Final Assignment

Sample Final Assignment (DES 370)

Goal Setting

by Holly Golightly

Section I: Three of my specific goals as a DES student

are: 1) To join the AIGA student group and get more insight into the profession

2) To improve my InDesign skills to a professional level

3) To start an online portfolio on Behance

Section 2: Here are some specific steps that I can take to achieve these:

1) To join AIGA, I will find out when the next meeting is, put it on my calendar, and make

an effort to be at every meeting. I will join the Facebook page.

2) To improve my InDesign skills, I will find online tutorials and complete at least 10

tutorials next semester. Free tutorials are available on Lynda.com for SF State Students.

3) I will sign up for a Behance portfolio today, and I will populate it with basic information

by the end of the semester.

4) I will also look at other Behance portfolios that are currently online, and see what I can

learn from them.

Section III: Here are some barriers to me achieving my goals

1) I tend to be lazy and blow off meetings.

2) I tend to leave homework until the last minute, so there will be a temptation to

skip the AIGA meetings if I have other work to do.

3) I’m not that self-motivated so I don’t know if I will be disciplined enough to

finish all the tutorials.

4) I don't have a lot of work to show in an online portfolio, so I might get

discouraged from even trying.

5) I am afraid that I won’t be successful in these tasks, which is a barrier.

Section IV: Here are some things I can do to overcome these barriers:

1) I will focus on the career building aspects of AIGA and that will motivate me to

come to meetings.

2) I will put all the AIGA meetings on my calendar in advance so I am less inclined

to blow them off.

3) I will get myself a present if I reach my goal of completing all the tutorials (for

example, maybe if I really complete 10 online tutorials in InDesign by the end

of next semester, then I will buy myself a pair of shoes which will be the

motivation.)

4) I will focus on the fact that a portfolio needs to be built up over time. That will

make me feel less self conscious about not having a great deal of work to show

in a portfolio.

5) I will remind myself that if I don’t try, then I will not succeed. So being fearful of

not being successful is really not helping me to get started on these tasks.

I really hope that I am able to meet all of these goals. Being a designer and

landing a good entry level position in design is important to me and I know

that means I have to overcome distractions and other things that may keep me

from reaching my goals. I'm excited to join AIGA and hopefully meet some

other students.