already have and reduces the risks of comparing yourself to someone else. 

I wanted to focus better and learn more. I found myself feeling uncomfortable at my desk and that I needed an ergonomic solution. Instead of buying a laptop stand, I ended up building my own from old cardboard packaging. Another quick design solution that ended up improving my WFH life significantly.


After these minor improvements in my life, I have started to read into the book "Nudge Theory by R. Thaler and C. Sunstein" which goes a little further into the small nudges designers can use to positively (and negatively) influence peoples behaviours. Additionally, I have enrolled in the coursera course "Introduction to psychology" to broaden my knowledge in the field and become a more efficient designer.


James Clear, Atomic Habits 
Nicole E. Henniger & Christine R. Harris (2015) Envy Across Adulthood: The What and the Who, Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 37:6, 303-318, DOI: 10.1080/01973533.2015.1088440


​Atlana Puntigam DMC
​

Evaluate the role that design plays in a complex, networked and technologically driven world

​by Marco-Antonio Grubben

If I were to write this blog in 日本語 a lot of you won’t understand what I’m saying, let alone myself. Or if I use a secret code only I know 88 929 11902 8989 101. Or I make the typeface

Images:
 
https://www.instagram.com/p/CLKGn9_hOmx/
 
https://www.lingscars.com
 
https://type.method.ac
 
https://alternativeearthcare.com/supergreen/lawn-winterizing-long-island/green-thumb/
 
https://whatculture.com/offbeat/15-sexiest-scientists-in-the-world
 
Bibliography
 
John Thackara (2020) Profile. Available: http://thackara.com/working-with-john-thackara/ (Accessed: 03/02/2021)
 
Thackara, J. (2005) In the Bubble. MIT Press. Available: https://books.google.ch/books/about/In_the_Bubble.html?id=iKnuDwAAQBAJ&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y (Accessed: 03/02/2021)

Digby Usher

As a student, our lives travel from station to station. Hopping to our next assignment, next assessment, and next job shift. Each structured around our routines, timetables and social lives. Our design projects propelling us forward at full speed, with each project outcome entirely entwined to our inner self-worth.
 
Then post-graduation, we are to be spat out of our structured system onto an empty road in the middle of nowhere. The bus of: “structured approval” stops, and we step off into an empty wasteland: no-one knows our name or cares who we are.
 
Scattered across this wilderness, we’re fed billboard messages telling us that this is the time to “grow-up”. While being constantly reminded that as Gen Z’s we are: “spoilt, lazy and entitled”.
Yet reality is far from this, on average during our 20’s we will change jobs every 18 months, (that’s around 13 jobs before we’re 30). During this time many of us have, and will, have to move back in with relatives. Taking on vast debt, with far less saved and far less stability surrounding our lives. No wonder peak alcoholism and drug addiction begins at this age. 

A few months ago, we stepped off this bus. Undertaking DPS while others across the country graduated. At that particular moment, the majority of us may have found ourselves at a junction of the two classic roads forward.
 
The first road perhaps prompted us to run full speed into our DPS year: up and along the road of exploration and adventure. Jumping into something crazy, telling ourselves a “real” job will land someday. Drawn off around the world, designing in Kathmandu while learning to paraglide; or joining a start-up in Silicon Valley. All while maintaining a pretty awesome Instagram profile and hovering over a hundred different possibilities, conversations and relationships.
 
This road is very enticing. Offering a collection of random experiences, each moment fun, perhaps rewarding, yet temporary. Perhaps an opportunity to build “identity capital” for dinner party conversations for the next five years. But, do we really remember all of each of these encounters? Are these experiences adding up to the true fulfilment of our values?
Or does the journey of turning and sampling every new corner leave being terminally distracted by every new sign that we encounter along our way. With no discernible direction perhaps leads us back to the start all along.

Alternatively, we may have begun DPS down the second “pragmatic” road, a continuation of our structured education. Window shopping through laptops for the next-best mentor, developing perfectly manufactured portfolios and linked-in profiles. Flocking to big-name design agencies, hoping a high-profile job would determine our career trajectory and  our value. Relishing the high-status projects of rebranding Amnesty International’s logo, which we told ourselves: “justifies the Amazon design project”.
 
Our journey along this second road, is met with a hyper-pleasing gold star workplace, built on our set of robotic finely-tuned design skills to be maximised. Meanwhile we may end-up neglecting friendships through explanatory descriptions of how busy we are. A ladder of status rungs to be climbed, constantly looking to our left and right in comparing our own climb to others.
 
At a certain moment along this road, the status markers of the climb may obscure our surroundings. Drifting along through a capitalist society that is consumed by our skills of design production, with efficiency at the centre of our purpose. Along this path, we eventually reach a point of feeling disengaged. Our feelings lost, from us once having ignored our true desires.
 
Then like all Gen Z’s, a storm hit. Whichever of these roads we may have selected, the Covid cyclone blinded us putting this direction on hold.
On the surface, we are faced with a student loan system that doesn’t cover basic rent without a side hustle, roped into a squeezed job market with both skilled and temporary jobs in short supply.
The pandemic carried an interruption into everyday life, exposing areas of my own and other’s surroundings and that were once ignored. Surrounded by increased financial uncertainty we are left with little space “mental bandwidth” to make decisions about anything. Crawling to shelter in bed and watching Netflix didn’t seem so bad after all. For those of us that haven’t found our purpose or stability, a storm can feel like a complete crumbling of the self.

​Since then, the pandemic has only left our financial stability, employability and future feeling less stable. As of such, we’re ready to put up with unpaid internships, terrible bosses and workplace of companies treating us like-crap as we don’t have another option. Managing the risks of every little decision we don’t quit, we work around the clock, fed an internalised notion that we need to be striving for more by society.
 
When we began our DPS journey nearly a year ago, we were told to “brand ourselves”, putting ourselves out there and “selling ourselves” sums up our internalised value: a product.
But as we know, not every product gets bought from the shelves. We’re left with a psychological hole, being originally sold, and believing that a university degree offers the “security of middle-class jobs”. When then reality hits we are left with the belief that we weren’t worth it, or even good enough.
 
Our notions of adulting and job-searching, down these potential roads, leave us feeling melancholic and drained in the face of the world.
 
Perhaps that’s the true intention of DPS year. Rather than conforming and selling our character to build on workplace traits of grit, productivity and discipline. It is our ability to come to terms with the discomfort of this detachment, instability, doubt, underemployment, and shit bosses. We’re trying to win at a system we should all be trying to break.
 
A third road, to be carved out and designed.