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.
Tuesday, 26 February 2008
Tuesday, 19 February 2008
'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.
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.
Tuesday, 12 February 2008
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.
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.
Tuesday, 5 February 2008
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 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!
Tuesday, 29 January 2008
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.
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.
Tuesday, 22 January 2008
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.
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.
Tuesday, 15 January 2008
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!
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!
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