5. FINAL YEAR

I came into Design from a rather different background, having studied Medicine for a year straight before. That means my schooling was very much focussed on sciences (although I did continue Fine Art until A-Level). My first year at Imperial College was the first time in my life that I had zero creative output in my schedule, and it was a withdrawal I simply didn't expect would make me so unhappy. Now to be fair, I could easily have gone and done creative things to solve it, but I wasn't quite mature enough to just do things for myself. Coming straight from the education system where every day I had to attend this class and had to submit this homework on time, I was probably too comfortable doing as I was told. I didn't think much beyond that. Now, I'm slowly coming to realise that I hold sole responsibility for what I do and what happens in my life, that I must motivate and discipline myself to achieve goals. Without going too far off topic or discussing bigger philosophical questions, what I mean is that I was smart enough to realise what I wanted but not smart enough to go ahead and do it. So I dropped out and turned to Design. And here I am now beginning my third year at Goldsmiths College, perhaps the ideal place for me to grow and mature.

So. The small matter of deciding a final project for me to undertake for the next 10 months or so. I've come a long way from being the kid who needed a guidance figure to tell me what to do, to now as I'm essentially design my own brief. I came into the programme with high interests around anything design – it was a subject area I'd spend my time reading about and engaging with anyway – but actually bringing with me little skill or experience. I was hoping to pick that up in my first couple of years and to find a discipline or field that I would feel passionate for. Now is as good a time as any to reflect on whether or not I've succeeded in doing so. Which neatly brings me to my initial thoughts on the project.