Rebecca Bradley Interactive media

Screen designs

2009-03-10T20:50:00.006Z

After doing a range of sketches in my sketch book I came up with a number of different designs, I then picked designs that I thought would be ideal for my portfolio. I then designed them using Indesign. These are 3 of my designs, I have used various designs so that I would be able to receive feedback on these.

Please feel free to leave any suggestions and feedback on my designs.

Design 1

Design 2

Design 3

Competitive analysis

2009-03-03T22:00:00.003Z

Student Portfolio
www.rachaelnelsondesign.co.uk

The website has a simplistic design, there are three main colours that have been used these are white, grey and green. This provides a good contrast for people who are viewing the website. The same layout has been used through out the website to keep consistency.

The main emphasis of the website is on the banner, even though the banner adds a graphical feature, I think this could have been a bit smaller as this would make the banner fit in with the overall look of the website more. The main features such as the links could have been made to stand out more so that when users are using the website they can navigate around the site more easily.

The homepage has a welcome page which is also been used to show recent work and news updates. I like the way the text has been broken down so that there isn’t loads of writing to scroll through.

The about me page has information about the designer. On this page she has also added recent work and news updates again, I think that maybe this doesn’t need to be on every page and could also be categorized so that this fits in with the portfolio page.

Her portfolio page has a number of different websites that she has designed, I like the way that the websites have been designed has it makes it easy to view her work. But I think may be she could have had less writing on the page so that more websites she has designed could have been added to the page.

The contact page has a simple contact from to leave information so that you aren’t having to fill in boxes of information.

Professional Portfolio
www.mark-till-online.co.uk

The website is well structured, there are there main colours that have been used these are white, grey and green. The website has a clean look and is well laid out keeping his portfolio simple with only having a few pages. The same layout has been used through out the website to keep consistency.

The homepage has all of the main information for the website. On each of the pages there is a moving image which allows you to click on it so that you are able to view his work. I like this feature as it allows you to view his work from any page that you are on. The text is well set out making the main text bold so that you know what the website offers.

The portfolio page has images and text to explain what the website is about. I think that the images are at a good size so that these are easy to view so that you no exactly what the website is about. On some of the paragraphs there is to much spacing between them, if they were more together it may make it a little bit easier to read.

The contact page has a contact form which has a few boxes to leave any details.

Delivery Requirements

2009-02-24T18:47:00.001Z

To design my website I will need a range of Software and Technologies:

Macromedia Dreamweaver CS3
I will use this software for the actual build of my website. It will also be used to create my XHTML and CSS.

Adobe Photoshop CS3
I will use Photoshop for any graphical work I design for my portfolio. I will also use this for image optimisation and file sizes.

Adobe Flash CS3
As this is a new skill I am learning, I will try to use Flash to produce elements of my website

XHTML 1.0 Strict
I will use Extensible HyperText Markup Language version 1.0 Strict. I will use this to produce a document to structure the content for my portfolio. This will also enable me to mark up elements for my website. I will ensure that my website site is validated and also well structured.

CSS 2.1
I will use Cascading Style Sheets version 2.1 this will be used to give style and layout to my website. I will ensure that my website is well structured so that it will be easier to validate and maintain my website.

FTP
I will use an FTP so that I am able to upload my website and any other files from my local computer to the internet this will allow people to view my website.

PHP
I will use PHP to design a contact form for my website this will be used for people to contact me.

Target Audience

2009-02-10T21:04:00.002Z

Primary Target Audience – Educationalists

Chloe is a 30 year old women, who works Full time for the BTEC Exam Board. In her working hours she normally uses her works laptop which is Microsoft Windows XP, where she accesses the internet mainly to check her emails and also word processing. She only has basic computer knowledge as she mainly users her computer in working hours. She occasionally uses her home computer in her personal time for accessing the internet to mainly shop online. Her use of the internet would be between 3 – 6 hours per week. Her connectivity is through her computer where she has 4MB broadband connection and uses Internet Explorer version 7. The types of sites she would normally visit are Amazon, Ebay and Google Mail.

Secondary Target Audience – Potential Employers

Tim is a 40 year old man, who is a full time lead designer for a company in Leeds. In his working hours he normally uses his computer which is Windows Vista to do a range of design jobs, also to access the internet and his emails. He has a wide range of computer knowledge were he is interested in learning more about different technologies. In his personal time he uses his computer to do design jobs from home, to access the internet and to check his emails. His connectivity is through his home computer were he has 8MB broadband connection and uses Firefox version 3.0.6. The types of websites he would normally visit are Amazon, Book Depositary and Corbis.

Tertiary Target Audience – Clients

Amy is a 24 year old women, who is a full time makeup artist. The website is used mainly for advertising her business and needs a redesign as the website needs modernising to entice new customers. She uses her laptop which is Windows XP for her business and also for her personal time, as she likes to keep records of her clients appointment information. She also uses the internet to shop online for new products and to check her emails. Her internet connectivity is 4MB broadband connection and uses Internet Explorer version 7. The types of websites she would visit are Amazon, Dior and ASOS.

Project Goals

2009-02-03T18:58:00.001Z

1. I will design my website to W3C accessibility guidelines 1.0 Level A

The website I produce needs to be compliant to these accessibility guidelines as it will make my website accessible to a wider audience. This will make users who use my portfolio be able to use it with ease. This could be measured by usability testing my website.

2. I will make my website easy to update and flexible

Making my website consistent will allow me to update the pages to suit different situations such as presentations and job interviews. I will make the layouts of my pages easy to adapt keeping them simple. This will also allow users to navigate around the website easily. This could be also measured by testing my website on a number of users.

3. I will make sure my web pages are no more then 3 clicks away

I will make sure that my content is no more them 3 clicks away this will make the navigation of my site easy to use and will be suitable for adapting my webpages.

4. I will use a variety of technologies

I will use arrange of technologies that I have learnt on the course and implement these in to my website such as XHTML, CSS and Flash. This will help show employers that I have learnt different skills thought out the course.

Final Semester and Flash

2009-01-21T13:59:00.001Z

It’s the final semester at college and I am really looking forward to the last assignments we have to learn but also scared at the same time as there isn’t many weeks left at college. I feel that in the last semester I really need to get out of it every thing I can, so that if I do choose to work in this industry I will feel ready to go in to employment. Even though I have learnt so much on the course so far at the moment I don’t really feel like I would be ready to go in to employment, as there is so much more that I need to learn about. But there are still enough weeks at college to improve my skills. Hopefully the new assignments will give me the knowledge that I will need to learn to improve on my skills that I have learnt on the course so far.

I am looking forward to the new assignment which is the Self Managed Learning Plan. I have chosen to learn about Flash and Action script something that I have always been interested in learning. When it came to picking which subject I wanted to learn I felt that choosing Flash would best suit me, as from researching different job advertisements the adverts that I chose you needed to have knowledge of Flash. I feel that learning Flash will also improve my design skills as there is lots of creative work to do when learning Flash which will help me to make improvements to my design skills. To complete this assignment I have researched lots websites to find out what materials I could use to achieve my goals for this assignment. I will use a wide range of resources like books and the internet which will allow me to start from the begin learning the basics of Flash.

We also need to make a portfolio of the work we have produced on the course. This is something that I will be starting to get ready as I will need to choose which work will need to go onto the website. I will then need to build my portfolio which I will use the skills that I have learnt from other assignment such as XHTML and CSS will help me to do my website.
In this assignment we also have to do a 45 minuet presentation about are portfolio which will show my journey through the 2 years on the course. I am really nervous about this presentation as I am not really that confident when it comes to presenting presentations. Even though I have gained more confidence from doing other presentation on the course. I still don’t really feel that confident at doing a presentation in front of quit a few people. I will need to make sure that I manage my time so that I will have plenty of time to prepare and practice the presentation so that I know exactly what I am doing.

Flash Resources

2009-01-13T22:29:00.007Z

10 Flash Resources

Flash 5 f/x and design

Contains lots of fundamental elements of Flash.

Adobe Flash CS3 Professional How-Tos:100 Essential Techniques

Arange of essential elements to Flash.

http://www.entheosweb.com/Flash/default.asp

Tutorials for basic Flash and Actionscript resources.

http://www.w3schools.com/Flash/default.asp

Arange of different Flash techniques and elements.

http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/

Has arange of different tutorials and tips.

http://www.kirupa.com/developer/flash/index.htm

Arange of Flash tutorials and effects.

http://www.actionscript.org/

Arange of basic to advanced Actionscript.

http://www.flashkit.com/tutorials/

Arange of Flash and Actionscript tutorials.

http://www.flashperfection.com/

A wide range of lastest Flash tutorials.

http://tutorialoutpost.com/tutorials/flash

Arange of simple Flash tutorials.

Why I would like to learn about Flash for the Self Managed Learning Plan

2008-12-10T17:22:00.001Z

For the self managed learning plan I would like to study Flash with Action Script. As I feel from researching other job advertisements in a wide range of areas, this is a skill that is most likely required for jobs in the web and graphic design industry. This is one of the job adverts that I found when we were searching for jobs that would best suit are needs when leaving college. Flash is one thing that is essential to achieve a job like this one and would also make me more employable. http://www.reed.co.uk/job-details/Leeds/Junior-Web-Designer/?JobID=17013435&&set=5&jr=17013435&lit=2

As I don’t know any thing about Flash I feel that this would be a good opportunity to learn something new and develop my design skills. Flash is something that I have always wanted to learn about but haven’t yet got the chance too. I feel that to improve my design skills Flash would be the perfect opportunity to do this and also I would learn about design, animation and creating videos using Flash and action script. After researching different websites about Flash and action script, I feel that this is a skill that would benefit me as it would improve my graphic skills, this is a skill that I would like to improve. I feel that this would give me better knowledge of Flash but would also help me to learn more about graphic design.
This assignment will give me the opportunity to manage a learning plan my self and would give me the opportunity to improve at managing my time when studying assignments.

The second year so far

2008-12-03T17:28:00.001Z

This year I knew that I would have to put a lot more effort in to college work then I had done last year, even though I did try my best I felt like I could have probably done alot better then I had.

I feel that I have already improved with my work so far, such as doing the presentation last week. My skills have already improved in this area, and I feel proud of what I produced that day, as I have realised that I can actually do it. I have started this year positive and hope that I can carry on doing this as this will be reflected in the work I produce.

Summer assignment
The summer assignment gave us the opportunity to still do college work so we wouldn’t get out of the habit of not doing any work. I thought that the work we had to do for each piece of the assignment was different which made the assignment more interesting. If I felt I wasn’t getting far on one particular essay I was able to move on to another.

Even though I tried to plan the assignment so that I would have enough time to complete this, I also allowed myself to have a rest from all of the college work. I felt that I could have managed it better as I always felt like there was work always left to do, if I was to do the assignment again this is something that I would do better.

CSS assignment
When I started this assignment I only had basic knowledge of XHTML and CSS from a previous assignment that I had done. I knew that this wasn’t going to be one of my strong points, so I knew I would have to learn more about this subject.

I found writing the essay quite interesting because I didn’t know that much about XHTML and CSS so this helped me to get better knowledge of this. Even though I didn’t pass the exam I still feel that I have learnt loads from even attempting it. My main problem with the exam is that I didn’t know much about XHTML but having the chance to do the exam again this will help me to understand it better.

Team assignment
I have really enjoyed the team assignment as it has given us the chance to work as part of the team. I have enjoyed my role as Project Assistant as I have experienced working with clients, the progression of the project and usability testing. The assignment has also given me a better understanding of what it is like to work in the design industry.

A12 assignment
With only just starting this assignment I don’t really know what to expect so far. But the work I have done already I have enjoyed as it has given me a chance to do different designs, instead of having to use the computer to design every thing.

Soft Skills

2008-11-05T17:29:00.001Z

Throughout out this course I have learnt many skills which I can use and continue to develop.

Presentation skills will help you to be more confident at presenting information. I have never really been that confident when delivering presentations but I feel by already presenting a few presentations I feel that I have gained more confidence. By practicing this skill will only mean that you will become more confident at presenting presentations.

Teamwork is important as it will help you to be able to communicate with other people better and helps you to work well in a team. Having this skill will benefit you when employed as depending what job you go for you will most likely have to work as part of a team. I have developed this skill at college by being involved in different seminar groups and also the team assignment that we are currently doing.

Having written work skills is important and is something that you can develop more, this will help when structuring essays and will improve grammar and spelling skills. This is a skill that can be developed more by making sure that I structure my essays and make sure to check my spelling, grammar and punctuation.

Time management skills will helps you to be more employable making sure that you are on time at your interview will show the employer that you are reliable. I have developed this skill by making sure that assignments are handed in on time. Also I have used weekly time sheets so that I know what work needs to be done.

Communication skills are something that is needed every day this skill can also be improved by presenting presentations and also working in a team. Having this skill will help when been employed as I will be working with clients.

Searching for a job

2008-10-08T21:58:00.003+01:00

Job advertisement - http://www.reed.co.uk/job-details/Leeds/Junior-Web-Designer/?JobID=17013435&&set=5&jr=17013435&lit=2

The job advertisement that I have found is a Junior Web Designer in the media, digital and creative web design sector. The role of the job will be to work with clients to produce interactive online sites, bring new designs to the company and provide specialist advice and knowledge to the client. The skills required are Photoshop, Illustrator and Flash is essential with some knowledge of HTML and CSS.

The job advertisement is a job that I feel would best suit the skills that I have learnt on the course, as I have not had much experience in the graphic and web design industry. The best option would be for me to gain more experience by working as a junior web designer and then progressing on to a more experienced role. The location of the job is based in Leeds this is somewhere I would like to work as there are more opportunities for work in this area.

Being a junior web designer would mean that I would gain experience in different parts of working for a design company such as designing interactive media products and also working with the client. This is something that I think would help with progressing on to a
higher position within the Company.

The skills that are required for this job I will have learnt at college such as Photoshop and Illustrator skills. I would need to learn how to use Flash as this is an essential skill that is required for the job. I feel that this is something that I would like to learn about as it will make me more employable when applying for a job as most of the job advertisements are wanting to employ people who have learnt Flash. I will also have skills in HTML and CSS.

Aspirations for the second year of the course

2008-10-07T19:13:00.002+01:00

Over the past year I have learnt and developed a greater knowledge of graphic and web design. I have decided to enrol on the second year of this course, hoping to gain more experience in design and different technologies, expanding on the knowledge I have already gained in the first year.

My hopes and aspirations for the course this year is to continue to develop my knowledge of graphic and web design and gain a greater understanding of the industry. I will also be looking forward to learning more about the technical side of things such as XHTML and CSS where I now only have basic knowledge, this will help me further my skills and apply these to other web sites I design. I very much hope that I will be able to achieve this to further my skills and give me more opportunities for employment.

I am also looking forward to the self managed learning plan, where I will be negotiating and designing a learning plan, where I will learn about new skills such as Flash, PHP and other software skills, to prepare me for the time I apply for employment so I will be able to demonstrate a greater understanding than I currently have and the ability to show this in my work.

After the completion of the second year of the course I will either be looking to go into employment or look to enrol on a top up degree course, this will enable me to have more chance I believe to gain a job in this industry should I decide to do so.

I believe that I am determined and focused to complete the second year more than ever to the best of my ability to achieve a greater understanding and able to show this in my work presented.

First year evaluation

2008-05-13T18:36:00.001+01:00

This year has been a big learning curve for me, I feel that I’ve learnt such a lot in just a year. I feel from all of the assignments that I have done, I’ve been able to learn new skills and Implement then in to each assignment.

A1 Sketchblog
The good points to the Sketchblog assignment was that it gave me the chance to develop lots of new skills. Where we had to collect inspiration and develop Blog and sketch book skills. My favourite part of the assignment was collecting inspiration has it gave me the chance to look at different pieces of designs and was able to write my views about them. I feel this gave me a better idea of the things I do and don’t like about design pieces. I was able to use the inspiration for ideas on the other assignments and feel that I gained lots from this.

The Blog was there to write about what I had done the days I was at college and was able to write my targets for the week. This will enable me to look back at other Blog entries to see how far I have come on the course. I feel that the sketch book helped me to write notes down from presentations, which helped for looking back at them so that I was able to produce the work for the assignments.

A2 That’s the plan
This assignment was the first assignment on the HND Interactive Media course. I was nervous of what to expect as it was the first assignment. When I first looked at the assignment sheet it was structured a lot different from the previous ICT course that I was on. When we had gone through the assignment sheet I was worried about not being able to achieve a good standard of work as the tasks where a lot different to anything that I had ever done before.

In this assignment we had to design a web plan, where we had to choose a famous person to design a web site about. I didn’t know how much detail you needed to go into to make a well structured web site. This learnt me a lot about how a web site should be designed and that to get a well structured web site you shouldn’t just look at the designing aspect of it, you should also think about what the target audience would want to see on a web site. I also learnt about new software applications which allowed me to create my written and design work in Pagemaker and Indesign I thought I picked the software up quite quickly, but it also restricted me to do the work I wanted to do, as I still was unsure how to work all of the tools. But I thought that my written and design work was a good attempt for my first assignment, but I knew that when I had to do another assignment I would use my production and weekly time sheets better to structure my tasks.

A3 Back to basics
This was my second assignment and I knew that I would be able to improve on the things that I didn’t do too well on in the first assignment. I feel that because I had the chance to make the A2 assignment up to a better standard I would always have that to look back on so that I wouldn’t make the same mistakes again. We had to produce a web plan for silver surfers, I knew that in this web plan I had to get every thing correct as I knew that I would eventually be making the web site. This gave me more determination to make sure that I had a better structured web plan. I feel that because I had done lots of research into the target audience I was able to design a web site for them to easily navigate. When it came to designing ideas for the web site, I knew that I couldn’t design a web site that would be too difficult to make. So my web site wasn’t has well as a design as I would have liked it to be, but I was pleased with the design I came up with.

A4 Image rights
This assignment allowed us to get more creative by looking at image restoration and by doing this we had to learn the software Photoshop. At first I didn’t really like Photoshop as I thought the tools weren’t as easy to use as other software. We also had to write an essay about the difference between art and designers, I was happy with the essay I wrote as I made sure that I had planned out the points I wanted to make before I actually wrote the essay.

I felt like on the image restoration task I could have done a lot better then I had done, though I tried hard to restore the image, I felt I didn’t really know too much about the different tools in Photoshop I wasn’t able to create a good enough restored image. I knew that my goal would be to learn more about Photoshop and feel that I could have benefited more if I had done tutorials in this assignment, then leaving it until more in to the year.

A5 Builder
This assignment gave me the first chance to build a web site from the web plan that I had designed in A3. I feel that this assignment learnt me a lot about how to design a web site. I feel that I gained the most from this assignment as it learnt me new web design skills. I feel that my web site wasn’t the best designed but was pleased that I was able to achieve all of the project goals that I had set in the web plan. Even though I had to change my design idea a bit, I feel that I also gained more from this as I was able to look more into other aspects of it such as CSS as I have never used it before and feel from just the bit of CSS I had done in the assignment learnt me more about creating a web site using code.

A6 Revert to type
This assignment we had to produce a presentation on our chosen typographer which was Erik Spikermann, I feel that I put lots of effort in to researching my typographer and feel that the presentation was well structured. This was one of my less enjoyable tasks as Im not very good at presentations, but felt like I’ve gained a bit more confidence from doing the presentation.

Also in this assignment we did timed tasks, I was unsure at first if I was going to like doing the timed tasks, but I really enjoyed them as it gave me a better understanding of what it is like in a studio environment. I was pleased with the work I produced in the amount of time we had in the tasks. I feel that from doing this assignment my design work as improved which I was able to use these skills in the A7 assignment.

A7 Wailing whales
In this assignment I was able to put all of the design skills that I have learnt throughout the assignment into the end assignment of the year. I feel that I preformed really well in this assignment as I had made sure that I had planned every task so that I knew exactly what I needed to do for that week. I feel that I have gained a lot from structuring our seminar meetings so that we were able to get a clearer understanding of what it is going to be like next year when we have to plan most of our seminar meetings.

I really enjoyed the Cd art work task as it allowed me to improve my Photoshop skills. I feel that from doing tutorials I have gained lots more skills and I am pleased that I was able to improve at using the software. I feel that the design work I have done shows the effort that I have put in with doing the tutorials.

My aims for the course
Over all I feel that I have improved on my designing skills, making sure that my designs don’t change as much as they have done over some of the assignments. Doing more tutorials so that I am able to produce the designs, instead of having to change them because I am unable to produce them.

I would like to learn more about CSS as I haven’t done as much this year, but feel that I would benefit from this as it would give me a better understanding of coding.

I would also like to be able to learn more about building web sites and how I can improve on the skills that I already have, so that I can combine all of my design, web site and coding skills in to one.

Study day

2008-05-06T16:23:00.007+01:00

Today has been a study day and its been a very productive day. I started off the day by thinking of what I could do for the Cd case even though I had lots of ideas and had picked my final design I still wasn't sure if I liked it or not. So instead of changing the whole design I decided that Id do some tutorials to see what effects I could add to the images. I have only done a few tutorials before so I thought it would be a great idea to help me get use to Photoshop as I'm not very good at using this software. So I looked through some of the tutorials and found some great ones that would fit in to my design for the Cd case. As I started the tutorial I thought that it would be hard to follow the tutorial step by step, but it actually explained it very well so it was easy to create the effect. I did a few practices of the tutorial to make sure that I got the effect exactly how I wanted it before I did the final one.

After this I started to put my Cd case together making sure that the whole Cd case looked as one. I also looked at different types of typography which would fit in with the design. I haven't yet chosen one that I like but there is quit a few that would look good on the design.
I also made a check list of what I need to get finished for this week, making sure that I hadn't missed any thing off the list. I also made a list of what I wanted to put on my evaluation so that when I came to write it Id know exactly how I wanted to evaluate my performance and my products that Id designed.

So this week I'm going to made sure that the Cd cover is completed, also looking at different tutorials to make the Cd case better, then I can fill in the rest of the pre-flight document in, make sure Ive wrote my evaluation and the logo is completed.

A better understanding of what is needed for A7

2008-04-29T16:15:00.005+01:00

On Monday we started off the day by talking about the A7 assignment and what is needs to be included for it. I thought this was helpful as it gave me a better understanding of what is needed in the assignment.

We also had a presentation on the "Artwork for print" I made sure that I took some more notes down on this as I missed the presentation the other week when I was off college. It gave me a better understanding off the different file formats and what they need to be used for.

After this I then started to research the pre-flight document I found quit a few web sites about the different documents, so I decided to write down different questions that could be used on the document. In are group we then came up with some of the questions that could be asked and then started to make the document I found it really use full having different documents to look at as it gave me a better understanding of what questions are the best to use.

I also had some more feedback for my A5, after Steve looked at this there was a few things that needed to be changed. But I was happy that I got most of the work for the site done last week so that I only needed to do a few changes to the site.

Today I finished off a few changes that I needed to do to the pre-flight document, making sure that the questions where in the right place and putting boxes and tick boxes next to the questions that needed them. So that when I have finished my Cd cover I will be able to fill in the boxes that need filling in.

After this I had a look at my Cd work and had a look at changing the pictures and seeing where the text could go. I still have quit alot of work to do on the Cd but I am going to design some more Cd packages in my sketch book to see what else I could do to the picture using Photoshop.

In the afternoon we then had are group meeting, we had to put are Cd work and Logo on the board so that every one else could have a look at the work. We then had to talk about what we had done to them, I got some feed back from the group like making a few changes to my logo and changing the font on the Cd work. So I will make sure that I have looked at different fonts to see which one works the best with the Cd work I have chosen.

So this week I am going to make sure that I know what pictures, fonts and graphic effects I am going to use on the Cd work, make sure that the pre-flight document has the right questions and that it has more of a design to it and make sure that the logo is completed.

Making changes to A5

2008-04-22T16:17:00.007+01:00

On Monday I was ill so I had to take the day off college, but I made sure that I did some of the design work for the CD cover in my sketch book. So that I wouldn't get behind with the work that I needed to do.

Today was a day to just get on with are work I started off by designing some more Cd covers and looking at the ideas that I had done on the computer last week to see if there was any other ways that I could change the designs. I made sure that I had catched up on any notes that I needed to do so that I new what I needed to do for the print work.
I also looked at some pre-flight document sites to see if I could get any ideas for what I could include on mine. I found a few ideas for this but there wasn't that many that where very good. So I need to research more sites so that I will be able to get ideas of what to include on the
pre-flight document.

In are group meeting this week we talked about are logo and Cd designs looking at what ideas we had got. We talked about A1 and what work needed to be done for this talking about different types of inspiration that we could include in the assignment. We also talked about the pre-flight document to see what could be included on it.

After this I designed a few more CD covers in my sketch book but I still need to do lots more to see which will work better with my CD, Ive got a few designs that I could use but its just getting the right images that will work on the Cd cover. I also had my feed back for the A5 assignment, I need to change some of the arrangement of the text and I also need to make sure that some of the images are at a better quality. I thought that I would have lots more work to do on my site but I just need to make sure that I mange the work for this assignment and the A7 assignment.

So this week I will make sure that I have designed more Cd covers to see which design works the best, research more for the pre-flight document, collect more inspiration for my sketch book and make some changers to my web site. I will make sure that I have completed my logo.

Design work

2008-04-15T16:20:00.005+01:00

On Monday we had the chance to just get on with the assignment work. I started to design some Cd cases in my sketch book, first of all I started to research different Cd covers on the internet, I found lots of different designs that I am going to put in my sketch book. I came up with 5 ideas but I still need to design lots more. I came up with these ideas by looking at the work that I had done for the Emit work in the reading week.

I then picked some of my favourite designs and then started to redraw the Cd cases and then thought about the different colour ideas.

I then had my feed back from the typography assignment there isn't really that much to do on the assignment, I thought that I would have to do my presentation again but it was good news and I didn't have to do it again. I have to do 2 of my timed tasks again which was the paint tube and the all that jazz news paper page. Which I only really need to change the design a little bit, make sure the picture fits the page better and change the fonts.

Today I started off the day by researching more and also finishing off the designs that I had done this week. In the afternoon we then had are group meeting we then had to redo are production schedule as we had not done the work that needed to be completed for that day as we miss judged the time that needed to go in to each task. So we had to redo it so that we was on time with the work that we had already done. We also talked about are logo designs which I had to choose from the 2 designs that I had developed more. We also looked at are Cd covers that we had designed and talked about are music.

This week I am going to change the timed task work that I had done, design more Cd covers and finish off my final logo design.

Designing more logos

2008-04-08T16:28:00.005+01:00

On Monday we started off the day by having a presentation on the the software Freehand. I have never used the software before so I thought this was useful as it gave me a better understanding of the software. After this we went on to finishing off are logo designs. I made sure that I had 5 of my best designs in different colours so that they would be completed for the group meeting on Tuesday.

Today I started to design my logos in Freehand so that I would be able to see which of these designs would work better on the computer. I found Freehand easy to use to design my logos which I also used the notes that I made in my sketch book. I also looked at different colour ideas that would work with the different logo designs.

In the afternoon we had are group meeting, Steve looked at are logo designs and told us what the best design would be for us to use. He told me to create 2 of the logo designs and see if there is any other ways that the designs could be created also looking at the arrangement and the colour of the logos.
After the group meeting I then had a look at different CD cover designs to get inspiration to put in my sketch book. So this week I am going to design the logo designs making sure that I have a final logo and also will design the final logo. I am going to start to design different CD cover designs making sure that I get lots of different designs and also making sure that I have collected more inspiration for my sketch book.

Designing logos

2008-04-01T15:48:00.032+01:00

On Monday we was given are new assignment A7 I picked assignment 1 to do. Which we have to redesign a logo, CD case and create a pre-flight document for the record label Emit. I think that I am going to enjoy this assignment as there is different creative parts to the assignment and the work that we had done in the reading week will help me be able to create the work and use as inspiration.

After we was given are assignment we then had a presentation on logo designs. I think that this presentation was interesting as it gave us a chance to see lots of different logos and see why these where designed. We also had a presentation from Jonny Haynes who works for the company Technophobia. I thought this was use full having some one come in to talk to us about the industry as it gave us an idea of what its like to be in the industry. After this I then started to design my logos for "Emit" in my sketch book. I did quite a lot of different designs also looking at the Emit work that I had done and also looking at different logos that I had in my sketch book for inspiration. I thought this was good as I was able to see what would and wouldn't work for this type of design.

Today we had a presentation on logo case studies where we learnt about the CND logo and then in are groups we had to redesign the logo. We started off by creating different logo ideas in are sketch book and then comparing the different designs that we had. We then picked are favourite design where we had kept the same design idea but making it have a more modern look. We also did a presentation on what we had done to the logo to the rest of the class.

We then went on to designing are logo's for Emit and then I created my favourite ones in colour. This week I am going to make sure that I have done more logos and try to design the final logo on the computer for next week.

Reading week

2008-03-11T17:38:00.018Z

The weeks tasks so far have been enjoyable, first of all Monday morning I emailed Steve for the days task. The first task was to find logos on major company’s and annotate them. I found this quite easy as there are lots of different company’s out there which vary in their designs, so I found lots of inspiring logo designs.

The second task was to listen to our Cd which mine was “Slim”, I listened to it a few time before starting the first task which was to create spider diagrams of what the music suggested to me. At first I didn't really like the Album as it came across as dark and depressing, so I broke down my spider diagrams in to scenery, key words, emotions, genre and musical instruments so that I was able to implement ideas into different categories. After this, the fourth task was to create a positive review on our Cd encouraging people to buy it. I then did some research on the artist so that I was able to find more ideas and reviews of the Cd so that I could add this to my spider diagram. I then wrote from my ideas my Cd review. I didn't think that I would be able to write a review for the Cd as I haven’t done one before, but when I started the task I then began to enjoy it and come up with a well written review. Today I emailed Steve again to ask for today's tasks. My first task was to create mood boards that related to my music using the spider diagrams that I created yesterday. First of all I listened to my Cd again before starting the task. I really enjoyed this task as it allowed me to get creative. First of all I broke down different categories for my spider diagrams so that I was able to create 4 different individual mood boards. After this I then looked through magazines and the Internet for things that I could put on the mood board. I found loads of good pictures which fitted well with the category of each board.

The second task was to collect more logos of record company’s that represented my Cd. I didn’t think that they would be lots of logos on this type of music but I found lots on my Genre of music and also added a few different record labels to give variation.

The third task was to create spider diagrams and mood boards about the word “Emit”. I researched what the company was about before starting my spider diagrams. There wasn’t much information on “Emit” but I found enough out to create my spider diagrams. I then moved on to create the mood boards from my spider diagrams. There where lots of pictures on the emit site which I added in to my mood boards which I created 3 mood boards.

So overall all I feel that this as been a really productive week so far and feel that I have learnt a lot.

Slim the review

2008-03-10T17:44:00.002Z

The artist Slim released her album “Slim 0097” in 1997 by the label Emit. Slim is a unique, inspiring musician who brings originality in to her music. The singer performs a number of different genres, which is influenced by a multiple of sounds such as Jungle, R & B, Soul, Jazz and Pop. The female singer has a soft vocal tone to her music which attracts our attention, also giving a dramatic feel when there are other instruments accompanying her music. Her wide range of instruments such as piano, drums and guitar give a sophisticated feel to the melody which explores a cultural instrumental sound.

Her music is expressive making sure that she has used the same amount of vocal and instruments incorporated in to her melodies. She has also based her musical sound on an African feel to the music, which gives an outstanding style.

Slim is one of the must have albums as she has created sophisticated style in her music which makes her album suitable for people who want easy listening melody’s. She explores different genres in her music which some sound tracks are up tempo, but also could be used as background music as the songs in the album flow together easily.

A6 Evaluation

2008-03-04T21:21:00.002Z

Over all I feel that this assignment has been productive, there has been good and bad points to the assignment. I have learnt a great deal about typography and how a design studio is run by having different time tasks.

I have enjoyed learning about typography something that I didn’t really know much about before I started this assignment. I was given a typographer to research, which was Erik Spikermann. I have done lots of research on my chosen typographer and feel that I know more about typography from doing this task. I then produced a presentation about Erik Spikermann which I found quit easy to put together, I felt that I did the right amount of research to produce the final presentation with the information that I had found, and from the presentations that we had in the lesson really helped. I then had to perform my final presentation. I felt that I could have done better at the presentation if it wasn’t for nerves, but overall I think I did quit well as I haven’t really done that many presentations before.

Over all I didn’t think that I would enjoy the timed tasks as much as I did and feel that I have really benefited from having the opportunity to experience what a studio environment is like. I made sure that before we started this part of the assignment I had researched Indesign so that when it came to the timed tasks I knew exactly how to work the different tools in this software and feel that I benefited for this as I had taken screen shots in my sketch book so that I was able to look back at these for help if I needed it. I liked the way that none of the timed tasks were the same which meant that I was able to improve my design skills and also learning more about the design industry.

The first task was Hokai, In this task we had to produce packaging for a paint tube. I feel that my performance wasn’t as good as the other timed task because for some reason I couldn't’t get the measurements correct as the aliments on the page wasn’t to the correct size. But when I worked out what was wrong with the layout I was then able to produce a more standard piece of work. It was also a challenge to make all of the information fit in a small amount of space. We were given the information but needed to work the design around the information so that it would all fit on the page.

The second task was Vodafone, we had to design an advertisement for the phone company. We were given the information that needed to go on the page, but we had to work out which would be the best size layout to fit the logo and information on to. I liked the task as there was more to think about then just being given the size of the page, we had to decide which would be the best design solution. Even though I didn’t think this was one of my best designs I still feel that you could see a big improvement from the other timed tasks that I did before this one.

The third timed task was Johnathan Gee, we had to produce a news paper article making columns so that the title, information and logo would fit to the structure of the columns. I feel that this was one of my best design tasks as it was a lot different to the other task that we had done. There was more to it then just designing one product I had to think about where the title, main text and the picture would go, I had to split it up into smaller design tasks. I feel that the presentation that we had before really helped me structure my work as I don’t think I would have been able to produce as good a design as I did for this task.

The fourth timed task was Grid, we had to produce a template of a newspaper article, we had to structure the page so that we used columns and grids. I thought that this task was one of the hardest because we had to make sure that we had used measurements which where exact, so that when we came to designing our structure in Indesign we knew exactly how the page should look. I felt that this tasks wasn’t the most existing of the tasks as there was no information or graphics to be placed on to the design. We had to make sure that boxes where placed where the columns and grids where going and placing measurements on to the design. So that it would make it easier to produce the next design task.

The fifth task was story, this followed on from the grid task where we designed a structure for a newspaper article. I enjoyed this task as we was able to produce a graphical title, implement the given information and choose our own heading. This was more of a task where it was the chance to structure the design as we wanted. I feel that I had really improved from the first design that I had done and feel that this was my best design out of them all and also feel that this was the most enjoyable.

I feel that in this assignment you can really see the improvements that I have made form the other assignments and feel that I have really improved in my design skills, however there is still lots more that I need to learn. But feel that learning about typography will benefit me when I have to design any other web sites, as I will know more about which fonts go best with different typefaces and what fonts should be used where. I also feel that the timed tasks will help me be able to plan my work better as we had a strict amount of time to produce these tasks and feel that I now can implement this in to the other assignments.

Design task

2008-02-26T16:30:00.006Z

On Monday it was another chance to finish off any changes for A5, so I just made changes to my site and made sure that I had made screen shots of the changes so that I was able to put them in to my sketch book. I also made a list of the things that I needed to do before the hand in date.

Today we had another timed task which was to create a newspaper page. We had 2 hours to design and create the finished design. I started off by making simple design ideas and then choose 2 off the best designs and added measurements to them so that it was easier when I designed it in Indesign. When I had finished the design I then started to design it on to the computer, we had to make sure the page was A5 which was quit small. I started off by typing the information as there was quit a lot of information to fit on a page. After that I added the title and picture so that I would know how much room I had to change the layout of the text. When I had finished this I then showed Steve the design to get feedback which was to change the text so that it fit on the page better.
In the afternoon we had the chance to finish off are presentations and finish off any thing else we had to do for A6, which I checked if there was any spelling mistake's. In the group meeting this week we went over what needed to be in are assignments and how they should be set out.

This week I am going to make sure that I have completed the presentation before I start to practice the presentation. Then I will finish any changes to my site making sure that its complete.

Another task

2008-02-19T16:00:00.004Z

On Monday we started off the day by testing every ones site by filling in there questionnaire. I thought this was very useful to get feed back on my site as there were still things that needed improving. After we had finished this I then read the comments to see what changes I could implement in to my site. I then spent the day changing some of my site, but there are still a few things that need to be changed to suit my target audience more. I will also be putting the information in to graphs so that I am able to compare the results which will help me to make more changes to the site.

Today we had a presentation on newspaper devices, I thought this was really useful as we will be able to use what we have learnt from this and use it in any other work we do. After this we then had a timed task to do which was to make an advertisement, so the presentation that we had in the morning really helped with the structure I set my work out as. I started off by designing some designs for the advert in my sketch book and then got some feed back from Steve. Then when I was happy with the way my design looked I then went and designed it in Indesign. There was quit a lot of information that needed to be fit on the design, so I started off by adding the text and making sure that all the spellings where correct before I added any design on to the advert. I wanted to keep the design simple so that I got the message across of what the advert was actually about. When I had finished this I then showed Steve the design to see if there was any improvements that I could make, which was just to move the text down a little bit making more space for the text. I then handed my work in which I still had a bit of time left but I was glad that I got my design done on time.

In the afternoon we had the chance to finish off the presentation we had made for A6 which I didn't really have much to do, only to add more information on to my hand out. In are group meeting this week we had to practice are presentation. But I was unable to practice the presentation in front of are group as I got to nervous and didn't feel confident enough to present my presentation, which was a shame as I would have been able to get more feed back from the group. So Steve suggested that I just did the presentation in front of him this time. Which I did get good feed back from, only the changers that I really need to make are to add a bit more in about the different fonts. So after this Vicky suggested that we practised the presentations so that we was able to gain more confidence.
So this week I am going to practice my presentation more and also finish of my site.

Starting the image restoration again

2008-02-05T16:27:00.001Z

On Monday we had the chance to finish off designing our sites. Ive started my site a few times as I have had problems with the boarder around the page so I decided that I would have to change the design of my site abit, so I am going to make any changes I do in my sketch book and show screen shots of the colour changes and layout of the site.
I made sure that I had completed the questionnaire for the testing of the site and the presentation handout was ready for the group meeting.

Today we started off the day with a timed task which I wasn't really expecting. We had to design the packaging for a paint company. We had to pick a colour of are choose so I picked red. The layout for the design was very small and there was quit a bit of information to add to the packaging we had to add on the design the English, Spanish and French version of the colour. So we had to research this on the Internet to find out the names. I made sure that when planning the task that I had enough time so that I would be able to get the work in on time. I started off by making about 9 different designs so that I would be able to pick from a range of designs. I made sure that the design was quit simple as there wasn't a lot of space to design a lot on the packaging. When it came to designing the packaging on the computer I found it a bit hard to set the page out as it wasn't to scale, so I designed it the best I could. Then when I showed Steve he realised it wasn't to size so he had a look at it for me and the problem was soon fixed.

This afternoon it has been feed back for A4 I have to restarted the image Restoration I was show some more tools in Photoshop which will make the whole image look alot neater.
In are group meeting to day we have been looking at the questions for the testing which I found improvements which I will implement on mine. We also looked at are handouts which I will add more information about the typography of the fonts.
So this week I am going to make sure that the site is completed making sure that every thing is in the right order. I will also be practicing my presentation so that I feel more confident enough for when we have to do are presentation and also I will start the image restoration.

Designing my site

2008-01-29T16:27:00.002Z

On Monday it was more a day of doing what we wanted on the A5 assignment so I started off by making my site template. I have not yet finished it but now that I can use the software better I will aim to get it finished this week and then I can start implementing CSS. I am going to look over my notes making sure that I understand it before I start using it on my site. As I don't want to get it wrong as I am going to use it for all my text. I also made sure that my pictures where all a set size so that I can add them on to my site when I come to making the pagers where I am going to add my pictures, I made sure that what I had learnt about image compression that I looked at making the file sizes smaller.

Today we started off by having a presentation on typography and how each letter had been structured. I found this really useful as I didn't no what to say about how my typographer had designed his fonts. So this is going to help alot when I come to having a look at what I can change on my presentation. In are group meeting this week we had to talk about what the main points about are typographer was and what fonts he had produced. After the group meeting I then researched my typographer again to see why he had made the fonts. I found quit a bit of information out about his fonts so this week I am going to change my presentation so that I then have enough time to practice it. I will also be making sure that I have designed alot of my site so that I can start to make my questionnaire for user testing. I will be making sure that I am up to date with putting designs in to my sketch book for inspiration.

Learning more about CSS

2008-01-22T16:27:00.003Z

On Monday we had a presentation on how to use CSS codes when making our sites. I thought the presentation really helped as I have never done any thing like this before. Now that I have taken down notes I will be able to have a look at this and see what CSS I will use on my site. After the presentation I had a meeting about my A3 assignment there wasn't that much to change but after going over the assignment again there was a few more little things that I needed to change. So I was going to make sure that I had A3 done for tomorrow.

Today we had a presentation on typography, after the presentation had finish we then went on to researching are typographer. But soon as we started this Steve said that we would be having a task to do. I was unsure at what this would be at first but when the task was explained I thought that it wouldn't be to bad. We had to design a cover what would be used on a font book. But we had to make sure that we designed only using set colours. I started off by making sure that I understood the task and then planning what I wanted to structure my work in the time set. After this I started on my designs I did quit a lot of designs as I didn't know how I wanted the cover to look. When I had done this I started designing the cover in Indesign I made sure that the design was quit simple so that I would be able to create the design in Indesign. I found it easier to know where the tools in Indesign where as I had researched this last week. I made sure that the designs where handed in on time.

In the afternoon I had been finding design ideas to put in my sketch book and also I had been researching my typographer. In are group meeting this week we went over what is needed for the sketch book assignment and I also made sure that I had handed the A3 assignment in.
This week I am going to work on my sketch book, putting my presentation together with the research I have found and I will also be starting to make my site.

The first week back

2008-01-15T16:29:00.002Z

On Monday we started off with a presentation on how to use the software to make are sites. I have used the software before so I knew a little bit about it from my last course I was on. But there is still a lot that I don't know about the software. I made sure that I took a lot of notes down so when I make my site I will know what I need to do. When we had finished with the presentation I read over the notes again making sure that I had got every thing I needed and then started to look at the software and what tools I will need to use when making my site.

In the afternoon I got my grades from the last 2 assignments we had done and I didn't pass them. Which I had tryed really hard on the assignments but I knew that most of the things I had got wrong I would be able to put right as there wasn't a lot to do.

Today we went over are new assignments in A5 we have to build are site that we designed in A3 but I wont be able to start my site until I have got the last assignments right that I did so that when I come to make the site it will be a lot easier as I will be able to follow every thing I did in the assignment. We also got the A6 assignment which is to do a presentation on a typographer which I got Erik Spiekermann we also will be getting tasks to do which we don't know what they are yet, so I am a bit worried what they will be. After we had gone over the assignments we then researched typography I found a lot out about my typographer but I still need to find out more about him.

I also got back the assignments I didn't pass on and now I know what I need to do but there is not a lot to do just silly things that I had missed out.

So this week I will be making sure that I have researched more on my typographer. I will also be taking notes down about In Design so that when I get the tasks in the new assignments I will know more about it.
I will also be making the assignment I didn't pass on right.

The first term

2007-12-21T20:07:00.002Z

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

2007-12-11T16:50:00.005Z

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

2007-12-04T16:31:00.002Z

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

2007-11-27T20:04:00.001Z

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

2007-11-20T16:01:00.001Z

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

2007-11-13T16:31:00.001Z

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

2007-11-06T13:36:00.001Z

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

2007-10-30T20:05:00.002Z

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

2007-10-23T19:55:00.001+01:00

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

2007-10-16T13:38:00.001+01:00

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

2007-10-09T15:57:00.001+01:00

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

2007-10-02T16:31:00.001+01:00

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

2007-09-25T16:20:00.001+01:00

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

2007-09-18T16:35:00.001+01:00

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?

2007-09-16T21:55:00.001+01:00

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

2007-09-11T16:12:00.002+01:00

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.