SMLP (Self Managed Learning Plan) Thoughts

Having checked a few job sites (such as Creative Pool and The Drum) recently, I've become increasingly aware that a key skill required for industry which I don't have is an understanding of PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor 5. This has also become clear when working with a CMS (Content Management System) on a recent project. An understanding of PHP will enable me to develop and customise web applications when needed. This could prove crucial in future employment.

It is also apparent from job advertisements, as well as some limited experience with the web design industry (e.g. through my brother-in-law, Paul), that employees/freelance workers are expected to have to massive range of skills. They are expected to be able to design, build and develop websites, not just specialise in one area. I feel that I need to continue my study into the development side of things beyond what I'm comfortable with currently (XHTML & CSS).

PHP is a massively popular scripting language and it has the power to open up opportunities to create a myriad of web applications (Hotscripts has many examples). These are the kinds of things that at the current time I have no idea how to create. I also feel that websites are increasingly adopting PHP scripts in order to bring a bit of interactivity to the site - and at the moment I feel I simply can't compete with this. In order to combat my lack of knowledge, undertaking the study of PHP in the SMLP seems a smart thing to do.

Whilst I had considered developing other skills, including Javascript and Ruby On Rails, I decided against this as I feel Javascript is becoming less relevant online, and that PHP is a better starting point than Ruby is. This, however, is something I will be very interested in for the future.

2nd Year So Far...

So far this year has proved to be very different from the first year. In many way, this has it's foundation in the different kind of assignments we've done so far this year.

Coming back into the second year, it was very much as though we were going straight back in at the deep end. The 'A11 - On The Job' assignment, which involves working as a 4-person team to deliver an interactive media product to a client, has proved to be most challenging thus far. Working as Project Manager has proved to be extremely arduous, yet very rewarding. I feel that as a team we have taken time to truly pass through the stages of 'Forming', 'Storming' and 'Norming', but I feel we are beginning to reach a stage somewhere near 'Performing'. This has not been without troubles and a lot of effort, but at the end of the day I'm now pretty happy with the team I've got around me.

The 'On The Job' assignment isn't like anything I've done before. I've had to learn a lot of new things, and change the way I approach workflow to suit my team, which has been hard. As I've said though, it's been a massively rewarding experience and I've learnt a lot about organisation, working with others, people management... the list is endless.

We've also completed the 'A9 - Outside the Box' assignment this year, which was focused on XHTML and CSS. After a first year which included very little CSS, I was glad to be finally getting stuck into it. I've learnt a huge amount through this assignment, both through lectures and extended research and reading. This includes the methodology behind structuring XHTML and CSS, the syntax/semantics used in Standards Compliant web documents, and I've also brushed up on the use of naming conventions in web documents. I now feel in a much stronger position to be writing standardised, well structured and well formatted web documents, and would now be more confident doing so in a professional environment.

Through 'Outside the Box', I have developed a better understanding of why standardisation and the correct use of XHTML/CSS is important. This put the rest of my learning in the unit into perspective and helped me appreciate the value of what I'd been studying.

We have also begun work on the 'A12 - Culture Vulture' assignment, which is again like nothing done before. Having completed the presentation aspect of the assignment and in effect getting that out of the way, we've moved on to a 'reverse design process'. This basically entails designing before you know what you're designing for. In all honesty, I've been struggling so far with this - I'd maybe even go so far as to say it's the hardest thing on the course so far. I'm fairly sure I'll come up with that killer concept at some point... but at the moment I can only hope it's before we have to apply a design to whatever it is we're designing for!

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Soft Skills

Soft skills cover a variety of issues, and include a range of both personal and interpersonal qualities. I am of the opinion that soft skills are often undervalued, and this is an unfortunate situation. Many soft skills are considered transferable, as they are not industry specific and carry between careers/sectors.

Below are what I consider to be some of the more important soft skills I've been developing over the last year:

Time Management
Coming to this course I had no hope of managing my time successfully. I'd never really needed to before. However, the stresses and strains of a bigger workload and juggling this with other commitments had made me need to develop my time management skills. I now feel so much more confident with my self-management.

Personal Development/Reflective Work
I feel I now have a much greater ability to be self-critical, analysing my weak (and strong) points, and working out a way forward. This has helped me to move on over the past year, and develop new skills as I've needed them.

Ability to Transmit Energy, Enthusiasm & Confidence
Steve recently mentioned this one on a thread on Das Forum. It struck me that this is something I've improved on. Believe it or not, I used to be pretty nervous about showing any of my work to anyone, and I used to hate having to ask for help in shops, using the phone, etc. Now I don't have a problem with this as much. I've developed a new confidence, and I hope I can begin to show this through the way I act during presentations and pitches (hopefully I don't touch myself as much anymore!)

I also feel I have a variety of other soft skills, but that the above are the ones I've worked on most over the past year. However, there are great many skills that I still need to work on a lot over the coming months and years. These include:

• Team working/communication
• Leadership skills/people management

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Job Advert Response

More details of the job I have found can be found here.

I initially selected this job as it seemed to be relatively attainable even at this point in my education. As a 'Junior Web Designer' role, I feel that it is intended for younger, less experienced designers, and perhaps those coming from education. Hence it seemed ideal for someone in my position.

The skills identified for the job include a knowledge of 'XHTML, CSS, Dreamweaver, Flash, AJAX, Fireworks, Photoshop & Illustrator' being an advantage. I feel I have a good knowledge of the majority of these, with the exceptions of Flash and AJAX.

I feel confident with my XHTML/CSS skills, and as part of this my ability to use Dreamweaver, and I am more than satisfied with my abilities in the other applications mentioned, particularly Photoshop and Illustrator.

I believe that, in truth, I have maybe selected a job with less skills than I would like to have developed by the end of the course. This is due to my very limited experience with PHP and other technologies mentioned in other adverts, and I felt selecting these other adverts may have been a bit ahead of time.

Over the next year, therefore, it needs to be my priority to meet the skills requested and required in both this job and others I have seen. These skills involve PHP, CMS and Flash, amongst others. I also believe I need to further my experience, particularly commercial experience, as this is something that is mentioned in a lot of the job advertisements I have seen in the past week.

I would hope that by the end of the course that I would be skilled beyond the skills requested in this advert, and would feel more comfortable selecting a higher skilled (and hopefully higher paid!) job.

Back for Year 2 - But Why?

Over the past year, I have learnt a great many things. Therefore, it would only make sense to intend to do the same over the next year. After all, I am on this course to learn.

The thing I have been looking forward to most for the second year is getting engaged in the process of actually building websites more frequently. Having only built one for college during the first year, I look forward to getting to grips with the new processes and learning more about technologies such as XHTML and CSS.

I also hope to gain experience in more advanced technologies such as PHP and CMS. As such, I look forward to the SMLP (Self Managed Learning Plan) section of A10, as well as A13: Content is King. I believe developing these skills is crucial in increasing my employability when I am looking for a job in the future, as looking at many job adverts reveals that these are prerequisites of applying.

A further aspiration of mine is to develop my portfolio work. This, again, is important for my employability. I want to ensure that the quality of work in my portfolio is high enough to ensure that potential employers are impressed and engaged by my work. Additionally, the design of my portfolio is just as important as the content, so this is a part of the year which I look forward to.

So, all in all, most of my aspirations for this year are in some way linked to my employability. Being on a vocational course like this is surely the best place to be in order to meet my aspirations. In many ways, I can't wait to get this year done so I can move into employment, but I also want to savour my opportunities and education this year.

End of Year Evaluation

To say the least, the past year has been very significant for me. This hasn’t just been in terms of the development of my skills as a designer, but also a number of other personal, transferable employability skills. Looking back at where I was 8 months ago, I really do feel a sense of pride at how far I’ve come and how much I’ve developed.

After this year on the course, I now feel that I have a better sense of direction in my life. In some ways, I joined the course as a way out of a dead-end job, and web design was something that interested me. It was almost a ‘why not?’ approach to the course. I now feel that joining this course, and taking up design in general, is the best decision I’ve ever made. It’s a great feeling to know that you’re heading towards a career in something that you not only enjoy, but you have a passion for. I want design to become less about something I do, and more an integral part of who I am.

Looking back through my old Journal entries and work today has really shown me how far I’ve come. Looking back on my first ever screen design for the ‘Great Briton’ website, it strikes me how poor the design really is. Comparing that to the work I’m putting out now is possibly the best way to illustrate my development. So what skills have I developed to get me where I am now?

Principles of Design

Throughout the year, a number of basic design principles have been talked about. These include the P.A.R.C. (Proximity, Alignment, Repetition, Contrast) principles, Colour Theory, and Newspaper devices, amongst others. By developing knowledge of these aspects and consciously using them in my work, I have developed my design skills and have been able to become more consistent in creating aesthetically pleasing and effective designs.

Ideas Generation and Development

One of the key areas that has aided in my improved work now is the process of ideas generation and the consequent development of these concepts. Through a number of ideas generation techniques, including sketching, mind maps and mood boards, I have been able to explore a number of solutions for each of the design briefs assigned to us. This, I feel, has been an area which I have improved most towards the end of the year, particularly in the final A7 assignment. Despite this improvement, however, I feel I still have a long way to go in terms of forming a truly effective ideas generation process. Therefore, I have set this as a key target for development over the summer and into next year.

In terms of the development of these ideas, I feel I have become more efficient at self-criticising my work and analysing whether the design is competent or not. Therefore, I am more able to produce a well considered, effective design which fits the brief successfully.

Time Management

During the first assignment of the year, ‘A2 – That’s The Plan’, one of the significant issues was my difficulty with time planning. Some of my earlier Journal entries reflect the issues I had with this. Prior to starting on the course, I had done little, if any, time planning in any aspect of my life. As a result, I found it difficult to both plan, and stick to, my time sheets. For the subsequent assignments, ‘A3 – Back To Basic’ and ‘A4 – Image Rights’, which ran alongside each other, I set out to improve my time management skills. I found this to be a success, and since then I have found my time management skills have massively improved with each assignment.

To further develop my time management skills into the second year, I plan to produce a new way to plan and record my time, rather than using the standard production schedule and time sheets provided.

Feedback Processes

Important to the production of work this year has been the feedback processes I have used. These include the Journal entries and comments, the Seminar Groups and Das Forum. My feeling is that although feedback has been scarce at times, the results of these processes have improved throughout the year, and have definitely helped me to improve my own standard of work. This is a crucial aspect to continue developing into next year, and is something which needs to be a priority for development for the whole group, in my opinion. I also intend to take my own feedback processes further by extending away from College and gaining feedback from other sources.

Over the year, I have also developed a tendency to critique random pieces of design. This has ended up with me having a more rounded approach to design work, in that I have a stock up in my mind of what I’ve seen work and what I’ve seen not work. By being immersed in the design world, I find I naturally begin to evolve as a designer. I think that when I do this, I need to stick these in my sketchbook and annotate. I have done this with a lot of pieces this year, but need to work out a way to get those things I see out and about into my sketchbooks.

Other Knowledge and Skills

This year has brought about the development of my knowledge into a number of aspects of both print and web design. I have found that the more I know about these, the more I want to know. For example, the little bit of CSS used to format text for the ‘A5 – Builder’ assignment spurred me on to look further into what CSS can do, and I am now more proficient with it, although there is still a long way to go. This applies too for the print process, a subject which confuses me in many ways, but this inspires me to want to look deeper into it.

What’s Next?

Looking back over the past year, I can see the skills I have begun to develop. However, I can’t afford to oversell myself and believe I have become the final product. I still have a long way to go, in terms of developing the aforementioned skills, as well as skills to come in the future. I still haven’t got a distinction grade. I still need to develop the ability to consistently create professional designs. I still need to develop my coding and web developing skills. There’s a lot of work still to be done.

In the short term, my focus needs to be on improving my ideas generation, specifically allowing myself to become more creative. This is something I have been scared of in the past, although it has got better recently. I need to continue developing this, without the fear of attracting criticism or controversy. Another priority for working on over the summer is to improve my coding skills; becoming more efficient and gaining a deeper knowledge of CSS, XHTML, etc. I also need to continue developing my time management and feedback processes.

In the medium term I need to begin planning for employment. The fact of the matter is that employment is only 12 months away. To do this, I need to begin to gain some experience working in a commercial environment. Experience is crucial in the design industry, with many employers asking for a minimum of 2 years experience. Thankfully, I have the opportunity before me to work in the design department for a golfing magazine, which will provide me with some worthwhile experience. I also intend on trying to get some additional web design work over the summer, as this will also be important when it comes to job hunting next year.

In terms of long term aims, this year has altered my perceptions somewhat. Looking back on the first ever Journal post, I spoke about it being my long term goal to work for myself. This was also the case around Christmas time, when the review of the first semester was posted online. Since then, however, it has become clear to me that this might not be as easy as first thought. It still would be a dream of mine to do freelance stuff, but I think that it’s going to be important to work in the business for another company/person for a good few years before seriously considering moving on to freelance work.

In shot, these are my goals:

• Improve ideas generation and creative work;
• Produce my own method of time management;
• Continue to develop feedback processes;
• Develop coding skills.
  

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Busy Bee

The past week has been very, very tiring. I've had a lot to concentrate on, not just college work. Thankfully, I've managed to prioritise my college work, but prep for an interview/trial day I had a Sports Publications LTD, which produce National Club Golfer and Lady Golfer has taken a lot of time, specifically in the recreation of a better portfolio site. Thankfully, it paid off, and the day went really well. Part time job, here I come...

I'm feeling really comfortable with the deadline at the moment. I feel that sticking rigidly to my production schedule from day 1 has again paid off, and leaves me feeling comfortable with what I have left to do. Specifically, I need to finish off my advert for The Wire magazine and complete my Merit and Distinction List and Evaluation.

I'm happy with the process of producing my ad so far, and feel quite comfortable with this. To be honest, my trial day today has put into perspective how common a task like this truly is. I had to design 3 adverts like this in 2 hours, and that was very generous timing. Put in a professional setting, stuff like this needs to be rolled out like it's nothing. I guess it makes me appreciate the time I have with college work to get things just as I want them.

In terms of the evaluation, I definitely feel comfortable with this. Evaluation is something that comes to me quite easily when I spend the time thinking about things. Although perhaps this hasn't always been portrayed through my blog, I feel my evaluation of each assignment has really aided my progression on the course so far, helping me target my weaknesses and carry on the development of my strengths.

I've now got together what I consider to be my final artwork proposal, and hopefully this will be what is included in my submission next week. I'm really pleased with the work I've produced for the CD artwork, so without further ado...

Digipak® Outer












Digipak Inner






















CD Body























EDIT: I've now done my Advert for The Wire:

Not long left....

It's really hit home this week how little time we have left of this year. Only two weeks to the last deadline of the first year!

Having mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I wasn't looking forward to the CD artwork design, I'm pleased to say that it was an erroneous prediction. I've actually really enjoyed the process of developing the emotions and thoughts I put down in my original mind maps and mood boards, and conceptualising them to create a piece of design. What's more, I'm really happy with the design that I have come up with. For those of you who don't know, I've gone down the route of the 'Headphones' idea from my last post. I'll post up a 'final proposal' of the Digipak® Inner and Outer in the next few days if all goes to plan.

The CD body, at the moment, is non-existent. This is something that, probably unwisely, I've been side-lining. I just haven't had any instantaneous ideas to jot down, and I've been concentrating on other things up until now. However, the latter half of this week is going to have to be focused on the ideas and development process for this. My production schedule tells me I need to complete this before the beginning of next week, so I can move on to the magazine advert and my evaluation, and I do feel confident I will be able to achieve this.

This week also brought around the task of creating a Preflight Document to accompany the CD artwork. Having no clue where to start with this, I spent a bit of time researching into the process of preflighting last week. It's become clear that this can be a really useful exercise when in the final stages of producing work for print. It's not just a process for printers, but can be useful for designers too. In the long run, spending a bit of time checking through things can save time for both professions.

Having a seminar group based almost exclusively on feedback today proved to be a useful exercise. A few things were raised which can improve my work, and even the most minor of things are so important. After all, design is in the details (thanks to Steve for that article).

On Tuesday morning we had a discussion about the progression onto the 2nd year of the course. This was another occasion that it really hits you how fast time's moving on, and how much we're progressing. It really got me thinking about how far I've come in a relatively short amount of time. But I'll leave this for the year's evaluation in a couple of weeks... I don't want to use up all my material! The fact is though, I'm really looking forward to progressing further and moving on with my studies.

Digipak® Outer

Here are 3 ideas for the Digipak® Outer that I've decided to digitise in order to give you a better basis to give feedback on. I'm going to give a bit of a blurb for each so you can understand the thought processes behind each.

Binary
This is the first idea I digitised. Essentially, it is based on the digital aspects of the music. I've used binary code to spell out 'Beatsystem' and '2297' repeatedly on the cover, with the artist and album names placed within this in bold. I feel this idea isn't particularly strong, and is somewhat clichéd. Probably my least favourite.

Headphones
This idea is based on a concept I had whilst listening the the CD for the first time. It gave me a sense of frustration and discomfort, so I really wanted to personify this somehow. By taking a stock image and giving it an abstract feel, I'm happy with the way I've managed to do this. Some people say it's a bit scary, and would therefore discourage people from buying the album, but I disagree. The best way to sell a product is to attract attention, and this, in my opinion, would do this.

Invade
This concept came from the title of the first track on the CD, 'Invade Areas Where Nothing's Definite'. Again, I've gone with an abstract feel with this design. I've used Adobe Illustrator to create both the military vehicles and the sign. The strongest point of this design is the contrast used, but overall, I'm not sure about it. I like the concept, I'm just not sure I've made it work. It just seems a bit empty.

Obviously, feedback would be brilliant.

Style Guided.

This week has been an example of one of the more enjoyable weeks of the course. I'm enjoying the current assignment, and feel that I'm progressing well with it. During self study last week, I managed to complete the initial draft of the Corporate Style Guide. Feedback welcome and needed, of course. This included the completion of the stationery (letterhead, business cards and envelope) which can be seen as part of the Style Guide. I'm pleased with the designs, and feel they meet the P.A.R.C. principles well.

Last week I mentioned my apprehension about moving on to the artwork for the CD. I've now moved on, and feel pleased with the initial ideas I've come up with. I'm starting with the Digipak® Outer, as I feel this is probably the more important aspect of the cover, and will probably provide further inspiration for the Digipak® Inner and CD Body once I've settled on a theme. I think, for me, this process of development is probably the more appropriate.

I'm in the process of digitising a few of my ideas and will upload for feedback later on the week, possibly on Thursday. Feel free to check back.

In the creation of one of my ideas, I decided to splash out and join iStockPhoto, which is a royalty-free stock photography site. The images aren't too expensive, and good quality. Definitely worth it to get what you're looking for from a design and if you can't find any free images. I'd recommend it.

Working with print brings new issues up when working. Having done a small bit of print work for a friend recently, I've had a small bit of experience. Things like bleed are so simple yet so important to the final product. The fact is, though, that I still feel nervous when it comes to preparing things for print. There's a plethora of issues to take into account, and in short, it's difficult to get things perfect. I guess experience is what's required to improve, as well as improving knowledge of the subject.

During the seminar group today, we discussed the progress of the 'A1 - SketchBlog' assignment. I have mixed feelings towards my own progress. I feel nervous in some ways, but at the same time I feel confident. I feel as though my abilities regarding the aspects covered in A1 have improved massively over the year, and have been presented effectively in the development work so far in the A7 assignment. However, I don't feel that some of this work has been consistent throughout the year, and has been somewhat absent at times, particularly some of the ideas generation methods. Granted, this does show that I've developed, but I can't help feeling that the times where A1 has been a bit neglected may let me down.

Moving on from Logos...(!)

Over the past week, I have felt a sense of relief, in that I feel I've got quite a bit done and I feel as though I have got back on track with the assignment. I was beginning to struggle with the logo design a bit, and it seemed as though I'd never get that done before the deadline. This was without thinking about the rest of the assignment. However, I managed to get the logo complete, and I'm very happy with the result. I've changed the colour from my last post, as it was pointed out that the yellow was a bit bright for the music, and the earthy brown didn't really reflect the nature of the music either. Here is my final design:

Having completed the logo design, I've been able to get on with the corporate style guide aspect of the assignment. I've been enjoying this, and feel as though I've completed the work so far to a good standard. Next in line is to begin the design of the letterhead, business card and envelope to complete the corporate identity elements of the assignment.

To be honest, I'm not looking forward to moving onto developing the CD artwork over the next couple of weeks. This comes back to the whole Artist vs. Designer argument. I think of myself as a designer, and looking around at CD artwork a lot of it does seem much more 'art' orientated than 'design' orientated. I feel as though my creativity (or lack of) may restrict my final product. Then again, I've not really started to develop any of my original concepts yet, so this may not end up being the case.

I was really appreciative last week of the amount of feedback that happened on the Journals. I think this was the first time that it has been as effective as it can be. It was good to see posts added later in the week being commented on as well, with the help of a few emails. Feedback is a key skill to develop - both giving and receiving it - and so it was really good to see it being used as it was last week.

More...

Further development below. These three are a set, and it would give the company the choice between the colour logo, or one of the two black and white ones, depending on the use.

Logo idea

I've worked hard all day today; I even forgot to have lunch. Here is the fruit of my labour:

I'm happy with the result. I've used my standby symbol idea to represent the electronic aspect of the music, but I've turned it on it's head to show the unconventional nature of the artists. I've then added another 3/4 circle to reflect the nature of the name 'emit'- almost as though the vertical line is an antenna and the circles are the signals emitting from it. I've enclosed the whole thing in a round-edged rectangle, which I think aids the eye in knowing where the logo begins... without this it looks as though the word 'emit' is just there underneath the graphic.

Anyway, feedback is, as always, very much appreciated.

And Yet More Logos...

The end of this college week and, to be honest, I'm feeling totally knakered. I've found it quite draining this week for some reason, and I'm feeling the need for a rest from the 'Emit' logo designs. However, I feel as though I need to get the logo done before I can move onto getting the corporate style guide/corporate stationery underway. Hopefully I'll be able to complete it later in the week prior to moving on with the assignment. I'm feeling the pressure for this assignment, it's a lot of work to do. On a brighter note, I've looked into a couple of corporate style guides this week, both in the lecture and in my own time, and I'm really looking forward to getting to grips with it.

Having spent the majority of the week working with my logo ideas, at the moment, I'm thinking the final 'Emit' logo will be based on this idea:

The original concept was using an on/off button to represent an 'E' and reflect the electronic nature of the music. After a bit of feedback, I'm going to experiment with rotating it and using it as an 'i' instead in the word 'Emit', with the circle representing the idea of something 'emitting'. However, I'm still open to feedback for my other ideas, which can be found in pdf format here. I'd really appreciate the feedback, as we didn't manage to get very far during our seminar group this week, for various reasons.

On Monday we were lucky enough to have another visit from somebody working in the industry; another former student Mark Feather. Again it was a good insight into how the industry functions, and it proved to be very different from last week; an example of the depth and variation found in the industry. Mark's work at Empire Direct seemed very varied, ranging from image manipulation tasks to more complex tasks involving the companies e-commerce system (although I get the impression he doesn't want to delve any further into this!).

So, this week I'm hoping to settle on a logo, and begin to define a number of aspects of the corporate identity. I think sorting the style guide first, at least roughly, will be more benificial than doing the stationery and working backwards.

Developed logos...

These are the logo designs I have developed for the 'Emit' ambient music record label. They are all hand-drawn and scanned in, so please excuse any messy-ness. Feel free to comment, thanks.

The Art of Logos

The return to college this week has been, in some ways, a shock to the system. This is mostly due to my absolutely disgraceful sleep pattern over Easter, so I ended up being a bit tired on Monday morning. However, I'm glad to be back. I'm getting to a point where a lack of things (and work!) to do is a bit annoying.

The focus this week has been clearly on logos. It's been really useful for me. I've not done much logo design in the past - just a couple of mess arounds for bands I've been in - so looking at some of the fundamental elements of logo design has enabled me to develop my understanding of how logos function effectively. I also feel that I'm now in a better position to get on with the logo design for 'Emit'.

It did, however become clear during the first lecture we had on Monday that many of the logo examples I had collected over Easter are very much 'high tech' logos, using a lot of 3D effects, tints, and metallic effects. I therefore need to make a point of collecting some other logos which do not employ there effects.

Examples of 'High Tech' Logos

So far my initial logo designs are coming along OK, I'm happy with a few, unhappy with a few, and a lot are average. I'll scan some in later on tonight and upload them so you can let me know what you think!

EDIT: here they are...




Having decided to go for the optional larger assignment, I'm feeling that there's going to be a lot of work to do over the next seven weeks or so. I'm really looking forward to it though, as I feel that the developing a corporate identity should be quite interesting, and will be a good experience for the future.

On Monday afternoon, we were joined by Jonny Haynes, a former student who now works at Technophobia. This was another opportunity presented to us to gain information on how the web design business works in practice. I really wish I'd asked some questions that I didn't, but I felt a bit annoyed after my driving test, and found myself in the wrong frame of mind. Hopefully, the next time this kind of opportunity comes up, I'll be in a better situation and won't waste the time given.

Insp:rat:on from Em:t

There's no doubt that this week has been different to usual. It's been very much inspiration-focused... gathering inspiration in the form of logo designs, and using music as inspiration- using it to provoke emotions, feelings and words to be put in mind maps/mood boards.

Obviously I've done mind maps before, but never in this kind of way to gather inspiration from a source such as music. Normally I listen to music as music, and as a musician I'm thinking about the technicalities and rhythm, etc., not the emotions and thoughts expressed through the music. Having to do this took some time, but I think listening to a type of music that I don't normally associate with very much assisted in this. In the end, I ending up getting quite a lot of ideas from the music, and began to establish some quite interesting interpretations.

Writing the review yesterday also helped in forming these interpretations, as it helped me develop and express the feelings in writing... something I always find useful when articulating myself.

Today's mood boards helped, as adding imagery to my interpretation has begun to give me ideas for some elements of the designs which will come over the next couple of months. I did one mood board for every two tracks, so some of them are quite mixed in what they represent. Here's my mood board for the first two tracks... not very well organised or nicely presented, but I decided the random inclusion of different aspects was the was to go.


Collecting the logos over the past couple of days has been useful, as I've noticed a few things that seem to come up in logo design repeatedly. I'll bear these things in mind in the future when considering any logo designs I may do. Of course, the problem with this is the things that set logos apart in many ways is their individuality, and hence it might be worthwhile to just forget these things, and start with a blank canvas. Any thoughts?

I've found looking at the word 'emit' today slightly trickier, as it's difficult to get a mass of inspiration from one word. I've also been in a bit of a difficult mood today, and I've struggled to settle in the same kind of rhythm I was in yesterday. I'll probably come back to this for a while later in the week to spend a bit more time thinking about it. I think it'll be worth it to do this in the long run.

Beatsystem '2297' Review

It is generally considered that music is art. Art is hard to define, and as such, it is my opinion that the majority of music should be considered as simply music. However, the minority of music is undoubtably art; expressed in an infinitely deeper and complex manner, often challenging and - even more often - misunderstood. In an album where less than half of the tracks have a recognisable time signature, the latter is definitely the case for '2297'. Throughout the album, the listener is exposed to a wealth of emotions from the artist, ranging from joy to distress. Definitely not an album for the feint-hearted.

The introductory track, 'Invade Areas Where Nothing's Definite', is a mismatch of sampled sounds, conveying frustration, as though the artist is struggling to get their true message across. This conjured in my mind the scene from The Matrix, in which the main character Neo has his mouth sealed over with his own face- he has no way of communicating his message of anguish.

'For Pierre' is a track very much open for interpretation, particularly in the latter part of the track... with sounds similar to those heard in a fairground, interrupted by the shocking inclusion of what sounds like gunshots... or is that fireworks? This is art at it's best, allowing the audience to develop their own connotations of the sounds, and conjuring a wealth of emotions, dependent on the listener's perceptions.

'Closely Tuned Drone' is the final track, and to me, is the artists exploration of the development of life. It begins with a drone, representing the development of a foetus prior to birth. The track develops to become very playful, portraying a freedom of exploration and discovery - reminiscent of childhood. Next comes the suggestion of maturity, responsibility and an increased level of seriousness, implying the growth from a child into an independent adult. The track then descends, which to me represents old age - a feeling of captivity and frustration caused by illness and incapacity, followed eventually by death. Interestingly, the track then begins to become playful again, perhaps suggesting the freedom found through death and leaving this life? Finally, the track once again drops, becoming mysterious, which could suggest an uncertainty of what really may occur after death.

As an album, '2297' explores a range of emotions and situations in very interesting, artistic ways. More challenging than your everyday electronica album, it takes time and patience to develop an understanding with the artist. It also requires you to process your own interpretations and deal with the emotions that this can stir. '2297' is well worth the money and time, if only to begin to understand and explore the artist's emotions. Again, definitely not an album for the feint-hearted.

A6 Evaluation

The 'A6 - Revert to Type' assignment has proved very worthwhile for a number of reasons. I feel that I have developed my knowledge of a number of important design principles, and have been able to put these in to practice in a number of ways. It has also been a very worthwhile test of my time management skills, in that it has involved the micro-planning of hours and minutes, rather than days and hours. Despite the focus on the timed tasks of the assignment, I have found the constant presence of the presentation very useful in developing my understanding of typography. By completing the presentation, I feel I have developed a deeper understanding of the nature of fonts, and along with this has come a better appreciation of the intricacies of many typefaces. It is crucial for me to take this new knowledge and passion forwards with me into my future work. I now feel that typography is a crucial aspect of design - much more important than I ever realised before - and therefore it is important to continue my development in this area. One negative concerning my presentation, I feel, is the design of the slides. I believe that the content is very much efficient for the task, but the design is missing something. I feel that the reason for this is the lack of design work I did for the slides in my sketchbook. Before beginning on the course, much of my design and development process was completed on-screen. However, developing the sketchbook has proved very effective in developing my design skills. This, I believe, can be seen in the timed-tasks completed during this assignment, for which the sketching design time has been priceless. I will take this into account for future presentation designs.

The presentation on the final day, I feel, went very well. I managed to fit into the time limit almost perfectly, and I felt pleased with the way I presented the content of the presentation. I felt confident in that I was very familiar with the content, but nervous with the delivery. This manifested itself in a lot of ‘um-ing and ah-ing’, which I was very conscious of. For future presentations, I need to become more confident in my ability to deliver the information successfully… the content isn’t the issue, but my own self-confidence.
The first 'practice' timed task, entitled 'FontBook', was much more difficult that first expected, and for this reason, I was late for the deadline. The inclusion of this 'dry run' was crucial, as it really opened my eyes and enabled me to complete the future timed tasks more effectively. The main focus of improvement relied on better time micro-planning. For the rest of the timed tasks, I am very happy with my performance in terms of time-planning and the final product of the time. I was able to employ a number of design principles, including the P.A.R.C. (Proximity, Alignment, Repetition and Contrast) principles, as well as a number of typographical devices learnt during the typography unit. The one major negative from all of the timed tasks is the one mistake I have noticed I made, on the Vodafone advert. Namely, I put '.com', instead of '.co.uk' on the end of the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) included on the advert. This was due to making a last minute change to design, and not having time to check my work again before the deadline. Despite this mistake having a negative impact on my work, it has also been a very potent lesson for me. If the scenario in the brief was a real job, this would have been a £4000+ mistake for Vodafone. I have learnt that checking spelling, punctuation and grammar is invaluable, as well as ensuring the content of a design matches the brief not just to the letter; but to the ellipsis, to the em dash, and to the '.co.uk'! In future, the very last thing before the submission of any design will be to check the content, even if this sacrifices not having the time to make a little amendment to make the design perfect.

Thankfully, we had the opportunity on the final day to withdraw one of the timed tasks from the final submission. For the above reason, I decided to remove the Vodafone advert. This, however, was disappointing, as I was quite pleased with the final product of the Vodafone task, as it involved a lot of tweaking and developing new skills with leading and kerning.

The two products I did include in my final submission were the ‘Hokai’ paint tube, and the ‘Jonathan Gee’ article. The ‘Hokai’ task was relatively difficult, as working on such a small scale with such a lot of information to fit on wasn’t something I had prior experience of. However, with a bit of trial and error with font sizes, positioning of page elements, etc. I believe I came to an effective solution.

I’m also pleased with my final solution for the ‘Jonathan Gee’ task. I was able to utilise a number of Newspaper devices, including a pull quote and a drop cap. The best aspect of this article, for me, is the headline used. I purposefully used white on a black background with a very dark, prominent font to give maximum contrast, which will impact upon the reader effectively. Having ‘Jonathan Gee’ contained within an invisible rectangle is also aesthetically pleasing, as it gives an extra bit of alignment to the readers eyes.

The final day brought with it the final timed tasks, entitled ‘Grid’ and ‘Story’. I found the first ‘Grid’ task very useful, as it helped develop skills with using columns and grids. I haven’t been particularly neglectful of using columns and grids, but developing the grid prior to having the content may prove a useful skill in the future.

The ‘Story’ task challenged a number skills and principles learnt through the assignment. Again, a number of Newspaper devices were employed in the design, along with the P.A.R.C. design principles. The task also involved using precise measurements of point size, in terms of font size, leading, tracking and kerning. Using these different tools, I was able to align the columns perfectly along the bottom, thus preventing any white space; considered unsightly in Newspaper design.

One area for improvement in the future is to refine my abilities with the various different ways of amending the appearance and layout of type, and therefore become more proficient with this. Adjusting these details has, throughout the timed tasks, been one the most difficult and frustrating aspects of creating the final digital products. However, when the process is complete, it has also been one of the more rewarding aspects if the assignment. By practicing and developing my skills in this area, the process should hopefully become less taxing, and more rewarding.

In conclusion, I am very pleased with the progress I have made throughout the assignment. The final digital products I have produced from each timed task are, in my opinion, all to a good standard. Each uses a variety of design principles, learnt previously and in this assignment, to effectively communicate with the reader. One of the most valuable lessons from the timed task has been that from the Vodafone task- always check and double check work. Finally, I was also satisfied with the content of the presentation, and the final delivery, although the latter still needs improvement in future.

Word Count: 1241

Eh? Where'd the time go?

The past few weeks seem to have absolutely flown by. I can't believe that the deadline's next week. I think I feel more prepared for this deadline than for the past deadlines though, which is obviously a good thing.

Over the next week the main things I need to complete are the merit and distinction list and the evaluations- although I'll obviously only be able to start the A6 evaluation.

I feel as though my 'A5 - Builder' site is complete now- I've done quite a lot of messing about and feel as though any more would probably be pointless. I'm going to try to spice up the home page a bit, not sure how yet, but other than that it's pretty much done. There's just one small issue with IE, concerning a valign (vertical alignment) attribute for the navigation... it works in all other browsers but IE just won't align the navigation in the centre. Thanks Microsoft. See the site here.

Over the last week I managed to get some usability testing done with some of those lovely folks in the 50+ age group. Unfortunately, I only managed to find 5 people willing to complete the form. Whilst testing this was in some ways useful, it also didn't really show up any issues with my site... which could be good, but to me it just seemed as though those participating in the questionnaire were just giving the answers they thought I would want.

In terms of A6, I was again pleased with the results of this weeks timed task, 'Jonathan Gee' which I'll upload onto my portfolio site later tonight (26/2/08). I particularly like the header now, which came around after an idea from Steve to make the 'Jonathan' smaller, and I then decided to incorporate the two names into one rectangular shape. I found last weeks 'Newspaper Devices' lecture very useful in the designing of this week's task.

'I touch myself too much!'

I suppose I should start off this week by explaining this weeks title. Or maybe I'll just leave you in suspense until a bit later...

All in all this week has been an interesting week. On Monday we had the usability tests for our A5 - 'Builder' websites. This proved quite useful in bringing up a couple of issues that have now been addressed. I'm feeling quite happy now with my 'Easy As Pie' website. I feel it's simple design and layout lends it to it's target audience of 'Silver Surfers'. Just a few bits of touching up to do over the next couple of weeks and it'll be complete. I also need to spend time reflecting on the results from the usability tests and how this may influence my final product.

During the building of the website I've been 'teased' a bit by CSS. Using it for defining text only has given me a preview of what it can do, and I'm looking forward to learning more about it in the coming months. As a play around, as well as a learning exercise, I spent a bit of my limited free time over half term building a test portolio site using CSS. Take a look and let me know what you think. Unless you're Gary, in which case I already know you don't like it!

Tuesday morning brought a lecture on Newspaper devices. Following this came our second timed task: a job advertisement for Vodafone, to be displayed in a Newspaper. As with the last task, I enjoyed the process of designing and producing the advertisement. It has to be said, the time was cut close at the end as I went to the very end trying to get the product finished to as good a standard as possible. I suppose while it could be said that cutting time close is a dangerous thing, it also allowed me to make full use of the time available to us. Maybe next time 2 minutes to deadline might be a bit close though!

In the afternoon we had our practice presentations in our seminar groups. This is where the 'touching' comes in. I know this from the last presentation, but when I'm stood in front of people talking, I tend to touch my face and shoulder. Quite a strange habit to have, but it's there nonetheless. Other than this, I thought the presentation went OK- just a few amendments needed, and a lot of practice to get it perfect for the final presentation. Over the next week, I'm also going to amend the handout as I'm still not happy with it's design.

I remember when Half Term was a holiday...

Following the feedback I received last week about my site, I've spent this week implementing the feedback. This has meant a redesign of a few aspects of my site, which I feel has led to a massive improvement for the site. The updated site can be found here.

I'd appreciate any further feedback on the site, and obviously the sooner I receive this the better, as the usability testing obviously begins on Monday. The main thing I need to sort out now is linking the images to larger copies of each picture.

Over the last week I've had to change some of my ideas for the site, most noticeably reducing the number of Access Keys I'm using throughout my site. This has led me to deviate slightly from one of my target goals, which was "All links and form input fields will be accessible via the 'Access Key' function". Essentially, I can't complete this as it would end up with some Access Key shortcuts conflicting with the shortcuts for the browser. This actually ends up restricting accessibility rather than increasing it.

For A6, I've spent a lot of time the last week gaining more experience with InDesign. A friend of mine who works for the local church wanted me to design a postcard for him to advertise a gap year programme he runs. It turns out he's one of these clients who are never quite satisfied and always think that something else can be changed to improve a piece of work. I think next time he wants me to do something, I'm going to have to actually charge him... and do it by the hour! The positives of this, though, are that I'm feeling increasingly prepared for the other timed tasks that are coming up, as well as feeling as though I'm getting more proficient with InDesign, as well as other programmes I've been using, including Illustrator and Photoshop.

For the rest of this week I need to concentrate on practising my presentation, and also redesigning some aspects of my handout and presentation.

Despite the fact that it's half term, I've not managed to find much time to do college work yet. My dad got married last weekend, and I was best man, so that took up a lot of time. One of my good friends is getting married this weekend, and that's going to take up a lot of time. I'm really hoping I can find the time to complete all the work I need to get done for next week, without having to do any all-nighters. I'll let you know how that goes!

All in all, I'm really enjoying this semester so far. Having now settled into the course, I'm beginning to feel more comfortable with where the course is leading me to- and I feel very happy with where I now believe I am heading.

Hokai

Tuesday began with a timed task: 'Hokai'. We had to design a label for a small paint tube. I really enjoyed the task today, and was really pleased with the results. As the space we had to work with was very small (65mm x 45mm), it was quite a challenge to get all the information onto the label yet retain a legible font size. Like I said, I was really pleased with the final result of the task. I think the way I approached the task was much more efficient than for the last timed task, and my time management was better for the limited time we had.

The rest of the day involved further work on the presentation and handout. I'm not feeling the look of my handout at the moment, so might have to revisit the design process. It all seems a little squashed at the moment. Other than this, I feel the preparation of my presentation is going well, and I should be prepared well in time for the practice presentation just after half term. One issue I'm having is balance of how much information I should have on my slides in relation to the amount on my handout. I'm going to have to sit down at some point, and think about what I can omit from my slides in order to make them communicate my points more effectively.

On Monday I got some feedback from Steve and John about my site. This brought a lot of issues to light, which were reinforced by the thread on Das Forum. Over half term I'm going to spend a bit (or a lot as the case may be) of time implementing the feedback I have recieved, some aspects being minor, some being much more major. I'm actually really grateful for the feedback, as I've found myself agreeing with a lot of what's been said. Although my site did take a lot of criticism, I see this as being a valuable stage in the overall process of creating a better site.

I'm looking forward to implementing the feedback I've recieved, as although it could be seen as a hassle to have to change things on the site, I really enjoyed building it, and therefore I should enjoy changing aspects of it. Hopefully!

The Design Mechanics

This morning a few of us had the opportunity to go to Huddersfield to visit Dave Pannell and his team at the Design Mechanics. Having been there when Dave last visited College, it was good to have the chance to see how they actually work in the studio. The morning involved an introduction of the company and how they work, as well as an opportunity for questions and discussion. And a pretty good cup of tea.

For me, the most valuable part of the trip today was the opportunity to spend a bit of time sat with one of Dave's employees, Oliver, whilst he was working on a piece of work for VideoBooth Systems. This was a valuable, if short, insight into how work takes place in that particular studio. Oliver also had a quick look at some of my work so far, and offered some feedback on it. My jazz banners seemed to go down well with him, which I was pleased about. Another memorable comment was that that colour scheme on my Back to Basic site looks like PC World, with their yellow and purple logo. Great.

This week has been pretty good in terms of getting work done. I'm pleased with my progress with A5- I have the majority of the site completed now to a standard I'm pretty happy with. It's not the most exciting design ever but it gets the job done as it should do. You can have a look at the work so far here. Comments and constructive criticism are appreciated. It took me a while last week to get the contact form sorted but I eventually realised I was just being an idiot and I'd forgotten to make the Perl script readable and executable by the user. It's now working fine.

I'm really enjoying the building of the site so far. I think beginning to build the site has really renewed my enthusiasm for web-building. Over the past months I've not been doing much web orientated stuff whilst focusing on other assignments, but I'm glad to be building a site, and pleased that I'm enjoying doing it.

Having said I'm enjoying A5, the next week will involve the development of a usability questionnaire, which for me doesn't provoke particularly exciting thoughts, but has to be done. I suppose the best way of looking on this is that it is contributing to the final quality of the website, and it's therefore a worthwhile task.

With A6, I feel I'm progressing well with the presentation, I just need to amend certain pieces of information, adding some things and taking some away. Over the next week my concentration will mostly be on developing my handout, for which the information will be much more involved than it is on the slides.

The Importance Of Being Early

This week, and more specifically today, has involved a whole array of emotions. This is due to the timed task we had this morning... to design a cover for the FontBook using the corporate colours of the company; black, white, and yellow. Admittedly, this exercise proved quite tough for me. The main issue for me was the control of the white space- something I can identify as a weakness, and hopefully work on in the future. I also missed the 12 noon deadline- by literally seconds. I was stood putting my stuff in the plastic wallet when the clock turned 12. Too late. While I can understand the point Steve was making, I felt slightly annoyed with the situation. I find myself doubting that any client in a real world situation would be quite this strict with a deadline. However, the lesson is now learned. Thankfully, Steve revealed that this exercise was in a fact a 'dry run'. Next time I must be more efficient- maybe even early!

The rest of the week has been quite productive. I feel as though I've got to grips a lot with Dreamweaver, and have even practised a bit of hand coding with some simple XHTML and CSS. Even the simple stuff is so powerful and effective- I'm looking forward to gaining a better knowledge in the future. I spent quite a bit of self-study time last week with Dreamweaver, and I think this should really benefit me over the course of A5.

I also was able to spend a bit of time in InDesign doing a design for a photography voucher my sister asked me to do. I might upload it sometime to get some opinions on it- I'm not overly sure about the typography I used and would appreciate some thoughts.

This week I'm going to concentrate on my A6 presentation. The initial draft needs to be complete for next week's seminar group so it's my priority over the coming week. I have an idea what I'm going to say throughout the 5 minutes but need to refine my ideas, and prepare the slides.

My priority for A5 is to sort out all the images- I had some trouble with a couple of the .gif images yesterday- they appear differently on the college PC than they do on my Mac at home- kind of blotchy. I need to make sure this isn't going to become a problem later in the assignment, so may end up needing to re-do some of the images.

We also had a review of 'A1 - SketchBlog' today. I'm glad this was the case, as it re-focused me on this assignment and clarified some things that were mixed up in my mind. I need to bear this assignment in mind more than I have been doing.

New Year - New Semester

Sitting to write this blog, I don't really know where to start. It seems like an age since the last blog entry now. Christmas has been a good long break, and I now feel re-energised to get on with some work. I was kind of dreading leaving behind my holiday sleep/play X-box pattern, but now I'm back I'm quite glad to be getting on with stuff! I really should have done more design orientated stuff over the holiday, but it has actually been quite busy for me (I've done a lot more than just play X-box... honestly). The only thing I've done to keep in touch is visit Das Forum and read all the posts, although I haven't posted a single one over the holidays, something I reckon I'll have to change- it's a valuable resource after all.

The new assignments seem to excite me- I'm glad to finally be building a website rather than just planning it, and hope this satisfaction continues into the build and is also there when the build is complete- hopefully it won't be a complete failure! So I'm really looking forward to getting stuck in to A5.

As for A6, I'm also looking forward to this. The presentation obviously holds aspects which make me feel nervous, but overall I think it should be interesting and challenging to investigate my assigned typographer, Morris Fuller Benton, and create an engaging presentation about his work. I'm also looking forward to the timed tasks, as I enjoyed the timed aspect of the Jazz banners last semester, and feel I work well in the pressure this puts me under.

I've had a sly look this afternoon at some of the 2nd years blogs from this time last year, which has hopefully given me some hints about what kind of design briefs we might get from Steve, and I'd recommend that fellow 1st years do the same!

On the whole, I'm looking forward to the next 7/8 weeks and getting stuck into these assignments.

Monday was obviously the first day back after the last deadline, and I'm really happy with my results for A3 and A4. I managed to gain a merit on both of the assignments. This came as a bit of surprise when Steve told me yesterday; over Christmas I'd done the typical stupid thing of mentally persuading myself that I'd not done very well. I'm pleased, though, that I was able to meet all the targets that I'd set for myself and attain the results I did.

Over the next week, I'm hoping to begin to get more familiar with Dreamweaver and using tables and cells to lay out a website- I'm hopefully going to begin reworking the Ya-Yas website, which should hopefully help address any problems that might come up for me during A5. I'm also going to spend some time getting to grips with Adobe InDesign and doing further research into Morris Fuller Benton. I also need to get back into the habit of collecting pieces of design work for my sketchbook- something that became sloppy over the last couple of weeks of the last semester. Any good resources for inspirational work would be appreciated!