Evaluation after the First Semester

On reflection, the first semester of the course has proved to be a very important and key stage in my development as a designer. Having come from a position with effectively no design or web design experience, I feel as though my progress thus far has been massively influential on what is to come in the future.

The main 'learning-curve' this semester has concerned developing a greater comprehension of theoretical design principles and concepts, as well as a greater knowledge of the technologies and processes used in web design. These advances in my understanding will again be very important and influential in my future. I have also begun to develop more specific interests over the past few months. Specifically, I seem to have developed more of an interest in the graphic design aspect of the course. Obviously, having not actually built a website yet, and with many aspects of the course to come, my interests may again evolve to accommodate different areas of the design field.

In terms of the actual work this semester, I have been quite surprised at the commitment and effort that the work takes. Looking at friends and family on other Higher Education courses at Universities, it seems we get it much tougher than they do. This is, in many ways, the opposite to what I expected. However, in the long run I think I will appreciate the difficulty of the course as is it gives me a much greater level of experience and I feel I will also be able to learn much more effectively.

Over the next semester, my primary aim is to gain a merit in an assignment. I feel this is an attainable goal for me, although I admit it will take a lot of work. I also hope to develop my currently limited web-building skills through the work done on assignments, as well as work undertaken in my own time.

In terms of the rest of the course, my main target is to gain skills, both design related and transferable skills, which will make me employable. It is also my aim to gain a number of merit/distinction grades over the coming year and a half, and to ensure I reach my full potential.

My long term goals, at the moment, I am not sure of. In my previous statement, it was my aim to eventually work for myself. Whilst this is still something I wish to one day achieve, this may be a 'long-long term goal'. I feel gaining industry experience would be much more beneficial prior to this. I am still not sure whether I would like to further my education before moving into employment, but this is definitely something I am considering. My thoughts at the moment are that as the course progresses, I will gain a better understanding of which area I would like to work in, and therefore be able to form a better plan for the future.

Bad Time for Illness!

I've not been in College this week much due to illness, and what a time for it to happen! With a week until deadline, this is exactly what I didn't need! I have got more work done than I expected I would whilst I've been off, but not as much as I could have done in the time if I'd been in College and fit.

Thankfully, I feel that I'm in a position that I needn't worry about the deadline- I don't have masses of work to do this week, it's just a case of ensuring all the references are okay, putting them in the column, and then placing all the images in the correct place on the facing page for A3.

For A4, everything is now done!

I still have both the evaluations to complete and the merit and distinction lists, but I find writing the evaluations relatively painless.

The thing I'm worried about this week is my time sheets- I'm not sure whether the time this week will add up to the 32 hours, with me being ill. This'll be a shame as I've managed to meet my target of fulfilling the whole 32 hours each week, and I don't want to be let down in one week simply due to my illness.

I'm glad I was able to come in for my seminar group this week, it's obviously important, especially this close to the deadline. It took it out of me getting there, but I'm definitely glad I did!

I'm really looking forward to next week, finally handing in A3 and A4 will be a massive weight off my mind, and plus it's then the Christmas break... and you have to love Christmas! Especially the dinner...

In conclusion, I hope that this week I'll be able to find time to both complete my work and also have time for rest and re-cooperation. I think I'll start the latter tonight by sitting in front of the TV watching the Liverpool match, although it might not be too relaxing if things don't go our way!

Additional Feedback Post

This is an additional post this week so I can put my rough Screen Designs up for feedback.

Please bear in mind they are only rough- so be gentle!

Screen Design 1
















Screen Design 2

Two Weeks To Go...

This week has been pretty productive as a whole!

A3 isn't as far on as it technically should have been- I'm currently gathering some feedback on the screen designs and developing my assets list- hopefully it should be finished by the end of this week, and the budget statement should also be done, if not well on it's way.

In terms of A4, I have finished the Image Restoration task, and have got a lot further on in my Banner Ads than I thought I would, mainly due to the intense design session we had this morning, in which we generated 40 ideas in 30 minutes! I found this task quite vigorous, but at the same time fulfilling- it was good to succeed at something I didn't feel confident with.

These ideas were then developed over the rest of the morning, and then this afternoon I managed to get them digitised! Please offer any feedback or constructive criticism on the designs.


This week brings sad news, with the departure of our colleague Tom Wealthy. It came as a big surprise to me when I found out he was leaving, and I was sad to hear it. However, it may be something we have to get used to as we get further into the course.

As I haven't posted it yet, I also feel it's about time I showed off my Image Restoration and got some feedback on that as well! I've been a bit behind on the gathering feedback side of things thus far, and want to change that before we hand in the assignment- a necessity if I want to achieve the much sought after 'merit' grade.

Before


After