Junior year @ Ringling

If I could go back in time and start my junior year over again, I would definitely prep more for jr. review. I would actually write down and SAVE the feedback I get from each project. The key word here is SAVE because yeah, I write it down, but along the way it gets lost or forgotten. I would also make all changes needed to all of my work as I went and get teachers' feedback along the way so it's less to worry about in the second half of the year. I would also make sure to save and organize every single one of my files because even if you hate the project at the time, you can always go back to it and make it into something really interesting. I also wish I didn't have to take any elective classes either so I could concentrate on my ad classes more but unfortunately, it is required.

In working with Morgana on the copy portion of the Phoenix Ink project, I learned that it takes about a million revisions to the copy to sound the way you want it to. We had so much information that we needed to include in our body copy so we really had to edit everything down to the simplest form and make it flow nicely so it didn't seem like so much. Sometimes, it's a struggle to come up with that last headline. You may have two really great ones but are lost for the third. I found myself running into this problem frequently and I learned to think more simply. I think I tend to over think that last headline because I'm concerned it won't be as great as the other two. However, if you have a great idea, stick to that main idea. Usually with strong ideas, the rest comes naturally as the campaign progresses.

I like coming up with big ideas and writing headlines, however, I usually overlook the importance of craft in my campaigns. I figure, if the idea is there then the look of the campaign doesn't matter. I have realized through jr. review that looks have everything to do with the campaign. It's the first thing people see so if it doesn't look well designed, they won't even read the copy and never know what the big idea was. You don't really get recognized or any credit on something if the design isn't as good as others. I also learned that it's a lot easier to take all of your own photos if you can. The end result is much cleaner and you can get the exact angle or lighting you want. I just wish we had the opportunity to collaborate with photo students. They have their own work to do so it's hard to get them to find time to help us.

Over the summer, I'm hoping to get an internship. I had the interview where I met with the copywriters and saw the working environment. If I were to get the internship, they would have me working with the copywriters or in marketing writing creative briefs. I think this would be a very good experience for me to see how things are done in the real world and work with professionals. I'm hoping this will also improve my writing skill and give me something for my portfolio. I'm also going to spend the summer looking back on the things I did for jr. review and make some changes to my campaigns. I will probably look at two or three projects that I know how to go about changing and then wait to fix the rest next year when I have teachers available to talk to.

Of course, I'm looking forward to graduating in my senior year. After all, that is the main goal. I'm also looking forward to new classes, new projects, and possibly a new teacher. I hope the new teacher we have can really spend time helping me prepare for the second jr. review. I heard that the projects are more open to the kinds of things we would want to do in our future so that sounds like a great experience. I would love to see some collaboration with other majors like illustration, film, and motion design. If classes are more open to new things next year, maybe this could be a possibility. Overall, I'm just looking forward to getting done and being able to get a job.