Pilot – Bad mindsets on the course (feat. GDsoc committee)

The Graphic Design Society

The Graphic Design Society committee members discuss their evolving mindset during their third year of university. They reflect on the trans

Key takeaways

• Speaker 3 (Olivia) transitioned from seeking constant tutor validation to focusing on personal interests like cheese and plants.
• Taylor describes a shift from seeing opportunities to seeing problems due to the perceived 'small thinking' environment in Falmouth.

Main topics

• Design mindset
• University pressure

Notable quotes

I was born in Norwich. But I was made in the graphic design society.

Conclusion

A relatable exploration of student burnout and the importance of maint

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:05) The Graphic Design Society. Speaker 1 (0:08) Why does the Graphic Design Society exist? So the Speaker 3 (0:10) lecturers will give me more marks. That's Speaker 1 (0:14) the president speaking. Speaker 2 (0:16) Speaking the truth. Speaker 1 (0:17) Why did you join the Graphic Design Society, Sarah? Speaker 2 (0:20) Because I can't say no. Speaker 1 (0:22) Liv is scary. Liv is Speaker 2 (0:24) scary. She came up to me. Speaker 1 (0:26) Excuse me, I wrote my name Speaker 2 (0:27) down. Speaker 3 (0:31) So, Speaker 1 (0:31) I thought we could kind of consider this podcast to be a time capsule for us, predominantly. To just be like, oh, remember when we were starting the Graphic Design Society? Remember when I convinced everyone to do a podcast? Speaker 2 (0:47) Remember when we were in Speaker 3 (0:49) third year uni doing a podcast and now I'm the creative director at Pentagram? Speaker 1 (0:54) I remember. I was... wait, what is it? What's the... I was born in Norwich. But I was made in the graphic design society. Speaker 2 (1:10) Can I ask a question? Yes. Let me pick a question. And also Speaker 1 (1:14) please, like, you can't just Speaker 2 (1:16) ignore Speaker 1 (1:16) that. Speaker 2 (1:17) Okay, Taylor. How do you feel about the course right now? Why Speaker 1 (1:21) is that funny? Speaker 2 (1:22) Taylor. Taylor. Speaker 1 (1:25) Um, I feel like, I feel like... Our course is okay. Not particularly good, not particularly bad. But I feel like on the course, I'm struggling sometimes quite a lot. Just like, I think it's just, maybe in my head, I see a lot more like problems. I used to see a lot of opportunities and things. Speaker 2 (1:57) And Speaker 1 (1:58) I think just... Speaker 2 (1:59) What, just this year or the whole... Speaker 1 (2:00) Just in the last like year. Okay. In the last year, just... Speaker 2 (2:03) I Speaker 1 (2:03) think my mind has kind of like, gotten a bit smaller and more, I see problems a lot more and I get like, in my own way, a lot. Whereas I think that was not the case in first year. Speaker 2 (2:17) So do you think the uni or the course has made it so that? You look for problems? I Speaker 1 (2:24) think it's just small thinking. I think it's because Speaker 3 (2:27) he started wearing Dickie's trousers. Speaker 1 (2:32) He's Speaker 2 (2:32) becoming more Falmouth. Speaker 1 (2:34) Maybe coming to Falmouth is like... Coming to Falmouth, I'm really glad I did and I like it here in Falmouth. But Falmouth is a small thinking place. It is. Did you Speaker 3 (2:46) have a different mindset in Rotterdam? Speaker 1 (2:47) Yeah. Because like... You can do anything and go anywhere and it's a big place and there's always people doing interesting things and it's close to you and things are moving faster and things are more impressive. There's just big stuff around you. People don't really know each other's business because there's too much to know. Speaker 1 (3:11) Yeah. Speaker 2 (3:12) So maybe it's because it's just a small place. It's not close to any major cities with a lot of exciting things happening. Speaker 1 (3:23) And to be honest, the only design context in Falmouth is... this studio Speaker 2 (3:29) whereas Speaker 1 (3:30) in a city you're surrounded by studios art museums exhibitions uh usually yeah at least yeah there's Speaker 2 (3:40) a Speaker 1 (3:40) lot we only have like Speaker 2 (3:41) the file with museum or whatever it's called that just doesn't have anything and if Speaker 1 (3:46) you just rely on like if your only source of like incoming inspiration is um Well, usually the student work, but not even that now. It's just like nothing. There's no input. And you're just trying to create output. And there's nothing coming in except what's on the internet. And I don't think the internet is a helpful place to be inspired. Speaker 2 (4:05) Yeah, I've been struggling with a lot of my projects because of that. Because in first year, I used to just do some random ass things. And I'd be okay with it. But now I'm just like, yeah, but there's the problem that I need to solve. Yeah, it's just not nice. I think when you get to third year Speaker 3 (4:22) as well, it's like the pressure as well of everything. Speaker 2 (4:24) Yeah. So the pressure of being good enough to go into industry. Speaker 1 (4:31) Yeah, I think you're right. Like, in first year, it was like, in first year, I made a zine about how to pick up a brick. Speaker 3 (4:36) Which is now in our library, by the way. Speaker 1 (4:39) Yeah, and actually, it was a fun project. I had fun. Like, whether or not the project was good, I had fun for two weeks straight, and I collaborated with someone I hadn't barely met before. So, like, that was a success. It was pointless. There was no purpose to it. But it's design still. Yeah, and I suppose now that I'm Speaker 2 (4:57) in Speaker 1 (4:57) third year, it's like, that doesn't, that doesn't, like... It's not good enough anymore. It doesn't tick the boxes. I Speaker 3 (5:03) don't Speaker 1 (5:03) know. I Speaker 3 (5:03) feel like it is. Speaker 1 (5:05) Maybe it is. I'm doing a Speaker 3 (5:06) project about cheese and I'm having real fun with it. Speaker 1 (5:08) Then maybe you've got a better mindset than I have. Speaker 3 (5:10) I just think this module is about exploring what we love. I'm doing projects on cheese, plants, gaming. I'm loving this project. Module. Speaker 1 (5:20) Yeah. Well, I'm doing something on a topic I love within philosophy, but just because I love it doesn't mean that I escaped the like... need to make it good, impressive, interesting, socially relevant, etc. In first year it was like you can just make something, maybe because we all expected