Amy Halpin

VCD302 Blog 6

I believe my VCD302 project successfully met the criteria in creating an animation that showed my technical fluency in After Effects and my design aesthetic.

I am proud of my technical development, which includes (but is not limited to) learning how to animate text, incorporate and edit videos in After Effects, and creating seamless transition between sequences. By spending hours on YouTube following tutorials and experimenting on After Effects, this self-learning led to a deep technical understanding of kinetic type.

My aesthetic goal for this project was to make an animation that portrayed happy, surfy and peaceful vibes, as I believe these characteristics best encapsulate the northern suburbs of Wollongong. I achieved this through using bold typefaces and bright colours to accompany the videos.

My project also utilises primary and secondary motion to achieve its aesthetic purpose. Videos of the northern suburbs of Wollongong are used as the secondary motion, with the aim of making the animation engaging, captivating, and to visually correlate with the articles content. The videos are mostly still and peaceful snippets of nature, so it does not take away from the primary motion of kinetic type.

Although I believe my project meets the criteria, there were three key design decisions that altered my design process along the way. Ambrose and Harris in ‘Design Thinking’ suggest that throughout the design process, it is crucial to constantly take stock of where you are, where you are heading, what’s working and what’s not (Ambrose & Harris, 2009). Thus, these three key moments I have identified were recognition of components that were not working and needed to be fixed before moving further along in the project.

The first decision was to not incorporate extravagant kinetic type in every single sequence as I had initially proposed. There are two key reasons for this. The first was purely due to kinetic type being time consuming to learn then put into practice. I learnt that detailed kinetic type for each sequence would significantly set back my production timeline. The second reason was that I found if the more extraordinary kinetic type was used more sporadically in the animation, it was easier to watch and follow along.

An example of detailed, extravagent kinetic type

An example of more simplistic, easy-to-follow kinetic type.

The second significant design decision was based around the usage of videos. Up until a week before the project was due, I had decided to use solids instead of videos as the animations background, as I didn’t have enough footage to cover the entire video. However, I decided that by not having video as the primary background, it defeated the purpose of visually marketing the region. So, I visited different locations of the northern beaches of Wollongong to get more footage. Although time consuming, I’m glad I did this, as it helps the animation clearly retell the article visually. Solid backgrounds are still used occasionally to help break up the text.

The final design decision that was crucial to my animation was choosing colour and typefaces. Originally, I had my whole text in white with the same font. However, I decided that this was plain and boring. Changing the typeface and colour took much longer than what I anticipated as each video had different colours, so I had to match the typeface colour to what best suited the video. I believe the diverse typefaces and colours were key components in achieving my intended aesthetic outcome.

“The feedback generated at the end of the process becomes a learning opportunity for future projects” (Ambrose & Harris, 2009). The biggest feedback I would give to myself is to plan in more detail and spend more time storyboarding before designing. My style of editing reminds me of David Barringer who refers to himself as ‘the legislator and philosopher’ when it comes to editing. He changes his editing trajectory along the way of working, and while he sees this as liberating and empowering, the indecisiveness and lack of planning is equally painful (Lupton, 2011). He recognises that he must be discipline and constrain his editing and does so by first recognising the limits of his concept- something perhaps I should have considered before diving deep into a project that I knew little about (Lupton, 2011).

Overall, I am so glad I took a leap in the dark and investigated kinetic type for this project. I am excited to use kinetic type in the future within my field of design and marketing for the purposes of social media, marketing videos and design collateral.

References:

Ambrose, G, & Harris, P 2009, ‘Design Thinking’, AVA Publishing, accessed on the 3rd of June 2022.

Lupton, E 2011 ‘Graphic Design Thinking: Beyond Brainstorming’, Princeton Architectural Press, accessed on the 1^st of June 2022.

VCD302 Blog 5

I plan to follow Lupton’s design process to carry out my animation. Lupton has identified 3 key processes in designing- defining the problem, researching ideas, and bringing the concept into fruition.

The first step of the process is to define the problem. The problem for this assessment was to choose and learn an animation technique, with the aim to create a video with an underlying concept and to display out After Effects skills. For me, this looks like creating an animation with fun, bright, surfy vibes to promote the Northern Suburbs of Wollongong.

At the beginning of the design process, ideas are unlimited and thrown around until further refinement (Lupton, 2011). It’s important for designers to have a large pool of ideas to choose from through brainstorming over a period (Lupton, 2011). For my project, this looked like figuring out what kind of After Effects technique I wanted to focus on, so this involved researching motion designs on Pinterest and LinkedIn Learning. Once I decided that I wanted to focus on kinetic type, I took a few days to figure out how I can incorporate it into an animation that would be fun for me to create and relevant to my field of study.

A problem I anticipated included that learning kinetic type from scratch would be a time-consuming and frustrating problem. Another problem I anticipated was that my animation would not be seamless and aesthetic, and therefore failing its purpose to attract people to the Northern Suburbs of Wollongong.

Due to my planning miscalculations, unanticipated problems I encountered along the way include no longer having the time to do illustrations as I initially proposed for my project. I soon realised that illustrations are too time consuming for an element that is not crucial to my animation. I ditched the illustrations to focus on mastering kinetic type. Following Lupton’s process, the next step after identifying the problem is to find solutions that will develop the concept (Lupton, 2011). This typically entails communicating ideas to the client (or in my case, proposing my concept in class), deciding on one concept and generating multiple ideas around it. Personally, this looked like researching kinetic type animations on Pinterest and YouTube for aesthetic and conceptual inspiration. Currently, I have found two YouTube videos that guided me so far in the project.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sN2GQ5tTKI0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6k3MlNP4b0

Although the videos are relatively short, each kinetic type took hours to do, which has given me greater understanding of what a realistic production timeline will entail moving forward.

Production timeline goal:

Week 8/9: research/ start learning kinetic type/ get footage (first 25 seconds)

Week 10/11: continue with kinetic type (up to 40 seconds)

Week 12/3: Continue kinetic type and integrate colour and animation (up to 60 seconds)

Week 13/14: finalising

The final step of Lupton’s process is to create the concept form. After defining the problem and researching ideas, this part of the process brings the concept into fruition. This entailed to continue watching tutorials on kinetic type and inserting it into After Effects, filming videos for the background, adding colour and interesting typefaces that best suited the article. The goal of the final result has been consistent the whole time of my planning process- to create an animation that uses kinetic type and videography to attract audiences of the Australian Traveller Magazine to the region.

References:

Lupton, E 2011 ‘Graphic Design Thinking: Beyond Brainstorming’, Princeton Architectural Press, accessed on the 1^st of June 2022.

VCD302 Blog 4

The concept for my animation is visual tourism marketing. I currently do an internship with Australian Traveller Magazine, and I plan to create a promotional video for an article that has been written on the Northern Suburbs of Wollongong, which is where I live. I will use kinetic type and videography to retell the article in a visually appealing form with the aim for the magazine to use it promotionally.

The area of investigation I am focusing on for my animation is kinetic type. I plan to use kinetic type to retell the article in a visual way. I also will utilise the solid shape function in After Effects to create transitions between sequences, in aim to keep the animation engaging and seamless. Additionally, videos will be used in the background of the kinetic type sequences, and therefore secondary motion will be explored in my project.

The overall theme for my animation is visual tourism marketing, branded with Australian Traveller Magazine.

Visual tourism marketing is marketing that intends to captivate and persuade the audience to visit a particular place. This is often achieved through videography, photography and graphic design. I plan to make my video animation to audiences by using interesting kinetic type, bright colours, and videos that reflect the beauty of the Northern Suburbs of Wollongong.

Therefore, the production techniques being used will include my personal photography and videography and researching kinetic type techniques. As I have never done kinetic type before, I plan to spend lots of my time on YouTube and LinkedIn learning to follow tutorials for each technique. I also plan to implement illustrations to add an extra level of visual storytelling.

The main source of inspiration for my project has come from Pinterest. When researching ‘travel marketing animation’, these are videos that appeared and inspired my aesthetic and technique:

Below is a rough concept of my plan for the animation. The aim is that for every sentence of the article a different kinetic type technique is used, coinciding with a different background and typeface.

I will have to be careful to ensure the sequences seamlessly blend, as there is a risk that bad design could lead to the video feeling clunky.

The aspired outcome is to create a video that visually recreates the article. I hope to capture the beauty of the northern suburbs through video in the background and use motion design as the focus to create an exciting and engaging animation that entices people to the northern suburbs.

VCD302 Blog 3

This assessment gave me a great understanding of After Effects and the fundamentals of motion design. I believe my project achieved the technical basics we’ve been taught in class, that it was framed by the motion design principles, and that the aesthetic appeal is satisfactory. Upon reflection of my design process and implementation, there are three key factors that were critical in my design process, and that I am keen to improve for the upcoming tasks.

My first regret is not spending enough time researching motion design and its aesthetics, as it took me a while to find a style that suited my own. I dove too fast into creating my sequence instead of taking the time to research and plan, and as a result, the first animation I created was structureless. If I had spent more time researching and planning, I could have better finessed my motion design sequence and spent more time being experimental with it.

The second critical decision was a direct consequence from not properly researching, and I ended up completely changing my animation idea. I was unhappy with the overall aesthetic and structure of it, and therefore realised I could not achieve the animation I had envisioned within the time frame. So, in week 5, I decided to change my whole animation idea. This last-minute change put the pressure on, but I am more satisfied with the outcome than I was with my original animation. For future tasks, I now know to slow down and not jump straight into animating, but to spend a good amount of time researching and mapping out my design process to avoid last minute changes.

Another key decision in my design process was to use the same shapes (seven polygons) for the whole animation. Thus, my motion design used primary and temporal motion, and did not utilise secondary motion techniques. The sequence is classified as primary motion as the main shapes do the entirety of the animating, without shifting backgrounds. It is also temporal due to these shapes continually transitioning and evolving into new shapes and compositions. I believe the use of primary and temporal motion worked for my design as it is seamless and aesthetically pleasing, however, I am keen to implement secondary motion in my future designs.

Despite these learning curves, I still believe my project met the criteria standard and demonstrated the fundamental principles of motion design. The amount of time, practice and research I put into this project led to me feeling confident and competent in the basics of After Effects. Additionally, the lectures and readings helped frame my animation as it gave me an understanding of how I should shape my work based on primary, secondary and temporal motion, and the key principles to implement in my animation. Overall, I am satisfied with my design, but am excited to experiment with more shapes and transitions moving forward. As David Barringer in says in ‘Graphic Design Thinking : Beyond Brainstorming’, “How do I edit? I dream, I improvise. I fail and try again”.

References

Lupton, E. 2011 ‘Graphic Design Thinking : Beyond Brainstorming’, Princeton Architectural Press, pp. 177-182

VCD302 Blog 2

The motion design fundamentals I am employing in my work are drawn from Krasner, Disney’s 12 Principles of Animation and Lupton/ Philips, with the Double Diamond framework guiding me through my creative process.

The Double Diamond creative process clearly outlines the two major stages of my ideation for this project- research and design. During the first weeks of this subject, majority of my time was spent researching how to become competent in After Effects and what skills I need to achieve the project. The later weeks were spent practicing and prototyping in After Effects and refining my design until I was satisfied with my final sequence.

The Double Diamond has 4 distinct stages- discover, define, develop and deliver. The discover stages raised the questions of ‘how can I upskill in After Effects?’ and ‘what kind of design do I want?’. I found my answers through getting inspired by LinkedIn learning, YouTube videos, Pinterest and reflecting on tutorial and lecture notes. After drawing upon research to find inspiration, I defined my project- to make a 20 second slip on After Effects that showed my competency using shape layers, all while maintaining an aesthetically pleasing look. The develop phase was the longest and entailed prototyping different sequences and drafts. In week 6, I decided to change my animation idea, but didn’t put me behind as I felt comfortable using the software and had a clear understanding of how to achieve the final project. So, after months of researching, defining, and developing, I finally delivered a sequence that is not perfect, but shows my understanding in how to use After Effects.

My project only uses primary motion, as the black background remains the same for the entirety of the sequence. Primary motion techniques I utilised include pause, overlapping and motion paths.

Disney’s 12 Principles of Animation covers the foundation of all animation work. Although mostly applied to character-based animation, it is still relevant for shape-based animations. The 3 main principles I identified in my work are ‘slow in and out’, ‘secondary action’ and ‘pose to pose’. Slow In and Out is seen by the shapes slowly easing in and out of the frame, which was achieved through the positioning tool. The Secondary Action is seen in the last few seconds of my sequence when the lines outline the main object of the triangular shape. Pose to pose is implemented when the polygons shift into triangles. The main design fundamentals at play in my animation include opacity, rotation, animating lines, scale, positioning and colour.

Techniques drawn from Lupton/Phillips Graphic Design: The New Basics include the grid structure of my frames. This matches my style of minimalistic and clean graphic design. Lupton and Phillips also emphasise the importance of rhythm and balance in animation. My grid structure and symmetrical sequences achieve balance, and rhythm is achieved through the same shapes being used for the whole sequence, making it easy to follow along and watch.

The iconic The Innovation of Loneliness animation is a much more complex animation than mine, but when comparing my work against it, I recognised some similarities. These similarities include the little shapes transitioning into a whole shape, the use of bold colour in contrast to the black background, scaling to fit the whole screen, and rotating shapes into new posit ions.

Overall, this task has been extremely helpful in gaining confidence and understanding the basics of After Effects, and I am ready to further up-skill before the next assessment.

References

Ball, J. 2022 ‘The Double Diamond: A universally accepted depiction of the design process’, Design Council UK, accessed 4.04.2021 at https://www.designcouncil.org.uk/news-opinion/double-diamond-universally-accepted-depiction-design-process

Coron, T. 2021 ‘Understand Disney’s 12 principles of animation’, Creative Bloq, accessed 4.04.2021 at https://www.creativebloq.com/advice/understand-the-12-principles-of-animation

Lupton, E. & and Phillips, J. 2008 ‘Graphic Design : The New Basics’, Princeton Architectural Press, pp. 215-226

VCD302 Blog 1

The motion design used in the trailer for ‘The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina‘ (2018) draws upon the 1998 trailer ‘Night of the Demons’. The techniques used in both trailers effectively convey the respective movies are spooky, mysterious and will leave audiences feeling uneasy yet enticed.

The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina mostly uses secondary motion to create suspension. Secondary motion can be described as “The perceived motion of the viewer that dictates how the content is framed over time. It can have an effect on the audiences mood and perception of space” (Krasner, 2013). The trailer achieves this through using very slow panning on each frame which adds eeriness. However, whip panning is utilised between each frames suggests the movie is frightful and will keep audiences on their toes.

The primary techniques used in this trailer go hand-in-hand with the secondary techniques to make the trailer feel scary and on-edge. The timing of the primary objects is slow which adds an element of mystery. There is no anticipation with the primary objects- they all come about suddenly and unexpectedly. The creators also implemented the ‘follow through’ technique, as the details in the primary object continue to subtly move even past its termination point (for example, from 0.28-0.29 the woman’s hair continues to move even though the frames main shot has passed). Additionally, the pause used for each frame allows the viewer to catch their breath, yet also leaves them anxiously waiting for the next spooky motion.

The Night of The Demons trailer has a similar feel but uses more primary motion than The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. The secondary motion differs as it uses a black background for the entirety of the trailer, creating the primary objects to be more prominent and is what moves frame-to-frame rather than camera shots. However, from 2:40-2:50, panning is used along the haunted house scene to allow the viewer to feel as if they are in there themselves. Zooming in and out motions are used, along with tilting to keep audiences unsettled.

As for the primary techniques, the ‘birth, life and death’ of each primary object is abrupt. A mix of fading in and out and growing in and out of frame is used. The overlapping used over each objects adds a level of fright and unexpectedness to each frame. The motion path is effective, particular from 1:00-1:15 as the flying creatures go from the bottom left corner to the top right, drawing the viewers eye to the text in the top right.

The contemporary piece draws on the aesthetics of the earlier piece in multiple ways. Firstly, the pausing on each frame and quick transitions to the next is what makes both trailers mysterious and unsettling. Furthermore, the graphics style of the modern trailer is inspired from the older trailer. Graphic style can be described as ““choosing the appropriate graphic style is critical to supporting your concept, message or mood” (Krasner, 2013). This is demonstrated in the dark colours used, scary kinetic images and the eery typeface amongst both sequences. This style helps portray the horror genre of both.

However, a key difference in both trailers is the era they were created in. As Kathy Zielinski, the creator of ‘Night of the Demons’ says, “A lot of the choices were made because of budget. That’s why there isn’t a lot of what we call ‘full animation.’ Most of it — especially the ghosts coming out of the graves going up the hill to the house – was cut-outs. Kutchaver would take my drawings and figure out how to put it together. A lot was shot under-camera, combining different camera moves. The hill coming into view with the ghosts running up, that was pretty difficult to figure out” (Lang, 2019). Thus, despite the creators of The Chilling Adventure of Sabrina having access to modern technology that could make the animation more complex, they draw off the style Zielinski used to best convey the motion design for a horror film.

References

Lang, A 2019 ‘Night of the Demons’, Art of the Title, accessed 25.03.22 at https://www.artofthetitle.com/title/night-of-the-demons/

Art of the Title 2018 ‘Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’, accessed 25.03.22 at https://www.artofthetitle.com/title/chilling-adventures-of-sabrina/

Krasner, J 2013 ‘Motion Graphic Design’, Taylor and Francis, vol. 1, no.3, pp 162-204

Narrative interview with Alison Halpin

Alison Halpin. Head of Human Resources at Sport Australia, qualified in organisational communication, vocational education and leadership, my biggest role model, my mother.

I have had the privilege of looking up to my mum’s career journey since I was a kid. She nailed balancing being a full-time mum and a full-time worker. She climbed the corporate ladder not to fulfil herself, but to best love and spend time with her loved ones.

Her club of life mainly consists of her husband (my dad), my sister and myself. She always worked to provide for us, and to give my sister and I the best opportunities possible. I will always admire her for that.

I have noticed throughout her career journey that she has consistently stayed true to herself. She has been challenged and treated poorly at times, but her values always bled out into her actions, and she never lost of who she was. These values include:

Integrity
Respect
Excellence
Compassion
Empathy
Fair go
Psychological safety

So, you can see why I aspire to be a boss lady like her one day. I believe this class can learn a lot from her experiences, particularly regarding values, flexible work, and the future of work. Thus, she was the perfect candidate to interview for this project.

Let your values define your work, not vice-versa.

The first thing mum and I spoke about was the importance of knowing your values in the workplace, and how they are reflected in your actions and words. She emphasised that your values must align with your organisations, otherwise you will be forced to be a fake version of yourself.

This is known as emotional labour– the “emotion management and life management combined. It is the unpaid, invisible work we do to keep those around us comfortable and happy”. Therefore, if you are putting on a false persona to please people around you, or if you are asked to conduct work that does align with your values, it is emotional labour. Not having the freedom to be your authentic self in the workplace is hard effort (hence considered a ‘labour’), and can lead to burn out, poor work performance and mental health issues.

I believe mental health takes priority over anything, and so I found this extremely validating to hear. If you suffer from emotional labour within the workplace setting, it is okay to leave that workplace. In fact, it’s best you do.

The good and bad of flexible work.

Mum and I spoke about her experience of flexible work during lockdown. She loved it for the extra time it gave her with her husband and dog, but as an extrovert, she simultaneously missed being around people and bouncing ideas off them.

Flexible work is fantastic in that it offers different hours and locations to cater for employees needs outside of the workplace. Mum identifies two types of workers in our interview- independent and collaborative. She highlighted the fact that flexible work great if you are an independent worker, as home can be a distraction-free place to complete focused and high-volume work. However, if you are a collaborative worker and get energised by people’s ideas, working from home may be more difficult.

I always believed flexible work would fit in with my on-the-go lifestyle, however after hearing mum’s perspective, I considered that I actually work better collaboratively, and therefore flexible work may not be as ideal as I once thought.

Technology cannot replace human skills in the workforce

In our interview, it was evident that understanding human emotion and creating a psychologically safe space for her employees are key elements of her job. I was interested to hear how the on-going boom of technology fits into this and the future of work.

Mum says technology will continue to replace manual and transactional tasks with computers, however, she believes that humans cannot be replaced for solving wicked problems, human problems, innovation, strategic thinking and oversight. This is because technology does not have the ability to read and respond to human emotion.

Additionally, our current generation values soft skills above anything else. Soft skills focus less on how you do your job, and more on who you are as an individual. They include (but are not limited to):

Communication skills
Organisational competencies
Passion for learning
Risk-taking ability
Public service orientation
Independence in decision making

(Deng, Thomas & Trembach, 2014)

Employers look for employees who encompass these skills and are overall mature and social (Robles, 2012). Soft skills are rated as number one in importance for entry-level success on the job (Robles, 2012). Therefore, technology is also unable to replace any work that relies on soft skills.

This interview made me admire my mum even more. As I enter the workforce, there are many characteristics of her I would like to encompass- her values, how she treats people, her perspective on flexible work, and her passion for vulnerability and emotion in the workforce. I hope her story and who she is as a person inspires you like it inspires me.

References

Beck, J 2018 ‘The Concept Creep of ‘Emotional Labor’, The Atlantic, accessed on 06/11/2021 at https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/11/arlie-hochschild-housework-isnt-emotional-labor/576637/

Deng, L., Thomas, A. & Trembach, S. 2014 ‘Shaping the 21st-century information professional: A convergence of technical and “soft” skills for workplace success’, Proceedings of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, vol.51, no.1, pp 104

Robles, M. 2012 ‘Executive Perceptions of the Top 10 Soft Skills Needed in Today’s Workplace’, Business Communication Quarterly, vol. 75, no. 4, pp 453-465.

Lessons from Layne Brown to succeed in the modern workplace

The modern workforce is making a positive shift towards valuing their employees for who they are as unique individuals, instead of simply valuing them for their ability to do certain tasks. I was recently struck by a recent guest speaker in BCM313 called Layne Brown due to his honest and genuine perspective of the workplace. He shared his experiences and relationships in the workforce that have shaped who he is today. I learnt that genuine authenticity fosters real relationships, to not be afraid of making mistakes, and that soft skills are crucial to survive in the modern workforce.

Authenticity is an important dimension in the development of more meaningful careers. No longer do individuals just look at financial rewards for work options, they strive to also find meaning in what they do that correlate with their personal values and beliefs (Reis, Braga & Trullen, 2017). Authentic leaders are described to ‘know who they are, and their self-knowledge empowers them to transform their lives and the lives of the people they lead’ (Hollis, 2018). They build relationship with their co-workers and understand each individual employee has a set of valuable attributes that is beneficial to the team.

Layne gave a beautiful example about of an authentic leader in his community who had the intention of building a relationship with anyone he met. Layne recalls “He just came in with friendship, with love and with a gift. Everywhere he went he went with a with a packet of Tim Tams. And everybody knew him. How could you not have a relationship with someone brings in a gift like that?”. It is important leaders make the time to create relationship with their employees, so they can gain broader understanding of why they work like they do, how they communicate, and what their strengths and weaknesses are. It makes employees feel valued and more inclined to work diligently. Therefore, without leaders fostering relationships, it can lead to dissatisfaction and conflict. As Layne said, “workplaces where those relationships haven’t been built is often where it’s been time to walk out the door and find a new job”.

Mistakes are inevitable. When it comes to work, everyone goes through four stages of competence- these include unconscious incompetence, conscious incompetence, conscious competence, and unconscious competence. Thus, everyone is incompetent at one point, but if you view mistakes as a learning curve instead of an error, it can lead to significant growth. Layne stated, “sometimes you got to accept that you’re going to make mistakes. Things aren’t going to happen the way that you would like them to happen, and sometimes you just have to do it. The biggest lesson that I learned was just doing things, regardless of the result, without getting caught up in your head in your heart.” Therefore, creating a culture where mistakes are seen as an opportunity to grow can help employees to break outside of their comfort zone and achieve great results.

Mistakes are also vulnerable, and vulnerability is a massive asset in a workplace culture. As Professor Brene Brown recently said in an interview with 60 minutes, “innovation is idea, iteration, failure, iteration, failure, iteration. Places where they’re doing the most high-risk high reward innovating- they have huge tolerances for vulnerability. If you’re preaching a gospel of vulnerability is weakness, or modelling that, just don’t expect great things” (Brown, 2020). Vulnerability can help employees be more confident in their authentic selves and can overall make teams stronger in the workplace setting.

Soft skills are our innate human qualities that we apply to the workforce. They include communication skills, organisational competencies, passion for learning, risk-taking ability, public service orientation and independence in decision making (Deng, Thomas & Trembach, 2014). In the modern workforce, soft skills are more sought-after than technical skills. An employee’s ability to interact in a team and deal with conflict is seen more valuable than how they perform their job. A recent study proves this, where results indicated hard sills contribute only 15% to ones success, whereas 85% of success is due to soft skills (Robles, 2012).

Layne emphasised how important people skills and conflict resolution techniques are in the workforce. When asked “has that absence or lack of human acknowledgment affect your career path or career journey?”, he replied “Yes it has…. I’ve had situations where I’ve just been my authentic self and they’ve been their authentic self, and because of that difference, that led to continual disruptions in the workplace through misinterpretations of each other”. Soft skills are essential to create a workplace environment of understanding, harmony, and communication.

In conclusion, Layne taught me the importance of valuing employees for their strengths and weaknesses instead of their ability to work. To practically implement this workforce leadership, culture and relationships must be evaluated. Leaders must be authentic and create rapport with employees to increase their self-value and work motivation. Leaders must also create a culture of allowing room for mistakes and vulnerability, which ultimately leads to employees pushing themselves to achieve even greater results. Furthermore, identifying soft skills helps leaders to understand how employees deal with team settings, conflict and work processes. No longer are employees valued solely for the work they do, instead, individual attributes are celebrated and seen as benefits to the workplace.

References:

Brown, B. 2020 ‘Vulnerability, not oversharing’, 60 Minutes, accessed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e257BL851Uw on 01/10/2021.

Hollis, N. 2018 ‘Blueprint for engagement: authentic leadership’, 1st edition, Taylor & Francis, New York

Reis, G., Braga, M. & Trullen, J. 2017 ‘Workplace authenticity as an attribute of employer attractiveness’, Personnel Review, vol. 46, no.8, pp 1962-1976

Robles, M. 2012 ‘Executive Perceptions of the Top 10 Soft Skills Needed in Today’s Workplace’, Business Communication Quarterly, vol. 75, no. 4, pp 453-465.

BCM313 Blog- Disruption to work

I have been part-time working for over a year now, and have only recently faced my biggest working disruption. Due to the 2021 COVID19 lockdown, my job has shifted from working in an office to working in my room. I work as a marketing assistant at a local private school, and typically my job entails taking photos and videos to use for advertising and social media.

Since working from home, I have significantly less work to do, and the nature of my job has completely changed. I no longer roam around the school to capture content. Instead, I sit at my desk all day, emailing staff and relying on them to create content and send it to me for uploading to social media. This naturally comes with many frustrations and complications regarding photo quality standards. Additionally, not being able to physically go into the office and work in a set amount of time has unfortunately led to a habit of underworking or overworking.

Image source: https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/health/lockdowns-dont-get-easier-more-we-have-them-melbourne-here-are-six-tips-help-you-cope

In saying this, I do have the benefit of being a Gen Z- meaning I grew up in a cell-phone dominated world where electronic communication is familiar. This has been a huge benefit in combating my work disruption, as I can easily adapt to working through a screen. This does not mean I haven’t struggled with being extremely unmotivated and uninspired.

This new way of working feels unnatural to me, and I believe this is because my club of life had profound influence on my work expectations and standards. The term ‘club of life’ was coined by Michael White in 1997 and is the idea that “for all of us there are members to our club of life who have had particular parts to play in how we have come to experience ourselves” (Russell & Carey, 2002). Growing up, both of my parents worked full time so we could have a roof over our head, food to eat and good experiences. I remember multiple conversations I had with my mum over the years about what it’s like being a full-time mum and a full-time worker. She shared the difficulties of climbing the ladder as a woman and the guilt of working as a mum. These conversations led me to believe that to have a successful career, it would take sacrifice, long hours and hard work. Equally, she demonstrated there is much more to life than work- so I also knew the importance of time with family and friends. My parents displayed a healthy balance of work and rest. Therefore, not being able to live out that balance due to lockdown has felt frustrating and has severely decreased my motivation levels.

Image source: https://www.shutterstock.com/blog/freelance-vs-full-time-graphic-design

While I am grateful for my parents’ great example, I do not believe my work experience will look like theirs. The modern workforce is making a positive shift towards flexible working, and COVID19 has skyrocketed this approach. Flexible working can be defined as a “worker’s control over when and where they work, and the concept has increased dramatically in recent years” (Chung & Van der Lippe, 2018). The younger generation particularly demands for a flexible work experience (Chung & Van der Lippe, 2018). The concept of flexible work appeals to me as I hope one day to work while travelling.

Eamon and Bec- full time ‘van lifers’. Image source: https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/diy-van-life-bec-and-eamon-sweet-digs

A recent experiment conducted in Iceland supports this. Iceland recently trailed a four-day working week, and results saw a large increase in productivity and wellbeing (ABC News, 2021). The most beneficial element of flexible work is that it strives to fit around other life priorities- such as family, travel, and passion. Flexible work hours increase motivation and overall life satisfaction. As a result of the trial, 86% of Iceland’s working population now works shorter weeks (ABC News, 2021).

With this recent shift towards flexible work, soft skills are more important than ever. An article on the modern-day workforce identifies the key soft skills being communication, teamwork, motivation, problem solving, enthusiasm and trust (Dean & East, 2019). Modern day employers search for workers who attain these traits and are self-motivated. Since working from home, I have found myself developing these skills more than ever.

I have learnt new ways of communication- such as Zoom meetings, emails, and shared Google documents. I have also created a new routine to keep myself motivated- which entails breaking up the day through walks, rest, and exercise. Most importantly, the soft skill of trust has been fundamental to my working from home experience. I need to prove to my employer I am reliable and capable of doing my work efficiently outside of the office setting. Therefore, I have learnt to be extra intentional with communicating to my boss to ensure we are on the same page.

https://www.techradar.com/au/news/what-is-zoom-how-does-it-work-tips-and-tricks-plus-best-alternatives

Overall, this disruption of work has led me to discover that flexible work is great for a balanced lifestyle but cannot be done successfully without a good routine and personal motivation. Although it has come with many challenges, I am grateful that this experience has led to me developing my soft skills and learning self- discipline.

ABC News, 2021 ‘Iceland’s four-day working week trials an ‘overwhelming success’, report finds’, ABC News, accessed on 20/08/2021 at https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-06/iceland-four-day-working-week-trial-success-report-finds/100270388

Chung, H., & Van der Lippe, T. 2018 ‘Flexible Working, Work-Life Balance and Gender Equality: Introduction’, Social Indicators Research, vol. 151, no. 2, pp. 365-17.

Dean, A. & East, J. 2019 ‘Soft Skills Needed for the 21^st-Centrury Workforce’, International Journal of Applied Management & Technology, vol. 18, no.1, pp. 17-32.

Russell, S, & Carey, M. 2002 ‘Re-membering common questions’, The International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work, accessed on 20/08/2021 at http://narrativepractices.com.au/attach/pdf/Remembering_Common_Questions.pdf

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

Growing up with two full-time working parents, I naturally assumed I would eventually do the same. I learnt worked they worked these hours so we could have a roof over our head, food to eat and good experiences. So, from the very beginning, I knew to be comfortable in life it would take sacrifice and long hours.

What I didn’t know was how I wanted to fill these 9 hour working days. When adults asked, “what do you want to be when you grow up?”, I couldn’t give them an answer. I never had a set idea of what I wanted to be. Maybe if you caught me after I went to Sea World when I was 12, I would have told you I wanted to be a marine biologist. However, once I entered high school, it didn’t take long for me to realise Science was not my forte- and that dream quickly expired. Throughout school, I was never focused on working towards one dream job. I more just trying to accumulate skills that would hopefully broaden my horizon.

Coming into University, you perhaps should know what it is you want to achieve from your degree, or what field of work you aspire to be in. I didn’t know until about three months ago, when I found a job that could intertwine my passion for travel with the skills I am learning through this degree- tourism marketing. I only started to take steps toward this goal recently, and I feel really excited (and relieved) to finally discover a job that suits me.

I’ve been preparing for full-time work my entire life, and although it’ll still be a rude shock, I know all the learning I’ve acquired over the years was leading up to it. I’m thankful for my parents influence of being hard full-time workers. With that being said, I am also positive my 9-5 working experience will be a lot different to theirs, with flexible work becoming more common. Technology has proven that if situations occur when I need to work remotely, I can quite easily do so. I’m interested to see what my full-time work experience will look like as the world continually reevaluates how traditional and flexible workforce scenarios work together.