Diploma Portfolio : 08 Writing Design

Summary

Context: As part of my artist’s practice I write. A lot. I really wanted to do a design to help me collate these writings in some way and get them into some more manageable form to share with others.
Framework: Dragon Dreaming (see online information)
Tools: These were all specific to the Dragon Dreaming model.
Key successes: I had a framework from which to start looking at the notebooks and identified some blockages that were holding me back. Sharing them with some friends and getting helpful and encouraging responses.
Key challenges and how they were overcome: Disappointment with the slowness of the process and how little I progressed the aims – overcome by realising it wasn’t the right time to fully address this design and that the achievements I made with it were enough for the moment.
Evaluation: The objective wasn’t achieved but a plan of action was. I also managed to see the writing through other people’s eye’s more through the process of doing the design which helped me think about the future of a more manageable form and also led me to question how necessary it was.
Reflection: It was so great using the Dragon Dreaming process in a ‘real life’ context and enabled me to consolidate more what I’d learnt on the weekend course I’d done, learning it. Although the tools used were very specific to the Dragon Dreaming process, they are very transferable eg as part of the Dreaming Phase you are required to tell the story of the design outcome putting yourself into a future time. This is something I do as part of my coaching work but it was great to practice it here in this context. I also really liked how the quadrants are supposed to be equally balanced through the process which made me look much more closely at celebrating as an important part.