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.
Tuesday, 7 October 2008
Tuesday, 13 May 2008
First year evaluation
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.
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.
Tuesday, 6 May 2008
Study day
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.
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.
Tuesday, 29 April 2008
A better understanding of what is needed for A7
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.
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.
Tuesday, 22 April 2008
Making changes to A5
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.
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.
Tuesday, 15 April 2008
Design work
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.
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.
Tuesday, 8 April 2008
Designing more logos
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.
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.
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