This week, my ILP tutor and I discussed the importance of using my feedback from the last project to fully understand how to achieve the best outcome in this new, final project.

Below are my notes:

Main takeaway: The overall feedback was that the project had strong research, good production value and an interesting concept, but the outcome felt too predetermined. I moved too quickly towards creating a book before fully considering the audience (outcome should be based on your chosen audience), strategy and how the work would exist in the real world. The project needed more critical thinking around why the chosen format was the most appropriate way to communicate the idea.

Strengths:

• Good primary and secondary research
• Strong production value and good title
• Good moments of analysis, especially page 15
• Interesting future expansion ideas (it was suggested this would have made a better project)
• Strong collaborations section, just not enough of it

Main areas to improve:

• Be more creative (main feedback)
• Avoid deciding on the outcome too early
• The audience should be the deciding factor for your project, therefore early in your document
• Let research and audience lead the concept development
• Introduce the audience much earlier in the project
• Think more strategically about how the work will be experienced
• Consider where the work exists physically and how people engage with it
• Develop stronger storytelling and audience journey
• Push ideas further and think more imaginatively/disruptively
• Explore more collaborative possibilities
• Widen contextual research globally, especially around tourism
• Question influence from historical photographers (she said I shouldn’t use everyone from the 60s and 70s as it wouldn’t work the same in modern day) and think more contemporarily
• Ensure the format matches the purpose rather than defaulting to familiar outcomes like books

What to watch out for next time:

• Don’t assume the final format at the beginning
• Ask why this medium is the best choice
• Think about audience interaction from the start
• Consider how the work is encountered, shared and remembered
• Build a stronger strategy around audience experience
• Push concepts further before refining them
• Avoid relying too heavily on visual references from past practitioners
• Think beyond photography alone and consider installation, interaction or public engagement
• Make sure storytelling develops throughout the whole project
• creative and imaginative.
• Choose the audience first.

Key reflection:

The feedback suggested that the project had the potential to become more ambitious, experimental and engaging. Teresa implied was unimaginative and a little boring. She said she didn’t know why I chose Vietnam, why I chose a book. The strongest parts were where the project expanded beyond the original idea, suggesting that future work should take more creative risks and allow ideas to develop more openly before settling on an outcome.