I'll start with an update on last weeks targets, and how they went. Firstly was the target to get through the competitive analysis, and begin work on the initial stages of screen design. Unfortunately, although I did complete the competitive analysis, I didn't get onto the screen designs in my self study time- admittedly through bad time planning. However, I did complete my other targets of collecting and annotating design work, and creating a page numbering/indexing solution for my sketchbook.
To combat the issues I had last week with time planning, this week I spent a good half hour at College on Monday planning the full week ahead. In previous weeks I've struggled to plan more than a day in advance so by forcing myself to plan a full week it may help with my self study time.
I've spent a lot of time this week thinking about accessibility, and looking into this on the web- although I've now learnt to document literally EVERYTHING I research in the sketchbook in order to prove I've done it- and in order to be prepared to answer any question that may come my way! I suppose this was learnt the hard way this week.
We also got underway with using Adobe Pagemaker this week- a program I was unsure about, mainly due to what I perceived to be it's limitations. However, I was surprised by the quality of the simple document we made, and I suppose this illustrates that design is about just that; design. It's not about the programs used to design or the more technical aspects- it's simply aesthetics. There was also a conversation during one lecture about creativity in design- and how, as web designers, we're not designing for ourselves, but for others. I think this could be a hard concept for some, but for me, it was fine; I totally agreed with the idea.
This week my primary aim is to stick to the time plan I've made and not allow myself to be distracted by other temptations. Hopefully, I'll have a final screen design completed and ready to be DTP'd (DeskTop Published) next week, prior to the seminar session on Tuesday. It's also the session with the Design Mechanics this week, which a few others and I will be joining the second years for- that should be very interesting and a great experience.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Really impressed with your Ya-Yas website!. I am final on to sorting out my Competitive Analysis aswell. Your just like me - trying to set your target that high they are difficult to achieve, however you have a go anyway!
Keep up the great work.
I am not sure if I agree that design is simply about aesthetics, Tom – I think that it is a combination of technical skills and aesthetics. Art with functionality, when at its best.
There are a lot of technical aspects to creating both print and web products on the course. Also, the programs you use do open up different features, and can influence how something is designed. Every program has its limitations, as you will find out shortly with PageMaker.
The Nikki Isles task simply shows you the buttons to press – it does not teach you much about the suitable formats, where files should be laced, or anything to do with the professional printing process – this will come later. Be prepared for plenty hair tearing moments when you have to put your screen design together, as well as feeding in several thousand words into the assignment template. You have been warned!
My advice is to acquire InDesign CS2 at home and get some practice in with that. Personally, I do not think it is as difficult as PageMaker, it just has more buttons to press. Obviously, keep using PageMaker to do the next couple of assignments, and later on in the course you may be able to use InDesign if you can prove to Steve that you can use it properly. This is what some of us did in the first year, after negotiations with Steve.
I agree with Julian on a few things in his comment, However design being simply about aesthetics. I do agree that this is not all its about. You also have to consider the accessabiliy, useablity, and content quality. To me this all comes down to the aesthetics of a design. Where to lay the information our ect.
I have started using InDesign CS3. I find this much easier to master then PageMaker. Yes it has more buttons but that is not a bad thing, it gives you more control over how tings look and work.
Gary
P.S. Just looked at your site. I like it, but id have never guessed you were in a band.
Post a Comment