The first term

Over the first semester I feel that I have already gained lots of experience on this course. I feel that the work that we have been doing has been a lot different to the course I was on at college. Some of the work on the course so far has been a challenge, but when looking back at the work that I was producing at college, I feel that I have already improved and have learnt a great deal from the assignments I have already done. Even thought I didn't pass two of the assignments at first, I feel that given another chance to pass the assignments has given me a better understanding of what is needed to pass, and feel that I was able to include this in how I structure my next assignments.

I feel that from the presentations that we have been given has helped me to produce the work I have already done. I have learnt a lot of knowledge from these and feel that writing the notes down in my sketch book as helped when doing tasks, as I am able to look back if I wasn't sure about any work that I was doing.
The sketch book as also been useful to add inspiration and designs this will help me to see the improvements that I have made and will be able to see how far I have come on the course.

There is so much more to learn about the design industry and feel like I am gaining a lot more experience in this industry. I already have a lot more knowledge about the industry and I have a better understanding of what is needed to get a professional design job.

Short term goals
I feel that I need to gain as much experience from the course and take every opportunities I can so at the end of the course I will have as much knowledge as I can get so that I am employable and will be able to find a job in this industry.

Mid term goals
After leaving college I would like to find a job in this industry so that I am able to gain more experience.

Long term goals
When having employment I feel like I would have gained enough experience in this industry so that I am able to move on and progress in the industry.

Hand in day next week

On Monday we had the chance to do any work that we needed to do for the hand in day. I started off by doing my designs again because I had problems with fitting the information on the page. So I made a different design which would fit my information on the page. Most of the day I spent on the designs and adding my information as that was one of the tasks that I really needed to get completed. I also Had the chance to look over my work which there is still lots of changers that I needed to do and I have been doing my budget statement.

Today we have been doing are banners which I have got comments from other people about the banners. So now I will be able to change the banners making then more better so that they suit the Jazz feel.

This week I am going to look over the work making changers to the assignment where I need to make them also I need to do my image restoration.
So over all this week I will be making sure that the assignment is completed so that Monday gives me the chance to look over the work and making sure that it is in the right order.

Making Banners

Monday I had to come in to college as Steve said that I needed to come in and do some work. Me and a few other people had a presentation on how to set out references for books as we got this wrong when we had been doing are assignment. In the afternoon I had a meeting with Steve to talk about the last assignment and was good news that I had passed the assignment which I was really glad about. I also had the time to catch up on the other assignments which was very useful as I had got quiet a lot of work done in the day and new what work I needed to do when I got home so that I had every thing done for the next day.

Today we had a task to make 40 banners in half an hour. We was given 5 pictures with there details and had to include this on every banner. I enjoyed this task but at the end of it I seemed to be doing some of the designs again but this wasn't really a bad thing as they might have worked better for different pictures. Then we had to pick the best 2 designs I liked from each 1 and draw them in more detail, colour and also making notes about them. I think the task was really useful as when we came to design the ideas on the computer we new what we wanted them to look like. I have changed some of my ideas a bit as I am not use to the software yet so I had to make changers where need.

This week I am going to make sure that I have corrected my designs, site structure and budget statement. I will also be making changers to the image restoration as I didn't know how to get the picture in colour with out it looking all blended together. I will be working on the banners that we have been doing.

The second hand in date for A2

This Monday we started the day with a little task which involved us designing cards for a company which was " Widget World" we had to design as many card designs as we could in are sketch books in 15 minutes, then we had to pick the one that would best suit the company and design the card in Pagemaker and we also had 15 minutes to do that. When the task was first given I thought that I wouldn't be able to do the task as it didn't seem like enough time to plan and design the card but as I got planning the cards I felt more confident as I designed 15 cards and then we designed the card on the computer. I thought my card was ok for the first attempted but I know it could have been a lot better then it was.

On Monday we also had the time to do some of A3 work as there is still quiet a bit of work to do but I am going to make a list of all the tasks that I need to do for the assignment for this week.

Today I haven't been at college as I have been ill so I have made sure that I got my A2 work in on time. Then I decided that I was going to work on my A4 image restoration work making sure that the picture looked restored.

Its all going good

Monday I started off by making sure that I had all the notes from the presentations and was a chance to make sure that the first task of A3 was complete.

Today we have had a presentation on how to restore pictures. I found the presentation useful as Ive never have done any thing like this be for. So I made sure that I took as much notes for the presentation as I could also making sure that I had got the correct information and also drawing diagrams so that when I came to use my notes I would know where all of the buttons where. When we was given the picture I thought that I wouldn't be able to restore it back to its normal picture. But I made sure that I looked over the notes again making sure that I understood it. And then we had a chance to mess around with the picture before we actually attempted to recreate the picture. First of all I started off by making sure that I knew what order I would be restoring the picture, when I had done this I started making changers to the picture. I wouldn't have thought that I would be able to change the picture but as I started to change the picture I felt a lot more better about how the picture was beginning to form. I have enjoyed this task so far and this week I will be making sure that the picture is ready to be shown on Tuesday so that I will be able to go back and change it.

This week I will be making sure that I have done A2 there is still some changer I need to do and making sure that I have completed some of the tasks for A4 so that I will have completed the tasks that I need to do.

Learning new things

On Monday I started off my A3 assignment by looking at the goals for the site and then researching different sites to see who my target audience would be aimed at which where older people and what they can learn about computers.

I also got my last assignment back today so that I would be able to change it. When I was given this back there was quit a lot of things that needed to be changed but also there was just some mistakes that I new that would need to be change now I have got this back and I will be able to change this. I have wrote notes down to help me do the things I need to change in the assignment. I can also look back over the old notes I made which will still help me. I have planned what I am going to do this week because I have got quit a lot of assignments to do so I will have to plan which ones I will be doing on what day.

Also to day we have been looking at different images and seeing if we could change the colours and file sizes. I will need to write about what I have found out about the pictures and how they have changed. I didn't know much about this when I started to day but with the notes and changing the pictures I have found out a lot about images and how you can change the image with out the colour changing and the images not been at the same standard as they started off at. So I think that I have learnt a lot this week with what the changers that need to be done to the assignment and think that I will be able to learnt a lot form this so that I wont make the same things wrong with what I have done in this one.

Time for the grades

Monday we had to present are presentations in the morning I was really nervous as I didn't know that we was just presenting it in front of Steve, when I new this I began to become more calm about presenting the presentation. When I got in to the room I felt very nervous I tryed just to stay as positive as I could so that I didn't get to nervous to do my presentation. As I started the presentation I felt a lot better about it then I thought I would have done but I didn't mange to make my presentation last 5 minuets so I was disappointed about it but I new there wasn't any thing I could do about it, but at least I tryed my best.

Then we got are grades but I failed it but I new I could have another go at making it right I new that there was a chance that I could make my work a lot better so that we can learn from are mistakes and then for the next assignment I new I wouldn't make the mistake again. I think that failing the assignment has made me try harder on the next assignment, hopefully when I get my work back I will then know what needs to be changed hopefully it wont be to bad. But I will be able to make my bad points right and I will take notes of these things so that I am able to change them on the next assignment which will improve my work.

This week we have also got are new assignments which we have been researching about what is the difference about art and design. I didn't know how to start mine but as I took notes in my sketch book I was then able to get my work together.

Task

This week I emailed Steve on Monday morning to ask what the task for this week was going to be. He emailed me back to say that we where going to do a presentation on a colour, mine was red, I was so pleased as I felt this would be a good colour with plenty of information to present on. We have to talk about what red means in general, and different cultures.

I started of by researching the colour on the Internet there was lots of information about the colour. I never thought that there would be so much reference on the colour. I then started writing notes on various topics for this colour. I found it interesting that different cultures used red to represent traditional ways. Then I started to put my presentation together using the notes that we had been given. I started off by writing an introduction to my presentation and putting it together word by word.

On Tuesday I emailed Steve to ask if there were any more tasks for the week, which was just to finish off the presentation which needed to be ready to present on Monday. I then finished off putting my presentation together, I decided to use PowerPoint instead of Pagemaker as I thought I wouldn’t be able to make a presentation using Pagemaker. I need to make sure that the presentation is set out correctly and make sure I have enough information for the handouts. My presentation is going to be a basic presentation with no visual aids, to distract from the information I will presenting.

At first I was nervous that it was a presentation, but felt everyone would probably be feeling the same. As I started researching the colour red I felt more confident as there was such a lot of facts on this colour and felt that my presentation would last for five minutes. I don’t like the idea of presentations but feel I would get more confident in time with practice and my presentations will improve.

Also this week I am going to collect pictures to use in my sketch book, so that I am able to look back at them for any ideas which will be useful for other work I will be doing in the next couple of years.

I had problems with my Internet connection and although I had done my blog on time was unable to put it on my blog.

Its the holidays

Well the holiday is here and I feel much better that the work has been handed in so that I don't have to worry any more.

I am now wondering what the task for next week will be. I hope it's not some thing difficult that I won't be able to do, as there will be no one to help us with the work. I am also going to read over the new assignments making sure that I understand them so that when I get back to college I wont have to worry that I know nothing about them.

I am looking forward to getting my results as I now want to know if I have passed or not.

Finally its the hand in day

This week as been very productive, as the work as gone really well and Ive finally handed my work, in which I feel so much better about now. This week I started the week by putting my work in to page maker which went very well to say am not really use to this program yet. I all so had to adjust the designs as they wasn't to the correct size so I made sure that they where done to standard. I also needed to do some other tasks like correct some of the work where needed to put in to the assignment.

But I do realise now that I should have timed my assignment better because it was a bit of a rush at the last minute getting my work in too order was a bit hard but I got this done but did take quiet a bit of time. But I now know that when I do my next assignment that I should be able to do this better so that I don't have to worry at the last minute that I have not got every thing.

Now that I have completed the first assignment I now feel better about the course as when I first started I wasn't to sure that I was good enough to do the work what was given. I now feel better that I will be able to do the next assignment as I feel that I am learning a lot more and feel that I could use my skills better in the next piece of work. I have learnt a lot so far as some of the things I didn't have a clue about but know I know a lot more which is a really great help and feel that I am learning a lot quicker. But there is still loads that I need to learn. Now its the holidays I feel that I could relax so that I am ready for when I come back to college.

Final week and its all gone wrong

This week has been a really rubbish week, as when I came to save my work the computer went crazy, so I was unable to save it. When I went back to the document it wasn't there, so I had to re do most of my work again as I didn't have the new work printed off. I had to look at some of the old work I had and try too see what ideas I could put in my new work I had started. I couldn't believe that I had spent all this time working on the assignment, but I new that I would just have to carry on with it and try to make the old work as good as what I had before. I made sure that I caught up with my work on Monday as I have tried really hard to catch up to where I was. I was worried that I wouldn't have enough work to show when it came to the group meeting about the hand in of the assignment. But I had most of the work done and produced in the right way. I still have quiet a bit of work to do, but it's more just adding things to the work I have already done.

For my study this week I am going to start from the beginning of the work and put in any ideas that I have got to make it a lot better. I need to make sure that I have looked at different books so that I have used both computer and books in my assignment. I have made notes in my book where I have found information that would be suitable to use. I also need to make sure that all of the work is correctly done. For next week I need to make sure that I have already completed every thing so that I can just make sure that I have got the right work printed of to put straight in to my folder then I don't have to worry I haven't done anything because it will all be completed.

Room for improvement

This week has been a very productive week, I finally feel like I am getting the work done more quickly. At first I didn't really like Pagemaker as I kept doing things wrong, but now I feel like I have got used to it. I produced my designs which I thought wouldn't turn out well, but I am quite proud of myself, I have learnt quickly this week which has made it easier to produce the work.

I have completed the structure diagram, which was annoying at first as you have to keep adjusting the lines to produce the structure, with a little help I finally got this done. The presentation on Monday has helped as I wasn't sure if I would be able to set out the assignment I had already done in Pagemaker, but as I have gone over this I feel like I have gained better understanding of how this works. I felt I was doing the assignment quicker, but I am still worried that I have loads to do, as some of the work I have been doing has gone wrong . This week was a week that I could have time to just look over the work and see if there is anything that needs improving. I still have to finish some of the work of which I will be doing in my self study this week. I need to make sure that I have planned my week, so that I know what I am doing for self study, firstly checking that the work I have already done is looking ok, I need to go over the work I have done so far making sure this is correct.

First time using pagemaker

This week I have learnt about the way I should structure my weekly sheet which as helped me to get my work done quicker. Now I know what I should be doing and when the work needs to be done.

Monday gave me the chance to do some of my assignment, after a presentation on how the work needed to be completed so that the presentation of the work is correct.

Tuesday we have been looking at the Pagemaker and how it works. Steve did a presentation on how this should be done in easy steps. I thought that it was a lot different to word as a lot of the tools are different, so I thought I might struggle with the tasks set. I found the first bit of the task easy as it was just putting the picture on the page and setting the text out. But as it went on I found it hard to understand some of the work shown which I kept messing up, but Steve was there to help with anything I didn't understand.

But I new I would have to try and understand how Pagemaker worked as I would need to hand my assessment in using the set design. I thought that when the tasks had all been completed that the work looked neat and professional.

Last week for my self study I did my screen designs which I thought carefully on how the site should look. I did six different pages for all five designs. I thought my designs looked a lot better then I expected. I also had different coloured sheets, I picked the colours carefully that would best complement my design.

Things becoming clearer

Week three and it seems like we have been here ages. This week had been difficult as we have had loads of work to do and the planning of what work needs to be done. I am finding this hard as I never know what tasks I need to put down on the weekly sheet, but I am sure as time goes on I will find this easier to achieve. The meeting with Steve has given me a better understanding of what needs to be done on the assignment, he has helped with any questions that I needed answering.

This week I have done the target audience and the delivery requirements, the presentations have helped loads as I wasn't too sure on what work I needed to do for these sections of work.

I have put notes in my sketch book, this will able me to go back and see what I can add to the work I have already done.

This week for self study I am going to look over the work I have already done to see what improvements can be made. I am sure there will be loads of things that can be changed to make them better. I am going to see what work needs to be done for next week. I am going to look at planning my weeks so that when college comes I will know exactly what needs to be done and how I am going to do it.

I have found it really easy to add inspiration to my sketch book and have found loads of great mags with inspiring pictures in, I have put these in to my sketch book as I will always need to go back to these for ideas and when I am feeling like I need more motivation with my work.

Where have I come from? Where am I going? How am I going to get there?

Where I have come from

I progressed to Outwood Grange College, Outwood, Wakefield in 2000, where I studied for my GCSE’s which were in the following subjects; English, Maths, Science, History, ICT, Dt Food and Leisure and Tourism, which I successfully passed. I left in 2005 when I decided to go to College to study ICT and develop on my existing skills. I decided that the course that would best suit me was GCE in applied ICT where I studied on a 2 year course at Wakefield College, where I progressed my skills in multimedia, spread sheets, database, and generally the ICT aspect where I passed the course. I decided that I preferred the more designing unit of the course, so I decided to look for a course that would best suit me in multimedia, where I decided to apply for Interactive Media at Wakefield College where I was accepted on a place to start in September 2007.

Where I’m going

I am planning on achieving and to learn as much as I can in my Interactive Media course for the following two years. If I am successful, I will be planning to progress to degree level, so that I have as many qualifications as possible, so that I will be able to get a full time job in the area of design or the web design industry. I will hopefully further my career on becoming a manager of a business connected with design or web based design, or create my own business after gaining experience in the computer and connected industry.

How I’m going to get there
I will be ‘setting my goal’ on getting the highest grade I can in interactive media, so that I will be able to study at a college or university to get a degree, so I can develop more skills and experience. I will also be taking every opportunity I can to have a look at how the web design industry works and motivate itself. I will also be planning on putting a portfolio of my work together so that I will be able to present my designs and work done to other company’s or clients. I will be planning on looking for a part time job in web design or similar, after I feel that my skills have improved and able to offer and gain experience. I will also check how I am progressing, by designing a career plan and going back to the career plan every three to six months, I will also check I am where I want to be and where there is room for improvement and along the way looking for motivation and refreshing my approach and taking on board suggestions for my tutors. I will then improve if necessary and revaluate. My career plan is only a guide so it can change if necessary through time and suggestions this could be due to changes with my career in the future and on target with my studying.

First Assignment

On Monday I started my new assignment, I didn't know what to expect as this was the first assignment and it was set out a lot different to college, so I was nervous of what to expect.
When I looked at the assignment I thought that I wouldn't be able to do enough work to achieve a good standard. When I started the work I didn't know who to pick as there were not many people on the list that I new, but has I started to research them I thought that Julie Andrews would be the best one for me to research. I felt a lot happier when I had done my research this gave me a better understanding of what the assignment was all about. After this I could then move on to the next piece of work which was the project goals. I started to think about what goals I could have for the web site, I put some ideas down in my sketch book so that I knew when Tuesday came I would know where to start from.

Today (Tuesday) when I got to college I knew what piece of work I needed to start which was the project goals. I planned and had already researched them the day before so I just needed to type them up and see if I could think of any better ideas to add to the list. I then looked in my sketch book to see what the next piece of work I could do was, so I decided to do the target audience, I looked carefully at what target audience I could choose. I thought this was hard because the target audience could be any age as lots of people would be interested in her and her life.

After deciding what target audience it was aimed at, I then thought about what information would look best on the site. I decided to look on different sites to get a better understanding of what information people would want to learn about her.