Discourse - 1: Practical work and analysis on work

What practical work am I doing?

I am doing a campaign to promote a local town (Mantin, Negeri Sembilan). Most of my work involves digital printing and the usage of the computer, as well as experimenting with embroidery for some promotional materials.

Why work in that way?

Mostly because I think working digitally is much less time-consuming and also helps me see how my project looks like almost immediately. The research involved in this project does not just involve what the places of interest in Mantin are, but also on some current trends that designers today are delving into -- vintage-style photography and minimalism, especially. Judging from my target demographic for this project (mainly young people aged 18 to 35), I thought these trends would translate well into my project.

How am I doing the work?

I start off with researching about Mantin and what places of interest that can be found there. I learned that there are quite a number of places of interest in Mantin -- a homestay in Kampung Rawa (not far off from the town of Mantin), Broga Hill, Lenggeng Forest Reserve, as well as The Dusun. Many of these places of interest are not exactly located in the town of Mantin, but they are within the area.

After that, I start developing ideas. At first I wanted to focus solely on social media, but decided otherwise as it might end up becoming a time-consuming process. So I brainstormed, and came up with a number of ideas: souvenirs, embroidering a logo on practical items like backpacks and caps, and a mockup of a magazine article. In the end, I decided on actually embroidering the logo of my project on a cap, as well as making an A3 poster and a magazine feature mockup.

What will make the work stronger?

I think many of my mistakes come from poor time management and plenty of procrastination. I believe that I have solid ideas for my work, but more often than not, most of then did not turn out the way I envision them to. Mostly I believe that, by planning my time better and working on them at a timely fashion, I can create more solid, workable designs for my future projects.