Day 30–31
I’m wrapping up my practicum at 123w by revising and finishing up my illustration as much as possible. I also got to do a peer review of some ad spots I helped reference photos for John. I didn’t realize how much post-editing goes into these videos. And honestly, it was a little hard to critique and choose a favourite version because some of the objects were still missing, and I had a hard time imagining if I understood the scenes without those more minor details. It makes me realize how hard critiquing, and a creative director’s job is. Having to come in to guide the overarching vision and give a helpful, objective, but empathetic opinion is such a tricky balance to strike.
Good news though, I will be continuing to work contract freelance with 123w for the next couple of months! 🎉 They’re a great team, and I hope to learn more from them while in an official work dynamic. I am also a little scared because now I’ll be getting paid for this work, haha. But I’m super grateful they believe in my potential enough to keep working with me. 🥰💛 It’s also nice to just work at my own hours. I’m not in a big rush to find any permanent job quite yet and I’m looking forward to doing my own personal projects and skills-building these next few months.
While reflecting on my entire practicum experience, I consider it was super important to go through. I know I missed out on a lot of things like casual conversations and connections with people, immersion into a culture, being able to listen into client meetings, and tag along and watch the shoots. But I improved my written communication skills, and I realized how much more polished your work needs to be, even for progress checks (at least at 123w). And it’s not like school where teachers help guide and direct your seeds of an idea, but it’s best when you come to the table with more concrete and fully formulated ideas. I feel there’s a greater sense of ownership of your concepts and expectations to progress yourself because you have the skills already—less handholding. It’s a crazy thought that this is how 4 years end, but I hope the class can meet up eventually to have an official send-off.
