Speaking from experience.

Advising next year's First Years about my experience on the course so far...

My initial 5 chosen problems for this new brief were quite broad:

1. Managing work for deadlines.
2. Balancing workload with time outside college.
3. Being independent - living away from home.
4. Balancing college work with a part - time job.
5. Making the most of the course.

From these I decided one of the biggest things I have had to deal with, or learn how to be successful at, is the whole issue of moving away from home. I thought about the obvious options I could choose to do with the course, e.g. advising them on how to overcome nerves, make new friends, be punctual, be organised, or how to balance briefs and use the space/time given effectively. However, these all result in the same answer - that you will only succeed if you put 110% effort in, and this course helps everyone learn from their own mistakes anyway in order to move forward.

So instead, I thought about a more lighthearted issue to do with living in halls/on your own and know from experience, and speaking to others, how difficult it sometimes is to be independent and stay on top of the boring chores that come with living away from home.


PROBLEM: Lack of enthusiasm to do the laundry.

WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT? Persuade them (in a humorous, entertaining way) to keep up-to-date with the washing, so they don't end up going to college with their last clean pair of socks on!

HOW ARE YOU GOING TO DO IT? I want to use type and image, or illustrative type, to create designs for mini laundry bags, to encourage those first years that live in halls to get into a routine of washing their clothes more often, instead of letting it build up...or worse, taking a mountain of washing home at the end of every term for their mum's to do it!