Today I spent the afternoon with other viscom students to hear the experiences of past and current students. It was great to get so many creatives together to hear about the potential and innovation coming from Belfast! There are so many opportunities and events happening right on our doorstep!
First up was Chelsea. For only being in Northern Ireland a few months she was ridiculously confident. Her enthusiasm for exploring and developing herself and career where so strong and passionate. She spoke of her fear of portraiture photography and that the only way to develop her design skills is to confront your fears. 'Approach design fearlessly,' such a quotation to live a design career by and extremely powerful to those thinking of going abroad or into placement. I was especially interested with her views and experiences of design perception and attitudes in different countries and how the education systems supported this also. Her developing confidence and appreciation of the opportunity to study in Belfast where clearly shown, making me quite humbled to be from such a city full of creative potential!
Next up were three incredibly innovative girls, Lucy Liddell, RoisÃn Magill and Claire Wiggans. During their placement year they explore their entrepreneurial creative minds to create a space for creatives and employment within Belfast. It was evident that their abilities to create, develop and share ideas strengthened greatly throughout the year as well as their business and entrepreneurial sense of mind. They expressed how they found their own strengths and roles within Enyo and how this allowed them to work together stronger and to move the idea and creative prospects forward. They developed their time management skills, business resources and plan allowing them to take part in several pitches reflecting how far they had developed and how passionate they really were about design! Throughout the year their main achievements included creating networking events, pitching to E-Synergy, Visual Belfast Ezine and music competitions, not to mention their own personal developments and growth, general recognition, establishing themselves with a positive reputation. Their want to include all creatives within belfast and to form a network shows their passion for the subject and a serious potential for each of their future careers! Three seriously innovative and inspirational girls to watch out for!
Last up was Karla Burns, a recent graduate who was successful in ISTD (International Society of Typographic Designers) and is currently an intern on a year abroad in Kentucky. So much exciting and potential creative ventures are already happening! She spoke so enthusiastically about D&AD and humbly about how it helped her career especially as a recent post-graduate. Her stories and imagery from Kentucky and her of what her daily life entailed where full of character, personality and a passion for design! However, the way in which she spoke about Belfast's potential and especially the University of Ulster's Design for Visual Communications course, expressed such a flourish and talent for design and creativity right here in Belfast. Opportunity and the ability to network and express our passion and talent for design is in our hands and in our city!
Many thanks to all who helped put the event together and for all the girls for being so inspirational and passionate about design and of course for all the Christmas treats and tree! Yum!
Alexandrina
