Thoughts after the UGL week at Hyper Island. Week #2

That was a really tough week at Hyper Island. We spend 4 whole days on Understanding Group and Leadership course. I must admit that it opened me a little bit and made me more comfortable with being with all those new and very interesting people. We went through many group tasks and the main thing I learned is that in order to accomplish bigger tasks a group has to stay really close together. The thing that stayed in my head after it is the power of self reflection. It seems to be obvious, but it is so easy to forget what is going on inside of you. I often feel that I go with the flow and I find it hard to stay cool. I need to keep my personal diary. It expands awareness of what is going inside. That will be a key thing and I am absolutely sure about that.

I have always been quite cautions about belonging to any groups. I tried to keep myself away from it. What I discovered now is that there is an incredible amount of energy and power that people just pass around. I am sure though, that the biggest source of power lies within. Being an accepted part of a group empowers you and in this society is a must to survive.

Be honest.
Keep it simple.
Respect.
Commit.

I have found areas where I want to work on my personality.

1. Self-reflection
- Keep my blog updated at least once a week
- Keep a personal diary an a daily basis

2. Communication
- Get some audiobooks on communicating emotions
- Master and read body language
- See workshops on this area
- Do workshops on After Effects and Photoshop
- Ask for and give feedback

3. Motivation
- Find a short-term and long-term goal and visualize it

We have a idea generation week coming up next week. That is something I needed a long time ago. So far I am really surprised with Hyper Island I have a feeling that it was a perfect choice for a person like me. In a couple of weeks we are going to make some industry contact and Mobile Landscape exploration. I am well excited.

Another thing is organization of our Facebook Group, Twitter and blog. We need to talk about it and delegate work to other classmates. I feel some pressure right now.

Week before group dynamics and UGL

I got myself installed in Karlskrona. The first days at Hyper Island was filled with meeting new people and introduction to the course. My personal presentation looked like that.

It seems that we are a group of people with very different background and it is really exciting. Moreover, we are the very first course in the field of Mobile Applications and that's even more stimulating.

I had in my head some routines/initiatives that I will try to follow in those next 60 weeks. The first that came to my mind are:

1. Keep this blog running at least once a week, so I will have a clearer view of what's going on with my progression,

2. Try to get my hands on student competitions like D&AD2011 etc.,
3. Expand personal networking,
4. Keep track of my time and post it here once a week,

There must be more things/routines and I will add it later on. I have a couple of more things to do with my room and the flat, but there are some more days before the real learning and frustration begins.

The day before Hyper Island begins

I have chosen Mobile Applications program in Karlskrona. Big unknown. I moved again. I managed to find a reasonable place to live. Tomorrow it starts. Work. Lots of work.

Recruitment day in Karlskrona

Last Sunday I visited Karlskrona for a recruitment day at Hyper Island. I have never been to those premises and I were absolutely stunned with the place and the city. Nevertheless, I stick to Stockholm, the beauty of Karlskrona and uniqueness of Kronohäktet and Båtsman are the only advantages of it. Stockholm is much closer to the industry, Skavsta airport, has IAD students and I have a lovely flat just by Telefonplan. Yeah, it couldn't be better for me. I am looking forward to this Hyper adventure. But, first I have to wait until 5th July for my application results.

What about my interview? I am happy with my presentation in Swedish. Well, there are hundreds of things I would like to add to my interview, but I had that feeling after the first meeting with HI staff. Group assignment was a nice experience despite of not very good final outcome of our task. We had a bunch of great ideas, but they were not executed well.

That was it pretty much. I feel much more motivated after that recruitment day. I feel that I can make much more from my Swedish as well. I will not lose this ability among Swedish speaking students, I know it!

Hålla på tummarna ;)

Creative practice

Life for me goes a little bit slower than a couple of month ago. I managed to pass my Swedish test, actually I got the highest mark available on it! Then, I made my work sample and applied for a place at Hyper Island. Apart from my make-a-living job I have not much to do. To be honest, I do not enjoy it.

I have surfed through various design contest on Twitter and I found some great positions. I feel that this is sort of thing I really need at this moment.

1. Together or apart?
Artists are invited to submit creative interpretations of this year's competition theme: „Together or apart?”. The First Prize Award is 7000 PLN (about € 1750, $ 2200). The 10 most outstanding projects will be presented during the Art Moves Billboard Festival in September/October 2010 in Torun, Poland.

2. Behind the logo
BP's slick green logo doesn't suit a company that wants to invest in tar sands, the dirtiest oil there currently is.

3. Design contest for iamasource.com
We are the brand new crowdsourcing website for graphics, advertising and design. IamaSource is just that, “I am a Source”. Our community is an unlimited source of inspiration and creativity for clients, but at the same time a meeting point for designers who want to compete and grow professionally. Award: 2500 Euro.

This is all I found so far. I am sure that there is more contests, but I simply overlooked them. The logo design for iamasource.com has a fat award. However the website itself does not look professionally at all. The brief is written in a way that makes me doubt it even more. Nevertheless, I need to refresh my portfolio and this would be a great way to create something new.

social networks 2020

As a Hyper Island applicant I was asked to create a work sample for the recruitment process. In my situation I had to manage a lot of thing, so I was not completely focused on the Social Networks 2020 project. I began to fully contribute to the work in April, when all my Swedish exams were finished and my flat was sorted out. Finding a good place to live is quite a mission in Stockholm, in my case it is a story for a long post. There will be time to write about that as well.

During the time of researching the topic I must say that I opened myself on the social media services. I always heard about the possibilities created by this closely connected web, but I never actually realized how many opportunities there was. Well, of course there must be a lot more, but I do not know (or better: feel) it.

Some of the things I learned while working on Social Networks 2020:

1. I discovered that twitter is an amazing place for research on any field.
2. I became updated with what is going on in the industry. I really needed that, because the process of learning Swedish was extremely involving which somehow disconnected me from other creative fields.
3. I refreshed my knowledge of motion graphics. This way of presenting ideas will be crucial in presenting work for D&AD and other contests.

And this is my work:

Social Networks 2020 from Jakub Burkot on Vimeo.

I cannot wait for response on my application ...and the recruitment days... and finally, beginning of the course. It is sooo close!

Just a quick 'welcome back' message

Today, was the day when I reorganised my place here. I need to keep notes from my creative projects here up-to-date. Quite a lot of things has happened in the last month. I will write about it soon. Tomorrow.