YCN - Collaborative evaluation

As much as I thought I would hate collaborative practice, I saw first hand how much 'stuff' a team of two can generate in a small space of time. The downside to that is collating all of that pile of 'stuff' to lay down the foundations of what has to be a successful project. Myself and Lindsey Marshall luckily had a good relationship throughout this brief so the task was made much easier.

The original contract layout has not fallen too short of what we have achieved. The original plan was for me to work more on the outcome and crafting of ideas into visuals digitally, and Lindsey's task was to work more off screen generating the ideas quickly so we could move on and develop.

I saw myself as more of an organiser than Lindsey, which I think she will forgive me for saying. I completed the action plans and organised our time so both of us had jobs to do. Early on, filling my own time seemed more difficult due to the multitude of tasks Lindsey was assigned. With that, I decided to research while Lindsey visualised our verbal ideas. This strayed a little from the plan, as Lindsey originally stated her research skills were a beneficiary to the partnership. However, it was the only way we could move forward quickly and ensure we had a informed concept with rational ideas for the first week crit. This proved to pay off as the concept crit went really well.

Once we were into the development process, our tasks became a little blurred as we were both feeling the pressure from other module deadlines. This would not become an excuse for poor work but it would mean we both had to divide our time between Feel Good and CTS, EI, and PPD, for example. I chose to take a break from this brief while Lindsey completed two photoshoots and some idea development. That enabled me to focus my attention towards CTS and later I repayed the favour by giving Lindsey time to focus on her other work, while I artworked everything on screen and designed the final presentation boards.

The only disappointing thing for me was that I didn't explore type and layout as much as I wanted too or should have. Hopefully, I will get a chance to develop some more visuals before the module deadline but in the end I had to stick to what I had developed as time became tight at the end due to how big the project had become.

We had a completely transparent working relationship and that helped us. We were never argue and fall out because we are both focussed enough to see that it wouldn't help our progress. However, I am sure both of us felt frustrated at times when not together. Our attitude towards each other was friendly yet professional throughout, and that is why it worked as well as it did both the first time and the second time we collaborated.

We both have different values and personalities, but in the end we both had the determination not to let the other down. I believe we achieved what we set out to do, and more.