(Happy Christmas) War Is Over...

Looking back over the year it has been something of a rollercoaster ride. Already half way through the year and it seems like only a second ago when I started the course.

Having done three major assignments was something that has come very quickly as well. I'm glad the way it has gone though. When starting the course I expected it to be a lot of theory and practical work before starting any sort of assignments. Instead we were thrust straight into it and I can see this as being good in the long run.

The first project, a website plan, was good and I could really see this being something that will help me out in my career. This is something I had started doing myself in a freelance position but not in as much detail or the same way.

Doing the second website plan also showed me the fact that doing something again from scratch usually yields better work. I hope it's better work anyway.

The high points of the course so far has the fellow students, who all seem to get along. The lectures have also been very informative. Another high point was the banner designs for me. I found them rather calming during the madness that was the Back to Basics assignment.

Some low points were, having to do the image compression report. I found the gathering of data a bit repetitive but looking back it was only one afternoon of work and once it was done, it was done. Not really a low point then.

Well looking back over the last semester at Wakefield College it has certainly been a highlight in my academic life. This is the first time from leaving school where I have felt totally involved with the learning. At college and university it seemed distant at times, that you were not fully part of the plan. Almost like being in a cattle market where the colleges and universities seem to be more interested in pound signs instead of education.

Anyway, enough bitching about universities for this post. The last semester has certainly been an eye opener for me. Being already a self-described ‘freelance webdesigner’ I’ve found much of the course very informative. I thought I knew quite a bit about web design – and I still do now but I feel I have learnt a lot. I can see this helping immensely in my career as a web designer.

Jingle Bells...

This has been a very, very busy week for me at college and work. With deadlines looming on both projects and work the pressure is really starting to build. At work, the ticket pre-sales are all going wrong which just adds more stress to the situation. Today I've mostly felt sick to my stomach with all whats going off. This must be what pressure feels like!

I feel that I'm not behind but on the other hand I feel that I have lots and lots to do before next week. Looking back through my work I'm seeing glaring errors where I have missed references out and have to go back and change all the other references.

Getting my screen designs has took a great weight off my mind as last time I found this to be one of the most fiddly and time consuming parts. Getting all the measurements in correctly and making sure everything is noted certainly does make the time fly by.

Hopefully my screen designs will please and hopefully someone will offer some constructive criticism on them.

Looking back over the project I wish I had have planned things better. Not nessecarily the time but rather the work. I think next time I'm going to get one thing completely done before moving on the next as this often leaves me with semi completed bits of work that may only need a few tweaks - but takes hours when you have to do on a lot of things.

Having two projects means having better time planning also. Sometimes I think one project takes a backseat while you pour your heart into another. This obviously leaves one suffering which isn't a good thing. This is something I need to consider next. The first project wasn't as bad as the sketchblog assignment went hand in hand with the rest of the work.

Overall, a very stressful week. This has certainly make my heart pound a bit and I will be glad when its Christmas, and it's all over. I can't wait to see Father Christmas either.

Menu Design...

Well I seem to be blogging more than ever and this must be the 5th post this week! Anyway, I have done a screen design which features a rather strange menu bar at the top and I would like to know what you all think?



Unfortunately its a screenshot due to PageMakers inability to export it in any other format. I seem to have got on top of a lot of things tonight that were grinding away in the back of my mind and I feel a lot better about it now. Roll on tomorrow.

Screen Designs...

Here is one of my pages for my screen designs. What does everyone think?

Had a rather busy week and I can really feel the pressure now. Especially due to my work commitments that have also been rather busy.

Hopefully I'll get through it OK!

Square...

These are my square adverts. They're both very similar apart from the contrasting white background on the first image. I've hand tinted the jewelry on both images so it is consistant between the other adverts. Again, comments appreciated.

Sky Scrapers...

Here are my skyscrapers that I have done so far. I've tried two approaches. The first image uses a black and white photo of Tina May and the lips and eyes have been hand tinted to make them stand out.

The second image is the same but with a colour photo used. The lips and eyes are hand tinted.

Comments would be appreciated.

Thirty Seconds Is Obviously Too Long...

...Was something I was expecting Steve to say after todays timed thumbnails. Drawing thumbnail after thumbnail against the clock was certainly eye opening this morning. Getting all those ideas down in the time limit was challenging but I managed to keep up. Although I did keep up, I thought that the ideas I were getting down were not the best of quality. I think exercises like this do help you improve becuase when I get to the work place exmployers will expect us to be creative on demand. If they say jump you will answer 'how high?'.

I have enjoyed the banner design task and I find it quite relaxing to do in the run up to deadline week. I feel it gives a much needed breather. It's all good practice and it's another one of those things that make Steve smile when we're all trying to find out what the day will have in store.

In Back to Basics I feel massively behind in the project for some reason. I know for a fact that I'm in front of some people and I'm putting the work in at home - but I can't seem to shake the feeling. It's maybe due to not having everything in PageMaker yet. Well I have, but not fully referenced. This is something I'm going to get done over the weekend along with my screen designs and image sourcing and photo restoration and... The list goes on. Hopefully I will get on top of it this week. Next time I think I'm going to plan my project so that I do alot more work to do in the first weeks so I'm not "towin mi bag art".

In the feedback groups I was told by Steve that I would have to start my restoration project again. I was a bit disapointed but I could see the errors of my ways and I believe the second go will be a lot quicker than the first attempt. Hopefully if I get my banners out of the way it will give me more time to get the photo done.

Attack Of The Cloning... Tool...

This week has been different from others. It's had a more relaxed vibe which was kind of weird. Wednesday started off with a lecture on typography which I enjoyed. After all type is an essential part of design normally as it communicates with the audience.

Although I had done about type before I still found it quite interesting, I remember studying David Carson at college who was famous for his typographic pieces. I like the different uses of type and how they really effect design. I am a serif type fan at the moment as you can see from my blog but using the right font for the right job is the key.

I started my content on the Wednesday much to Steve's disapproval, this was something I hadn't really started but I had done other things such as my budget statement and also started on my designs. At this point I felt like I was falling behind even though I really wasn't. I got the terms done in my sketchbook but didn't get them all down in the Word processor much again to Steve's disappointment when handed in. I can understand this though as the content is a major part of the unit and if it's just pushed to one side and done at the last minute then it will suffer. I don't think I realised how important the actual content is to this unit. Next time I need to get content done as a priority instead of focusing on the website plan itself.

The Photoshop project was an anti climax for me to be honest. I liked the idea at first but after doing an entire day on one document I kind of got sick and tired of the three men posing with their trophy. It makes me feel frustrated as it takes ages to get all the specs out and I just want to have a go at colouring them in and getting it done. I found it quite time consuming and it is certainly a skill I need to practice. I should imagine that you do get quicker the more you do it as last years, second years did it in two hours to a quite decent standard. Then again Photoshop is not my strong point. I have used it before but not to do image restoration.

Another keypoint this week was the talk of personal study and how long people spend doing it. I can say honestly that I do quite a bit at home and it's something I seem to do all the time, even if it's not hardcore work. Even if it's just looking at the latest fancy website or looking through the latest issue of .net. Then again I wouldn't say it was 16 hours of work a week, maybe an hour and half a day or something.

Overall, a good week. With the start of more creative work I'm really starting to enjoy the course a lot more. It's starting to feel more about the design now as opposed to the theory and I'm liking the challenge. The banner design project is something I'm going to look forward to as it will again, allow me to get creative.

Purple Monkey Dishwasher...

Maybe not the best blog title to describe the week but it does contain the word purple.

This was the week that really set the men from the boys. I got in college for the usual time, sat down, talked to Steve and so on. Then when 9 o'clock struck, Steve turned on the projector to reveal todays topic... Presentations. Now to me, I thought it was a bit odd why Steve had not had the projector on. He usually does on a morning so maybe he was trying to surprise us a bit?

After taking all the notes down and so on, it never occurred to me that Steves usual method of testing what we learnt is to make us do it. It was a total surprise. Especially when the topic was revealed. Purple. What can be said about purple and how can you make it last 3 minutes in a presentation? By this time though, all that was going through my mind was dread. I hated getting up in front of people and talking. I can honestly say that it's one of the only things that makes me shake in my boots.

I remember having to do them at work and at university and there's nothing worse than the deafening silence of when you forget what to say in front of a room full of quiet people, hanging on to your every word.

Being honest, I really wasn't looking forward to this task. I really couldn't be bothered with having to go through all this on a Wednesday. When I started working, my enthusiasm came through and I started to enjoy the creative side to it such as the slides and the handout. I'm glad that I got to flex my creative muscle whilst doing this, something which I feel a lot of students missed out on.

Luckily we did get to pair up to do the research. I was put with Dean, a self described mature student. I speak to Dean quite a lot in the group and find what he says to be usually quite interesting. Working with Dean was brilliant due to the fact that Dean (I hope you don't mind me saying this) is from a different generation to what I am and he comes up with ideas that I would have never dreamt of. I should imagine that I hopefully think of things that he tends not to as well.

Me and Dean decided not to use any words at all on the slides apart from the title and I would love to know what everyone thinks of this. If I would have been doing the same thing on my own I would have gone with a more text based look but it does prove that in any situation, two heads are better than one.

I think we did work together really well and I think it's something that, hopefully, Steve and Diane would have noticed.

When the preparation was done, we were all sent out of the room to practice. This was something I was a bit worried about. There wasn't really anywhere in the college where you could practice in private without anyone looking. The library was too quiet and the canteen was too noisy. We did end up in the canteen though in the end and I felt a bit nervous when having to practice in front of Dean. I thought if I get nervous when practicing in front of Dean then I'm going to be a wreck when I'm up in front of Steve and Diane. The more I practiced though the easier it became. Dean thought I was a natural although I didn't think so myself. I also had the gung ho attitude that I was going to 'wing it' to give it a more conversational approach much to Deans amusement.

After waiting for what seemed like an eternity, I was finally given the the nod to go up and do my thing. Surprisingly I wasn't scared, or that nervous to be honest. I felt quite calm about the whole thing. Maybe it was the stimulation of the purple kicking in or something but the nervousness was still there.

Once I'd got the slides sorted, I started - much to Steve and Diane's shock. I was told that I was quite good at projecting my voice. Maybe this was a way of saying I was shouting, although I don't think it was. Once I started talking though, it became easier until when I went to click next slide on the computer and an error came up. I must say, it threw me quite a bit and made me feel quite panicky. Once I got rid of it though I was back on track. I think the next time I do a presentation, if possible, I would run through the slides on the projector before hand just to see if everything worked as it should.

When in full flow again "Stop!" was shouted. I had gone over my three minutes. This was something I didn't even think about when I started at all. I was at the very last hurdle. I was gutted to be honest because I thought that I would have to do it again. Diane did ask Steve if I continued so I did, and finished the presentation.

Much to my relief, I was told that I was fine and it was like a great weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I feel though that I read a little too much from the cue cards and lost some all important eye contact. I wanted to go for a more conversational approach and I feel that the next time I do a presentation that I should do it with keywords instead of key sentences as I found it too distracting.

Practice, practice and practice are the only ways to improve my presentational skills. I think a full blown rehearsal stood in front of a projector would be better for the next time. Sitting in a noisy canteen with constant distractions isn't the best way to learn.

Overall, a very good task. Something I believe that we all will need in the workplace. Communicating ideas is something a lot of people forget about when signing up to a creative course, I know I certainly did, but I think that whatever doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.

Compressed Colour...

This week we had another lecture on colour. This lecture focused on the colour wheel introduced by Sir Isaac Newton in 1666 and at the start I thought that this was going to be a bit dull as I can remember doing all this at school. It started out like I was at school but it went into it with a lot more detail which I found useful. I can see this really making a difference as when you get stuck picking a colour, it may help you pick one that complements or contrasts with it.

The image compression lecture was useful and it was good to learn how the different image compressions worked. To me it seems so primitive how images work as each pixel is represented by a colour but I know that without this that image quality would be very poor.

The compression report is something that I'm really not enjoying at the moment and I find it quite boring to be honest. Although I see the helpful side to it I think we could have done something more constructive with image compression. Saying that, I am through the worst of it and I have all the data set out in a spreadsheet so I all I have to do is write the evaluation about my findings which I find a lot more interesting than compressing images all afternoon.

Overall I think this week has been good, even though I had the compression report. I would have liked to have done a bit more work at home before coming back but it was my birthday over the weekend and found it a bit difficult to fit it all in. I will hopefully catch up over this weekend and get some much needed inspiration and work put into my sketchbook.

Theory...

This week has had alot of theory. We've had the C.R.A.P. (contrast, repitition, alignment and proximity) and colour space lectures along with a talk on image formats. I have enjoyed it this week and found the lectures to be quite informative. It feels like we're really starting to get into the industry side of things I can see this as being actually quite useful in the big daunting workplace.

I found the lecture on image formats to be quite easy but there were somethings such as bit depth which I'd never really heard of. I also learnt that DPI (dots per inch) reffered to pixels per linear inch and not square inch which was what I always thought but then thinking about it seems so obvious.

The exercise on Wednesday morning where we had to create 12 business card designs in half an hour was good. I liked the fact we were given the brief to do that in such a short amount of time and it really makes you aware of what you can do when you put your mind to it. It was also a chance to show creativity and it was good seeing what other people had done. I'm always interested in what other people do as I believe it helps you to understand them more in some way. It gives you clues about certain personality traits that you wouldn't normally find out by just talking to them. I'm also nosey so this is probably the underlying reason!

This week I also started the TDR assignment and found that I went off tangent at times reading about Damien Hirst and his 'Mother and Child Divided' art piece. I also found myself distracted with the age old debate of design vs. art and I can only conclude that there is simply no right or wrong answer to this, it's just a test to see if we can write a valid and balanced argument of the topic. After all, as a web designer, should I be more biased towards design, or simply provide a balanced argument?

I'm starting to look at the TDR in a different way than before, I used to sort of like the things that they did but I'm getting a bit tired of the style of work they produce. It seems a bit dated to me now and they're lack of new work on their website leads me to believe that they're maybe trying something new. For example, the Supergrass album cover is a very minimalist design compared to their more usual 'busy' style.

Brand New...

Well it's brand new assignment time. It's a great sigh of relief because if I'm starting the next ones, it means I can finally put A2 to bed. That's one assignment done.

I was eager to find out how I had done in my assignment and stayed behind on Wednesday to get the low down from Steve. I was happy with the pass grade but there were some things I wasn't happy about. For a start I didn't manage to meet any of the criteria for the merit sections but managed to get 1 in the distinction area.

I should have been happy with that but to me it's like a false economy. It teaches me that next time I will have to aim on getting everything upto scratch.

Steve also mentioned that my evaluative writing is not upto scratch which is a totally fair comment. I find it hard to write evaluations without falling in the trap of being too descriptive rather than evaluative.

Planning is also something I need to improve for the new assignments. I've decided to go about it a different way this time. Using Google calendar, I will post my time planning on my blog as it should help me keep track wherever I am.

Hopefully this will help me to plan better and hopefully encourage it more.

The 'Picture This' assignment is something I am looking forward to as it incorporates writing as well as creative work.

I'm feeling positive about the work that's coming up over the next few weeks.