Monday Sep. 29 – Today was our first day back at LCC and we got a total information overload. Admittedly, I didn’t do a great job at keeping up with DPS updates over the summer, as I find Teams chats incredibly hard to navigate, but the briefing we got about our first few weeks back definitely helped clear somethings up for me. We went over the requirements for the diploma and I took some notes on the things I would like to participate in/complete over the year. I took the time to sign up for the Lego workshop on Thursday and noted down the Live-Briefs I was interested in (Isobel Stenhouse, Purr Purr prod, Blink Industries). I am most excited however, to officially do a Self-Initiated Project surrounding an idea I had for a co-op production studio. I also found out a lot of my volunteering at convention’s can qualify as work for DPS so I would like to have a conversation with Maliha about it. I’m wondering if my current job also counts as I am surrounded by comic books all day and technically working in tandem with the publishing industry.
My list of things to get done this week:
– Update spreadsheet of contacts
– Schedule designated time for each aspect of DPS (applications, SIP, freelance, work)
– Look into GCS
Tuesday Sep. 30 – Today we had a session with Roxanne Peters around Intellectual Property, and in the afternoon I got a little taster of the Global Campus Studio.
The IP session was quite surface level but we covered the basics of copyright and Roxanne was able to very succinctly answer all of our questions and assuage any concerns we had around IP law. We disscussed some of our own experiences with copyright and IP and looked into several types of IP including trademarks, moral rights, fair use etc. We also discussed current industry cases related to IP such as genAI. I am someone who is vehemently against genAI both on the grounds of ecological impact, as well as in regards to creative theft. We discussed this quite in depth, however we all seemed to be in pretty solid agreement with each other. We finished off the session with a fictional case study that can be seen on the padlet (pw: creativerights). Again, most of the people in the room seemed in strong agreement that given the situation, in any position of the hierarchy, we would make sure our concerns were heard. The issues highlighted in the prompt triggered both ethical and legal concerns and us (the studio) would be the ones to deal with the backlash. It reminded me of a previous job I left, due to similar issues, and I know personally, my morals always come first. However, we did discuss that we can acknowledge that not everyone necessarily has the privilege to leave work in the same way.
“I’m too punk-rock to let anyone get screwed over like this.” – me, 2025
Because I want to start a studio founded on my personal anarcho-communist values, hopefully aimed at both a local and global market, I need to learn about business practice, and the intricacies of individual creator’s rights both within the UK, but also pertaining to other jurisdictions. I’m very glad we got to meet Roxanne because this is a point of contact for me that will be very important to my Self-Initiated Project.
In the afternoon we joined a session of the Global Campus Studio. Admittedly this did not go well for a lot of us. I hadn’t signed up for it initially, however Maliha encouraged us all to attend just to see what it was all about. A group of us joined the call and were immediately lost. It seemed that 1) it had been structured for every student to be on their own device, which we were not, and 2) many of the other schools apparently had already had sessions for this, so the organizers did not explain anything to us. I was honestly under the impression that it would be a briefing session with Izzy, but we just got right into it and I had no idea what this thing was even about. After quite a bit of faffing I found the initial call-out email detailing what GCS was (admittedly I was not on top of my emails this summer due to my job) and I joined a fellow DPS student who was signed up, to participate in the activity. We had to work with other internationally based students to come up with a fictional marketing profile. This however was not totally clear to us UAL students because we were generally just quite confused about everything. Our breakout group did not to a very good job of communicating with each other, and I felt the profile we came up with was incredibly bare-bones and poorly crafted, not representing any tangible consumer experiences. I would have liked to speak up more and take the lead, but I felt I didn’t have the information I needed about the program, the activity, or any of the people I was working with. Ultimately, GCS felt very disorganized to me, though I can accept partial blame for not keeping up with the provided info, and reminded my intensely of a business class I took in high-school that I really didn’t enjoy. While I am aware that marketing and product R&D is important even in the animation industry, I’d like to focus my DPS year much more on animation and hands-on creative development.
Wednesday Oct. 1st – We started the morning with an I Like Networking session with Isabel Sachs. She was very enthusiastic, but I felt the session just reiterated things we had learned from previous networking sessions. My biggest takeaway was probably to reframe all of my bios/profiles to state what I can do for others rather than, ‘Hey, I’m looking for work please hire me.’ While I tend to feel I don’t have enough experience or skill to be desireable, I think I can reframe a lot of my online presence around serving others in industry. Another thing it helped me realize is the importance of a call to action in any posts or messages while networking. I want people to do something when they see me, whether it’s hire me, look at my profile, follow me back etc. Finally, I decided I really need to get on top of creating a contact spreadsheet and tracking who I’ve spoken to, so I feel less awkward about messaging people out of the blue after months of no contact.
At home I decided to work on my application for the LEGO internship in Denmark. I’m not entirely sure it’s feasible for me to leave London for 5 months but I feel that if I got this opportunity I would have to take it. I wrote my cover letter which was a bit difficult as they had a maximum of 300 words, and I tend to write around 400, so I really had to condense. I also began drawing and collaging the poster they asked for.
I’ve never had to do something like this for an application but I had a lot of fun putting it together.
Thursday Oct. 2nd – In the morning we had a session with Eddy Altman from Creative Conscience. He gave a really impactful presentation showcasing lots of projects. We did an activity listing passions and complaints and used it to ideate ideas for our Self-Initiated Projects. I had already been thinking about an idea for a co-op style production studio, founded on anarcho-communist values, and I feel that it aligns very well with many of the sustainability goals. Eddy was very vulnerable with us and it made me think of my little brother and the cancer scare we had with him. I thought about how I’m also not optimistic about my future, it’s bleak, and there is absolutely a new normal we will al have to get used to, we are definitely past the tipping point, both politically and enviropnmentally. However, despite everything I will do everything in my power to make things as good as they can be, for myself and everyone in my life. Especially after struggling so much for my entire late childhood and adolescence. That’s why I want to start my studio. To put good things out into the world, while making good things happen for the teams I work with. My biggest takeaway was to reach out to the communities I want to serve, and build on what’s being done already. I don’t have to change the entire world from scratch.
In the afternoon we began with a session with Sat Sehmbey and Davinia Clarke from Creative Shift. I wasn’t really sure what it was about but they introduced it to us as an extracurricular support program for students from underrepresented communities. I’m not sure that any of the partner companies interest me, and I’m not quite sure how Creative Shift relates to the DPS, other than just extra live briefs. However, I appreciate there being a place to go for help as a queer, disabled, immigrant student. I may look into it a little more to perhaps find a mentor that I can talk to with similar expreriences. Maliha said they will send us the briefs as soon as they get them so I will evaluate them once we know what they are.
Finally, we ended the day doing a Lego Serious Play workshop. There were only four of us so we got side-tracked quite a bit, and were forced to leave the room early, but the session facilitated a lot of discussions between us surrouding work, play and all the problems with UAL’s administration. When we left the room we ran into some coursemates who weren’t on DPS and set up an improptu Lego session in the middle of the LCC gallery. I’m not really sure if the whole idea of Lego Serious Play works for me, as I’m definitely more the type of person to collect specific Lego sets and build them according to instructions and then display them. But, having a more casual environment to facilitate discussions where it feels like there’s less pressure, is definitely something I enjoyed. I am a fidgeter and I love having something in my hands as I talk and learn.
Friday Oct. 3rd – We did a networking workshop with Alexiane Cazenave from CreativeFabric. What I hadn’t realized was it was actually the same workshop we had last year. We did activities focusing on projecting confidence with your voice and body as well as some improvized scenarios to practice approaching networking in person. I find all acting workshops super fun. I really like getting up and moving around, and the theater kid in me still likes to play a part in front of classmates, so I enjoyed myself. I also found that I remembers a lot of the techniques from the first workshop, and I was much more coinfident practicing them the second time around.
When I got home, I had an hour and a half to finish my Lego application poster, whittle down my cover letter, and make a PDF portfolio (as mine is a website), before I had to leave for Refused’s last ever London show!! I locked in and finished everything with 15 minutes to spare and the had an absolute ball at Brixton Academy.
Saturday/Sunday Oct. 4th/5th – I spent Saturday sleeping because I went to a club after the gig on Friday and got home at sunrise. No class, job, or DPS is going to alter my #1 ethic value of life; having a good dang time. On Sunday I was at work all day and then went to my local pub quiz with my roommates as we do every week.