Level 5 has definitely challenged me more than Level 4, which pushed me to greatly improve my skills as a designer and student. One of my main goals this year was to gain more self-awareness and confidence in design. I wanted to really own my role as an apprentice and work on being more organised in my tasks. Some design ideas and workflows from workshops proved to be tough at first, but I really committed to use and build on these methods. I did a lot of experimenting, watched countless online tutorials, and attended various webinars to gain greater understanding and practise these newly taught techniques. I really enjoyed the wide variety of tasks this year; it kept me incredibly interested and gave me new ways to think critically about design and the assets i'm producing.

Two modules really stand out for me as pivotal learning experiences: UX200 and IMM200. The UX200 module gave me a much deeper understanding and appreciation of layout rules, how important it is to organise designs within systems, and the psychology behind how people use and interpret interfaces. Working on the NHS design task, in particular, gave me great insight into how UX/UI works within the context of large companies, especially with sensitive data rules and making content accessible fort he user. This built on what I learned in my Level 4 app development module, where I first looked at requirements like colour blindness and font sizes for accessibility. I directly used this understanding in the second part of the module, creating a mock design for VR/AR/XR use within my Boundless Books creation. Here, I used tools like user heatmaps, well-known layout theories like Gestalt principles and colour psychology again to devise the best interface and experience for users, always keeping accessibility in mind. This intensive module work really improved my software skills, especially in Figma, where I got much better at micro-interactions in prototyping. Even though I really wanted to try more complex software like RIVE, I knew my limits for this module and knew it was best to focus on a completed product. It was an important lesson in balancing project goals with my often big learning ambitions.

IMM200 was my favourite module so far, and a brilliant introduction to 3D design – something I'm really glad I was apart of. My 'demo and do' outcomes weren't as polished as in other modules, but understanding the core concepts and workflows was truly fascinating for me. This module has reignited a lifelong dream to get into 3D animation. It's specifically made me want to learn Blender, Adobe Mixamo, and different texture painting software for making, lighting and texturising models. Adobe Aero also caught my interest, and I'm keen to see how I can use this technology to make profit for some of the clients i look after within my apprenticeship work.