By James Reynolds

Going Solo

It’s the final day of term two. Spring has sprung and the finishing line in July is almost in sight.

Now D&AD is done, all of our focus has quickly shifted to our books, partners and placements.

Everyone is partnering up and appear to be settling down with each other. I chose to go solo for a few weeks.

It’s been good to experience both ways of working. There are pros and cons for each.

By working on your own you can make executive decisions without any resistance. If you like something you just go with it. No one to talk you out of it. In a partnership you can often spend a long time trying to settle on an idea that you are both happy with. I’ve really enjoyed being able to craft at an earlier stage too.

On the other hand, working alone you only have your internal voice to talk to. It feels quite strange actually. Trying to work in the same way with all the techniques that we have learnt over the past months, talking to yourself in your head. You really have to trust your gut.

It’s arguably less fun. And more like ‘work’. And requires more self-motivation.

They do say 1+1=3 (a more interesting third person). Which is true. So working alone doesn’t mean you can’t bounce your ideas of mentors or other students, who can add and build on things.

It has given me some confidence, to know that I can produce work on my own, and I don’t rely on anyone else.

It’s nice to concentrate on your book and not worry about meeting up at specific times. It does mean double the work though.

I don’t plan to be a ‘single’ going forward. But who knows. I’m not one to plan too far ahead. There are a lot of factors at play.