For my final project in visual communications, I decided to lean in on the topic of the creative community of Howard University. A lot of the times at Howard, the job creatives do is looked down upon and seen as easy. Such as students calling the School of Communications the “School of Coloring” when in fact most can’t handle what it takes to be a creative. The time, skill, lack of money, patience, and long droughts of motivation and inspiration. I commend every person to strives to take a path that allows them to be freely creative. This is why I thought it was important to highlight some of my favorite creatives who are doing big things on and off campus. 

This final project was very interesting and also frustrating to complete. It took a lot of “no”, “I’ll think about it”, and “when do you need it by” with no response to get this project done. I learned a lot along the way about time management and prioritizing certain assignments instead of others. I also learned that a lot of other students also had huge final projects to complete and couldn’t be a part of mine. It almost made me want to change my topic to an easier one or one with less work involved so that I could just get it done. However, I am glad I didn’t. I realized how important it was to me to have a space, even though small, to talk about some of the things my peers are doing.             

This allowed me to inspire and be inspired through the candidates I chose to include for the timeline. It helped me to be very clear on the things I want to do in the future and the steps I should take to get there. It also led me to know that it is okay to take a break every once in a while from your passions to disconnect and realign what it is that you want to do. Just like this project, I believe that it takes hard work, dedication, and a healthy and open-mind to be a “successful” creative. The money and attention will follow because of the time and energy spent on your projects. However, these two things are not as important to many artists because the goal at the end of the day is to express and create freely, like these five individuals.