Work Flow
My biggest struggle in my work flow is deadlines and not leaving work to the last minute, for this issue i shall start using apps websites to help track my work time and keep me focused.
What parts of your practice make you feel most engaged and creative?
For me personally, i feel engaged in the research process when i get to look online at other work for inspiration as this is what i do everyday in my relaxing time. I also love the experimenting process when i get to decide what resources or what software ill be using and figuring out if theres any way to use multiple different media.
When do you ‘actually’ feel like you’re designing?
I feel like rather than creating the final product it's when i'm focusing on my ideas behind what i'm doing and planing the outcome.
Tools
Clockk is an AI assisted app that passively records activity on your active window, this will stop me losing concentration. Clockk would also help with my organisation of folders, as of right now they are scattered around and my one drive looking a mess.
PureRef, this will allow me to create mood boards where i can add multiple images and write on this can just be opened on my other monitor whilst i'm working. This will save time as i wont have to look for reference images or inspiration through my files and i can have everything open all at once. Also when using blender i found a website called PolyHaven which is a website where you can download free textures and brushes for designs, this will be very useful and save time for smaller objects which don't need as much detail.
When planning i often lead towards a mind map just to get all my thoughts down, when doing this i use SimpleMind, this allows me to colour code my maps and make sure everything is clear and easy to read. This also saves time as i can have it open at all times meaning if i had another idea i can quickly write it down so i dont forget.
When writing i often use grammarly as well for me this really helps because sometimes if i stop writing to go back and look over my work for spelling and punctuation i can lose my train of thought and my momentum can slow down. When this happens it often means i'd have to read through my work again just to regain my train of thought.
How do emerging tools (including AI) challenge or change what it means to be a designer, and how might your workflow need to adapt?
Emerging ai tools can definitely benefit us as designers but also harm our work flow. I think Ai and its tools can assist us with things such as time management, organisation and automation for repetitive tasks but can also damage our creative capabilities, if we rely on ai for creating we benefit nothing from it. It takes the rewarding satisfactory feeling when you complete a piece of work you are proud of, if you know ai did most of it for you that feeling will be nulled. We as designers should, in some cases accept ai, as a tool due to its rapid improvements meaning soon it might/will be the norm. Similar to when computers were first introduced those who became well skilled with them first were in high demand in fields. I think as designers we need to find a balance to where we don’t rely on it but use it, when we can, to improve our work, not just create it as I think the joy in design comes from creating something you are proud of.