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Initially this module was very, very daunting. It felt super different from what we had done in the past in its concept, medium, and output so it all felt very new and very scary at times, especially because we were dealing with "real" clients and had to produce something meaningful in a very different way. Working with perhaps extreme ethical considerations as well was a big one I felt but it forced me to take my work a lot more seriously in a way that I might not have otherwise. What I'm really grateful for within this module was how it provoked me to look behind the scenes and get into the nitty-gritty of how systems actually work. I really enjoyed getting stuck into thinking about applying something to an existing ecosystem and I felt that the key takeaway that I learned within this module was that

in a real work environment or on a real project, almost 99% of the time you're going to be walking into existing infrastructure. I think your role as a designer is to be as flexible as possible in a lot of ways and how you can weave a new idea into something that already exists. It's without detracting from what's there but also adding value in what you add.

I think as well, working as a group was very testing at times but it did force me, like how walking into a real project will have existing infrastructure, walking into a workplace will have an existing team. It very much felt that way. People play to their strengths but as well as that often people didn't realise their strengths and not too they didn't realise their weaknesses, which is something that I noticed.

I think I did well to work as part of a group but I definitely felt as though I fell into a particular role quite early on. That became where I remained for the rest of the project but it was a role that I was entirely comfortable doing. It felt operational in some sense and perhaps directional but I think, whilst that does feel like I might have controlled or swayed the group in a much more substantial way than others, it did feel appropriate.

I felt that we all gave each other the chance to slot into the relevant positions that we felt suited our strengths or suited the things that we wanted to work on and that we were comfortable working on. With that in mind I don't feel as though it was forceful or unconsidered in any way. I think everyone was very happy with where we ended up in that sense.

We did have a group member missing for 90% of the project, which we adapted to and it didn't become much of an issue. We were happy to spread the workload but what became an issue is that they showed up on the day of our final presentation expecting to deliver on that presentation. We had to very awkwardly remind them that they hadn't been present during any of the project so their contribution here would be very minimal. I kind of liked this in some ways. It meant that we had to, as a group, have an awkward conversation and deliver some cut-throat messages that we'd all prefer to avoid. Again it proved to be super valuable in terms of preparing for the real working world.

I can't stress enough how my perspective of this project shifted so quickly from being quite daunting initially to being something that I feel very sentimental over now that's coming to an end. It's definitely changed how I view myself as a designer. I definitely think before I felt I was a lot more visually inclined. I think that I have a knack for composition in some ways and understanding space but what I think I really find out is that I do understand systems as well in a way that many other people might not enjoy but I definitely enjoy it. I didn't feel like anything I've ever worked on before, which was exciting. I really hope that down the line maybe in the working world, that this is the kind of problem that I do get to solve.

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