I saw one of Ed Morris’ ads, with Harvey Keitel pushing down a big red wall. I feel like this week had a wall in the middle of it — the two parts have been like night and day. Until Wednesday evening, I was sleeping badly, always stressed, focussed on a single task, and often worried what the outcome of the effort to create a pencil­worthy idea would be.

After D&AD had passed, Thursday and Friday were relaxed, but still productive, and I’m having ideas and interesting thoughts all over the place. I like to think I work better under pressure, but that doesn’t seem to be true, at least not when it comes to being creative. The minute the pressure was released, I felt positive about creating new ideas.

I didn’t realize until after D&AD that I’d blown it way out of proportion: I’d been seeing it as a deadline for everything, not just one awards competition. I’m super­grateful for still being at SCA, and that there’s still time to take on more briefs, get more great feedback, and do more work.

(After school special­music) I’ve learnt not to let deadlines get the better of me. Avoid putting all your eggs in one basket (and all that jazz) — always make time to do other stuff alongside a big project.