My planning for the progression brief is almost the same as with the previous project. The methods that I have tested and narrowed down service my organisational overview best, acting as guides for my work ethic and goals within my schedule that I aim for on a time and quantity basis. Considering my personal opinion of the output of my Creative Project, I did not expect to be going down the same path again, in terms of scheduling. However, I explained in my post-mortem that it was the first time I had dealt with such a situation, where a majorly important work deadline overlapped with an important family trip. I overestimated how much time I would have and did not consider the level of detail I hold as a standard for my blogs thus having to resort to last-minute effort in order to hand in everything required. Furthermore, I am quite stubborn when realising my own ideas in that I refused to scale down the sheer scope of my animation and project idea despite the fact that it was incredibly ambitious for the time period that I was given.

I have high hopes once more, this time with the knowledge that the project requirements are more specific and involve a lot of previous assignments. Why shouldn’t I use the methods that work best for me? With the tighter time limitations and reduced workload, I have faith that they will see me through as before since they are designed for a schedule with stricter outlines and a clear final product to time interval ratio.

 

 

｡･ﾟﾟ･  Notion & Scheduling  ･ﾟﾟ･｡

 

In my last Production Management post, I talked about the changes I had decided to make in my organisation. Up until the last year, I had used various methods for tracking my work, media usage and online presence, from school applications and self-journaling to physical planners and notebooks. I found myself jumping from book to book and app to app and continuously split between multiple different formats, relying on their design specifications to meet the needs of each area in my life. I wanted something more cohesive and discovered Notion through my hunt for student software on YouTube. I was hooked by the line all-in-one tool and began my deep dive into the program’s capabilities, providing individuals and teams a platform to plan, write, collaborate, and organise. Of course, no software is perfect, which is why I compiled some pros and cons before starting that I have added below.

 

– Cons –

It takes time to set up. My journey with Notion is ongoing, even today, since the sheer amount of features and options that can be utilised need time to be explored. For a single person who is willing to do so for the sake of the transition, this doesn’t pose much of a problem. However, project teams need a capable solution that works immediately, with minimum configuration.

The search and navigation need improvement, with a greater level of data required to find an exact work item or page and the sidebar being somewhat rudimentary in its page grouping system.

Exporting to another document is a hassle due to the formatting of the text. Copy/paste does not work well, which is carried across to other file types, leaving users looking for additional capabilities such as PDF and image annotation.

 

– Pros –

The clean workspace serves as an ideal space to track projects thanks to the page system that resembles document/file organisation, which is familiar and easy to get the hang of.

The ability to choose from tools such as wikis, Kanban boards, tables, lists, and calendars as well as customisation options such as images and colours allow full customisation.

Despite the time needed to set up, Notion is very user-friendly. There are hundreds of tutorials available online, ready-made templates available to drag, drop and customise and responsive technical support.

Contextual communication: Notion has high accessibility, clear visibility, and real-time updates, meaning multiple projects can be tracked at the same time, making it much more than just a text editor.

 

I have been using the program for almost half a year at this point and I can say with certainty that it has been a game-changer. By being able to personalise each page and have full organisational and aesthetic freedom, I can implement structures that are best suited to my workflow and maximise productivity. It’s clutter-free, has an amazingly complex note-taking capacity and saves a lot of time by being a single platform with multiple tools. Furthermore, knowing that I can log in from any device gives me peace of mind, since my schedule is saved and carried with me everywhere I go.

 

 

The amount of time I have had to dedicate, and still do dedicate, to organising the pages doesn’t bother me at all and is in fact part of the enjoyment; the flexibility and constant availability for change reflect how real life is. Ever-shifting and continuously updating. Work is never the same for long, especially not in the VFX and Animation industry, and having a planner by my side that can keep up with that is brilliant for both my mental health and overall happiness. I will be continuing my use of Notion through university now that I know how essential a multi-task platform is for my work, as can be seen below with the scheduling techniques that I have explained, all of which reside in my college section.

 

✦  RAG  ✦

 

Project tracking, control and monitoring involve measuring progress, taking corrective action and keeping you and/or your team informed. This is where the traffic light system or RAG status definition comes in. It can be used as a visual cue to communicate project performance and showcase development based on colour-meaning assignments. Precisely because of this flexibility, I enjoy using the RAG system and find it so effective, since it can be personalised depending on the individual’s working methods, the project and what kind of information needs to be traced. For example, the traffic light colours can correspond to the presence/absence of any particular issues or the viability, time, cost or scope of an idea or task. Personally, I use it to record completion status: anything highlighted in red has not been started thus the colour choice conveys urgency. Orange, or in my case yellow, is for tasks that have been started but still need more detail and aren’t ready to be submitted. Finally, the most positive and neutral colour, green is added to tasks which are complete.

 

 

This overview of the brief allows me to see the percentage of the work that I have completed as a whole. It also acts as an official manual for what I need to put in my blogs specifically, which I use to then add detail to my Kanban.

 

✦  Gantt Chart  ✦

 

One of the most popular ways of showing tasks and events displayed against time is the Gantt chart. It is a type of bar chart used to illustrate a project’s schedule by showing the dependency relationships between activities and the current schedule status. On a vertical axis, the tasks to be performed are listed, whilst time intervals line the horizontal axis, under which are horizontal bars that show the duration of each activity based on their width. Essentially, the chart conveys the key information with just a glance by summarising key dates and the work breakdown structure of a project. It can be particularly useful for simplifying more complex projects because of the visual representation of its entirety, including relationships and dependencies between the various activities. I see this method as more useful when there are more responsibilities or a larger team, since it gives insights into current and future availability as well as team workloads, allowing for more accurate scheduling.

 

 

Although it does not have a stereotypical Gantt chart format, the above method is most similar to the Gantt, which is why I have chosen to include it under that name. When constructing this page, I found the underlying concept of the chart to be somewhat futile for my benefit – mapping out which tasks can be down in parallel and which tasks can be done sequentially was simply not something I needed. Rather, I wanted a simpler time-based guide to follow, meaning I simply needed to assign a period of time to each blog or task in order to stay on track (in my case, two in each time slot, with completed tasks underlined).

 

✦  Kanban  ✦

 

Another project management tool that can help visualize work but is more agile and designed to limit work-in-progress, is the kanban board. It uses cards and columns in a flexible way that is based on respect for people and continuous improvement and it only has two rules: limit the ‘in-progress’ section and visualise the work. These principles are applied through the five main elements of the board: visual signals (cards, sticky notes etc.), columns, work-in-progress limits (maximum number of cards that can be in a column at a time), a commitment point (an area for ideas), and a delivery point (the end of the workflow, usually when the product is in the hands of the customer). I didn’t know about these components previously since the extent of my research often applied to the methodology of the board and its different versions, physical and digital. However, even simple techniques can be optimized and knowing this, I decided to add a rule to my current Kanban in order to help it go from robust and customisable to purposeful and progressive.

 

 

As you can see, I have included the rule in the description area underneath the title. In further detail, I have decided to utilize the WIP component of the Kanban, which isn’t something I have done before. Based on my Gantt chart, I should only be working on two cards at a time, in order to ensure that things aren’t stuck in the ‘deadline’ and are moving along into the green area at a steady pace. Of course, I do still use Notion’s featured space within the cards, where I create my blog checklists by looking at the brief and adding details from lessons.

 

 

The above card is for the blog ‘My Digital Style and Branding’ and is zoomed out to showcase the full list. I will most likely be adding more detail, but I aimed to encompass all of the basic requirements as well as extra things covered in lesson for our benefit, such as the branding style sheet.

 

｡･ﾟﾟ･  Self-Assessment  ･ﾟﾟ･｡

 

Scheduling is all well and good, but to complete a project efficiently, you must also be aware of your own limitations and think about what you are trying to get out of the overall result, even if the final product isn’t strictly for you. I have been doing SWOT analysis for a long time, and specific goal setting more recently. I have found that they are like an arrow that points inwards, revealing things to keep in mind as I am working and also reminding me to put one primary thought or idea in every piece of work: my intention and goal for the project. Additionally, knowing what areas I am best at and ones that need improvement can set me up for a greater self-development process since simply having those things in mind can subconsciously alter some of the ways in which I work. An example would be, if I know that I have a limited understanding of budgeting or finances, I would apply more focus when researching and planning that part of the project (it doesn’t work in this case because there is nothing that requires purchase).

 

 

✧  SWOT  ✧

 

As I have stated many times, a SWOT analysis is used for strategic planning by identifying the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of a person/business plan. Since its framework is designed to develop a more intuitive roadmap for a business, it is widely used by organisations, from small companies and non-profits to large enterprises. But, as we have seen before, it can also be used for personal purposes as well, since it effectively paints a larger picture of where an individual is professionally, therefore, showing them what the best next step would be. I can say that this has happened to me on previous occasions; I usually feel that I am equipped with all of the tools that I need to succeed but doing SWOT forces me to look at myself and my project in new ways, pointing out qualities that I could leverage to my advantage or factors that I need to take into consideration before starting. My biggest issue is execution because even after correct identification, working on my weaknesses has been difficult. In the creative project, I was aware of my tendency to inflate my idea to unrealistically high standards which are rooted in my perfectionism and I am still looking for ways to combat this, meaning whatever changes I have implemented up until this point, or tried to, have not worked.

 

– Strengths –

I have a good eye for design and instinctively know how to combine design elements for the most appealing result. This will help me massively when building my brand.

I have already worked on and somewhat developed a brand. Whilst it has been on pause for a long time, I can now continue with a fresh outlook and talk about how my creative skills have grown, leading to an updated version of my online presence.

 

– Weaknesses –

I have limited experience in marketing, having done extremely little in my previous projects. Whilst this brief involves a lot of self-reflection, the result is intended for future employers and potential clients to make use of. In this sense, the execution might be precarious.

Generally, the tighter the given time period, the more on-edge I become. Close deadlines come with more pressure and I need to work on maintaining a calm attitude throughout the project so that the nerves aren’t reflected in the outcome.

 

– Opportunities –

My 12 week period with design agency, Stencil, has given me unique work experience specific to logo design, motion graphics and branding. By referring to the techniques I learned during that time, I can boost my brand in a creative and professional sense.

I can take advantage of the minimalistic, clean trend within graphic design at the moment since less detail considerably speeds up workflow. My skills in Adobe Illustrator, Picsart and Canva also tie into this.

 

– Threats –

I have much less work in certain areas of the course than others, such as illustration vs film production. This may pose a problem when creating my showreels as I will have to compensate with personal content, which is not all of great quality or format.

With so many other people doing similar work, there is bound to be some overlap. This may pose some threat to my brand’s originality, meaning I will have to be more thoughtful in order to stand out.

 

Having done the analysis, I now stand in a position of greater clarity and can work on making my grasp on the project more firm. I will refer back to my logo work at Stencil to see if any ideas spark and also refresh my creative skills within Illustrator by looking up logo design techniques. I also plan to do more research on the Animation market currently by looking into popular freelancers’ portfolios and successful integration within studios (what do they look for, what kind of websites draw them in most?). In terms of the threats and weaknesses, I will talk to the tutors if I think that I may not make it time and will ensure originality by justifying each design choice with my brand values.

 

✧  Goals  ✧

 

The words “this project will contribute to..” are often used here, since project goals describe the impact and long-term effects, providing a link with the work and how it will change the organisation, individual or market. Well formulated project goals have concrete descriptions of the project effects at the impact level and create a bridge between the objective and the overarching goals. For example, an education program would have the main project goal of contributing to lowering poverty by supplying communities with a better level of education. This tangible statement makes the focus clear and yields direction. For me, having one or two goals primarily helps with motivation – knowing the process has a purpose, one that will benefit me in the short or long term, acts as a stimulus that pushes me to work harder.

 

Goal #1

Have a fully-functioning brand by the end of the project, i.e. all socials are cohesive and have scheduled activity, which will help expand my reputation and increase my market knowledge.

 

Goal #2

Have an effective portfolio by the end of the project, displayed aesthetically on my website which will act as a base for my online presence so that I can build my skills from a visible foundation.

 

Although there are other beneficial products that we are required to present, I thought in-depth about what I actually wanted and needed the most from that list and these are the main two that I would like to focus on. Having a working brand and website where my portfolio is available for the public eye is a core part of my career path and personal dream. These are things that solidify my status as a junior animator and ultimately narrow down the entire project to a personal purpose that works for me: making my creative mark and setting myself up to improve it in the future.