Intro

53. That’s how many days are standing between us and the last day of term 1. It’s been said that it’s impossible to predict the future, but impossible never stopped an SCA student before. Here’s our take on what will have changed and what we’ll have achieved by then:

Louise

As someone with anxious tendencies, my brain is constantly trying to predict the future. The thing is, I almost always get it wrong. Throw studying at SCA – that by nature is unpredictable – into the mix, and it becomes almost impossible. That’s not going to stop me from trying though. When the calendar says 16^th of July 2021,  I’ll have mastered:

• managing my time to such an extent that socialising, collecting dots and relaxing are regularly occurring events in my otherwise SCA and work-loaded calendar
  
• letting SUN dominate my communication style. I’ve always been conscious not to RAIN on others’ parades, but get your sunglasses out because I predict even more sunny spells
  
• the art of receiving negative feedback. So far, I’ve been spared from the soul-destroying kind, but I don’t expect that to last and by the end of term 1, I’ll have learned to not take it personally

Sam

It’s only going to get harder from here. That’s all we know, it’s going to ‘step up’ after term one. But that’s what we want, we want to be pushed. I think it will be tough but I’ll get the swing of things and work out a schedule to prioritise my work, I’ll fall into a rhythm. I’ll be a little bit better at all the Adobe programs and understand strategy better. I’ll also have more confidence in myself when presenting and be used to collecting dots and always questioning things I see in my day to day life to get my creative brain flowing. 

Sarah

By the end of term, I will have maxed out on points as I tear it up week after week with my showstopping work. The mentors will love me, Stick It will fear me, and Checkout will wish they were me.

Failing that, if by then I can just look back and see a distinct improvement in my work, I’ll be beaming. Hopefully I’ll have also gotten better at time management, because right now I’m still figuring out what to prioritise, and how long things take. Come July, I’ll be faster at Adobe and more efficient with my schedule. I’m not going to be too ambitious, but if I can spare an additional hour a day to get out and exercise, that would be ideal. I’ve been aiming to be fit enough to run a half marathon, but since term started, moving my body has felt like trying to shift a sofa down a flight of stairs.

I hope that I’ll get to know each of the mentors better, and be more used to voluntarily opening myself up to critique. Over the next couple of months, I should be gaining confidence as I learn to let go, and not take negative feedback to heart. 

Charlie

Learning how to sleep  would probably be a decent outcome for the end of this term. My tendency to anxiously carve time out of any periods I’ve allocated for rest to fruitlessly stress about details in my work I can’t change is the main challenge I’ve encountered. Therefore, I’d hope by the end of this term I’d have managed to lock down a saner schedule to allow me to actually work productively and to focus far more effectively. My current habits simply result in a cycle of late nights and unproductive work that undercuts any quality any initial idea might have had. I hope my experiences over this half term will leave me far more prepared to anticipate the growing challenges that we’ll take on before the term ends however. 

 Apart from ceasing to share a sleep schedule with a vampire I’d like to have become more decisive in the ideas stage of my work. I often find myself chasing red herrings because I’ve become initially attached to an idea when I should have either developed it further into multiple options or had the guts to abandon it in favour of starting again with fresh eyes. Organising my work has always been my greatest challenge and I hope that by the end of this term I’ll have scheduled out my projects to actually let me breathe and enjoy my work rather than stockpiling anxieties by letting time get away from me constantly. 

Kadie 

Stick at the end of the term: My Prediction is that we will be more willing to take a risk, push limits are more open to exploring more ideas. I predict that as a group we learn that creativity is not limited and that even though we might have thought we had a green hat that under pressure we could be black or white. As a group we started to push those barriers that we thought were the roof. The roof is no longer the limit and heading into the second term we can discover that we can go further than the sky. We are the rainbow colour of 6 hats and can adapt when needed. I have surprised myself with what I can do in a short time limit. I have started to learn the importance of time management and am still working on it. I predict it won’t be something that takes too long to master and I will be better creative for it.

Tope 

With term one nearly completed and term two  around the corner, which I know and heard will be more challenging . I hope to be able to challenge myself further to produce better creative work through the various briefs set and used the knowledge from the mentors  and also get to know my cohort more all before July.

Hailee

-I’d be rapping as one of my Friday afternoon reflection sessions. (That’s one of the thing that I always wanted to try but never had enough confidence to even bring myself close to trying) 

-I’d become less concerned about whether or not I am fit to become art director with no solid design/graphic training or high proficiency in Adobe. Or that I somewhat really enjoy writing but have somehow ruled out this possibility for myself. It’s not which one I perhaps could be, I don’t need to fill up a criteria. 

-I’d become a lot more loose, more comfortable in being myself and letting go some of the self-awareness, fear and assumptions that prevent me from asking more questions, and engaging with people and things. 

 -I’d be working to build a boundless safe space for my ideas to be incubated and nurtured.

-I’d be more aware of my tendency and my barriers, my strength and weakness  (potentially through 6 hats), what drives me to keep going in circles, what blocks me. 

 -I’ be sharper in vision and more structural in execution.

Along the way, I find myself in continuous re-orientation towards a clearer goal, and enjoying the landscape it brought me to. 

-I’m excited to be building partnerships with our fellow cohorts (Stickers?)

-I’d be starting the project that I wanted to start, no matter at what pace. 

-I’d like to take part in an interesting project/role during the summer. 

Ps, All of the anticipation and expectation above are only measured in relative increments. I can’t expect myself to become a new person in one month or so, but as long as I feel the dial has shifted forward a little bit, it means it’s going. 

Magda

When July comes, I will be better at managing my time and I will have learnt that I need at least 8 hours a day to sleep. As a result, I will be less stressed.

I will have built up relationships with the mentors. 

I will be better at identifying when an idea deserves more attention and when it’s time to let it go. 

And I will look back at the work that I did from the beginning of the term and see real improvements.

Lottie

The first term has been a lot of juggling work and trying to finish briefs. It’s not the easiest. But I definitely feel thankful and that i’ve learnt a lot of things that maybe I hadn’t even thought about before. My brain feels like it’s expanding (swollen) at the end of each day.

I keep seeing Checkout’s amazing work and posters and I’m like how did they even do that?! I feel so far off. Hopefully in the next term I’ll be working my way towards being an Adobe wizard and efficient timekeeper/ multitasker. Starting to produce more work that I can use and be proud of.

Jael

We’re nearing the end of the course and the progress that we’ve made as a collective is amazing. We’re fluent in six hatting and divergent thinking. Our brains have blossomed into ad making powerhouses. 

I’ve always tried to have a positive mindset and I’m a firm believer in speaking things into existence- the tongue has so much power. As for me, I’m smashing it! Throughout the course I’ve been a sponge and soaked up as much knowledge and have learned to apply it. I finally feel like I’ve built the foundation that I set out to build at the start of the course. I’m taking risks that I never thought I would. I’m being more open which has allowed me to really grow as a creative- I’ve learned so much about myself and the way I work throughout this whole process. I’m ready to go back out there and make great work. 

Ellie

When it comes to predicting the future it just so happens that I actually know someone who can predict the future. It’s through the medium of horoscopes, so is 100% legit, and was definitely not just written by me.

Gemini: On the 12th June at 4:07pm you will remember the name of that person you’ve been trying to remember the name of for the past 3 weeks. Nothing else happens in your life this month.

Cancer: Oh dear. Not good news I’m afraid. You will be haunted this summer. You will be haunted by the memory of a joke you told this month that didn’t land well. It could have been that the timing was off, or the fact it was a little bit sexist.

Leo: You might have a very difficult conversation coming up with someone this month. It may be with a friend, or your partner, or a family member. Or an old school friend, or someone you just met on the street. You might also not have a very difficult conversation coming up with someone this month. Either way works for me.

Virgo: This month your mercury is in retrograde. This means you need to tell a person that isn’t your partner that you are in love with them, even if it does ruin your life. I am not saying you absolutely must do it, but if you don’t, your life will come to ruin. Your choice really.

Libra: This month you might get rabies. And not the good kind.

Scorpio: Well well well. You lie a great deal don’t you? You can be hot headed and people think you’ve… Wait, sorry, that’s Sagittarius. Scorpio, you’re fine this month. I think. 

Sagittarius: Well well well. You lie a great deal don’t you? You can be hot headed and people think you’ve been a bit of a jerk lately. You’re the worst of the lot.

Capricorns: Do you remember that guy from Al Murray’s Great British Pub Quiz? English comedian, dresses like a schoolboy. That guy will have absolutely no baring on your life this month.

Aquarius: With beer gardens now open you will discover you are getting even more attention. Fame will shortly follow… but for all the wrong reasons. Remember that whatever happens in the beer garden, will only be seen in the darkest corners of the internet.

Pisces: It’s time to stop being a typical Pisces and let your hair down. This month sees your ruler Jupiter align with the stars – take a cue from Jupiter to relax & heal. Negative energy may come your way when mercury moves toward the sun but you can counteract this by eating more vegetables that come from the ground.

Aries: The stars and planets will not affect your life this month.

Taurus: You let your vivid imagination get the better of you this month You think you’re being followed by the police for flouting the lockdown rules that one time back in August. Little do you know the Russians have actually been following you for the past 2 years, but I really can’t say anymore.

As for me and my achievements, if it doesn’t work out this term, I will try my hand at horoscope writing. I have always wanted to try that.

Agatha

I have been told that writing ambitions as if they have already been achieved is the best way to make them actually happen. So that’s what I am going to do, because let’s be honest I need it right now (after all it is Sunday 11pm after a weekend of my 12 year old’s endless birthday shenanigans, and I am sat at my computer writing and rewriting random sentences that I hope make some sort of sense).

We’re at the end of term 1 and this is what I want to say: YES! I am SO proud of what I have achieved. I won all the briefs! My scamps were great! Everyone is awesome and so am I! I completely understand and know how to use the Six Hat, the Stick It, the SUN, the Opposites, the Superhero, the List it, Hit it, Pitch it, Win it techniques – I get them all and more. I love my fellow students and we are best buddies because we are totally in this together – who else could possibly understand what it’s like to spend all this time and energy furiously hashing out mad thoughts just to get to their core true insight? How lucky are we? Because now we know how. And thankfully, I have learnt how to pick the best ideas, make them clearer and cleaner and stronger, and every risk I have taken has been worth it, even through the pain and the failures, because that is the best way to learn. I have shed all self doubt and my confidence radiates, in the best possible way. I am winning, I am recognised and I am getting all the points (oooh those beautiful little points!) and it all feels amazing. I am at the edge of a precipice and I am ready and excited to jump.