SCABs

Tips on SCA – By @JacobDeFig

SCA Scholarship

By Jacob de Figueiredo

 

Tips on SCA

 

Hello to all my friends and readers.

 

Today I’m going to write a different kind of scab, one that hopefully the peers from my year can use as a resource for finding comfort in the chaos of school life. It’s tough, I mean like seriously tough. Plays games with your mind and makes you feel worthless, your entire world becomes obsessed with being the best and when it doesn’t seem achievable or you slip up on a brief or two it’s so easy to forget why we’re here, why Marc has chosen us to be apart of this amazing experience.

 

I find myself giving people advice about the year, telling people that are seemingly losing their marbles that everything’s going to be ok in the end. Helping people see the light at the end of the tunnel and supporting them briefly when things get a little intense and hopefully ground them a bit when they’re spiraling. I don’t think I have much ground to stand on when offering advice to my peers, as someone who’s retaking the year I guess it feels hypocritical giving people solace as I’m not exactly a shining example of the outcome people are looking for.  But I’ll try anyway.

 

I thought it would be cool to compile a little list of what I think is super important to know and stuff to be doing as we approach term 2.

 

  1. Get a concrete list of your top 5 agencies together as soon as possible. Honestly I’d say this is one of the most important ones, have a look at the agencies online and see what kinda stuff they’re up to. Is it work that makes you laugh or makes you think damn I wish I coulda done that… Then it’s probably and agency worth looking at. As the year progresses and you start to learn what kind of work you like doing through trail and error your list might change but I think having a clear goal is super important, keeps you motivated and also helps you discover what kind of work is out there. It’s also cool to ask your partner what agencies they’re after and if they’re similar it’s usually a good sign.
  2. Portfolio Briefs don’t usually end up in the portfolio. Sounds like a strange one but they’re just used for practice. Try and do stuff you’ve never done before and see if it works. Try out techniques you aren’t familiar with or a completely different style of working with your partner. Terms 1 and 2 are used for learning what works for us and what doesn’t. What we enjoy doing and who we enjoy doing it with (lol). As the year progresses you learn to work on brands that you find interesting or ones that fit the style of your work. It’s nice to have a wide variety of campaigns in your book to show agencies you can work on most categories.  I’ve seen loads of people losing their minds over briefs and it’s completely natural I still do it and so does everyone but now’s the time to just give it a go and see what works.
  3. Build Connections / Book Crits
    In term 2 we start going on book crits, where we visit different agencies and show them our work for some juicy juicy feedback. These are great. It’s a time to look inside agencies and soak up the delicious creative atmosphere as you get to chat to some of the industries best. You’ve got to get these off your own back though and that usually means emailing. You can usually find emails easily online what I recommend doing is looking up your best work, finding out which creative were responsible and then just send them an email saying how much you loved it and whether they’d be free for a quick chat. Even if you haven’t got any / really terrible work to show people love to see that you’re hungry and willing to learn off your peers. You can keep going back to these people over and over again over the course of the year and they’ll watch you blossom into the beautiful creative legend you were born to be. The earlier you get in contact the better as they’ll have a chance to see how fast you’re improving and they’ll feel apart of your learning process.

    Always make sure to show your gratitude to these people though. They’re giving up their time just to help you, it’s pretty amazing they do it but it’s my fav part of SCA by far. I love more friends.

 

 I’m not sure if this scab was a good idea, I was worried it might seem a bit patronizing or hypocritical but I thought it could be kinda useful as term 1 ends.  I’ve had a few people ask me questions about the school and how I found it so hopefully this finds those who want some guidance well.

 

The main thing I’d say is just to trust Marc and the system he has in place, don’t be afraid to get stuff wrong. Also don’t compare yourself to others. It’s so easy to feel like you’re not worthy and that other people are soaring, while you stay standing alone.

 

 It’s your own individual journey and everyone’s terrible term 1. We’ll all in this together and it’s amazing watching our family grow and fly as the year goes on.

 

Can’t wait.

 

Jacob x

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