Reflection of Part 2

In the second part of the honours programme, I learned a lot about both my creative process and myself. This project pushed me to not only think strategically, but also to trust my ideas and work more calmly. At the beginning, I often felt stressed and compared myself to others, especially when I felt like they were moving faster or had better ideas. However, over time, I learned to slow down more, focus on my own process, and be more present. I realised that creativity actually works better when I am calm and not rushing.

Looking at my personal learning goals, I think I made good progress. First, regarding calming down and being present, I did not fully master it, but I became much more aware of it. This is really because I started tracking all my stressful moments for my personal project. This time, I tried to enjoy the process more instead of only focusing on the end result. There were still moments of stress, but I handled them better than before.

For telling stories visually, I think I improved a lot. Through my slides and especially the interactive poster concept, I focused on expressing emotion without using too many words. The red string idea is a good example of this, because it communicates connection and imperfection in a simple, visual way. I feel like this is a step toward creating more emotional and meaningful campaigns, like NGO-style storytelling. I also feel like the small artproject that I made, had some interactive element to it, which is something I want to build on when I am on exchnage because the university offers a course that specialises in that.

In terms of building creative and technical skills, I clearly developed myself. I worked a lot with Canva during this challenge and became more confident in designing layouts and visuals. I also realised that I really enjoy this type of creative work, which motivates me to keep improving these skills in the future. I also used the skills I gained while making the poster for conny jansen danst for my BIP programme in Linkoping. I also made a poster for the company Biototal, and my previous experiences gained here really helped with that.

Reflecting and tracking my growth is something I did less consistently. I became more aware of my stress and progress, but I did not actively journal or reflect as much as I wanted to. This is still an area I want to improve, because I can see how it would help me stay more balanced.

Finally, I learned more about mindful storytelling. I understand better how to balance being informative and emotional. In our challenge concept, we did not just give information about the performance, but we tried to create a feeling and connection through imperfection. This showed me how storytelling can move people and make them more engaged.

Overall, this part of the honours programme helped me grow creatively and personally. I feel more confident in my skills, but also more aware of what I still want to improve.