Gemma Aylward
BA(Hons) Illustration 2017 BA3a: Research and Development Unit Summary This unit has brought me a lot to think over in terms of my practice and the direction I want to take it. I’ve struggled a lot more with developing my practice compared to developing my research report, which I did not expect, however the research report has been a major help for me to discover children’s needs in relation of child development through play. My findings from the report have fed into my thoughts process when I’m tackling idea possibilities for my practice. The publish event was also a defining point in this unit, mainly because it was the only practice I did other than research, but I got to feel what it’s like to work collaboratively again since BA2b, and I’m coming to realise how important it is towards my approach in creating in my practice. With writing the research report, it was very useful to have the reader group seminars because it allowed me to organise the steps leading up to submission. I find it easier explaining my ideas verbally and within a discussion, rather than through writing, because by saying it aloud, I can coherently explain my ideas. The initial ‘Share’ presentation task allowed me to do this and share my ideas for the first time in the unit after researching over the summer. As I had to address my ideas to others on the course, it forced me to collate my ideas for the first time which I discovered as a good first step into how to go about the report’s style and structure. The draft session was also a good opportunity to write down the initial 2,000 words of the report. If I didn’t have these sessions to motivate me, I feel that I would have left the draft even longer to make a start on. Having that 2,000-word draft gave me good taste of what the report would become, and I’m glad I had these sessions to organise my time without leaving the report to a last minute worry. I can’t appreciate these session’s timing across the unit more than I possibly do and I want to take this careful planning for specific writings and projects into the future with me. Gathering research for my practice has caused me a lot of strain on my mind as to how I want to take my career further. I’ve been sceptical the majority of the unit of how can I create work. I had come to university with the prospects of becoming a visual development artist, however after my extensive research, I’ve become more interested in getting interactive and engaging with public, primarily children aged between 5 and 7. The more I’ve researched for my practice, the more I get excited about the possibilities of becoming a designer for playgrounds/play spaces. Two pieces of research that I have a strong feeling for are the Reggio Emilia approach to child development and The Playground Project (2016) book. The two combine my love for how an environment can be interactive, fun and a learning tool for children and I believe that I will refer to them for a long time in the future. Being doubtful on my practice has hindered my progress, because I hadn’t made a specific decision on a context as to why I want to create a space for children and in what cause to do so. I still feel to date that I haven’t made this specific decision. I’ve spent the last part of the unit worried about the lack of producing creative work, in relevance to my individual project, because of this daunting decision of choosing a specific context. In order for me to continue my progress into BA3b, I really do need to select a context immediately, otherwise I will continue to struggle as I already have. As I struggled with a context for my practice, I do consider that the research I had done played an important role in the project task ‘Publish’. I got the opportunity to work in a collaboration again towards an interactive event. When I felt that I wasn’t contributing enough of my time towards the task, I took my own initiative to experiment with my skills to produce designs for the display. Despite feeling that the designs of a poster and a 3D set-up weren’t that useful towards the event itself, they played a significant role in improving my digital skills that I wanted to experiment with based upon my practice research if I were to take the responsibility of a play space designer. Working in a collaborative setting has now started to become an easily approachable task for me, because of doing many beforehand in second year has taught me what to expect. It also feels that way because I technically had been in collaboration with these people throughout the term, exchanging each other’s ideas for critique and improvement upon our research. The event being spread over the two days was very useful as well as a tool for a practice run. By evaluating Thursday’s event, we were able to produce a more fun and engaging experience the following day for the participants based on the different reactions I saw throughout the experience. Overall this unit has taught me where my passion lies within the creative industry, and I believe that is designing space for children to inhabit for their heart’s desire to explore and discover new possibilities. When I’m contemplating how to make possible work, I’m considering the effects and benefits it may have on the children, in order to ensure I’ll be creating work that’s effective. What I’ve learnt though from my experience with the publish event is it may need a trial run in order to evaluate what’s working and what isn’t. My next steps from BA3a I believe are to distinguish my context, and to develop skills required for the playground design industry. Comments are closed.
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