Skills
There are plenty of skills in the industry that I am certain that I need but do not have the skill in it at the moment.
The skills that I’m interesting in learning are Flash or PHP. Although looking at the industry jobs going at the moment PHP seems to be more valuable than Flash. A lot of this is to do with the fact that PHP is more accessible on the web than flash.
Reason
Flash: This is a skill, which I would like to know more about, because I know that it is used on a lot of websites these days and can also be used a lot to produce nice interactions on a site between the display and the user. However with this come some accessibility issues, with users having some problems clicking on slash links etc.
PHP: This skill is used on almost every modern day website. Usually to store information such as member (usernames and passwords) and also can be used to log IPS and other information. This skill seems to be needed in the industry, and usually is classes as standard.
Example Jobs
http://www.creativepool.co.uk/employee/jobdetail.php?ref=PUR/EN1097/JN8545
In the job above skills required are mainly Adobe products and also Flash. So this could be something to aim for, however this seems like more a designer role.
http://www.reed.co.uk/job-details/Nottingham/Lead-PHP-Developer-up-to-k-Nottingham/?JobID=17380389&k=web+design&ns=True&lit=2
This job however is based on Networking. But you need a lot of knowledge in PHP and also a fair amount of PHP experience to even get a look in.
http://www.reed.co.uk/job-details/Windsor/Web-Developer-Photoshop-XHTML-CSS-ASP-PHP/?JobID=17410376&k=web+design&ns=True&lit=2
Another web design job, however this requires both Flash and PHP.
In my opinion both skills are important in the industry but I feel PHP seems to be more the industry standard, this is why I would like to do PHP for my self timed learning plan rather than Flash.
Wednesday 10 December 2008
Wednesday 3 December 2008
The Return
Summer assignments
The summer assignments really prepped me for the second year, as well as make me curious about the actual working industry. What was fun about the summer assignment was that it allowed me o research and look at the current market for web design.
Although this was rather worrying at times seeing the locations was several miles away and often in a different city all together.
None the less I looked forward to the second year and the things that I could improve on to get a job in the industry.
CSS
CSS was the first step in the second year although I was dubious and in self-doubt I found this assignment very fun.
I struggled at first the coding. But after I learnt the easy access code through Dreamweaver I was finally making progress.
This part of the second year as taught me so much already and I am looking forward the 2nd half.
Presentation
Also this year I have already done another presentation. I seem to be struggling on these, as I can’t seem to remember all the information. However after a word with Steve one method is to place images of the desired information on the background of the presentation.
I have done this and I’m currently looking forward to testing it out and seeing how much it helps.
Creative!
At the moment I am currently designing for a product, which I know nothing about. I have been struggling a little with actually getting some ideas down, although the ones I have drawn I think are pretty good.
Summery
What I feel confident in
After the beginning of the second year I defiantly feel a lot more confident in my CSS abilities. Although I do feel as if some improvement is needed in general I am very pleased with the work I did over the assignment and in the test.
What I don’t feel comfortable about
I am still a little worried about presentations. I think this will improve with time. Although I think the new technique will help a lot it still needs to be tested.
Skills improved in
Know that I am doing my time sheets in my sketchbook every day, I feel a lot more confident in my time keeping. I always have my sketchbook, which makes it handy for jotting the time started, and the time finished on my work.
CSS as stated above I feel a lot more confident in CSS now especially after the test. The test put me under some pressure but it also showed me what I’m actually capable of.
Presentations are one skill that I’m planning on improving with the new technique. Hopefully it will be a success, through practising it seems to work.
The summer assignments really prepped me for the second year, as well as make me curious about the actual working industry. What was fun about the summer assignment was that it allowed me o research and look at the current market for web design.
Although this was rather worrying at times seeing the locations was several miles away and often in a different city all together.
None the less I looked forward to the second year and the things that I could improve on to get a job in the industry.
CSS
CSS was the first step in the second year although I was dubious and in self-doubt I found this assignment very fun.
I struggled at first the coding. But after I learnt the easy access code through Dreamweaver I was finally making progress.
This part of the second year as taught me so much already and I am looking forward the 2nd half.
Presentation
Also this year I have already done another presentation. I seem to be struggling on these, as I can’t seem to remember all the information. However after a word with Steve one method is to place images of the desired information on the background of the presentation.
I have done this and I’m currently looking forward to testing it out and seeing how much it helps.
Creative!
At the moment I am currently designing for a product, which I know nothing about. I have been struggling a little with actually getting some ideas down, although the ones I have drawn I think are pretty good.
Summery
What I feel confident in
After the beginning of the second year I defiantly feel a lot more confident in my CSS abilities. Although I do feel as if some improvement is needed in general I am very pleased with the work I did over the assignment and in the test.
What I don’t feel comfortable about
I am still a little worried about presentations. I think this will improve with time. Although I think the new technique will help a lot it still needs to be tested.
Skills improved in
Know that I am doing my time sheets in my sketchbook every day, I feel a lot more confident in my time keeping. I always have my sketchbook, which makes it handy for jotting the time started, and the time finished on my work.
CSS as stated above I feel a lot more confident in CSS now especially after the test. The test put me under some pressure but it also showed me what I’m actually capable of.
Presentations are one skill that I’m planning on improving with the new technique. Hopefully it will be a success, through practising it seems to work.
Wednesday 5 November 2008
Transferable
Time keeping
Advantages
Always used in a working environment to makes sure you get paid for the correct amount of time you have worked.
I have been getting better at this skill over the years however I feel as if I could use some improvements. In the way I do my time sheets, and remembering to always do them.
Phone manner / Social
Advantages
Clients: Having a good phone skill / Social skills allows to persuade clients much more easily to choose you as there designer etc.
Future: Having a good phone manner / Social skills are more likely to get you an interview with a future employer.
I have a fairly good phone manner / Social skills at the moment as my current job involves answering phones and talking to clients.
Presentational Skills
Advantages
Client: Being able to give a presentation in front of a client can make or break a deal for the company you work for.
Employer: Having a good presentational skill will allow you to perform better in interviews not getting stressed as much and also allowing you to answer the questions asked smoothly and calmly.
I really need some more practise, in this skill. Although I am confident enough to give a presentation, when I do attempt it, my voice sounds wooden.
Team management skills
Advantages
Clients: Having a good team skill will allow you to share information throughout the interactive media team more easily; this leaves you with more job positions.
Work: Almost 90% of jobs worldwide require you to have some kind of team skills that will allow you to work with or lead a team of people.
I can work with a team but I am not yet confident enough to actually lead a team. In the future this is one thing I would like to do.
Advantages
Always used in a working environment to makes sure you get paid for the correct amount of time you have worked.
I have been getting better at this skill over the years however I feel as if I could use some improvements. In the way I do my time sheets, and remembering to always do them.
Phone manner / Social
Advantages
Clients: Having a good phone skill / Social skills allows to persuade clients much more easily to choose you as there designer etc.
Future: Having a good phone manner / Social skills are more likely to get you an interview with a future employer.
I have a fairly good phone manner / Social skills at the moment as my current job involves answering phones and talking to clients.
Presentational Skills
Advantages
Client: Being able to give a presentation in front of a client can make or break a deal for the company you work for.
Employer: Having a good presentational skill will allow you to perform better in interviews not getting stressed as much and also allowing you to answer the questions asked smoothly and calmly.
I really need some more practise, in this skill. Although I am confident enough to give a presentation, when I do attempt it, my voice sounds wooden.
Team management skills
Advantages
Clients: Having a good team skill will allow you to share information throughout the interactive media team more easily; this leaves you with more job positions.
Work: Almost 90% of jobs worldwide require you to have some kind of team skills that will allow you to work with or lead a team of people.
I can work with a team but I am not yet confident enough to actually lead a team. In the future this is one thing I would like to do.
Wednesday 8 October 2008
End Result
At the moment I am in the second year of a HNC Interactive media course. So far on the course I am currently learning CSS and XHTML, through research I have recently found out that it is required for a lot of jobs that these skills are known.
Although I am finding CSS and XHTML very useful I find that I need to improve several more skills before I attempt to enter the industry.
Skills such as:
Team Skills: As I am doing a top up course to HND after this year I feel like it will be some time before I learn the true value of a Interactive Media Team. I have worked in teams before but in a completely different industry.
CSS: I am currently in the process of learning CSS this year however it is somewhat daunting that I am not fully confident enough yet. I am sure that after this year I will have enough confidence to apply for a Jr position Job.
XHTML: Same as above really I feel I need to learn a lot more about XHTML before I feel confident enough to apply for a job in the interactive media industry.
Time keeping skills: I have been using time planning a lot over the past years both for work and for collage. But I still feel I need to improve attention to detail when filling them out and try not to miss anything.
Presentation: This is a skill that I have been learning slowly from the beginning of the course and continue to improve, although I am still a little nervous about presenting my work in front of people.
By the end of the course I should have more skills that will allow me to be confident enough to get a job.
Although I am finding CSS and XHTML very useful I find that I need to improve several more skills before I attempt to enter the industry.
Skills such as:
Team Skills: As I am doing a top up course to HND after this year I feel like it will be some time before I learn the true value of a Interactive Media Team. I have worked in teams before but in a completely different industry.
CSS: I am currently in the process of learning CSS this year however it is somewhat daunting that I am not fully confident enough yet. I am sure that after this year I will have enough confidence to apply for a Jr position Job.
XHTML: Same as above really I feel I need to learn a lot more about XHTML before I feel confident enough to apply for a job in the interactive media industry.
Time keeping skills: I have been using time planning a lot over the past years both for work and for collage. But I still feel I need to improve attention to detail when filling them out and try not to miss anything.
Presentation: This is a skill that I have been learning slowly from the beginning of the course and continue to improve, although I am still a little nervous about presenting my work in front of people.
By the end of the course I should have more skills that will allow me to be confident enough to get a job.
Monday 6 October 2008
Aspirations
For the second year I hope to have a better understanding of CSS and XHTML, the main reason for this is that they are both required to get a job in the web design industry and my confidence will be boosted if I gain a better understanding of the two languages.
Also I hope to become much better at problem solving so that I am able to spot my own errors in my work. The main goal I have for the second year is to improve my presentational skills as it will help me be more confident in group situations.
In the third year I aspire to improve a lot of my skills such as attention to detail, spelling and grammar. They are all important and will help me succeed later in life.
Also in the third year I would like to find out more about the industry and how it all works ready for when I leave collage. This will mean that I will have to get a part time job in the web industry. But before that I hope to become more confident in client situations, so that when I am actually in a work place, I will feel more comfortable and relaxed about situations involving meetings.
At the end of the course I am hoping to have a job in the web design industry at first a junior position, this will allow me to gain more experience in the web design industry and then I can move on.
After this I hope to one day own my own business in web design / print, even though it will take a lot of effort as I found out through certain assignments at collage I believe it is still possible.
Also I hope to become much better at problem solving so that I am able to spot my own errors in my work. The main goal I have for the second year is to improve my presentational skills as it will help me be more confident in group situations.
In the third year I aspire to improve a lot of my skills such as attention to detail, spelling and grammar. They are all important and will help me succeed later in life.
Also in the third year I would like to find out more about the industry and how it all works ready for when I leave collage. This will mean that I will have to get a part time job in the web industry. But before that I hope to become more confident in client situations, so that when I am actually in a work place, I will feel more comfortable and relaxed about situations involving meetings.
At the end of the course I am hoping to have a job in the web design industry at first a junior position, this will allow me to gain more experience in the web design industry and then I can move on.
After this I hope to one day own my own business in web design / print, even though it will take a lot of effort as I found out through certain assignments at collage I believe it is still possible.
Tuesday 13 May 2008
End of year Evaluation (May 13)
Past
On my first Blog entry almost a year ago I did not realise how fast things would go. I have felt mixed emotions so far about my work, from being unhappy to being happy.
The first assignment we did based on a fictional website was a whole new learning curve for me, I did not actually realise how hard it would be as I wasn’t really thought the correct way before I found it quiet difficult to adjust.
Back when we first did the assignment I thought my initial designs were very pleasing however looking back now I can see how wrong I was. I struggled to grasp the concept of colour in the beginning, which I think made my work slightly poorer than what it could have been.
As you can see from the picture I used the wrong colour scheme, which made the design look bad. Also I did make a lot of design errors which looking back now makes me laugh at the easy mistakes I made.
I also had trouble with how things was marked here compared to the last college I was at however I am now starting to realise how and why things are marked in a certain way. This has helped me correct a lot of errors, which I was frequently getting at the beginning of the course.
The second stage of the course was building a real plan for a website which I would actually be building. For this I did take a lot more care however I was still making naive mistakes these mistakes did come to bite me later on when actually creating the website.
Although I did make lots of mistakes in the plan this did not discourage me from fixing them when actually coming around to building the web site. I was a little unhappy with my first choice of design so I changed it slightly to make it easier on the eye this also made it more user friendly.
As you can see the ne thing I started to learn was complimentary colours and how they affect websites. I got all the information from a colour lecture presented by Steve; this made me very happy, as that’s what I had been struggling with from the beginning.
The first thing I did was change the website image and the general overlay to make it look more pleasing. After I had done I was very pleased with my work and exited that I was learning more about my self and the things I could do.
As you can see from the image there was a big change in the style of the website. Also what impressed me was the dramatic difference between the look. One of the major factors, which made me change the style, were rereading the “Park” lecture which was in my sketchbook, this very clearly said that the best designers always use repetition. So I decided to give it a go on the website and it worked! The website was looking great and had to be my best achievement at that time.
The most fun I’ve had on the course to-date is when I started “A7 Wailing Whales” This gave me more of a chance to explore my design talents when I had to listen to music and think of a perfect design that would fit as a Digipak cover and also a CD cover.
The reason why I found this assignment to be a little more fun is that I got to explore with more creativity than the previous assignment. It was all trial and error and I soon learned which would be the best possible design for the job.
Although it was very fun and probably the most hands on assignment to date I was worried through pretty much the entire thing. The main problem was not being able to pick a final design I struggled on this for both the Digipak and logo designs. I had a lot of problems mainly because I made too much work for my self and I could not choose one of my own designs, as I liked all of them equally.
A have learned a lot in this past year so much more than I ever thought possible when I joined the coarse. The most valuable information I have learned is all the design issues such as PARC and colour coordination. Because they haven’t just improved my design skill the combines two have improved my entire work enabling me to work at a better more comfortable rate.
The most inspiration moment was when Dave Panel came in to see people in the HND course I got to learn a lot about the industry and how things work once you get a job working for Dave or any other company. I suppose I was a little surprised at how some clients always want something out of this world.
Where I’m going
At the end of the coarse I hope to be going into the industry, however at this moment in time I do not feel confident enough to go out into the industry and get a job. I think the major factor behind this is because I still make some bad decisions when designing. But my overall thought is that I am not yet confident enough to work for a client.
Although I am happy with my progress I am a little sad that the time has flown by so rapidly. I can see a major difference in the way I work since when I first started. One of the main things, which have helped me on the coarse so far, is the sketchbook. The reason being that it allowed me to jot all my ideas and all my mistakes down in the same book this is what has helped me reflect back on the beginning. This has helped me learn from many of mistakes, the best way I have found learning my mistakes was via making a checklist. This however can get confusing if you make simultaneous checklists I got lost several times when checking off my work. I have recently got a lot better at doing work as I seam to be concentrating a bit more I think that may be to do with me finally getting how the course is laid out and how I should be doing things.
At the moment we are getting ready for the second year to be honest I suppose I was a little worried / scared of CSS and how I would cope with a new language. On my previous course I did VB, which I thought, was ok and fairly easy but CSS seams to be a completely new language. Although once I spoke to Steve I was soon at ease after learning that it is actually easier than VB.
I am slightly worried about the second year mainly because of the huge amount of work involved. However I am also really exited, I have done a lot of work recently and I feel ready for the second year.
How I’m going to get there
I think what would be best for me personally would be to get a couple of books to keep me in front over the holidays so when I come back ill be in the frame of mind to work. Also as Steve and John have told me reading will help me with my spelling, so it will work two times as good for that reason.
I also feel as if more tutorials are in order. Some of the work I did at the beginning of the year and even through A7 was only achievable through learning the work from tutorials, which I had found online. Although they can be quiet stressful at times I think I did get a lot of help from online tutorials as they helped me with certain advanced features with the programs we were using.
I did struggle a bit last year though when it came to understanding the criteria, which came with every assignment. I think it may be best if I talk about my understandings of the criteria opening with Steve or on the blog so that if I have got it wrong I can be corrected before I hand in an assignment.
I couldn’t have actually come this far without my sketchbook and thus I would not be able to carry on without it. I think that it is still very important for me to record my work in the sketchbook as it helped me understand a great deal more. The sketchbook was also a recorder for me as when I forget things all I have to do is read certain parts of it back to remember.
To get there fully I also need to know when to ask for help. All this year I have been too shy enough to ask for help on my work. However this has also caused some of my work to slack in details stopping me from getting higher marks. I suppose more than anything it was just stubbornness I believed that I was right, however for the second year I will always ask for help if I need it to make sure that my work is done fully and correctly, I think this will help me reach my full potential.
Goals for next year
Sketchbook, even though a sketchbook is not art of the syllabus next year, I would like to continue using one. However I would also like to get a lot better at using the sketchbook and maybe record my time in the sketchbook also as I think it would help me more than it being a separate sheet.
Time, I know for a fact that I need to improve my time keeping next year. One thing I have been thinking abut is keeping a record of time in a sketchbook as I think I would remember to do everything if I was seeing it everyday like the sketchbook.
Tutorials, I would like to learn one new skill from a tutorial every 2 month starting from the second year. I think learning advanced options in applications can only help me in the future.
More reading, this one is a definite; as I struggle with spelling reading more books would help me greatly. However it is not just about my spelling. I think getting books such as CSS and Illustrator for beginners will help me a lot when trying to complete my work.
Help, I need to learn when to ask for help, instead of waiting until the last minute. This should help me get the first few passes with no problems.
Grades: In the second year I am aiming for 2 passes and 3 merits. This should be very doable but I will have to work my hardest to ensure I stick to this as I want to get the best grades possible.
Word Count 1844
On my first Blog entry almost a year ago I did not realise how fast things would go. I have felt mixed emotions so far about my work, from being unhappy to being happy.
The first assignment we did based on a fictional website was a whole new learning curve for me, I did not actually realise how hard it would be as I wasn’t really thought the correct way before I found it quiet difficult to adjust.
Back when we first did the assignment I thought my initial designs were very pleasing however looking back now I can see how wrong I was. I struggled to grasp the concept of colour in the beginning, which I think made my work slightly poorer than what it could have been.
As you can see from the picture I used the wrong colour scheme, which made the design look bad. Also I did make a lot of design errors which looking back now makes me laugh at the easy mistakes I made.
I also had trouble with how things was marked here compared to the last college I was at however I am now starting to realise how and why things are marked in a certain way. This has helped me correct a lot of errors, which I was frequently getting at the beginning of the course.
The second stage of the course was building a real plan for a website which I would actually be building. For this I did take a lot more care however I was still making naive mistakes these mistakes did come to bite me later on when actually creating the website.
Although I did make lots of mistakes in the plan this did not discourage me from fixing them when actually coming around to building the web site. I was a little unhappy with my first choice of design so I changed it slightly to make it easier on the eye this also made it more user friendly.
As you can see the ne thing I started to learn was complimentary colours and how they affect websites. I got all the information from a colour lecture presented by Steve; this made me very happy, as that’s what I had been struggling with from the beginning.
The first thing I did was change the website image and the general overlay to make it look more pleasing. After I had done I was very pleased with my work and exited that I was learning more about my self and the things I could do.
As you can see from the image there was a big change in the style of the website. Also what impressed me was the dramatic difference between the look. One of the major factors, which made me change the style, were rereading the “Park” lecture which was in my sketchbook, this very clearly said that the best designers always use repetition. So I decided to give it a go on the website and it worked! The website was looking great and had to be my best achievement at that time.
The most fun I’ve had on the course to-date is when I started “A7 Wailing Whales” This gave me more of a chance to explore my design talents when I had to listen to music and think of a perfect design that would fit as a Digipak cover and also a CD cover.
The reason why I found this assignment to be a little more fun is that I got to explore with more creativity than the previous assignment. It was all trial and error and I soon learned which would be the best possible design for the job.
Although it was very fun and probably the most hands on assignment to date I was worried through pretty much the entire thing. The main problem was not being able to pick a final design I struggled on this for both the Digipak and logo designs. I had a lot of problems mainly because I made too much work for my self and I could not choose one of my own designs, as I liked all of them equally.
A have learned a lot in this past year so much more than I ever thought possible when I joined the coarse. The most valuable information I have learned is all the design issues such as PARC and colour coordination. Because they haven’t just improved my design skill the combines two have improved my entire work enabling me to work at a better more comfortable rate.
The most inspiration moment was when Dave Panel came in to see people in the HND course I got to learn a lot about the industry and how things work once you get a job working for Dave or any other company. I suppose I was a little surprised at how some clients always want something out of this world.
Where I’m going
At the end of the coarse I hope to be going into the industry, however at this moment in time I do not feel confident enough to go out into the industry and get a job. I think the major factor behind this is because I still make some bad decisions when designing. But my overall thought is that I am not yet confident enough to work for a client.
Although I am happy with my progress I am a little sad that the time has flown by so rapidly. I can see a major difference in the way I work since when I first started. One of the main things, which have helped me on the coarse so far, is the sketchbook. The reason being that it allowed me to jot all my ideas and all my mistakes down in the same book this is what has helped me reflect back on the beginning. This has helped me learn from many of mistakes, the best way I have found learning my mistakes was via making a checklist. This however can get confusing if you make simultaneous checklists I got lost several times when checking off my work. I have recently got a lot better at doing work as I seam to be concentrating a bit more I think that may be to do with me finally getting how the course is laid out and how I should be doing things.
At the moment we are getting ready for the second year to be honest I suppose I was a little worried / scared of CSS and how I would cope with a new language. On my previous course I did VB, which I thought, was ok and fairly easy but CSS seams to be a completely new language. Although once I spoke to Steve I was soon at ease after learning that it is actually easier than VB.
I am slightly worried about the second year mainly because of the huge amount of work involved. However I am also really exited, I have done a lot of work recently and I feel ready for the second year.
How I’m going to get there
I think what would be best for me personally would be to get a couple of books to keep me in front over the holidays so when I come back ill be in the frame of mind to work. Also as Steve and John have told me reading will help me with my spelling, so it will work two times as good for that reason.
I also feel as if more tutorials are in order. Some of the work I did at the beginning of the year and even through A7 was only achievable through learning the work from tutorials, which I had found online. Although they can be quiet stressful at times I think I did get a lot of help from online tutorials as they helped me with certain advanced features with the programs we were using.
I did struggle a bit last year though when it came to understanding the criteria, which came with every assignment. I think it may be best if I talk about my understandings of the criteria opening with Steve or on the blog so that if I have got it wrong I can be corrected before I hand in an assignment.
I couldn’t have actually come this far without my sketchbook and thus I would not be able to carry on without it. I think that it is still very important for me to record my work in the sketchbook as it helped me understand a great deal more. The sketchbook was also a recorder for me as when I forget things all I have to do is read certain parts of it back to remember.
To get there fully I also need to know when to ask for help. All this year I have been too shy enough to ask for help on my work. However this has also caused some of my work to slack in details stopping me from getting higher marks. I suppose more than anything it was just stubbornness I believed that I was right, however for the second year I will always ask for help if I need it to make sure that my work is done fully and correctly, I think this will help me reach my full potential.
Goals for next year
Sketchbook, even though a sketchbook is not art of the syllabus next year, I would like to continue using one. However I would also like to get a lot better at using the sketchbook and maybe record my time in the sketchbook also as I think it would help me more than it being a separate sheet.
Time, I know for a fact that I need to improve my time keeping next year. One thing I have been thinking abut is keeping a record of time in a sketchbook as I think I would remember to do everything if I was seeing it everyday like the sketchbook.
Tutorials, I would like to learn one new skill from a tutorial every 2 month starting from the second year. I think learning advanced options in applications can only help me in the future.
More reading, this one is a definite; as I struggle with spelling reading more books would help me greatly. However it is not just about my spelling. I think getting books such as CSS and Illustrator for beginners will help me a lot when trying to complete my work.
Help, I need to learn when to ask for help, instead of waiting until the last minute. This should help me get the first few passes with no problems.
Grades: In the second year I am aiming for 2 passes and 3 merits. This should be very doable but I will have to work my hardest to ensure I stick to this as I want to get the best grades possible.
Word Count 1844
Tuesday 6 May 2008
Check Check Check
This week is mainly one for checking and making sure that all my work is up to scratch. I have been so proud of my self over the last week as I have finished everything a week in advance just like it should be.
However this does not mean I can slack off, I am very aware that even though on the outside it looks as if I have done all the work however simple mistakes can be easily made, so to make sure everything is done this week will be mainly testing and checking to make sure that all my work is complete.
To carry on being happy with my self I will make sure I keep up this high standard of work, I am getting more confident in the way the course is marked which means I should be improving, however there are still some parts of my work which I'm not totally happy with.
One of these is not checking my work properly, this can lead to me missing out on marks in the most easiest way. However this time round I have developed a check-list which will hopefully allow me to fulfil my job correctly and get all the work complete.
The first error I found this week through the check list we did last week and my own is that I did not make my images CMYK, this made me realise that I have not finished my work but rather done a rough sketch of my work.
The hardest thing of last week was which logo to use. However what made me happy is that when I posted this problem on the forum I was quickly given feedback and helped into choosing which logo I should use for the job. This took a lot of pressure off my self and allowed me to carry on work.
The happiest moment of this week was finally getting everything uploaded into Indesign, I had very few problems doing this however I did struggle to make the writing go around the inside of the CD, this of cause meant I had to go on a research mission to find the answer.
Now that most of the work is complete I feel a lot happier with my self however I am constantly checking to make sure that I have done everything correctly.
The next thing on my mind is the evaluation, I am actually finding it very pleasing this time round, mainly because I have placed all my feelings on the blog so I can just look back and find out what I was struggling with and what I was happy with.
However this does not mean I can slack off, I am very aware that even though on the outside it looks as if I have done all the work however simple mistakes can be easily made, so to make sure everything is done this week will be mainly testing and checking to make sure that all my work is complete.
To carry on being happy with my self I will make sure I keep up this high standard of work, I am getting more confident in the way the course is marked which means I should be improving, however there are still some parts of my work which I'm not totally happy with.
One of these is not checking my work properly, this can lead to me missing out on marks in the most easiest way. However this time round I have developed a check-list which will hopefully allow me to fulfil my job correctly and get all the work complete.
The first error I found this week through the check list we did last week and my own is that I did not make my images CMYK, this made me realise that I have not finished my work but rather done a rough sketch of my work.
The hardest thing of last week was which logo to use. However what made me happy is that when I posted this problem on the forum I was quickly given feedback and helped into choosing which logo I should use for the job. This took a lot of pressure off my self and allowed me to carry on work.
The happiest moment of this week was finally getting everything uploaded into Indesign, I had very few problems doing this however I did struggle to make the writing go around the inside of the CD, this of cause meant I had to go on a research mission to find the answer.
Now that most of the work is complete I feel a lot happier with my self however I am constantly checking to make sure that I have done everything correctly.
The next thing on my mind is the evaluation, I am actually finding it very pleasing this time round, mainly because I have placed all my feelings on the blog so I can just look back and find out what I was struggling with and what I was happy with.
Tuesday 29 April 2008
Still a load left.
CD work
This week has been a tiring one, the most stress I found defiantly came from creating the CD work. The reason being that it took me ages before finding the right effect / amount of editing that I would be happy with.
In the end after much debate I decided to go for my first and last designs. The first was using a picture then creating an effect called cubism, this involved cutting out squares in a picture rotating them and putting little shades and edits on each piece. This was of cause very frustrating and took a lot of time but I think the end result looks good thus meaning it was worth it
My last design was something of a test of patience, it was to browse the internet for various tutorials on water and make my own image from manipulating the original factor. This in some ways took just as much time as the cubism method mainly, because of the research involved. The amount of research made me very tired most nights but it paid off in the final design making the overall affect look quite good, however there was still a little dissatisfaction for me as I did not like the end result as much as the cubism one.
New Font
To go with the Cd work I needed to find a new font that stood out and really made me think “Wow that’s good” however as the weeks went by I struggled to find the correct font which would make me smile.
However after intense research into fonts I found one which had some grate potential for my logo, however I did not see it working so well on the Cd design. The font is called LotusFlower and it is a free download at dafont.com.
So with much eager ambition I went to Steve with my designs, this turned out to be the best mover ever, mainly as then I found out about the font called avant guard, I really like this font it stands out and also is clear and easy to read making it the perfect font for my Cd work.
Flight Plan
This week was also a success story as I managed to complete my flight plan, I have been holding off doing the flight plan for ages thinking it would be hard, as much of my research showed people using software to complete there flight plans. But after the list we did on Monday I felt I knew what to do, this was helped along by a re lecture on print which included a lot of information that we would all need to no. I my self am glad the lecture was retold as it allowed me to think about the flight plan with a clear mind.
I did struggle at first but I kept typing and ended up with a list of things the printer might want to no which was the flight plan. Although I had some errors I still managed to get it done.
Work to be done
Although I feel I have accomplished a lot this week I know I still have a long way to go. This week I am aiming to get most the work complete as to stick to the original time plan which was to have all work complete 1 week before the hand in date.
I think overall my biggest struggle is going to be placing everything into Indesign without no trouble, I have heard / found out that when saving in EPS (ie the logo) there can be some difficulty when transferring the logo especially if you have it with a solid colour.
The Font still needs changing to avant guard.
This is my last design however i still think it needs a lot of work doing on it to make it industry standard.
This week has been a tiring one, the most stress I found defiantly came from creating the CD work. The reason being that it took me ages before finding the right effect / amount of editing that I would be happy with.
In the end after much debate I decided to go for my first and last designs. The first was using a picture then creating an effect called cubism, this involved cutting out squares in a picture rotating them and putting little shades and edits on each piece. This was of cause very frustrating and took a lot of time but I think the end result looks good thus meaning it was worth it
My last design was something of a test of patience, it was to browse the internet for various tutorials on water and make my own image from manipulating the original factor. This in some ways took just as much time as the cubism method mainly, because of the research involved. The amount of research made me very tired most nights but it paid off in the final design making the overall affect look quite good, however there was still a little dissatisfaction for me as I did not like the end result as much as the cubism one.
New Font
To go with the Cd work I needed to find a new font that stood out and really made me think “Wow that’s good” however as the weeks went by I struggled to find the correct font which would make me smile.
However after intense research into fonts I found one which had some grate potential for my logo, however I did not see it working so well on the Cd design. The font is called LotusFlower and it is a free download at dafont.com.
So with much eager ambition I went to Steve with my designs, this turned out to be the best mover ever, mainly as then I found out about the font called avant guard, I really like this font it stands out and also is clear and easy to read making it the perfect font for my Cd work.
Flight Plan
This week was also a success story as I managed to complete my flight plan, I have been holding off doing the flight plan for ages thinking it would be hard, as much of my research showed people using software to complete there flight plans. But after the list we did on Monday I felt I knew what to do, this was helped along by a re lecture on print which included a lot of information that we would all need to no. I my self am glad the lecture was retold as it allowed me to think about the flight plan with a clear mind.
I did struggle at first but I kept typing and ended up with a list of things the printer might want to no which was the flight plan. Although I had some errors I still managed to get it done.
Work to be done
Although I feel I have accomplished a lot this week I know I still have a long way to go. This week I am aiming to get most the work complete as to stick to the original time plan which was to have all work complete 1 week before the hand in date.
I think overall my biggest struggle is going to be placing everything into Indesign without no trouble, I have heard / found out that when saving in EPS (ie the logo) there can be some difficulty when transferring the logo especially if you have it with a solid colour.
The Font still needs changing to avant guard.
This is my last design however i still think it needs a lot of work doing on it to make it industry standard.
Tuesday 22 April 2008
Moving Fast!
My three logos although slightly finished still need work. One I need to place a good looking font on there to brighten things up and make the Emit logo look more eye pleasing. Also I think it will make me happier knowing that my logo looks its best although I have to remember not to get too attached.
A good way to improve my logo is to use thicker lines on the 1st design and a more rounded moon on the 2nd design. This makes me happy as well as now I know how to fix the logos to make them industry standard, although making the lines ticker will result in me using less paths so that the logo will still work at a small size.
Inspiration
My inspiration has defiantly been used this week; I have been using my sketchbook to help me design/redesign my work, although using my sketchbook for ideas can sometimes be a bad influences from bad business cards and such. Although I try to stay away from bad ideas they can subluminally influence me.
A happy moment of the week is the inspiration forum talk, this is a place to post and get inspiration, so please take a look if you get time. (DesignForum)
CD Work
This week has been an interesting but frustrating one as I try to pick a design for my CD cover, I have been looking very closely into plants, trees and nature. But as well as this I have been toying with the idea of Cubism as it is a play on words on the artists name which is Qubism.
Although using Cubism would be good for effect it would take a lot of time and would be very hard to pull off, I think so that I don’t have as much stress I will create the basic version of the CD first and then try and do a cubism formatted one.
Fonts
Fonts are another challenging aspect this week as I try to find the perfect font. Even though I have researched fonts and looked at plenty of them I still struggle to find the perfect font for me and my designs. The hardest part is matching them to my designs in a way that I feel they suit although it is not really about me and they way I feel but about the client and his opinions.
A good way to improve my logo is to use thicker lines on the 1st design and a more rounded moon on the 2nd design. This makes me happy as well as now I know how to fix the logos to make them industry standard, although making the lines ticker will result in me using less paths so that the logo will still work at a small size.
Inspiration
My inspiration has defiantly been used this week; I have been using my sketchbook to help me design/redesign my work, although using my sketchbook for ideas can sometimes be a bad influences from bad business cards and such. Although I try to stay away from bad ideas they can subluminally influence me.
A happy moment of the week is the inspiration forum talk, this is a place to post and get inspiration, so please take a look if you get time. (DesignForum)
CD Work
This week has been an interesting but frustrating one as I try to pick a design for my CD cover, I have been looking very closely into plants, trees and nature. But as well as this I have been toying with the idea of Cubism as it is a play on words on the artists name which is Qubism.
Although using Cubism would be good for effect it would take a lot of time and would be very hard to pull off, I think so that I don’t have as much stress I will create the basic version of the CD first and then try and do a cubism formatted one.
Fonts
Fonts are another challenging aspect this week as I try to find the perfect font. Even though I have researched fonts and looked at plenty of them I still struggle to find the perfect font for me and my designs. The hardest part is matching them to my designs in a way that I feel they suit although it is not really about me and they way I feel but about the client and his opinions.
Sunday 20 April 2008
Logos!
These are my final 3 logos. Sory for the long wait but my internet has been very slow and crashing upon uploading this week. Also i know about some of the colours not contrasting it was mainly just to see what it looked like. BAD! But it was worth trying.
Also i know about some of the thin lines consistant in some of the designs, was done to ensure they worked at small sizes.
Tuesday 15 April 2008
Design, Design, Design
Logos
More logo creating this week brought a design style to my logos which was eye catching. The main type of logo I stuck to was an eclipse of the sun (half) this meant that you could still see half the sun and half the moon.
At the moment I am trying different styles of type to go with this logo but finding the right one is proving to be difficult. One thing I am going to do is print off a big list of fonts saying the word EMIT so that I can pick the best one. Although trying to match one to the logo I have done is hard as some text styles spoil the logo.
If anyone has some good free typefaces please post a link.
CD Design
This week I also started on my CD design and sketched some examples of what might match the music I have been listening to. Once again I tried to get this light and dark feel across, as the music was both dark and light.
One of the designs I thought of was sun rise inside, sun setting back and night for the front, this to me seemed to get a lot of moods across which I felt from listening to the music. This design however may have some consequences as the writing on the back may be hard to read with the sun shining through the words.
Through research of the artist Qubism John informed me of a culture art called Cubism. This used different cut outs of a picture from different angles to give the onlooker more of a feel of the picture. Through more research I found a tutorial on how to do this on Photoshop. I did a couple of examples however I think that once the Qubism effect took place it was sometimes very hard to actually see the original picture, this produced some problems but with careful editing I am sure I can make cubism work. It will also provide a good play on words as the artist I am doing is called Qubism.
Weekly Events
Finalise 3 logos
Finalise 3 CD designs
Research information a flight document
Get more A1 work
Buy a new sketchbook
More logo creating this week brought a design style to my logos which was eye catching. The main type of logo I stuck to was an eclipse of the sun (half) this meant that you could still see half the sun and half the moon.
At the moment I am trying different styles of type to go with this logo but finding the right one is proving to be difficult. One thing I am going to do is print off a big list of fonts saying the word EMIT so that I can pick the best one. Although trying to match one to the logo I have done is hard as some text styles spoil the logo.
If anyone has some good free typefaces please post a link.
CD Design
This week I also started on my CD design and sketched some examples of what might match the music I have been listening to. Once again I tried to get this light and dark feel across, as the music was both dark and light.
One of the designs I thought of was sun rise inside, sun setting back and night for the front, this to me seemed to get a lot of moods across which I felt from listening to the music. This design however may have some consequences as the writing on the back may be hard to read with the sun shining through the words.
Through research of the artist Qubism John informed me of a culture art called Cubism. This used different cut outs of a picture from different angles to give the onlooker more of a feel of the picture. Through more research I found a tutorial on how to do this on Photoshop. I did a couple of examples however I think that once the Qubism effect took place it was sometimes very hard to actually see the original picture, this produced some problems but with careful editing I am sure I can make cubism work. It will also provide a good play on words as the artist I am doing is called Qubism.
Weekly Events
Finalise 3 logos
Finalise 3 CD designs
Research information a flight document
Get more A1 work
Buy a new sketchbook
Tuesday 8 April 2008
Logo creation
This week mainly consisted of creating more logos and trying different variations of the top chosen logos. However once done I had to learn not to get too attached to the logos I was creating as they would soon be commented on.
The main motive I had going with all the logos I had created was one that represented the world and how different things emit around the world. To make sure that I was doing the correct type of logos I asked for feedback of cause all feedback is good feedback so it all helped.
At the beginning of a week I was carrying on with my earth logo with a satellite floating around the earth while emitting signals to the things below. I thought this would show how it picked up different parts / different scenes from around the world.
Learning the client
However quickly learning that this was not the correct logo was good to stop me falling for the one idea, I soon found out via though client (Steve) That a more sun/eclipse logo would be more ideal in this situation. This not only showed how objects such as light could be emitted down to earth but how easily the light could be taken away. This makes it, appeal more strongly in my opinion.
Another reason why I ended up preferring this choice is that I know that it would look good on the front of a CD cover rather than spoiling the look, as my first intended logo would have done.
Finding paths
This title simple means the new software I have learned to use this week (Freehand), although I have learned about this software I still think it is a bit more mysterious than meats the eye. Although to be honest a lot of the options look very similar to Photoshop but this only helps me settle in to the software more easily.
To get my full potential out of this software I will be searching for tutorials to help me get used to the new formats and things that you can do while using free hand. If you have any links that could help please list them below.
Over the week
Learning the edge, by this I mean learn more about the software Freehand and what it can do. Plus find out information on how it can improve logo creation.
Testing and creating, testing my new logo in different environments such as colour and background affects.
Proof of testing, screenshot any tests done on the PC and stick any paper work into the sketchbook.
New sketchbook, this week I will need a new sketchbook for this assignment I feel as if I have already done enough work to fill a new one beyond half.
The main motive I had going with all the logos I had created was one that represented the world and how different things emit around the world. To make sure that I was doing the correct type of logos I asked for feedback of cause all feedback is good feedback so it all helped.
At the beginning of a week I was carrying on with my earth logo with a satellite floating around the earth while emitting signals to the things below. I thought this would show how it picked up different parts / different scenes from around the world.
Learning the client
However quickly learning that this was not the correct logo was good to stop me falling for the one idea, I soon found out via though client (Steve) That a more sun/eclipse logo would be more ideal in this situation. This not only showed how objects such as light could be emitted down to earth but how easily the light could be taken away. This makes it, appeal more strongly in my opinion.
Another reason why I ended up preferring this choice is that I know that it would look good on the front of a CD cover rather than spoiling the look, as my first intended logo would have done.
Finding paths
This title simple means the new software I have learned to use this week (Freehand), although I have learned about this software I still think it is a bit more mysterious than meats the eye. Although to be honest a lot of the options look very similar to Photoshop but this only helps me settle in to the software more easily.
To get my full potential out of this software I will be searching for tutorials to help me get used to the new formats and things that you can do while using free hand. If you have any links that could help please list them below.
Over the week
Learning the edge, by this I mean learn more about the software Freehand and what it can do. Plus find out information on how it can improve logo creation.
Testing and creating, testing my new logo in different environments such as colour and background affects.
Proof of testing, screenshot any tests done on the PC and stick any paper work into the sketchbook.
New sketchbook, this week I will need a new sketchbook for this assignment I feel as if I have already done enough work to fill a new one beyond half.
Tuesday 1 April 2008
Logo Crash
This week I have set my self the task of researching logo designs as well as making / doodling my own. Although normally you may think that doodling is easy it does get hard when you are concentrating on the item its self.
The hardest thing for me at least was producing a brand new idea each time, after a while I started doing the same type of logo which was annoying. To stop this I thought back to the lecture on logos and the different types so every time I hit a mental block like this I switched my logo type from Text only design to picture and modern age design.
Thinking of logos
Thinking up the logos required me to look at my inspiration. Looking at other logos gave me my own ideas for mine, however I had to be careful not to subliminally copy the logo.
To try and keep the logo symbol and make sure it was the original specifications that I wanted I used basic shapes to make the logo look correct. However I often found my self overlaying shapes so that they stood out more when looking at them.
Mind Maps
Mind maps have helped me a lot so far when doing the logos, mainly because I just look back on my mind maps to see what’s good / bad about a logo and then look at my mood map to see different pictures and thought on EMIT, this allowed me to be able to create a wide range of logos.
Inspiration
I have a lot more inspiration now after the holidays as I looked up a lot of logo and business card work so that I could view work and detail behind items, I also did a mood and mind map on these items. So now every time I get stuck on a piece of work I just look back at my inspiration, I also have a lot of photo work which I look at for inspiration, these also help me when I seem to be having a mental block when doing work.
Finalise
To finalise my work I have decided that I am going to post them on the forum and on the blog, this will give me a better chance to get more feedback from others. I think as we need to get more real feedback to help us maybe asking around the web for feedback will be a good idea.
The hardest thing for me at least was producing a brand new idea each time, after a while I started doing the same type of logo which was annoying. To stop this I thought back to the lecture on logos and the different types so every time I hit a mental block like this I switched my logo type from Text only design to picture and modern age design.
Thinking of logos
Thinking up the logos required me to look at my inspiration. Looking at other logos gave me my own ideas for mine, however I had to be careful not to subliminally copy the logo.
To try and keep the logo symbol and make sure it was the original specifications that I wanted I used basic shapes to make the logo look correct. However I often found my self overlaying shapes so that they stood out more when looking at them.
Mind Maps
Mind maps have helped me a lot so far when doing the logos, mainly because I just look back on my mind maps to see what’s good / bad about a logo and then look at my mood map to see different pictures and thought on EMIT, this allowed me to be able to create a wide range of logos.
Inspiration
I have a lot more inspiration now after the holidays as I looked up a lot of logo and business card work so that I could view work and detail behind items, I also did a mood and mind map on these items. So now every time I get stuck on a piece of work I just look back at my inspiration, I also have a lot of photo work which I look at for inspiration, these also help me when I seem to be having a mental block when doing work.
Finalise
To finalise my work I have decided that I am going to post them on the forum and on the blog, this will give me a better chance to get more feedback from others. I think as we need to get more real feedback to help us maybe asking around the web for feedback will be a good idea.
Tuesday 11 March 2008
New Findings
Logos
This week I have been looking into logos and what makes a good logo via research. I have found out there are three major types of logo Text / typography design, this is where a logo is just made from a certain typeface, Design / image, this is where there is a design image which represents a company and finally the mixture of both design and typography, all designs of logos includes one of the above.
On the Typography logo most people use an unusual font to draw the attention of viewers. A great example of this is the TKMAX logo.
The image logo is a logo that is well known, the image / icon its self is usually something that represents the company name, however sometimes this is now the case. Apple is a great example of using an image to represent the company name. Nike however is different as they use a tick but the company is that well known that just from seeing a tick most people automatically assume Nike.
The combination of the two can come together to create an overall affect, the most common version of this is the Adidas logo this uses text along with stripes, This is a popular pattern which draws the eye of viewers.
Colour is very important to logos, I have researched this week and found out that most companies will use a bright colour on image or text as it will draw the eye of potential buyers and such.
Qubism
Qubism is the artist of the music I have been listening to this week, he is part of Em:t record company, who’s logo looks like the following.
As you can see it is regular text with a Chinese symbol for a image, the Chinese symbol actually stats for shine as in “Emit shine”.
I found that the music I listened to was based on different places around the world and the affects that happen. This could range from things such as Dance and then go to city life and the crime that’s there.
Qubism really made me think about there music and the affects they had used, listening to the sounds you could almost imagine you was there and see what was going on. This gave more inspiration to listen to the music and found my self listening to it almost all day to get a better feel for the work I would be doing very soon.
This week I have been looking into logos and what makes a good logo via research. I have found out there are three major types of logo Text / typography design, this is where a logo is just made from a certain typeface, Design / image, this is where there is a design image which represents a company and finally the mixture of both design and typography, all designs of logos includes one of the above.
On the Typography logo most people use an unusual font to draw the attention of viewers. A great example of this is the TKMAX logo.
The image logo is a logo that is well known, the image / icon its self is usually something that represents the company name, however sometimes this is now the case. Apple is a great example of using an image to represent the company name. Nike however is different as they use a tick but the company is that well known that just from seeing a tick most people automatically assume Nike.
The combination of the two can come together to create an overall affect, the most common version of this is the Adidas logo this uses text along with stripes, This is a popular pattern which draws the eye of viewers.
Colour is very important to logos, I have researched this week and found out that most companies will use a bright colour on image or text as it will draw the eye of potential buyers and such.
Qubism
Qubism is the artist of the music I have been listening to this week, he is part of Em:t record company, who’s logo looks like the following.
As you can see it is regular text with a Chinese symbol for a image, the Chinese symbol actually stats for shine as in “Emit shine”.
I found that the music I listened to was based on different places around the world and the affects that happen. This could range from things such as Dance and then go to city life and the crime that’s there.
Qubism really made me think about there music and the affects they had used, listening to the sounds you could almost imagine you was there and see what was going on. This gave more inspiration to listen to the music and found my self listening to it almost all day to get a better feel for the work I would be doing very soon.
Monday 10 March 2008
Review of Qubism
Qubism is space age techno, which looks at different parts of the earth and different parts of time. The music is set as early back as the medieval age and as far forward as the space age. This allows different variations of Qubism’s music to come to life, you can almost imagine the picture as you listen to Qubism’s music it can make you think about the moods of music and what age it is based upon.
Not only good for the techno lovers, but they also have some great relaxing pieces as well meaning that it is perfect for most people. The most exiting thing about Qubism is that every song is a mini adventure in which you get lost in music and find your self in a different place and state of mind. This in turn allows you to fully relax and enjoy the music, but at the same time it will almost put you into a trance allowing you to almost see the music, this is done by using various sounds and affects to give the impression that the music is in a certain location with a variety of activities happing in that location.
A great way to spend those evenings after work, to unload the tension and be teleported to a different reality just by listening to the great sounds of Qubism, this is not all they are good for though they are also used as techno dance music with such tracks as angels in time, this is a great example of Qubims multi talent, as it a techno dance tune it is also a piece of relaxing therapeutic music, meaning that it appeals to a lot more people.
Overall
My overall review of Qubism is that they are extraordinary mainly because they take music to a whole new level which seems to chance your pace / place of origin with each track, this allows you to feel different feelings from all over the world, allowing you to experience an amazing sensation.
I would also recommend Qubism to the people who are working / planning to work in the film industry, as there are a lot of interesting sounds which could potentially be used for the creation of a film.
A lot of Qubisms music will keep you entertained for hours as each track is usually over 10 minutes so a person can get the full experience out of the music and really understand it.
Not only good for the techno lovers, but they also have some great relaxing pieces as well meaning that it is perfect for most people. The most exiting thing about Qubism is that every song is a mini adventure in which you get lost in music and find your self in a different place and state of mind. This in turn allows you to fully relax and enjoy the music, but at the same time it will almost put you into a trance allowing you to almost see the music, this is done by using various sounds and affects to give the impression that the music is in a certain location with a variety of activities happing in that location.
A great way to spend those evenings after work, to unload the tension and be teleported to a different reality just by listening to the great sounds of Qubism, this is not all they are good for though they are also used as techno dance music with such tracks as angels in time, this is a great example of Qubims multi talent, as it a techno dance tune it is also a piece of relaxing therapeutic music, meaning that it appeals to a lot more people.
Overall
My overall review of Qubism is that they are extraordinary mainly because they take music to a whole new level which seems to chance your pace / place of origin with each track, this allows you to feel different feelings from all over the world, allowing you to experience an amazing sensation.
I would also recommend Qubism to the people who are working / planning to work in the film industry, as there are a lot of interesting sounds which could potentially be used for the creation of a film.
A lot of Qubisms music will keep you entertained for hours as each track is usually over 10 minutes so a person can get the full experience out of the music and really understand it.
Tuesday 4 March 2008
Improvement
This week I have learned more about my self and what I need to do in the future. I have learned more about the way I should conduct text formatting thanks to John, but I have also learned that I struggle with time planning.
To try and make my self better at time planning next week I am going to devote a full day to making sure I have my entire next assignment fully planned out before I even start it. I believe this will help me in the long run by keeping me focused and also allowing me to move at a comfortable rate.
Monday I made my final finishes to the website and my evaluation however I can’t help feeling somewhat disappointed in my self for not finished a week a head of schedule like I should be doing, this is another reason why I need to sort out my time planning.
I feel happy as I have done a lot better on this assignment. I have learned a lot from this assignment and how I can improve future work. One is to always research; researching colour in depth after feedback allowed me to create the site easier and allowed me to get a colour scheme which I was happy with. One more thing learned is time planning as mentioned above I need to improve drastically to allow me to reach my full potential when doing assignments.
In the future I will be following these rules:
Research the activity before doing it.
This will give me more confidence while doing the work, it should also improve my performance on tasks as I will know a lot more about the subject before starting.
Complete a full time plan for an assignment, before starting it.
This will allow me to organise my time correctly, which will allow me to finish assignments at the correct time which is 1 week before deadline.
Reread the assignment criteria.
This will help me understand the assignment more as well as make me aware of any potential problems before they pop up.
More sketchbook work.
Although I have done a lot more work this time around I have failed to get all the work stuck into the sketchbook which means it is useless, the way to fix this is to make more time for A1 which can be done via the time sheets.
Overall I feel happy with the improvements I have made, although I am upset about certain aspects such as time planning I know that I can fix this by giving my self time to work out how to correctly fill in the time sheets. Like I said above I believe the way to fix this is by doing a full assignment time plan before I even start it.
To try and make my self better at time planning next week I am going to devote a full day to making sure I have my entire next assignment fully planned out before I even start it. I believe this will help me in the long run by keeping me focused and also allowing me to move at a comfortable rate.
Monday I made my final finishes to the website and my evaluation however I can’t help feeling somewhat disappointed in my self for not finished a week a head of schedule like I should be doing, this is another reason why I need to sort out my time planning.
I feel happy as I have done a lot better on this assignment. I have learned a lot from this assignment and how I can improve future work. One is to always research; researching colour in depth after feedback allowed me to create the site easier and allowed me to get a colour scheme which I was happy with. One more thing learned is time planning as mentioned above I need to improve drastically to allow me to reach my full potential when doing assignments.
In the future I will be following these rules:
Research the activity before doing it.
This will give me more confidence while doing the work, it should also improve my performance on tasks as I will know a lot more about the subject before starting.
Complete a full time plan for an assignment, before starting it.
This will allow me to organise my time correctly, which will allow me to finish assignments at the correct time which is 1 week before deadline.
Reread the assignment criteria.
This will help me understand the assignment more as well as make me aware of any potential problems before they pop up.
More sketchbook work.
Although I have done a lot more work this time around I have failed to get all the work stuck into the sketchbook which means it is useless, the way to fix this is to make more time for A1 which can be done via the time sheets.
Overall I feel happy with the improvements I have made, although I am upset about certain aspects such as time planning I know that I can fix this by giving my self time to work out how to correctly fill in the time sheets. Like I said above I believe the way to fix this is by doing a full assignment time plan before I even start it.
Friday 29 February 2008
Tuesday 26 February 2008
On the way
New things I have learnt this week mainly consist of design skills to make my site. I have almost finished it now, the only thing missing is the java validation. The happiest was getting positive feedback for the site however I was happy at feedback in general as it helped me improve my overall performance.
Mistakes
The mistakes I was making was not actually in the technical side of things it was the design aspects of the site such as corresponding sizes. Now I have learnt a lot more about design I no to keep the same sizes and use them repetitively, this creates a better looking affect.
Learnt
I have learnt a lot about design this week and how I should follow the park rules more often. One of which was lacking in my site during the week and that was repetitiveness in the sizes. However I have now learnt from my mistakes and added repetitiveness into my site making it look and feel a lot better.
Another design aspect I have learnt is that I need to make sure the colours I use match and look satisfactory. The way I have done this on my site is by taking inspiration from the colour index which enabled me to make the site look attractive after much deliberation.
Future
In the future I will definitely take more advantage of the books I have purchased, one of my favourites so far is the colour index, however I now that I can not always rely on this and must find my own way of matching colours in a satisfactory way.
PARC this is a rule which I will use a lot more of now I no the full aspects of its nature. Before I did not fully understand how repetitiveness could be good in this situation however it has improved my site a lot making it more pleasing on the eye which in turn makes it easier to read.
Goals for this week.
Check A5.
Check site for errors.
Fully validate the feedback form.
Finish the evaluation.
Put A5 in the folder ready for hand in.
Mistakes
The mistakes I was making was not actually in the technical side of things it was the design aspects of the site such as corresponding sizes. Now I have learnt a lot more about design I no to keep the same sizes and use them repetitively, this creates a better looking affect.
Learnt
I have learnt a lot about design this week and how I should follow the park rules more often. One of which was lacking in my site during the week and that was repetitiveness in the sizes. However I have now learnt from my mistakes and added repetitiveness into my site making it look and feel a lot better.
Another design aspect I have learnt is that I need to make sure the colours I use match and look satisfactory. The way I have done this on my site is by taking inspiration from the colour index which enabled me to make the site look attractive after much deliberation.
Future
In the future I will definitely take more advantage of the books I have purchased, one of my favourites so far is the colour index, however I now that I can not always rely on this and must find my own way of matching colours in a satisfactory way.
PARC this is a rule which I will use a lot more of now I no the full aspects of its nature. Before I did not fully understand how repetitiveness could be good in this situation however it has improved my site a lot making it more pleasing on the eye which in turn makes it easier to read.
Goals for this week.
Check A5.
Check site for errors.
Fully validate the feedback form.
Finish the evaluation.
Put A5 in the folder ready for hand in.
Tuesday 19 February 2008
Chalenges
This week I have set me self a few goals which I have been working on very hard. The main thing I am happy about this week is my website. As I have changed it again it is looking a lot better.
The Differences
The old site was too stretched and had too many spacer images, thus the feedback I got was mainly about the amount of spacer images and text. However on the new site I have fixed these problems by not having any spacers and by making the site smaller it has reduced the size making it load up more sufficiently.
The most happiest thing about this week is that I have finally fixed my feedback form with some help from James, know it works as intended allowing me to receive emails from the feedback form its self.
Stressful
The main reason I have started again with the site is because of the spacer images and the length know the new site as you can see looks a lot clearer and more precise. The colour inspirited I got was from the book “colorindex” this book helped me find the correct colours I needed for the site.
This week as also been a thoughtful week, the main reason for saying this is that I have thought a lot about what I want to do with my website and have put them into practise using the knowledge from feedback given during this week.
Feedback
The feedback this week really helped me decide what I wanted to do with the site and that was to change it to make it more suitable for the user. If you look below you will see an image of the old site and a image of the new.
Old
New
Please give your thoughts on the old and the new and the changes that have been made.
Things for next week
Bring all my time sheets into collage.
Check all my work to make sure there is no errors.
Get more feedback from the new version of the site.
Print out all evidence of testing.
Start my evaluation.
The Differences
The old site was too stretched and had too many spacer images, thus the feedback I got was mainly about the amount of spacer images and text. However on the new site I have fixed these problems by not having any spacers and by making the site smaller it has reduced the size making it load up more sufficiently.
The most happiest thing about this week is that I have finally fixed my feedback form with some help from James, know it works as intended allowing me to receive emails from the feedback form its self.
Stressful
The main reason I have started again with the site is because of the spacer images and the length know the new site as you can see looks a lot clearer and more precise. The colour inspirited I got was from the book “colorindex” this book helped me find the correct colours I needed for the site.
This week as also been a thoughtful week, the main reason for saying this is that I have thought a lot about what I want to do with my website and have put them into practise using the knowledge from feedback given during this week.
Feedback
The feedback this week really helped me decide what I wanted to do with the site and that was to change it to make it more suitable for the user. If you look below you will see an image of the old site and a image of the new.
Old
New
Please give your thoughts on the old and the new and the changes that have been made.
Things for next week
Bring all my time sheets into collage.
Check all my work to make sure there is no errors.
Get more feedback from the new version of the site.
Print out all evidence of testing.
Start my evaluation.
Tuesday 12 February 2008
Running Errors
This week I am finding out what a pain XHTML really is. The main problem I am having is with validation, as it is strict you can barely do anything, for example for colour I am having to use pictures.
CSS
I am new to the concept and have been researching it and all the problems I have can mainly be solved with CSS however as we have to show progression I can not use CSS for everything.
The picture below shows my website still being made, there is a larger space from the side banner not yet coloured (as it needs to be a picture). The space it’s self is caused by a spacer image that I used as I could not use CSS to measure the tables. This is frustrating I was wondering can anybody help with this situation, or post some links which might help.
The main problem/struggle I am having is the character space, as I am trying to follow accessibility rules I need to keep it to 60 characters, if anyone knows a website which can help in this area please don’t hesitate to link it.
All in all this week has been an enjoyable one mainly managing my time and sorting out XHTML. The form I have is working but I cannot upload the website yet as it is not finished. However it should be finished sometime this week and I will post another blog entry after to let you guys comment on my progress so far.
Things to do
Finish my website error free and fully validated.
Upload the website.
Get feedback from the website.
CSS
I am new to the concept and have been researching it and all the problems I have can mainly be solved with CSS however as we have to show progression I can not use CSS for everything.
The picture below shows my website still being made, there is a larger space from the side banner not yet coloured (as it needs to be a picture). The space it’s self is caused by a spacer image that I used as I could not use CSS to measure the tables. This is frustrating I was wondering can anybody help with this situation, or post some links which might help.
The main problem/struggle I am having is the character space, as I am trying to follow accessibility rules I need to keep it to 60 characters, if anyone knows a website which can help in this area please don’t hesitate to link it.
All in all this week has been an enjoyable one mainly managing my time and sorting out XHTML. The form I have is working but I cannot upload the website yet as it is not finished. However it should be finished sometime this week and I will post another blog entry after to let you guys comment on my progress so far.
Things to do
Finish my website error free and fully validated.
Upload the website.
Get feedback from the website.
Saturday 9 February 2008
CGI Help
http://web.mit.edu/wwwdev/cgiemail/user.html
This is a link that might help if you are strugling setting up your form.
This is a link that might help if you are strugling setting up your form.
Tuesday 5 February 2008
Happy Times
A3 is finally finished now and I am touching up my website. Validating it is a pain especially with strict I almost wish I had chosen transitional. The main reason I am enjoying this is that it is mainly all practical and it is filling my sketchbook fast with testing screen shots and user screen shots.
The struggle is finding the correct age group to view my site and actually comment on it correctly I.E. not family as they tell you what you want to here.
I will be uploading my site next week and I would love it if people could give me feedback, all feedback is good feedback. A new program that I have starting using which helps a lot with A1 is “Mind Genius” it is installed on every PC around collage and can easily create a mind map which as you all know is needed for A1.
More designs, I have scrambled some old magazines for both 1st and 2nd years to use as inspiration I will be giving them to Steve so just ask if you need some more work ect, books / magazines are the best things to get inspiration from as there is so many pictures and font designs in them which could be potentially usable.
Colour is a word that makes me wish I’d done better on my website after reading the colour index I found out I should have been using a light brown background, well at least I am noticing all this now which will make it easier in the future.
The goal for next week is to have my website fully finished and validated with plenty of feedback from all. The unfortunate thing is that it is NEVER finished, because as soon as I get feedback I will be acting on it and making yet even more changes.
The struggle is finding the correct age group to view my site and actually comment on it correctly I.E. not family as they tell you what you want to here.
I will be uploading my site next week and I would love it if people could give me feedback, all feedback is good feedback. A new program that I have starting using which helps a lot with A1 is “Mind Genius” it is installed on every PC around collage and can easily create a mind map which as you all know is needed for A1.
More designs, I have scrambled some old magazines for both 1st and 2nd years to use as inspiration I will be giving them to Steve so just ask if you need some more work ect, books / magazines are the best things to get inspiration from as there is so many pictures and font designs in them which could be potentially usable.
Colour is a word that makes me wish I’d done better on my website after reading the colour index I found out I should have been using a light brown background, well at least I am noticing all this now which will make it easier in the future.
The goal for next week is to have my website fully finished and validated with plenty of feedback from all. The unfortunate thing is that it is NEVER finished, because as soon as I get feedback I will be acting on it and making yet even more changes.
Tuesday 29 January 2008
New Terms
Learning even more terms this week, once again it’s typography. Learning all these new terms as helped me a lot this week. The main reason is that know I no how to improve my work and what I am doing wrong. The main thing I need to work on is my Widows and Orphans, the hard thing is finding out that when uploading is done it squashes the text and can make these appear where there was none before.
A cheerful time this week as I learned more on CSS and Dreamweaver, however perhaps the best thing of all is that I think I have finally done my template for the assignment, however I am not quite sure on whether that’s how I want it at the moment even though it is finished I still keep seeing problems arising.
I will work on this all week and find a solution to the things I don’t like via using more tutorials, if anyone knows any more useful tutorials other than the ones I posted please post them they are very useful tools for everyone in the course.
Problems with HTML Strict is that it was mainly designed for the use of CSS to incorporate the tables ect, however on this assignment we are not allowed to use CSS. This begs the question, can anyone help here too with a helpful tutorial?
The most fun part of the week was defiantly learning more on Dreamweaver, all this was mainly done in self study watching a few tutorials, but also from reading back on my lecture notes. Know all I have to do is master InDesign. The main reason being is that I have been using Page Maker, even though they are very similar I will be having a play round testing the new features of it this week in self study.
Fun! That is how to describe the feeling when a time task is handed out, however there can also be stress from this. Like I posted last week I am testing my self in my sketchbook to make sure that I am up to scratch on my design knowledge so when the next task comes I am ready.
The main thing that I need to work on is the little drawing tasks that occur before actually designing an item, I think if I practice at this I should be able to do a lot better in the next time task.
My goals for next week:
To finally have a template integrated into the website
To create a feedback form for the website
Practise design tasks via doing little designs in the sketchbook
To do at least 3 mind maps in my sketchbook
A cheerful time this week as I learned more on CSS and Dreamweaver, however perhaps the best thing of all is that I think I have finally done my template for the assignment, however I am not quite sure on whether that’s how I want it at the moment even though it is finished I still keep seeing problems arising.
I will work on this all week and find a solution to the things I don’t like via using more tutorials, if anyone knows any more useful tutorials other than the ones I posted please post them they are very useful tools for everyone in the course.
Problems with HTML Strict is that it was mainly designed for the use of CSS to incorporate the tables ect, however on this assignment we are not allowed to use CSS. This begs the question, can anyone help here too with a helpful tutorial?
The most fun part of the week was defiantly learning more on Dreamweaver, all this was mainly done in self study watching a few tutorials, but also from reading back on my lecture notes. Know all I have to do is master InDesign. The main reason being is that I have been using Page Maker, even though they are very similar I will be having a play round testing the new features of it this week in self study.
Fun! That is how to describe the feeling when a time task is handed out, however there can also be stress from this. Like I posted last week I am testing my self in my sketchbook to make sure that I am up to scratch on my design knowledge so when the next task comes I am ready.
The main thing that I need to work on is the little drawing tasks that occur before actually designing an item, I think if I practice at this I should be able to do a lot better in the next time task.
My goals for next week:
To finally have a template integrated into the website
To create a feedback form for the website
Practise design tasks via doing little designs in the sketchbook
To do at least 3 mind maps in my sketchbook
Tuesday 22 January 2008
Quick fire
New Skills
Learning more about Dreamweaver over the last few days has been a good experience, I have moved on from knowing nothing to knowing something which is always a good experience. Naturally I have been noting my progress in my sketchbook to make sure that I have all the evidence of testing, mainly I am still using the tutorials I put up last week, however when I find some new ones that are interesting I will be posting them on the Blog and/or the forum.
Designs
Today was a test of patience within the room, when we had our quick fire test, the room was silent which was a weird feeling as I am used to the odd noise from the room but it was dead. I myself was quiet and hard in concentration. The task was frustrating but yet gave a kind of adrenalin rush to get things done.
From the last quick fire tests I learned one thing and that was to polish of the designs on paper faster than normal this gave me more time to spend actually developing my work which in total made me feel better about completing it.
The task its self I originally thought might be more daunting but as I said it was a mixture of adrenalin and frustration, this was defiantly applied 5 minutes before the end when everyone was rushing to grab the plastic folders. I am not yet sure what the environment is like in the working industry, but if today is anything to go by its fast pumping adrenalin action.
Sketchbook
The sketchbook yet again needs more work. The main thing I personally want to improve on is the mind mapping so far I have done very little in this and it needs improving. Another aspect that needs changing is my inspiration, although I may have a lot of it at the moment it is not yet all annotated, so my goal for this week and next is to improve my sketchbook skills and mind mapping skills.
Industry
Another uplifting moment this week as I was one of the people that got picked to go visit Dave at the Design Mechanics. This will give me some incite into what the industry is really like as I will get to see it first hand, as well as see all the work that has to be achieved. Another good moment is that I get to ask any questions I missed last time.
Learning more about Dreamweaver over the last few days has been a good experience, I have moved on from knowing nothing to knowing something which is always a good experience. Naturally I have been noting my progress in my sketchbook to make sure that I have all the evidence of testing, mainly I am still using the tutorials I put up last week, however when I find some new ones that are interesting I will be posting them on the Blog and/or the forum.
Designs
Today was a test of patience within the room, when we had our quick fire test, the room was silent which was a weird feeling as I am used to the odd noise from the room but it was dead. I myself was quiet and hard in concentration. The task was frustrating but yet gave a kind of adrenalin rush to get things done.
From the last quick fire tests I learned one thing and that was to polish of the designs on paper faster than normal this gave me more time to spend actually developing my work which in total made me feel better about completing it.
The task its self I originally thought might be more daunting but as I said it was a mixture of adrenalin and frustration, this was defiantly applied 5 minutes before the end when everyone was rushing to grab the plastic folders. I am not yet sure what the environment is like in the working industry, but if today is anything to go by its fast pumping adrenalin action.
Sketchbook
The sketchbook yet again needs more work. The main thing I personally want to improve on is the mind mapping so far I have done very little in this and it needs improving. Another aspect that needs changing is my inspiration, although I may have a lot of it at the moment it is not yet all annotated, so my goal for this week and next is to improve my sketchbook skills and mind mapping skills.
Industry
Another uplifting moment this week as I was one of the people that got picked to go visit Dave at the Design Mechanics. This will give me some incite into what the industry is really like as I will get to see it first hand, as well as see all the work that has to be achieved. Another good moment is that I get to ask any questions I missed last time.
Tuesday 15 January 2008
Free Tutorials
Dreamweaver Tutorials
www.entheosweb.com/dreamweaver
All Adobe product Tutorials
www.tutorialized.com/
cbtcafe.com/
www.ndesign-studio.com/
www.entheosweb.com/dreamweaver
All Adobe product Tutorials
www.tutorialized.com/
cbtcafe.com/
www.ndesign-studio.com/
More Skills
Skills of the Week
This week I have learned a lot of new skill’s. One of which was an old skill but it has only just hit me how I should use it all the time and not just in certain parts of my life. This skill is called screenshots! I use this skill every day however I have only just learned the joy of using it to proof my work. This has lead me into doing a screenshot for almost everything I do for proof. So for this week it has been used for Page Maker and Dreamweaver there is a lot more programs that I need to do it for however so that I can proof I can use the programs. However it is also good for practical work for my sketchbook.
Today I have also started putting inspiration into my sketch book I have a lot more of it to print off, the last post I made was about glue and how ineffective it is at the sticking job so I have opted for cello tape and staples. There is one problem with doing all this though and that is that yet again another sketchbook will be used.
The Other new skill I have learned this week is how to use Dreamweaver, this is a skill that I have been looking forward to, however it is easier than I thought it would be. For the last few nights I have been looking into tutorials on how to work Dreamweaver and other Adobe products better, I will of cause be posting the good links I found after this post in case people also want to get better in software.
This week has also been a happy time for me as I am beginning to learn more about my creative skills. By this I mean that I am learning more about my own personal skills, before I couldn’t see anything wrong with certain types of text ect. But these last few weeks I have learned a lot about my self and the kind of things I don’t like. One that I hate know is centre text, to me it makes the writing look horrible and hard to read. Another worse text I have seen is jagged text going diagonally up a page, this was the hardest text I have found to read I will also upload a picture of this to show you what I mean. I think this means that my mind is made up on whether I am a designer or artist.
Key Points
Colour (I will be using a lot more colour in my sketch book to make it look brighter and more cheerful)
Inspiration (All my inspirational work should be in my sketchbook by the end of the week)
Dreamweaver (Following up lectures on this will improve my work later on)
Page Maker (Just improving my application skills)
Sketchbook (Checking lecture notes in my sketchbook to make sure I understand everything fully before doing an assignment)
This week I have learned a lot of new skill’s. One of which was an old skill but it has only just hit me how I should use it all the time and not just in certain parts of my life. This skill is called screenshots! I use this skill every day however I have only just learned the joy of using it to proof my work. This has lead me into doing a screenshot for almost everything I do for proof. So for this week it has been used for Page Maker and Dreamweaver there is a lot more programs that I need to do it for however so that I can proof I can use the programs. However it is also good for practical work for my sketchbook.
Today I have also started putting inspiration into my sketch book I have a lot more of it to print off, the last post I made was about glue and how ineffective it is at the sticking job so I have opted for cello tape and staples. There is one problem with doing all this though and that is that yet again another sketchbook will be used.
The Other new skill I have learned this week is how to use Dreamweaver, this is a skill that I have been looking forward to, however it is easier than I thought it would be. For the last few nights I have been looking into tutorials on how to work Dreamweaver and other Adobe products better, I will of cause be posting the good links I found after this post in case people also want to get better in software.
This week has also been a happy time for me as I am beginning to learn more about my creative skills. By this I mean that I am learning more about my own personal skills, before I couldn’t see anything wrong with certain types of text ect. But these last few weeks I have learned a lot about my self and the kind of things I don’t like. One that I hate know is centre text, to me it makes the writing look horrible and hard to read. Another worse text I have seen is jagged text going diagonally up a page, this was the hardest text I have found to read I will also upload a picture of this to show you what I mean. I think this means that my mind is made up on whether I am a designer or artist.
Key Points
Colour (I will be using a lot more colour in my sketch book to make it look brighter and more cheerful)
Inspiration (All my inspirational work should be in my sketchbook by the end of the week)
Dreamweaver (Following up lectures on this will improve my work later on)
Page Maker (Just improving my application skills)
Sketchbook (Checking lecture notes in my sketchbook to make sure I understand everything fully before doing an assignment)
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