When I look back on last term and what I’ve learnt, the breadth of information is somewhat overwhelming. However i’d say the two main characteristics I’ve developed and built upon is teamwork and critical thinking.

In secondary school, academic studies were very much individual with little group projects. Even in art foundation, the course was sketchbook based and art from the occasional photoshoot, work was very much your own. However, coming to study FCP at Nottingham Trent has definitely helped me learn the art of patience and perseverance when working in a team. Obviously the groups were allocated so you did not know who you’d be working with from task to task, nor did you have a choice (which i think was a positive learning curve because you don’t get to choose your colleagues in the work place) but people didn’t always pull their weight or were willing to listen to other peoples ideas and opinions. Im really glad I’ve had this experience as teamwork is essential in the field of work this degree will steer me into and from working with all sorts of people you might not meet eye to eye with, it has certainly taught me confidence, patience, encouragement and the group work and live projects in the next module will continue to do so.

The second most important trait I believe I’ve picked up since the beginning of the course is a critical eye. Especially in New york, after learning the FCP process, I constantly found myself questioning the reasoning behind a brand outcome-thinking, Was there a better way of doing that? or Does that really appeal to me or their target audience? I find myself being far more critical than I used to be and have started the inevitable shift from consumer to critique!

-Kirsty