Speaking from experience - Primary research

I have posted some questions for research to the first years on our Facebook Group and also on the Course board to get feedback from the 2nd and 3rd years.  These are the results so far:

The responses I have received from the board have been via email so  will keep these anonymous

Hi Guys

Please can all the second and third years answer a couple of questions about your experience in the first year:

1. On reflection, do you think you experimented/took enough risks with your Graphic Design?

2. If the answer is Yes, what have the benefits been? 

    If the answer is No, what held you back?

I would appreciate your feedback as this contributes to my primary research for the Speaking from experience brief.  If you would rather email me than post on the board my email address is lw96197@students.leeds-art.ac.uk

1. On reflection, do you think you experimented/took enough risks with your Graphic Design?

yes.

2. If the answer is Yes, what have the benefits been? 

being able to produce a diverse set of responses throughout my first year - some appropriate, some less so - has allowed me to get to know many areas of the college/technicians/skills i would not have learnt if i had not embarked on "risky" projects.

in second year i still take risks in every project as doing something in my comfort zone (where there is no financial incentive) seems like a waste of energy and a waste of this time to experiment and develop/learn more about myself and ultimately seek to realise my own practice by summer 2012.

1) no

2) Feeling the need to 'keep up' with others on the course meant not wanting to have a brief completely fail so played too safe on some, slightly scared to make the wrong decision. Also being less skilled with the software definatly meant things just took longer, so more time cursing Adobe and less time to be creative. I still think, for me, the first year was the hardest of the course.

1. I did take risks but I didn't see them as risks as such. When you get out into industry you appreciate how much of a comfortable environment now. Taking risks means making mistakes and we are all encouraged to do so. Taking risks and making mistakes in the industry costs, so use your time now to make the mistakes and learn from them.

2. The benefits of taking those risks and putting yourself outside your comfort zone means you find that you have new skills you never thought you'd have and you can potentially unearth a new direction for your work. Experiment now so then you can drive your own learning.

1/ Probably not - i could have made better work if i had more confidence to experiment or do exactly what i wanted and not trying and second guess the course.

2/ Lack of confidence in my ability and lack of understanding of contempoarry design - what's good experimentation, whats just rubbish, etc!

So far the results have been quite varied.  For those that feel they did not experiment enough Confidence  or lack of it seems to play a big role.  The question seems to be How to persuade someone to apparently lose face to then go on to reap the benefits in the future?