April 28, 2017
- Viktoria Dekany
- Apr 28, 2017
- 4 min read
PERSONAL ANALYSIS
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats
I have already shared some thoughts of my journey of the 3-year university, but as it's almost coming to an end, I wanted to have an extended discussion about it.
Three years ago, I started the course with a big motivation and willpower to become a successful interior architect in the future. I am the kind of person who likes planning ahead and focuses on the target all the time. This incites me to work with not 100% but 150% effort to complete the tasks in the highest level. As a consequence, I can state that one of my strengths and (which is also one of) my weaknesses is the virtue of maximalism. I think it's a blessing and curse at once, but I rather work double than staying lazy without any motivation!
Lifelong learning! If I look back for the past years, my maximalism was often caused "unnecessary" hours of overworking on projects but honestly, I don't mind. I will never regret any hours which I spent on working on my projects because it made me achieve the point where I'm at the moment. This also implies that one thing is what I've learnt during this course for sure - Being a (successful) designer requires a lifelong learning!
Luckily, I had many years of experience in hand-drawing so I can easily sketch my ideas anywhere at anytime. However, during the years, my drawing skills have developed even better which makes me really happy as I believe that a designer needs to have a good sketching skill besides the computer aided design skills. Today, everyone can learn different softwares but not all of these people can sketch even a single rectangle. I can say that sketching is a big strength of mine and I think it makes us unique and different from other designers, hence I am definitely continue to develop my own style.
Planning, planning and planning! Moving forward from my sketching skills, I think my overall visualisation skill is very good. I love using PhotoShop and playing with different styles, textures. Obviously, I can use different rendering softwares but I prefer create something unusual but still realistic image. CGI images are excellent to showcase the proposed design but it can be also boring. I like mixing up different things and have some fun with the visualisation. I have to confess that my best part of being a designer is creating visuals. I love the feeling when the 3D model is ready and I can finally start working on the "fun" images.
Besides the lifelong learning, there are some other things what I want to highlight. I have always been a good time planner, but the three years at university made me achieve the highest level of my management skill. I have never ever been more organised then now. I write a 'to do' list every day in my notebook which also enable to easily track my progression. Working on four-five projects at the same time is quite challenging but not impossible. Of course, I wish I could have at least 36 hours for a day, but at the moment I have to squeeze everything in one day. Once again, planning is indispensable in a designer's life. You can create the best design proposal ever, but success only comes if you fulfill your task in time! This leads back to my weaknesses at some point as I find the hardest thing is to stop working on something what I actually could continue if I had more time. It's a very hard feeling but a good designer have to know when is the time to move on and concentrate on other parts of the project.
Then, I have learnt that technique can be very painful, so whatever you are working at the moment, do not forget to save your work!!! One of the worst feeling when you lost numerous hours of the job and have to start over again. I always learn from my mistakes and since a massive failure in the first year, I save my work in every 10 minutes just in case...
Thinking outside of the box! I often restricted myself to fulfill only all requirements of the university modules, however I should have experimented more. This year I was more brave and tried to have some actual fun of being a designer.
One of my project lead me to realise what my passion is within the design industry. I believe that we have the power to change people' lifestyles and I decided to specialise on the nature integrated, environment friendly, sustainable - green design. This is something which is really interests me not only as a designer but a person. I love being in the nature and the knowing that it has several benefit to people and the planet, I want to contribute for its growing.
I have always been helpful to people and the feeling that I can create something which has a positive affect on them, is invaluable. I hope that sustainability will grow in the sector of both urban planning and architecture, as we really need more green spaces for our concrete jungles.
Opportunities? Well, one of the greatest period of my life will come to its end soon which excited me to think of my future. As my five-year plan is completed, I feel I have to find another goals to achieve. One of my biggest dream is to take an internship abroad, particularly in Spain. Things are looking well at the moment, the founder of a private university in Benidorm offered me a teaching/mentoring internship from this autumn! I am over the moon, this would be an amazing opportunity to develop both my personal and professional profile.
Besides the internship, I would like to extend my knowledge and start a PhD course in Environment and Sustainable Development at the University College London from next year. However, I am open for any other beneficial opportunities that would come up in the future. I want to travel, discover architecture all over the world and inspire myself all the time. I also want to join to different design associations so I can receive the newest informations and trends in design.
And lastly, threads are always surround us. One of the biggest thread for a designer is to keep the pace with technology. There will be always better and better softwares that we have to learn to use. However, I believe if we keep our target in the centre of focus, we can avoid threads.
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