James Bell | HND Interactive Media | Online Learning Journal Year 2

Updated portfolio deisgns

2009-03-25T13:54:00.005Z

After receiving some feedback on my initial designs I have made the following changes:

Overall increase of font size
Reduction of text on home page
I have decided not to include a photo of myself
I have added some shortcut links at the bottom of the page to some of my other work.

Home Page

Interior page

This is an example of how the interior pages will look.

Initial portfolio screen designs

2009-03-11T09:06:00.007Z

Screen design 1

Screen design 2

I will be posting my portfolio screen design on Das Forum, so if you are a member please comment on there instead.

Thanks

Competitive analysis

2009-03-03T21:34:00.006Z

Student Portfolio - Ashley Morris [http://www.ashleymorris.co.uk]

Ashley Morris is a student at the University Of The West Of England. His website is uses to show his latest work. The website has a very dark theme which allows the splashes of colour within the header and navigation to stand out and grab the user’s attention.

The dark theme to website does allow his work to stand out but severely affects the contrast between the background and the text. This reduces the usability and in a can make the text difficult to read.

Another issue I had with the website was the use of scrollbars to allow access to most of the website content as they are unnecessary and detract from the overall design.

The website is well built using standards compliant CSS (Cascading Stylesheets) and XHTML (Exstensible Hypertext Markup) and validates to both the XHTML Strict and CSS version guidelines.

Professional Portfolio - TechnoPhobia [http://www.technophobia.com]

On first impression the TechnoPhobia website is bright and welcoming. Despite this it isn’t immediately obvious what the website is about and what service the company provides.

The layout is clean and mainly utilises a two column layout which uses generous spacing and large font sizes. This combined with the large amount of contrast between the page text and the background ensures a high level of usability and accessibility.

The website has a number of navigational options but the main navigation is the top to the page. This navigational style will be familiar to many users and allow them to find the majority of the websites content with relative ease.

Within the interior pages there is a large amount of information about both the company and the clients they have worked with. This is mainly evident within the case studies pages as many include an in-depth insight in the relationship they have with the client and the work they have done for them.

After spending some time using the site I found it easy to use and informative. One of the areas that I feel could be improved is the news area. Although this will probably expand in time I feel extra interaction with the user, such as: comments, would help them to build a strong user base and gain a stronger relationship with the websites visitors.

Delivery Requirements

2009-02-24T22:14:00.003Z

Adobe Photoshop CS2
I will use Adobe Photoshop CS2 to create the necessary graphics and ensure that they are optimised correctly for the web.

E-TextEditor (1.0.30)
E-texteditor will be use to create the XHTML (Extensible Hypertext) and CSS (Cascading Stylesheet) code.

CMS
To keep the website updated I will be using a CMS (Content System Management). As I will be using Textpattern for the A13 assignment I have decided to use this CMS for my portfolio.

XHTML 1.0 Strict
All of the XHTML code I will use for the website will conform to the XHTML 1.0 Strict. XHTML will only be used for the website content and to define its structure.

CSS version 2.1
With the XHTML code creating the structure the CSS will be to control the websites appearance. Using the XHTML and CSS combination will help to reduce the overall page weight and reduce loading time.

Email
To receive email from my email account I will be using Mozilla Thunderbird 2 and the IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) protocol. To send emails I will use the SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) protocol.

Target audience

2009-02-11T00:44:00.000Z

Primary audience - Employer

Neil owns a local design company based in Leeds which specialises in web design and development. Where possible they try to use new technologies to create innovative solutions which meet their client’s brief.

Neil I looking for a developer to a new developer to add to this team and has received a number of portfolio’s to asses. He is looking for both the basic XHTML (Extensible Hypertext Markup Language) and CSS (Cascading Stylesheets) knowledge.

He is also looking to find someone who has additional knowledge such as: PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor), MySQL and a passion to learn and use new technologies.

Both at work and at home Neil has access to a high speed internet connection and spends at least 9+ hours online a day. To browse the web he uses his Apple Mac laptop with the latest version of Mozilla Firefox installed.

Secondary audience - Client

Michael runs a small local business providing a range of services such as: building, carpentry, plumbing etc… Due to the credit crunch Michael is finding it increasingly more difficult to find and feels a small website would allow him to gain more work.

With relatively limited computer skills Michael can perform basic online tasks, such as: searching, buying products etc.., but finds more complicated tasks difficult.

After receiving a free laptop with his new broadband deal he is trying to improve his computing skills. Currently he spends around 2 hours a day on the internet using his laptop which runs Windows Vista. His broadband deal gives him access to a basic 1mbps connection which he used Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 to browse the internet.

Tertiary audience - Student

Lisa is a 20 year old student currently web design at her local university. During her time on the course she is always looking at various portfolios to gain inspiration and monitor the latest web technologies.

During college hours she has access to high speed wireless connection which she connects to with her laptop, which runs Microsoft XP. To use the internet she uses the latest version of Mozilla Firefox.

At home she uses her desktop computer, running Microsoft XP, and is connected to a 2 mbps internet connection. Most of her time online is spent visiting social networking sites and performing research for her university work.

Portfolio goals

2009-02-02T23:44:00.003Z

Validate to XHTML 1.0 Strict and CSS Version 2.1 standards.
Meeting the standards put in place by the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) for both XHTML (Extensible Hypertext Markup Language) and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) will help to:

Make my site more accessible
Help towards SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)
Reduce the overall loading time
Increase compatibility across both standard web browsers and also on mobile internet devices.

This will be fairly simple to measure as the W3c provides validation tools for both XHTML and CSS.

Create a portfolio that is easily updatable and flexible.
Having a portfolio that is adaptable to any situation and easy to update is essential as I will need to tailor my portfolio for specific instances such as: job interviews, presentations etc…

To measure this I could create two CSS style sheets which when individually applied to the same XHTML structure produce different layouts for my portfolio. With regards to how easy it is to update the website that will be firmly measured by my knowledge of the CMS (Content Management System) I choose to implement for the site.

Satisfy Priority 1 of the WAI guidelines 1.0
To ensure that my portfolio is accessible to as many people as possible I will ensure that it satisfies all of priority one of the WAI (Web Content Accessibility
) guidelines.

To measure this I will use the Checklist of Checkpoints for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0. By ensuring I meet each relevant point of the priority one guidelines on this list I will have met this target.

Improve the search engine performance of my portfolio
Although all the above goals are important they are will be largely irrelevant if no-one visits my portfolio. One way of increasing my web presence is through SEO (Search engine optimisation). This will increase my ranking with the major search engines such as: Google, Yahoo, Ask etc…

To measure this I will perform regular keyword searches, using various search engines, and record the results. I will also use the Google Analytics service to track the most popular keywords which have lead to users viewing my portfolio.

The Final Semester

2009-01-22T17:37:00.003Z

The final semester is here and my time on HND Interactive Media course will be over in the blink of an eye. With only the final few assignments to complete my focus will now turn to future employment and gaining the skills which I will require for a career with the web industry.

SMLP
The SMLP (Self Managed Learning Plan) is a very important part of the final semester. For this assignment I have chosen to learn PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) as I feel that this is a key employability skill.

Learning PHP will allow me to expand my search further as I seek employment and add another ‘string to my bow’. My previous experience with PHP is very limited but it has given me a thirst to learn more. Creating dynamic websites that are easy to maintain and are able to interact with the user are becoming commonplace, especially with the increasing popularity of AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML).

The main aspect of the self managed learning plan is that it is ‘self managed’. Planning and executing an entire assignment with no outside help is a daunting prospect but something I am looking forward to.

Over the course my time management has increased dramatically but I feel that this assignment will have the most effect on it. During the assignment I will have to plan every detail to ensure that I don’t spend too much time on a single area as there will be no-one to ensure I don’t fall behind.

Portfolio
Designing my portfolio is going to be a very key task. My portfolio will need to be flexible and easy to adapt to any situation such as applying for a new job. I am looking forward to this project as it will allow me to create a professional portfolio and give me a place to showcase my work.

Final presentation
With the final presentation just around the corner I am both nervous and excited. The final presentation will be the last thing I do on this course and as presentations are not really my strong point it brings with a certain amount of stress.

With content of the presentation being the work I have created over the last two years on the course I plan to use my portfolio as my visual aids. Depending on the layout of my final portfolio I may decide to create a separate section of the website specifically designed for the presentation.

This will help me organise the presentation and help me with my timing as this has been one of my problems with previous presentations.

Employment
After this course I hope to gain employment as a web developer. Although I am aware that due to the current economic state it may be very difficult to find a full time job I feel that spending another two or more years in education will be of no real benefit to me as the thing I really need is real world experience.

Word count: 498

A list of PHP resources

2009-01-13T17:32:00.029Z

Php.net
All the latest PHP news and a complete functions list. It also contain numerous links to other PHP resource sites.
http://www.php.net/
Sitepoint.com
Contains numbers PHP tutorials covering various subjects. It also contains a PHP blog which features articles from professional web developers regarding the latest PHP news and developments.
http://www.sitepoint.com
w3schools.com
W3Schools has an extensive list tutorials segregated into basic, advanced, database and XML.
http://www.w3schools.com/PHP/DEfaULT.asp
Planet PHP
Contains an extremely large list of PHP related blogs. Contains links to each blog and also the latest posts from each one on the main page.

http://www.planet-php.net/
Tizag
Extensive list of PHP tutorials over various topics. There is also an active forum that could be used to get help or information.

http://www.tizag.com/phpT/
PHP Solutions, Dynamic Web Design Made Easy - By David Powers
This book goes through step by step instructions for adding dynamic content such as: feedback forms, online galleries etc...
Sample available at Google books

PHP 6 and MySQL 5 for Dynamic Web Sites
This book provides detailed instructions for various PHP tasks and how to use it in conjunction with MYSQL databases
PHP 6 and MySQL 5 for Dynamic Web Sites - Larry Ullman
Developertutorials
Another tutorial website that offers a wide range of information for varying degrees of difficulty.
http://www.developertutorials.com/tutorials/php/
PHP Builder
A 9000+ community of PHP beginners to enthusiasts. This website offers articles and a code library.
http://www.phpbuilder.com/
Good PHP tutorials
A relatively new PHP tutorial site that is continually expanding with new tutorials and members.
http://www.goodphptutorials.com/

PHP - Why I need to learn it

2008-12-10T16:45:00.005Z

PHP Hypertext Preprocessor is one of the most widely supported server side scripting language. It is powerful language that is most commonly used to create dynamic websites and it can also be used to create CMS (Content Management Systems).

I have been using this language to manipulate and configure the ZenPhoto CMS, we are using for the National Diploma project within the A11 assignment.

Due to studying programming on my last course I am familiar with some aspects of the language. I can create IF statements, Loops etc… but I feel my current knowledge of the language is very limited. I want to learn how create more dynamic websites and have the ability to understand

From looking at numerous job sites and reading many job adverts I have found that using PHP alongside MySQL databases is a necessary skill to have, within the interactive media industry.

During my time on the SMLP (Self Managed Learning Project) assignment I hope to gain a large amount of knowledge of both these subjects and the relationship between them as many employees are looking for skills in this area.

With the popularity of Wordpress increasingly PHP is also a useful language to know as it can be used to create plugins. It is also used by many other CMS’s and blogging software so I would be able to use and edit these with very little training.

In conclusion I think that learning PHP is essential for any web developer as it is a skill required by a large number of employees. Learning PHP will also provide me with a solid foundation for learning future programming languages such as: Ruby on Rails etc… and how they are related to databases.

2nd Leg, First Half

2008-12-03T17:42:00.003Z

Sumer assignment
During the summer I found it quite difficult to maintain the same amount of discipline I normally have with the assignments.

This meant that I was doing work as and when I could. With this method I found a lack of consistency crept in my work.

Due to this I referred the assignment. This wasn’t the best start to the year but I helped me to see what things I needed to improve.

A9 – Outside the box
The CSS(Cascading StyleSheets) assignment with John was a lot different than I expected. This was mainly due to the introduction of the test instead of creating a page for CSS Beauty.

Already having a good knowledge of CSS I felt confident about the assignment but there is something about tests that always make me nervous. Having the practice test really helped me to understand exactly what was required, for the real thing, and what improvements I needed to make.

Overall I enjoyed this assignment and although I attained a Merit I feel that I let myself. I could have gained a Distinction had I annotated more of my sketchbook work and provided more evidence of me practicing with different CSS techniques.

A11 On the Job
The A11 assignment I have enjoyed the most out of all the assignment over the length of the course. I feel the team, blu-box creative, is working really well together.

Having most of the work finished for both of our current projects the pressure is off slightly and it is just a matter of making sure we don’t get complacent and not get the work finished.

With my roles as a developer I have learnt a great deal about CMS’s (Content Management Systems) and how to choose the correct one for the job. With this knowledge I am looking forward to the A13 assignment, Content Is King, after Christmas.

I also found the usability testing really interesting. This gave me a chance to see how other people will be using the websites we have created and possible problems they may encounter.

A12 – Culture Vulture
This is a really interesting assignment. Having to create idea after idea for an unknown product is really mentally draining. Having a selection of pens, crayons, pencils etc... has really helped me.

The presentation for this assignment was something I was hoping to use to give me more confidence for future presentations. With the presentation only lasting 5 minutes I felt disappointed.

I had planned to present for around 7 minutes and I had achieved this in nearly all of my practices. When the actual presentation came around I let nerves get the better of me and I rushed.

This is something I going to work on in future presentations as I won’t be long until it’s time for the final presentation.

Conclusion
Overall the start of the second year has been really good and I have enjoyed all the assignments and I have especially enjoyed working for professional clients.

Soft skills

2008-11-05T16:04:00.002Z

Soft skills are essential within the world of work. Being able to communicate effectivly, manage your time, working within a team etc… are skills every employer expects.

The role of creative professional is to be a problem solver. Finding solutions to the problem, outlined in the brief, is an essential. Once and idea can been developed it needs to be communicated in a clear and concise manner.

Part of this process is correctly interpreting the brief which the client has given you. Often there is only one opportunity to gain all the required information for the project. Gathering the correct information during this session will make for a better understanding of the problem and inevitably a more suitable solution.

This normally happens in the form of a pitch or presentation. Presenting in a well formed and structured manner, whilst sticking to a set time limit, will ensure that the client gains all the relevant information about your design.

This goes hand-in-hand with time management. Making the most of your time will help ensure that deadlines are met and, where possible, with time to spare for any last minute changes / amendments.

Currently I feel I have all of these skills but not at a level required for full time employment. Over the remaining duration of the course I need to work on these skills in order to be properly prepared for the workplace.

In particular my communication and presentation skills need to be improved. Conveying my ideas in a way that can be understood by someone with little or no technical knowledge is essential.

Although my time management skills have improved a great deal during the course I need to continue to improve them. Doing this will allow me to get more work done in a shorter amount of time which will give me more time to carry out research.

XHMTL genius

2008-10-08T17:05:00.035+01:00

Job post link: http://jobboard.geekup.org/jobs/2008/aug/28/xhtml_genius/

The requirements of the job are: "... a reasonably experienced XHTML/CSS developer to either join the team permanently or work freelance..."

Although the advert is slightly vague in specifying the level of experience they would be looking for from a potential employer I feel that my knowledge of XHTML and CSS will be of a high enough level by the end of the course.

The job mentions "...experience using JavaScript and the JQuery library would be and advantage...". Although this is not necessarily required for the job I feel that improving my basic skills using JavaScript would benefit me in the future and add another string to my bow.

When looking at the website of the LOVE Creative I was a little shocked be greeted by the message "Created in PowerPoint". After my initial reservation I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the work which the company has done and the calibre of the clients which they have worked with.

After researching similar jobs to this I found that PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) was a very popular requirement. During this year of the course I plan to learn as much as I can about PHP as this will help me when I am looking to gain employment.

Another aspect I think will help me, when seeking employment, is learning and using a number of CMS management systems. CMS's are gaining much more popularity as many people want to be able to update there website whenever they want.

I feel that this job would help me to gain a large amount of professional experience. This would help to me to build up a portfolio of work that will enable me to progress to a higher level, whether that would be internally or externally.

My aspirations for the second year

2008-10-06T20:11:00.007+01:00

During the second of my studies, on the HND Interactive Media course, I hope to improve both my designing and coding skills to a very high standard.

I feel my current knowledge of XHTML (Extensible Hypertext Markup Language) and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is of a reasonable standard and will provide a good platform for me to build on over the year.

As well XHTML and CSS I want to learn as much as I can about PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) and I plan to do this during the SMLP (Self Managed Learning Plan) assignment.

The SMLP will require me to manage my own time and dictate the pace of my learning. Managing my time and using it as effectively as possible is a skill which will benefit a great deal in the future.

Another assignment I am really looking forward to this year is A13 Content Is King as this involves learning about CMS’s (Content Management Systems).

After using a few CMS’s, such as: Textpattern, Drupal, Joomla etc…, over the holiday break I have become really interested in CMS’s and how they can be used to make flexible and easy to manage websites.

As well as improving my technical knowledge on these subjects I also hope to gain some real world experience as this is will be invaluable when seeking employment after the course.

After the course I hope to gain employment with a design agency as a web developer. This will allow me to use my current skills as a web developer and also satisfy my needs for learning and using new web technologies and languages.

In summary I plan to use this year on the course to gain as much experience as possible and also to gain as many skills as possible that will make me more employable.

Evaluation of 1st year

2008-05-13T17:31:00.004+01:00

Before applying for this course I had thought about enrolling on another level 3 course but one specifically in web design so that I could learn and understand the basics of web design. I now feel that this would not have been of benefit to me as I wouldn’t have been properly prepared for the speed and work load of a professional design agency.

Upon starting the course my first impressions was that it was going to be a lot hard work and a big step up from any previous level of education I had studied at. I found this reassuring in the sense that I would be working at a pace and level that was as close to a professional environment as possible.

A2 – That’s The Plan

The first assignment was to create a basic web plan. This helped me to form a solid foundation for the future assignments as it gave me an idea of the level of detail that was required and how useful my sketchbook could be for future assignments.

Creating the web plan introduced me to the DTP (Desktop Publishing Application) software Adobe PageMaker. Designing in such detail was something very new to me as I had previously used Adobe Photoshop to create almost everything and I had never used things like rulers and column guides and I would just line things up by eye.

Working at such a level of detail is something that has gradually become natural to me and now it is not something I have to think about, I just do it. For this assignment building the website was required and at the time this did feel a little strange. After completing my second web plan, for the A3 assignment, and then using it to build a website, in the A5 assignment, I could clearly see that my web plan, for the A2 assignment, did contain anywhere near the level of detail required.

A3 – Back To Basics and A4 – Image Rights

With A3 and A4 assignments the biggest challenge was the task of managing my time over the two assignments at once. My time planning and time management skills from the previous assignment needed a large amount of improvement if I was going to be able cope.

One major thing I did to improve the way I used my self study time was to try and replicate the structure of my self study time over the two full days and focus on a separate assignment on each of the two days. This works quite well for me and I also used the same method for the A5 and A6 assignments.

The most time consuming, and at times frustrating, part of the assignment was the image restoration task. This task never seemed to end, ever time I looked at the image I saw a new part that needed retouching and the difference between my monitor at home and the college monitors, e.g. gamma, brightness, contrast etc…, only made the situation worse.

Putting the frustrations aside this task has greatly improved my ability to use Adobe Photoshop and this has already been, and will continue to be, a huge benefit for me.

A5 – Builder and A6 – Revert To Type

A5 brought with it the chance to finally create a website on the course. Designing and building websites was one of the biggest attractions of course for me and so I really enjoyed the A5 assignment.

Ensuring the website complied with the XTHML (Extensible Hypertext Mark-Up Language) 1.0 Strict standards did cause problems at times but learning to correct the errors has helped me to develop my XHTML and basic CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) knowledge.

Many of the problems I encountered were caused by the fact XHTML Strict is designed to be used with CSS and not tables. This meant that I had to use a certain amount of CSS to satisfy the XHTML standards whilst still maintaining the look of the website. My knowledge of CSS is something I keen to improve upon and one of the units I am really looking forward to next year.

I feel that the A6 assignment was one of the most beneficial of the whole year. The timed tasks introduced me to the speed of working at a professional level, the huge impact that changing a typeface can have on a document and how create and stick to a grid layout.

These are skills I have taken forward into my design work and one of the skills I hope to continually improve on from this assignment is the importance of choosing the right typeface to suit the design. A well executed and effective piece of work could be ruined by simply choosing the wrong type so I think that this skill is essential to develop.

A7 – Wailing Whales

The final project of the 1st year is designed to bring together all the skills of the previous assignments and demonstrate the ability of creating work so that it can be sent to a commercial printer.

Learning the intricacies of the printing process was something really eye-opening. The level of knowledge required to truly understand the print process is something I feel will take years to achieve and many of these lessons will only be learnt through making mistakes.

Part of the assignment was to design a logo and I found this quite challenging. Generating original ideas that will accurately convey the companies work and is instantly recognisable was something I found difficult to achieve. Many of the more famous logos that I looked at were very simple and sometimes they were just a customised version of a typeface. Although looking at other logo ideas did help me to gain inspiration it also frustrated even more due there simplicity.

Once the logo was completed I was able to complete the rest of the tasks. One of these tasks was designing the CD artwork which helped me to have a real life scenario to apply the things I had learnt about the print process to. The other large task of the assignment was to create a style guide and I found this helped me to think of my work in a more professional manner.

Overall A7 has provided the largest learning curve of all the assignments and also helped to refresh all the things I learnt from the previous assignments.

A1 – SketchBlog

The A1 assignment has been ongoing for the entire first year and at time this has meant that sometimes, especially nearing deadlines, I have paid less attention to it than I should have done. During the development stage of the assignments it is very easy to concentrate on the sketchbook as it constantly being used or referred.

Overall I would say that my major downfall with the A1 assignment was the lack of variety in the methods that I used to generate ideas and this is something I am going to work on in the 2nd year.

Thoughts about entire progress of the year

With the 1st year complete I am happy with my progress and performance on the course. I feel that I have learnt a vast amount of both skills and knowledge which I will be improving upon in the 2nd year.

Having obtained a mixture of passes and merits for the 1st year assignments I feel that my target is to ultimately gain a distinction/s in the 2nd year. To achieve this I need to generate more original ideas and develop them to a professional standard. This is something I believe I am capable of and the more work I can do at a professional standard the better prepared I will be for employment when I finish the course.

I don’t have any regrets about the first year of the course but looking back now the one thing I would have done is carry out a lot more research, in self study time, to follow on from the information given during lectures. This would have helped me gain a greater and further understanding of the technical areas of both web and print design.

Thoughts on the 2nd year and the future

I am excited about the units that will be covered in the 2nd year and I am looking forward to working at a more professional level. The 2nd year will inevitably mean much more work and the level of work will be much harder but I see this as a good thing as it will provide a good stepping stone for future employment.

In my first journal entry I said that I would want to work freelance after finishing college to help build up my portfolio before seeking employment. Now I am believe that seeking employment first would provide me a better platform to build on and then after gaining more experience I would have be able to make a more informed decision about where my career path lies.

My targets for next year are:

Pass all the units first time
Obtain at least one distinction
Compile a portfolio of work that contains a wide range of skills and demonstrates my abilities
To be ready seek employment at the end of the course

The deadline approaches...

2008-05-06T18:02:00.023+01:00

With this week being a 'reading week' and the last proper week before submission I have been trying to get as much done as possible to ensure that I was ready for next week's submission.

After making the required changes to my style I then needed to complete the outer and inner covers of my CD artwork. The outer cover was almost complete and only a few amendments were required.

With the outer design completed I moved on the inner part of the CD body. With the large amount of text that is required on the inner cover I knew that the key to the design would be the control of this text and it's placement. With this in mind I have created the design with varies typefaces at different point sizes and this will also be usual as evidence for my sketchbook.

I will be posting all three pieces of the CD artwork once the CD body is complete sometime this week. I have also started to create some initial sketches for the wire advert this week and I will be posting some final versions along with the CD artwork.

My goals for next week are:

Complete CD artwork inner
Complete the wire advert
Create Merit/Distinction sheet
Prepare everything for seminar group on Monday and final checks

Looking ahead

2008-04-29T16:19:00.030+01:00

After a reminder of the print lecture from last week I started to create the outer cover for my CD artwork. After spending a number of weeks creating the style guide I was glad to be doing something more creative. I had done some initial sketches based around the idea of a train with light trails coming off it but I felt that this a little bit cliché and suggested that the music was of a much faster pace than it actually is.

Finding the right image did prove something of a challenge as the number of 300dpi images available of free stock image sites such as; sxc, was very limited. I am happy with the progression of my CD artwork and the alternative style of the seminar group this week, consisting of us sticking our work on the work and giving feedback, really helped.

With this being the last few weeks of the last year one assignment at lot of focus is being put on the 2nd year and this was the topic of discussion on Tuesday morning. I am looking forward to the second year and the prospect of working for a real client as I believe this will provide invaluable experience for the future.

The volume of work in the second year will be much bigger than any course I have previously been and this will help me to understand the pressures of a career in the creative industry. This will be beneficial to be and make me more employable when I come to finish the course.

A major part of the second year that I am looking forward to is learning CSS. Although I have already built some websites using CSS I know that I have barely scratched the surface of what is possible.

With next week being a self study week I plan to get the assignment completed to ensure I have time to make any changes necessary on Monday.

My goals for next week are:

To have my CD artwork finished
To have my style guide amendments completed

Initial ideas completed for 'The Wire' advert

Completed pre-flight document

Slow Progress

2008-04-22T16:16:00.048+01:00

Progress this week has been slower than I would have liked. My target was to have this finish by the end of last week but it has taken longer than I anticipated. However the style guide is just about completed now and that means that I can finally start working on my CD artwork during self study.

Creating the style guide has been something I have really enjoyed. Designing the business cards, letterheads, envelope etc... has helped to allow me to get into a more professional mind set and approach the work from a more commercial viewpoint.

After the presentation on how to set work up properly for the commercial print process I feel ready to begin designing the CD artwork but I don't won't to have to listen to the CD again!

I have already got some ideas of what the artwork should look like but I plan to try a number of different designs before settling on the final one. Designing the artwork is the task I have been most looking forward to since I first read the assignment so I can't wait to start.

As well as working A7 this week I needed to do A6 presentation again as my previous attempt was only around 3 minutes. My second attempt didn't much better either and I was disappointed as I knew that there was sufficient content in the presentation to last to 5 minutes due to my practice runs.

I also received feedback on the A5 assignment and I was pleased with the merit grade I achieved. Looking back on the website now the only major change I would make would be t o change the shade of blue to something that is more suitable to the target audience and not quite as bright.

My targets for next week:

Complete style guide
Create initial sketches for CD artwork
Develop CD artwork using Adobe Photoshop

All change

2008-04-15T16:24:00.066+01:00

After choosing a different logo to my original design I now feel happy with it and this week I have started to create my corporate style guide

Due to the last three weeks of developing my logo I now feel I have a much larger appreciation of the difficulty of the designing logos. Previously I had a very naive view of logo design and I had never considered the intricacies involved.

The major problem I have had with my logo is reducing it down to 1cm whilst still maintaining its presence and suitable weight. For the majority of Monday morning this was my main focus was adding extra weight to the symbol.

Once I had finished my logo I moved onto creating the corporate style guide. This involves stipulating things such as: how to use the logo effectively, what the corporate fonts and colours are etc... I have enjoyed this and I am looking forward to the challenge of creating my business cards, letterheads etc... to meet the standards I have set in the corporate guide.

Initially I have been focusing on the content of the style guide and during the week I am going to focus on the design. Once this is complete I will move on to designing the letterhead, business cards etc...

I am happy with my progress so far on this assignment but I would like to have my style guide completed by the end of the week so that I can create my letterheads and business cards etc... This means that I can spend the next few weeks designing my CD artwork and preparing my work properly for print.

My targets for next week are:

Make final adjustments to logo
Complete corporate style
Begin designing business cards, letterheads etc...
Start generate ideas for CD artwork
Practice presentation from A6 assignment in preparation for presenting on

Logo development feedback (black and white)

2008-04-11T22:47:00.004+01:00

Here is a developed version of my chosen logo so any feedback would appreciated.

I will also be posting it in a range of colours tomorrow so let me know what you think.

Thanks

Logo Feedback Wanted

2008-04-08T20:50:00.010+01:00

These are four of my final design and I would really appreciate any feedback before I develop them and begin to add colour.

Thanks

Logo Development

2008-04-08T20:50:00.009+01:00

Another week focused on logo designs and there development and this means that I have had the chance to use my sketchbook for large amounts of the week. Developing the logo this week has caused me some frustration as I have a design I like and I have found it difficult to deviate from this idea as I have wanted to develop it further.

To help develop the logos we had two tutorials on Macromedia Freehand this week. I have never used Macromedia Freehand and it lacks the familiarity of the more modern Adobe products and this has been frustrating at time. Although I prefer Adobe Illustrator I do feel that it will be beneficial for me in the future as I will be able to use a larger range of software applications and this will be an advantage when it come to gaining employment.

Like last week we had an ex-student of the course, Mark Feather, visit us and talk about the work he does for Empire Direct. The work that Mark does consists of web banners, html emails, image manipulation etc... This variety of work appealed to me as I think it would allow a larger learning curve in a much shorter time span compared and it would allow a broader range of skills to be obtained.

My targets for next week are:

Have a completed version of logo
To have chosen the Emit colour scheme and corporate typeface/s
Develop initial ideas for style guide
Plan content for style guide
Build on current knowledge of Freehand

Logos, logos, logos

2008-04-01T15:53:00.049+01:00

With the emphasis this week being on logos I have spent a large amount of the week focusing on my sketchbook and developing initial ideas for my 'Emit' logo. I have enjoyed this and I have already generated a number of ideas which I am going to develop during the week. I will be posting some scans of my initial designs from sketchbook, so feel free to leave and feedback you have.

Initial ideas:

I have found the case studies from the lectures very interesting especially seeing how the logos have developed over the years as the logos have been redesigned to meet with current attitudes and trends.

During the first lecture, this featured an overview of the four basic types of logos (wordmarks, lettermarks, graphic and new generation). I was a big fan of the graphic only logos as I felt that they provided the best impact, where the easiest to recognise and often the most simplistic.

Examples of graphic only logos:

Most of my initial ideas have focused on the words Emit and playing around with the letters to see what logos I could come up with. I plan to start thinking about graphic only logos that will represent the company Emit but I am not sure whether a graphic only logo would be the best option as I am not sure if the company is strong enough to be easily recognised.

This week we also had a visit from Jonny Haynes a previous student on the course who now works at Technophobia. The meeting was really interesting and provided a great insight into the work he does and the work of Technophobia.

My targets for next week are:

Develop my initial logo ideas and hopefully have a number of possible logos
Start thinking about the typefaces that the company will use and the colour scheme
Continue to research logos and annotate them
Research style guides and what they contain in preparation for the Emit style

Listening Week

2008-03-11T18:08:00.012Z

Monday morning's tasks finally gave me a chance to the listen to the CD, Lucid Dreams. After listening to the CD I soon found out it was defiantly not the type of music I would normally listen to.

The album focuses around the act of Lucid dreaming and features voice overs and exerts from case studies from the institute of psychophysical research in Oxford.

Although I wasn't really a fan of the music it did provide me a lot thoughts and feelings which I was able to use when creating my minds and mood boards.

I have never used the idea of creating mood boards before but I have found it really interesting and I feel that they will be very useful for the remainder of the project. I will be able look back at them and remember my first impression of the music and the thoughts and feelings which it provoked.

Logos
Looking at logos this week as shown me that it is often the very simple logos that we most recognise and are the easiest to remember; a few examples of this are below.

All of these logos use the company name as the main focus of the logo and only use simple shapes and colours to make them stand out from the crowd. Some are even made purely using type, such as; coca-cola, ebay, google.

This follows through to the logos used for record label and more specifically ambient and electronic music record labels.

During the Easter break I am going to:

collect more examples of logos and annotate them
read the A7 assignment and build up a list of questions about it
continue to develop my mind maps and mood boards

Lucid Dreams - Review

2008-03-10T17:20:00.006Z

Lucid Dreams takes you on a journey through dreams and allows you travel into a world brought to life by your imagination.

Recorded and mixed at Square Centre Studios in 1995, Lucid Dreams offers a blend of deep thoughts and relaxing sounds to provide a soothing yet thought provoking album.

Narrated by Celia Green, each track delves into a different aspect of lucid dreaming and, with the aid of case studies recorded at the institute of psychophysical research in Oxford, immerses the listener into world of possibilities and intrigue.

The case studies provide and insight into the power of lucid dreams and the experience of other lucid dreamers. Each case study provides a different viewpoint and due to the underlying background sounds and tones you are able picture each intricate detail.

Providing a backdrop to the narration is the range of unusual sounds and tones that help transport the mind to numerous locations such as; a London tube station or the side of a river or lake. These are constant throughout the album and this means with each track you a re taken to a different place both mentally and emotionally.

This album contains deep and powerful lyrics that will have you listening over and over again. So sit back and let Lucid Dreams take your mind on journey only limited by your imagination.

A6 - Evaluation

2008-03-03T11:01:00.004Z

When I first read the assignment sheet and I found that I had to do a presentation I was immediately apprehensive about this. I wasn’t very confident that I would be able to perform the presentation effectively knowing that I would be getting grading on my performance. The presentation I did on the colour red I feel went well but I knew it wasn’t going to affect my grades so it did not carry with it the same level of pressure as the typography presentation.

After learning that the typographer I was presenting about was Erik Spiekermann I was keen to learn more about him and the typefaces he had created as I had never heard of him before. After carrying out some research I found a wealth of information about his work and his passion for typography. Seeing is his passion for typography really inspired to continue my research and in the end I think I spent too much time researching and not enough time documenting the evidence of my research.

The finer details, of typefaces, are something I find really interesting. I am now constantly looking at type in newspapers, magazines, adverts and I am trying to identify the typefaces that has been used and often using service such as ‘What the font’ to identify ones I don’t know. Through this I have learnt a larger number of typefaces as, I previously only knew the names of a small number of typefaces and many of these were the web safe fonts.

The design of the presentation was something that I wanted to keep quite simple and clean so that it would have the professional feel that many of Erik Spiekermann’s typefaces have. After seeing the FontFont website and the FontBook I was really impressed by the use of two single colours, black and yellow, to create a clean and professional look that really catches the eye. I used this as inspiration for my design of my presentation and I am happy with end result.

My presentation didn’t go as well as it had during my practice attempts and this was due to nerves. I rushed through some of the slides and this caused me to be under the five minute time limit. My confidence was boosted after the presentation as I answered all the questions correctly.

The questions after were something I was apprehensive about and before the presentation I keep thinking that I would freeze and forget all of the terms and their meaning when I was questioned about them. This, however, was not the case as I was able to answer the questions quickly and confidently.

I was interested by the prospect of the timed tasks as I have never normally placed myself under a strict time constraint when designing. They also presented the challenging of forcing me work under or near to industry timescales. To complete the tasks effectively I knew that my micro planning had to improve and that I needed to think in more detail about the design process that used.

The first timed task, to create and a paint tube for a range of Winsor and Newton called ‘Hokai Oriental Gouache‘. This presented the challenge of designing for a very small document size and ensuring that all the information was correctly and easy to read. I enjoyed this task but looking back now I would change the typeface I used, for the name ‘Hokai Oriental Gouache‘, to something that portrayed the oriental feel. In the end I choice Myriad Pro but this was down to the fact that I didn’t leave enough time to choice a typeface and in the end I had to go with something I knew which had a professional feel to it.

This was the one main reason that I rejected this piece when it came to the final hand-in. The Hokai task was one I enjoyed but because it was the first real timed task I did my time planning wasn’t as effective as I would have like. This didn’t allow me any time towards the end of the task for alterations and experimentation with different typefaces.

To create an advert for a job at Vodafone was second timed task and I felt that this went really well. My time planning was effective and I had around 25 minutes at the end of the task to make alterations to my final design. I am happy with the final result and the only thing I would change about would be to reduce the thickness of the lines from 1pt to 0.5pt.

The Jonathan Gee timed task was the first time I properly thought about designing the layout using a grid. This meant that the planning stage took a lot longer than I expected as I had to think about the measurements more precisely. I decided to create a layout using 8 columns and then splitting the text over tow columns of three leaving a column of space either side of the article. I felt that this allowed the design room to breathe and it also draws the user’s eye.

I like the design as it is something I haven’t seen before in magazines or articles. One thing I would change is that I would add a drop cap to the first letter of the content to lead the reading into the content of the article.

The final timed tasks I really enjoyed. Planning the grid without seeing the content meant that I had to create think about all the different aspects, of the grid, in much more detail. I decided to go with a three column layout as I felt that this provided the enough flexibility to manipulate the look of the document whilst it still maintained a high level of structure.

As well as creating the grid a masthead was also needed. I decided to use a serif font and after experimenting with a few I settled on Bernhard Modern Std as I felt that this typeface represented the jazz theme. When I received the content I was able to create a number of possible layouts and I felt that the column widths suited the amount of text provided very well.

I have really enjoyed this assignment and learning about typography. My knowledge of typefaces has greatly improved on a technical level but also with regards to the face that I can know recognise a lot more fonts than I previously could. This will help when I planning in the future as I will be able visual what the piece will look like using different typefaces.

My presentation skills still need a lot more work and I am eager to receive the feedback from this task so that I can learn from and improve. Overall, I am happy with the standard of work I have produced for this assignment and I feel that I created five pieces of work that are of a good standard within near industry time scales.

Word Count: 1163

Quick feedback request

2008-02-29T12:39:00.009Z

I have made the final changes to my website and I would be grateful of any last minute feedback you have. All three version of my website are on the internet so you can see the development of the site and the changes I have made.

Version 1

Version 2

Final Version

The deadline is only one week away...

2008-02-26T17:05:00.025Z

I spent Monday morning making some final adjustment to the website based on the results of the feedback session last week. Once I had made the changes I received some from John on how I could improve my website and I hope have them done this week.

I have only got a few design changes to make and the evaluation, for A5, to write so this means that I will have be able to spend more time research and revising the type and newspaper terminology ready for next weeks timed task.

With only a week until the presentation I have been doing final changes and checks of the design and the content. I have a few changes still to make to the presentation and the handout I plan to have these finished tomorrow to give me maximum to amount of time to practice.

Another Tuesday and another timed tasks. This time the task was to create and A5 article about Jonathan Gee. The timed tasks are something I am really enjoying and something I will miss when the A6 assignment has finished.

I am happy with my final version of the article but I don't think that I managed my time quite as well this time as I handed it in only ten minutes before the end. This didn't leave me with much time to make many alterations and improvements unlike last time.

Overall I am feeling confident that I will be ready for the hand-in on Tuesday and I am looking forward to the final timed task.

My targets for next week are:

Finish the website
Ensure I have made no 'silly mistakes' on my website such as: missing alt tags etc...
Check I have met all my project goals from the A3 assignment
Write A5 evaluation and begin A6 evaluative journal entry
Finish presentation handout and check spellings etc...
Practice presentation
Research and revise typography and newspaper terms

Usability testing

2008-02-19T16:12:00.019Z

Usability testing was number one on the agenda for Monday. Gaining feedback is vital for the development of any website so I was keen to see the results and make the required amendments.

The feedback process was very quick, with only around 5 minutes to look at each website. This didn't allow more extensive tasks such as testing all the links and checking all the spellings and grammar etc...

However it did mean that the answers were based on people first impressions of the website and this is very useful as it often based on first impressions that a user will decide to use the website or not.

I will be posting an online feedback form as soon as the new version of the website is ready so I would really appreciate any feedback you have.

Following a short lecture on newspaper devices (such as; drop caps, teasers etc...) was a timed task. This time the task was to create an advertisement for a job at vodafone as an "Online Digital Designer". I enjoyed this task and feel happy with the final result.

A6
With the A6 presentation just a few weeks away it was time for some practice and this came in seminar groups. I feel that my presentation went ok but I would not have been happy if that was my final version.

I have a number of changes to make to my presentation but the main thing I need to do is practice as sadly I didn’t have the time to do much of this over the half term.

My targets for next week are:

Make amendment to the website and upload the new version
Gather as much feedback as possible for the website
Make changes to my presentation and the handout
Practice my presentation

Website feedback required

2008-02-12T23:30:00.001Z

Over the last two days I have completed the changes to the website but I feel that I would have got it done a lot quicker had I been in college and away from distractions.

Despite the distractions Internet Explorer has been my main problem and has cost me a lot of time. I have tried to solve as many of the problems as possible without using CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and this has also meant that my options were very limited (mainly to the use of the spacer.gif).

I would really appreciate any feedback you have on the new design.

New version of my website for the A5 assignment. (The feedback form will be uploaded soon).

I will also be uploading the original version soon for comparison.

Now I have made the changes I can concentrate on A6 and I plan to have the handout and the presentation finished tomorrow. This will give the rest of the week to make amendments and practice the presentation to ensure I am ready for next Tuesday's seminar group.

My targets for next week:

Finish and upload working feedback form
Finish handout and presentation
Practice presentation ready for Tuesday
Continue to use DTP (Desktop Publishing Software) in preparation for the timed tasks

Timed Task

2008-02-05T16:59:00.000Z

9 o'clock brought with it the first of the timed tasks. The objective was to provide a typographical solution for the design of a small tube of paint. With the practice timed task not going very well I was determined to do better.

My major downfall last time was time planning and this is something I feel I have made a massive improvement on and this helped me to finish before the deadline. The design of the paint tube didn't allow for much creativity but it really helped me to improve my typographic skills.

After gaining feedback on the first version of my website I have a number of changes to make ready for the usability testing the week after half term. I am pleased with my progress of the assignment and hopefully the new version of the website should be up by the end of the week.

The usability questionnaire is my main objective at the moment and this is essential so that I can gain effective feedback. This feedback will enable me to make any necessary changes to the website.

This week and over the half term I am going to spend a large amount of time learning and preparing for my presentation. Presentations have never been my strong point but I am confident that with enough practice it will run smoothly.

My targets for this week are:

Finish my handout for the A6 assignment
Make the required changes to my website and upload the new one
Complete my usability questionnaire
Practice, practice ,practice my presentation

Design Mechanics studio visit

2008-01-29T16:28:00.000Z

Tuesday morning began with a visit to the Design Mechanics. After attending the last meeting with Dave Pannell I had a basic understanding of how the company worked and I was really interested to how see it in practice. I also wanted to hear the views of the designers who work there and see what they thought of the way the company worked.

The overall impression that gained was that they felt it was a great way to gain experience straight after leaving a university or college course and which makes for a great stepping stone for the future.

The volume of work creating in such a short time means that it is a great place to help build a portfolio that displays successful corporate design in both print and web design. The process of not meeting the client seemed to be a good idea for most of the work but I think this depends on the client and the quality of the feedback that they are willing to give using the feedback forms.

A5 has gone well this week and I have managed to finish the first version of the website. I have really enjoyed the task of authoring the website especially this week as we were allowed to spend the entire day working on our websites. This allowed me focus and get into a working mindset which enabled me to work faster and more efficiently.

Now that the first version is done I am focusing on the usability testing and the design of the feedback form that I will be handing out on the day. This is something I have never done with previous websites that I have built I think that I will gain a lot from it, which I can take into consideration in my future work.

After the visit to the Design Mechanics, Steve gave us a lecture on type explaining some professional names given to the different part of the characters that make up a typeface e.g. baseline, arm, stroke, counter etc...

I am going to take this information and try and break down some of the more famous typefaces designed by Erik Spiekermann using the information from the lecture and include this in my presentation.

The future's bright, the future's CSS

2008-01-22T16:33:00.000Z

Typography has the focal point of today and this is something I have really enjoyed learning about. With the A6 assignment I have been able to take the time and the study the fonts of Erik Spiekermann, as this is the typographer I will be presenting about, and look at the level of skill that is required to create a typeface.

After reading interviews he has done and reading his blog you can see that typography is his passion and it is almost an obsession.

“I read everything, everywhere. I cannot order a meal unless I have identified the font on the menu – drives everybody crazy – and I constantly comment on highway signs, traffic signs and transit signs.” Erik Spiekermann, Design Within Reach

The A5 assignment brings a completely different challenge especially when it comes to testing the website in multiple browsers. Using Dreamweaver and the layout tables can also cause problems in it's self especially as I haven't used them for a few years.

With the problems of tables I am constantly wanting to layout the website using CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). Hopefully the next website I create in college will be using CSS for both the layout and the formatting of text. With the use of CSS you have much more control but this can ultimately cause more problems in terms of cross browser support and validation.

In seminar groups today we talked about the A1 assignment and this is something I need to work on and really think about how all aspects of my work are related to this assignment. I think that due to the fact that the assignment is on going through the entire course I have always given A2, A3 and A4 preference over it and this is something I cannot afford to do.

My targets for next week are:

Create draft version of presentation ready for seminar groups
Complete website template in Dreamweaver (Ensuring spellings are correct, valid CSS and XHTML (Extensible HyperText Markup Language) 1.0 Strict)
Start creating pages of website using template
Collect more examples of inspirational artwork
Review the A1 assignment in more detail and how it applies to my work

First week back at college

2008-01-15T16:33:00.000Z

A new semester and two new assignments.

This will be the first time, on this course, that I will be authoring a web site and it is something I am really looking forward to. In the past I have spent a large amount of time in Dreamweaver or notepad creating the website and at times changing the whole design.

With this assignment, and the web plan from the previous assignment, I hope that I will be able to be a lot more precise with both my measurements and my code as I will have a lot more time to test and modify the website.

At times on the course it has been motioned that in the first few months that there is a lack of practical tasks such as; web design, but now I am starting to realise the important of things like web plans and how they are a skill that needs to learnt and improved upon.

The A6 assignment is very different and again I feel that this is very useful much like it was with A3 and A4. I feel that A6 will allow me to dramatically improve my DTP (Desktop Publishing) skills, e.g. InDesign. I also think that the fact that the presentation is an assessable part of the assignment the feedback will be a lot more detailed and allow me to greatly improve my presentation skills.

For A6 I have been given the famous German typographer 'Erik Spiekermann' to talk about and I have spent most of the day researching him and his work. I have found this very interesting but I know that I have to continue my research and gain a much larger knowledge of his work before I am any where near thinking about starting to create my presentation.

Gaining Merits in both A3 and A4 I know hope that I can continue this with future assignments and hopefully progress to gain a distinction in one of the future assignments.

Evaluation of the first semester

2007-12-21T13:35:00.000Z

During this semester of the course I feel that I have already gained a large amount of knowledge about the design industry and what it would be like to work for a professional design agency. I believe that this will be invaluable to me after the course when I am looking to go into employment within the design sector.

In previous forms of education I have often felt that I was, at times, going through the motions and completing work not for my personal benefit but just to meet certain objectives of an assignment. However this not been the case on this course as I feel that each task is being done for a specific reason and they will all help with my progress on the course and in the future.

As this course is of a higher level, in terms of the amount of detail and work required to be completed, I felt that this step up would be major challenge and it has been. Although I passed my first assignment I did make a number of mistakes and this is something I hope to have rectified with the A3 and A4 assignments. The largest step up I have felt is the level of research and detail that is required for the assignments. The amount of research required for the assignments is something that has really taken me by surprised and it is something that can often take up most of the time for the assignment.

As well as undertaking research, for the assignment, I am starting to appreciated that the more research I do about the information in the lectures, that Steve gives us, the better prepared I will be for the assignment work. Also this research can be used as evidence for the assignment if I record it in my sketchbook. The sketchbook has, over the course of the first semester, become essential and this is something that I would have never imagined at the start of the course. Everything from the notes from the lectures to inspirational work is in the sketchbooks and at times I would feel lost without.

Another use of the sketchbook has been collecting feedback on work and documenting it. This is something that has proved to extremely useful as the more opinions and viewpoint I can gain about my work ultimately the better it will be. Blogger has also been an essential tool not just for gaining feedback but it allows me to check on my own progression throughout the course and it is something I will be able to look back on in the future.

Short term
My short terms goals for the next semester are that I want to pass all the assignments and hopefully gain a merit in one of them. I also want to improve my web authoring skills and my design skills in general.

Mid-term
By the end of the course I want to have passed all the assignments and feel confident in the fact that I have given the course my full commitment. I want make the most of the opportunities that are given to me such as; going to design studies, working for real clients as this help me to become more employable as I will have that vital ‘experience’ of working for a client.

Long-term
With regards to my long term goals I want to gain employment for a web design agency creating website but also with some graphic design elements. This is because I feel that ultimately I would gain a large amount of skills in a much shorter time and I would also gain more experience in employment compared to further education.

The week before hand in

2007-12-11T16:47:00.000Z

The week before deadline and I am feeling that I have got 95% of the A3 assignment complete. I have completed the all of the written work and I have only got to check for spellings, grammar etc... The A4 assignment is also almost complete, with only the banners to finish, so any feedback on my banners above will really help.

I have found the development of ideas for the banners proven to be very useful and it has shown me all the little details that can be altered and how they can have a major impact on the entire look of the design.

This week has been 'a get on with it' week and it has helped me to finish my written work and helped me to be more relaxed for the hand-in next week. With the hand-in next week I have almost got my web plan finished so I will be posting them tonight.

My targets for next week are:

Complete banners
Complete screen designs
Collect all images together and place them in the assignment template
Add all references into assignment template and align them to the assignment work
Add image restoration to Pagemaker template and add border
Arrange all work into the folders in preparation for the work
Print assignments off and sign them
Hand the assignment in!!

Banner Update

2007-12-07T14:42:00.000Z

Thanks for all the feedback that has been left regarding the banners and the screen designs. I have made changes to both and will be posting the new screen designs soon. Meanwhile here are the new banners.

Again any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

I'll give you 20k for that banner!

2007-12-04T16:32:00.000Z

The A3 assignment has taken up most of my time this week and now I finally feel like I am nearly finished. I have completed most of the written work and this means that I have only got the web plan to create in PageMaker once I have decided on my final design.

After completing the content I feel like a large weight has been lifted off my shoulders and the finishing line for the assignment is now coming into view. The main task for me this week is to finalise my web plan and make sure that it will be achievable to create the website whilst keeping it under the 50k page size limit that I have stipulated in my project goals.

Although Monday was a very busy day for me and had a lot of work to do it came nowhere near to the amount of work we had to do on Tuesday. To generate a large number of ideas Steve had us create a number of designs in decreasing amounts of time, the shortest being 4 designs in just one minute!

I felt that this followed on very nicely from the task last week and I am really going to try to create the same intensity in the way I work during my self study, well maybe not quite so intense.

After dinner we had to create two banner ads that conformed to IAB standards, one skyscraper and one medium rectangle banner. Below are my banners so feel free to leave and comments that you wish.

I really enjoyed the banner creation task. I have found the challenge of trying to make an appealing and relevant design which contains all the correct information in under 20kb(kilobytes) really interesting. This taks also enabled me to Adobe Photoshop and I feel the more I use it the more confidence I have using is it.

My targets for next week are:

To finish the budget statement
To finish the assets list
To finish my web plan and feedback form
To complete any changes to banner
To ensure that the spelling, grammar and punctuation is right in all my work
To put all work into the PageMaker format ready for next weeks seminar group

A3 - Screen Desings

2007-12-01T19:35:00.001Z

Below are 5 screen designs I have created for the A3 web plan. I would really appreciate any feedback. Please tell me what you think and vote using the poll*.

Thanks

*voting lines close on 5th December and votes placed after that will not be counted but you may still be charged

Restoration Week Two.....

2007-11-27T16:25:00.001Z

The image restoration task has occupied most of time this week and what started as fun and interesting task and now become a little frustrating. I am still interested in the task and I feel that the Photoshop experience is essential and something that help me a great deal.

After receiving feedback on the task I now know what I need to do to and hopefully I will have it finished during my self study time.

This week I have to pay a large amount of focus on the A3 assignment as I have been neglecting it unintentionally due to the more creative A4 task. This week I need to create my screen designs for the web plan and I will be posting them on my blog soon so any feedback would be appreciated.

Steve provided us with the task this week of designing and creating a business card in a very short space of time. The first time I did this on Monday I had a few mistakes which could have
been easily prevented as they were simple things such as typos.

The PARC (Proximity, Alignment, Repetition and Contrast) lecture that followed was very useful and it will be something that I will be investigating further into as I feel that they will be essential in my future designs.

On Tuesday we all had another go at the business card task and this time I took more time and a lot more detail in the information from the brief. This meant that I didn't make any typos and I felt that I made a much better job of the design.

I found it very interesting to see how much work could be done in 30 minutes and this is something I hope to be able to take through to my self study time and I hope this allow me work more efficiently.

My targets for next week are:

To complete content for the A3 assignment
Complete image restoration task
Gather copyright permissions for the images I will use in the A3 assignment
Add this information to assets list
Complete budget statement
Develop screen designs and start create them in PageMaker

Restoration Week One.....

2007-11-20T16:35:00.000Z

With two assignments on the go at the same time it makes each of the two days at college at completely different experience. Monday is currently the more paper based analytical work for the web plan and the Tuesday is more creative with the image restoration task.

The image restoration task is something that I think everyone is enjoying and it is finally allowing everyone be more creative and actually use Adobe Photoshop. I also think that this task is helping me to understand the level of detail that is required in design more than any other task I have done.

This was also coupled with the lecture that Steve gave to use about the bitmap and vector image format and the fact there is over 5,000 pixels in a 72dpi(Dots per Inch) 1inch by 1inch square image. This has really helped me during the image restoration task as I have to zoom in really to close to match the colours of the pixels to restore the image.

I have some basic experience with Photoshop but I have never tried anything like image restoration before. This has really helped understanding colours more, especially when it comes down to creating the skin colour for the people in the image.

Typography was also one of the lectures this week and before this I never knew how much there was to learn about the typefaces we use everyday. After this lecture I am looking forward to the assignment on typography after the christmas break as this will enable me to research all the different aspects of typography.

During feedback groups Steve motioned the possibility of doing one of the assignments over the summer holidays as this would relieve some of the pressure for the 2nd year as we would have already completed one of the assignments.

I felt this was a good idea as good idea as it would allow time to finish any referral work from the 2nd year assignments and also we would have one less assignments to do in the 2nd year. It would be very interesting to hear everyone opinion about this, especially the 2nd years as I believe you did this last year.

My targets for next week is:

Amend target audience profile, delivery requirements, technologies and competitive analysis for A3 assignment
Complete first attempt at the image restoration task ready for feedback
Collect images for the computer terms in the A3 assignment
Start writing content website plan

My impression of compression

2007-11-13T16:30:00.000Z

A3 and A4 assignment has made the basis of this week's activities and this has called for yet more research. This week I have researching internet surfers of the over 50's variety due to this being the target audience for the web plan in the A3 assignment.

This time the web plan seems to be a lot more straightforward as there are many 'trivial' things from the first web plan that are not required. Although I do feel that this web plan will be more of a challenge as I will have think very carefully about the design as I will have to build the website for the next assignment.

The main area of this that concerns me is the size of the webpages and the included images and how I am going to ensure that I keep it within the projects I am going to set. This is something I am feeling more confident with due to the fact that the A4 assignment contains the image compression task.

Image compression formed the basis of Tuesday's morning lecture and Steve went into detail about all the different types of file formats and the compression formats that can be used. Although I already had a basic knowledge of this due to some previous experience with Photoshop I had previously never gone into this level of detail before.

Following on from this presentation I spend about an hour looking at the effects of different sets of image formats and their compression settings. This will help to illustrate what image format should be used for different types of images such as: logos, photos. I have also been testing the quality of an image against its file size in pursuit of the ultimate balance between the two.

We also had a presentation on colour schemes and I found this very useful as I never new that there where so many different types of colour themes and how they can be used to create a specific effect on a webpage.

Main targets for next week are:

To accurate a record of my time on time sheets
To complete task 2 of A4 assignment
Place at least four blog comments before the comment deadline of midnight on Friday
Complete target goals for A3 assignment
Check and reply to any emails sent by Steve
Find inspirational work to put in my sketchbook

Artist or Designer or Both?

2007-11-05T17:04:00.000Z

The first week back to college after the half term brought two different types of stress. The stress of what grade I gained from the assignment and secondly the stress of performing the presentation that I had prepared over the reading week.

Upon entering the room I could see that everyone else was nervous and a bit on edge. To increase the nerves just that little bit more Steve waited until the stroke of 9’oclock to tell us how the presentations were given.

After waiting about an hour in refectory it finally my turn to perform my presentation and the walk to classroom had never seemed so long.

I felt that the presentation as a whole went quite well except that I know that it didn't last for five minutes. I think this was due to the nerves I was feeling as this was making we talk faster and I also skipped parts of the presentation.

I was quite pleased with the actual delivery of the presentation as this has been something that I have previously struggled with, mainly due to nerves. I am very eager to gain feedback from the presentation so that I can see what mistakes I made and the little mannerisms that I do without realising.

After doing the presentation I was glad that I had done it and it is something that I have really learnt a lot from, not just about the content of the presentation but also the preparation that is required to giving a professional presentation.

For my previous presentation I have simply made a quick slide show in PowerPoint and just repeated the bullet points. This time I actually took care into thinking about the design, structure and the timing of the presentation.

After the initial stress of the presentation had passed it was time for me to start worrying about my assignment grade.

After returning to the room after lunch I was expecting to see the grades posted up on the wall but this was not to be the case. After performing a few tasks based on how well we thought the assignment had gone and initial reaction to the last eight weeks on the course we were finally told our grades.

I was pleased to find out I had passed the assignment and this was a large sense of relief for me but I understand that I have still made mistakes that I need to learn from and no make in the future.

This was made even more prominent with the list Steve gave us of the common mistakes within the group and I feel that I have made at least 5 or 6 these mistakes and this is something I will definitely rectify for the next assignment.

Tuesday came and Steve posed to us the most difficult question we have faced so far.

Artist or Designer or Both?

This is the first question of the A4 assignment and something that I feel will, and already has, sparked a lot of debate within the group. This question is one that think will make for an interesting assignment question and it will be main focus over the next week.

Today I spend a large amount of the day researching The Designers Republic and I have that some of their work is very inspiring. I have also been research Ian Anderson, the founder of The Designers Republic, and after researching some of his ideologies and the way he approaches questionnaires and the answers that he gives are often very provocative and are designed to cause a reaction.

After today's seminar group I am feeling a lot more confident about the forthcoming assignments and I feel I have a better understanding of what it required.

Out the black and in the Red

2007-10-30T16:26:00.001Z

My task for reading week is to create presentation on the colour RED. I have found the idea of a reading week very unusual and at times a little strange. Both Monday and Tuesday morning I woken and felt like I am going to college even though I know I am not.

I do however think that reading weeks are good idea because like I said I already feel that I am back into the routine that we have at college and this will help me when starting the new assignment.

During this week I have been looking at the technical area of the colour and the psychological and cultural affect of the colour on people. I was really surprised at the different viewpoints by different cultures to a colour and how this effect people's everyday life.

The first of the reading week started a little slow as I distracted and this therefore kept disrupting my research. After taking a break, and with the help of a set of headphones and an mp3 player, I was able to concentrate and get on my research.

After a long time of researching the task for the most part of the day I then started to think about the presentation and started to design the presentation in PageMaker.

I have also started thinking about the handout that I need to create and more importantly when I am going to hand it out. The more I thought about this the more pro and cons I kept thinking of for each time in the presentation and this is something I will have to resolve by Monday.

With regards to the actually presenting the presentation I am feeling very nervous as I have had very little practice giving presentations before. I think the main problem that I had when giving presentations is that, especially at my previous college, the date of the presentation would always be changed and this always made me more nervous and I always felt unprepared.

My targets for next week are:

Finish visual aids for my presentation (presentation and hand-out)
Print off both the new assignments ready for Monday
Print off two production schedules and a time sheet for Monday
Post at least four comments on the blogs before Thursday or Sunday (Steve please clarify)
Buy domain and email it John
Get hosting set-up and working with John help (Cheers John)
Practice, Practice, Practice the presentation to help me be calm on Monday

...And Relax

2007-10-23T17:20:00.000+01:00

With the assignment handed I feel like I can relax and prepare fro the next two assignments. I am looking forward to them as I feel that I will be less worried about how the assignment needs to put together due to the fact I have already handed one in.

As I said last week I am nervous about my result for the assignment but I would probably be more worried if I wasn't worried!, if you know what I mean.

During this half term I am going to read the assignments A3 and A4 and start to build up a list of questions just like Steve suggested as this will help to understand what is required for the assignment and hopefully ease any worries I have got.

I will probably regret saying this on Monday, but I am looking forward to the reading week task that Steve has set for each of us and looking forward to seeing what everyone else had to do for their tasks. This will be the first experience I have had of a reading week and what it entails so I look forward to the challenge.

Deadline

2007-10-16T13:38:00.000+01:00

My first assignment on this course has been handed in and now the worrying can be begin!! Will I pass or will I fail the answer lies in the hands of the Steve.

This week has been a lot more relaxed as thought it would be and before handing the assignment in I felt quite relaxed I just hope I wasn't too relaxed and have silly little mistakes that will affect me passing the assignment.

Although I feel nervous about what result I will get on the assignment and what mistakes I have made. Hopefully I will pass the assignment and then this will help me progress more confidently in the next assignments as I will have a greater understanding of how Steve mark the assignments.

The last seven, or so, weeks have gone very quickly and I almost feels weird to writing this blog entry so quickly into my first year of the course. The first assignment of this course has probably the most difficult assignment I have done and this is mainly due to the accuracy and the depth of information required.

As well as finishing the assignment I now feel more confident of how the whole submission process works and this has helped me be relaxed about the future assignments.

After my fears handing, and removing the pressure, of the assignment and returning to the afternoon lecture Steve hit us with the dreaded P word. Presentations. If I am honest I really don’t like giving presentations and it is something I really don’t enjoy but I feel that the more experience I gain giving presentations the better I will get.

I also feel that watching other people presenting is really useful because I can pick up on things that they do well and this shows me how I can improve my presentation skills. I realise that over the next two years and over the rest of my professional career I may/will have to give a lot of presentations about a range of different subjects and this is something that I will have get used to doing.

My targets for next week are:

To relax and enjoy the holiday
To read the assignments A3 and A4
Prepare questions about the assignment
Collect inspirational design work to put in sketchbook

Time Management and Pagemaker

2007-10-09T16:28:00.000+01:00

Over the last two days I have started to see how my finished assignment will look and for the first time I really feel like I will be ready to hand it in on Tuesday. I have finished my draft copy of the assignment and with the help of seminar groups I know now what I need to change for the final draft.

For a large amount of this week I have been using Pagemaker again and I found it very useful until I began lining up my references for my assignment. I found this very frustrating as every time I changed one word of the assignment I had numerous references to re-align.

Using Pagemaker I have also finished my website plan this week and I will be putting the final version on here soon.

This week especially I feel I have really progressed with time management and the use of the time sheets. Although I have been using them from the start of the assignment I am now trying to plan more thoroughly and in smaller chunks. This is helping me have clearer and more precise goals to aim for in a specified time frame which can only be a good thing.

The main area of the assignment that I need to compete is the evaluation and this is going to be my main target for self study this week. I hope to have this finished for Monday so that I spend Monday re-checking all of my work and making any changes.

My targets for this week are:

Complete evaluation
Make required changes to assignment
Check spelling, grammar and punctuation
Ensure that I am ready to hand in assignment on Tuesday

The pressure mounts

2007-10-02T16:32:00.000+01:00

This week has all be finishing off work and getting it ready to hand in next week. I have been using Adobe PageMaker a lot this week and I am starting to gain more confidence creating and aligning documents using guides, column guides etc...

All the time that I spend using PageMaker I feel will only help when creating my screen designs in it next week. I am looking forward to finishing my web plan and seeing the end result as this is the first real web plan design I have ever created.

The process of creating a plan of the website has made me think of how many different decisions that are made subconsciously and it is not until you start to think about them that you realise. Also this week I have been using PageMaker to create my site structure diagram and this really helped me when lining up text.

After using PageMaker I like many of the features and think that it is really useful but sometimes I yearn for certain features such as; a table maker! The simplicity of Microsoft Word feels so inviting as apposed to aligning each individual row of a table and then all the text within the table in Pagemaker.

On a lighter note I feel happy with my final design and will be posting the layout, that I will be using to create my final web plan next week, within the next few days after I have finished checking my written and removing all the "waffle".

The biggest thing I have learnt this week is that usually better you plan for something the better the end result is and this especially applies to PageMaker.

Follow the principle of planning ahead I will now be placing targets at the end of each weekly entry which I hope to achieve in the following week.

Check written work and place in assignment template
Complete budget statement and asset list
Crete web plans in Pagemaker
Create CD label for CD of assignment work
Complete index for sketchbook
Finish Assignment!!

Screen designs

2007-10-02T15:35:00.000+01:00

I have completed my thumbnail designs and I created four differerent layouts of my final design. I have posted draft screens of the designs and would greatly appreciate any feedback you have as it will help when creating my final design. Thank You.

(click on image to see larger version)

A visit from The Design Mechanics

2007-09-27T17:06:00.000+01:00

A big eye opener for me this week was the presentation from Dave, Jemma and Oliver from The Design Mechanics and also the work that was presented by the second years.

After a little bit of a late start Dave Pannell soon got into his stride and started talking to us about the work that is done at The Design Mechanics and how they are completely unique from any other design agency in the UK.

The information that was given in the presentation I found very useful especially about the time scale of projects. When Dave said that they would usually only spend between about an hour creating a logo for a company I was really shocked and I think that it is information like this that is difficult to absorb when Steve or John is telling me.

I also found it very useful to see the link between studying on the course and working for a professional design agency through Jemma and Oliver. It was good to hear them talking about there experiences and they have adapted to going from the course to working professionally.

PageMaker and Accessibility

2007-09-25T17:00:00.000+01:00

A large part of the focus of this week was looking at accessibility and the accessibility standards. After researching the guidelines I found them very interesting but sometimes a little bit difficult to understand or interpret.

After reading the guidelines and receiving an e-lecture from Steve I applied guidelines 1.1, 2.2, 4.2, 12.3 and 14.1 to my online learning journal. I also made other changes such as the template, the header and the title of my blog to make it professional and assessable.

The next major focus on the course this week was learning to use Adobe® PageMaker® and I felt that was very useful. We preformed a small exercise to create an article style piece based on Nikki Iles.

During this exercise I felt that I learnt a lot about how to construct designs and how professional pieces of work are created. I also feel that it will be useful to learn Adobe® PageMaker® first and then move on to learn Adobe® InDesgin® as I will enable me to already have a good knowledge of DTP (Desktop Publishing) software and this should make the transition smoother.

Work rest and play but don't lose away

2007-09-18T16:35:00.000+01:00

First thing Monday morning Steve gave us a lecture on all the information we would need to complete the delivery requirements and he especially focused on web hosting. This helped me gain a better understanding of what all the technological terminology and what it means. It also helped me to understand what I to look for when picking a web host based on the individual needs of the website.

The lecture in the morning really helped me as I went over some of the stuff we had last week and it helped to refresh my memory. After the lecture I decided to crack on with the work and try and get a large portion of the delivery requirements done especially researching web hosts so that I could spend most of my time on Tuesday completing the rest of the delivery requirements.

Nice idea in principal but due to the restrictions placed on the college internet I was unable to do most of the research on web hosts. This turned out to be good news as I now had an extra day to research for my delivery requirements.

Tuesday morning came even quicker after the defeat of Newcastle United to Derby. As a Newcastle fan I should be used to disappointment but this was on a scale I wasn't prepared for. This gave Steve a golden opportunity for a Sunderland fan and the friendly banter gave him much delight. I will have my revenge eventually!!!

After completing the majority of the delivery requirements it was time for seminar groups which enabled me to ask plenty of questions about the assignment and discuss the assignment but it was mainly my objective to deflect Steve away from his sly comments about Newcastle's failing.

Improvements I would make this week are that I need to try and gather more inspirational work for my sketchbook as I know this will help me be more creative in the future.

My targets for next week are that I want to have completed the delivery requirements and to complete the competitive analysis part of the assignment. This will allow me to focus on my screen designs next week.

Wake Up Call !!!

2007-09-11T16:02:00.000+01:00

Just two days of college a week sounds great, it is great but the early mornings aren't!!!

This week I received the first assignment for the course and was finally able to see the level of work that would be required for each assignment. Having seen the assignment some of my fears have been eased after a week of wondering and waiting. After going through the assignment with Steve in the lecture on Monday and taking part in the seminar groups today I now have a clearer view of how things work and what is expected.

At the start of the week I was a little bit shocked with the amount of notation that was required to be taken and how quickly my sketchbook was filling up, will it last the year???? or the even the first assignment ????

Research was another area of the week that took me by surprise as previous research I have done had only taken me half and hour to an hour, depending on how interesting the lesson was. This isn't the case on this course as research is an essential aspect of the course and I now realize the importance of research and once again take notes.

Self study has also been highlighted as a major area of the course and the use of my sketchbook as a scrapbook so that I can collect and analysis design work that inspire. I believe that this is a great idea and it will help me to improve my design and also see what i may be able to achieve in the future.

The main area I would improve on is my time management as after filling out my weekly time sheet I feel that I underestimated the amount of time many of the tasks would take me to complete. By next I hope to have completed my target audience profile so that I move on the the next area of the assignment in keeping with my production schedule.

Formative Statement

2007-09-11T14:05:00.000+01:00

During my third year at high school I achieved a grade C in GSCE IT and this was the first time I had regular access to a PC. During my GSCE I spend most of my time using Microsoft Office and Microsoft Excel and this helped me gain a good knowledge of these applications which has helped me during my further studies.

As I had achieved my GSCE, in IT, during year 9 I decided that I should study Media Studies instead of ICT during years 10 and 11 as this would help discover more about design. I also felt that it would allow me develop skills that would help me in the future such as; how to annotate and analyse media on a basic level.

After leaving high school I attended Leeds College of Technology and there I enrolled on the BTEC National Diploma in IT Practitioner: Software Development course as I felt this would give me a good overview of software development and improve my general computing skills.

On this course I completed a variety of different modules from computer systems to website management and these gave me a good overall basis of the IT sector. During the course I discovered that I enjoyed planning, designing and creating website and I was very interested in taking this passion further when I finished the course. To help do this I applied for the HND Interactive Media at Wakefield College.

During my time on the HND Interactive Media course at Wakefield College I hope to be able to greatly develop my skills in all aspects of my designs. I also hope gain a better understanding and gain more experience using various pieces of software such as; Photoshop, Dreamweaver etc… I also hope to gain more work related experience so that I can gain a wider understanding of the industry and how to work with clients. During my time on the course I hope to build up a portfolio of work so that I can show prospective employers the quality and variety of my work.

Whilst on the course I will be aiming to meet a number of targets to ensure that I get the most out of the course and help me develop my skills. The main target that I will set myself is to at least pass all the assignments first time. Another target I will set myself is that I would like to improve my skills with the software that I will be using inside and outside of college hours as I feel the more comfortable I get with software the better my overall design process will be and the more confident I will be when creating my design.

After finishing the course I hope to do some freelance to help bolster my portfolio and this will also help display the variety of my work. After building up my portfolio I hope that in the future I hope to work as a designer for a design studio producing a high standard of work. I would primarily want to be a website designer but I would also like to be involved graphic design.