Summer Plans

This time last year I was finishing off uni and preparing for summer. After my first year at university I had some new found confidence and decided to do something totally out of my comfort zone so decided to leave my hometown for a bit and get out there and do something different. So i did. I went to Madrid, worked as an au pair for 5 weeks and loved it. I felt like I'd done something meaningful with my summer and felt more confident and independent coming back home. This summer however I have a job, and since it took me so long to find it I can't give it up! Therefore i'm preparing a plan of action to make the most of this summer staying at home, and hoping for a summer away next year, fingers crossed! I have many ideas of things i will do to make the most of our 'holiday' so here's a few ideas, which i'm sure will change as the weeks go by but im going to stay focused and driven in order to not waste my time!


Blogging plans:
1. Update layout
2. Learn wordpress and hopefully switch over
3. Make a less simple layout design
4. Upload more pictures
5. Organising tags!



There was a quote on the design studies blog;

“Designing is basically the practice of combining stuff; ideally in ways that haven’t been seen before. So the more stuff you know (about everything), the greater the chance you’ll find a relevant and distinctive, and therefore effective (and original) combination. Everything is interesting”.

for this reason I want to practice and read a variety of different things. I'm going to do a refresher course in Spanish, conversational in summer to build my confidence a little and then further this next semester with an accredited course.

I'm also going to try and catch up on some reading, i haven't had time to read in a long time so i'll hopefully get in the zone and get through a lot!

1. The ten faces of innovation, this book was written by the people at IDEO and sounds really interesting, studies into different people and how they work, reminds me a lot of the mavens connectors and salesmen from The Tipping Point!
2. The back of the napkin, this book was recommended in one of our design studies lectures and looks really interesting and fun, as well as informative and linking in with
3.Why we Buy: The Science of Shopping, this is all about how people shop and working in retail it would interest me a lot to have a read, might also come in handy if I ever go into commercial design and hopefully get some training in visual merchandising whilst working part time in retail! 
4. Some spanish novels (to improve my spanish, i'm looking into some at the moment to find the best and perhaps simplest options!)
5. Reading a few novels from this list of 30 books to read before you die, there's a lot but i'll be stuck in Dundee working for most of the holidays and will have a lot of free time, so i'll try and not waste this time!


People to connect with:

Currently looking into spanish interior design companies to get into contact with, in order to build relationships, and perhaps be noticed for after 4th year!
Would also like to connect with some more local studios for possible placements in the next couple of years as i'm starting to realise how important experience is. I would love to get in contact with graven images in Glasgow, a company I studied in higher a lot and am very interested in.
I need to find people that I specifically want to contact but I will keep my blog updated and take full advantage of twitter to get in touch with lots of people at once.
I also plan on emailing a few companies and hope that goes somewhere!