Going into my Final Bachelor Project, there are some areas of knowledge and personal abilities I want to focus on to round out my competence as a designer. I believe this is an especially effective time to set these guidelines of improvement as this is a project where I am the focal point and main driving force. Hence, while I will naturally incorporate activities which fall into the expertise areas, during the process of the project, there are specifically two I want to give more attention to. 

Firstly, Business and Entrepreneurship is an expertise area that lines up well with one of my goals for this year, which is incorporating more realism into my designs. While always an undertone in many courses, I feel I never give it the due diligence it requires to push it that step further. Hence, during each phase of my FBP I would like to run the current concept through a business analysis method, such as a business model canvas or value proposition canvas, in order to inform future design decisions. Alongside this expertise area, I would also like to focus on Technology and Realization, more specifically trying to develop more functioning prototypes. By this I mean, dedicate the necessary amount of time to truly integrate relevant and intended systems to establish function over simulation. This could be for example using image recognition software to trigger a certain event, instead of having a separate button or trigger to ‘wizard of oz’ it. Ideally I would have one to two fully functional systems within the final prototype which is as close to the fully fleshed out product as possible.

In terms of my professional skills, both presenting/presenting my concepts and asking for feedback on my own accord, are competences that I want to improve. While presenting has not been an issue for me over the last couple of years, I have noticed that it is a skill I have not worked on in a while. Moreover I would argue that the quality in which I could pitch my concepts, especially in a concise and logical manner, has deteriorated. Therefore, for any presentation I need to do for the FBP I want to stay comfortably, one minute to 30 seconds, within the intended time limit while keeping a logical narrative. In regards to asking for feedback of my own accord, there is a clear gap within my skillset as it is something I never due outside of a planned session. This could boil down to my personal confidence or time management, but either way I understand it is an essential skill as a designer to do so in a proactive manner. Consequently, during the length of the FBP I want to seek feedback at least five times outside of preplanned hours, whether this be with experts in the field or my mentor. 

I believe with a specific focus on these competences, I will significantly surpass my current ability as a designer and be more established within my field of interest to ultimately increase my self confidence.