Getting to London College of Communication

My interest in graphic design was first piqued in early 2012 by a short course entitled Visualising Complex Information at the London College of Communication (LCC) in which students:

'work with a complex piece of text and other complex information or concepts (financial, statistical and scientific) and explore how complex ideas can be explained and simplified using simple drawing and visualisation techniques.'

So I struck up conversation with Tony Pritchard, who heads the Visual Communication programme at LCC. He generously gave me a good deal of useful advice, and put me in touch with graphic designer Sarah Schrauwen. Working with Sarah, and taking some graphic design short courses taught me that I have much to learn about, and from, visualising law, but that I cannot proceed much further without systematic training.
So I applied to the PG Certificate in Visual Communication at the London College of Communication, University of the Arts London. The application process alone was a massive learning experience.
The concept of a 'portfolio' (a selection of visual work that must accompany a written course application) was completely alien to me. But it is the gateway to the visual arts world, and many complete a portfolio preparation course to build one. Tony Pritchard yet again, proved extremely helpful, leading me through multiple iterations of each item.
I eventually came up with this application portfolio. It was enough (in combination with other factors such as my non-visual experience and reasons for wishing to study visual communication) to get me an offer of a place on the course starting in January 2014.