Today Steve let some of us (the 1st year students) join the class on our day off to see the presentation set by a Huddersfield based company known as the ‘Design Mechanics’. Residing their 30 minute lateness to the presentation today was in fact a real treat. From this experience I have learnt a lot about how the design industry work and how clients can effect your state of mind. From the way it seems, us college students have currently got it easy in relation to the industry for example: we don't have a nagging client refusing our work cause of it not been good enough or to their expectations, we don't have multiple projects to work on in the day Etc.
After the presentation we had a chance to ask the design team a few questions about anything relating to their experiences and current working environment. The main thing I learnt from this is that all clients have different opinions in a designer's creation, but they are still the boss of the project and their needs are very important in order to complete it successfully. Our roll if to successfully rise up to the design industry will be to cater for the clients needs and not our own personal attractions.
After the presentation and the questions, a few of the second years showed examples of their own work to us and the ‘Design Mechanics’. All of the work shown was at a great standard and this showed me the type of competition I will be working with in the future. All though some of the work was very inspiring like a CD cover created by ‘Andrew Ellis’. Now i have seen some of the work to come, I will be looking forward to the time when we begin to start some of it. Like for instance, creating the web site we are currently planning and designing an album cover.
If there are any questions from the students in the 1st year about the Design Mechanics feel free to ask. Also to add to that note, I am sure that the other students who attended the presentation will be more then happy to answer any questions regarding professional work and ‘The Design Mechanics’. Sorry if your not guys!!!!
Wednesday 26 September 2007
Tuesday 25 September 2007
The @"!$ has hit the fan!
Today Steve wasn’t impressed in the way that nobody completed the tasks set in last Friday’s email. This resulted in Steve taking a time out in the library which left us to talk about what had just happened. As a fearless leader Shaun stepped in and suggested that we talk about the task we failed to complete. This formed a class discussion so that everyone had a chance to understand the ‘Web Content Accessibility Guidelines’ 1.1, 2.2, 4.2, 12.3 and 14.1. We also had a talk about these guide lines to make sure that everyone came to terms with what they are and what they stand for. After what seemed to be around a half hours discussion, Shaun yet again showed courage by leaving the room to confront Steve 1-on-1 in the dark corners of the ‘Library’ (Queue in the Horror Music). Shaun re-entered the room around 10-15 minutes after leaving, with a relieved look on his face. He stated immediately that a 2nd voice of what had just happened was needed for Steve’s ears in which Martyn volunteered. A form of punishment set as a reminder that lateness and incomplete work is not tolerated was agreed by our selves.
In other events a big thank you actually goes to Steve for showing us how to use ‘Adobe PageMaker’. By giving us a quick tutorial we were able to create an article about a female candidate known as ‘Nikki Iles’ (Not that the name rings any bells). But, in the tutorial we learnt how to use a number of tools which will come to use when we start to use the application to bring our assignments in.
Also, over the last week I have been trying to get my head around most sections in the delivery requirements such as CGI, HTML and the ‘Web Accessibility Guidelines’. This week I have learnt a great deal about these elements for example, it was not to my knowledge that there are software applications and pc components that were created solely to give computer and internet access to the blind.
This weeks self study tasks are to carry on with the assignment using the time sheets, take on the student agreed form of punishment which is to write 2-5 pages in out sketch books about the ‘Web Accessibility Guidelines’. I will also gather more sources of information to place in my sketch book as I am only half way through (This may seem a lot to some people but I feel as though other class members have done a lot more sketchbook work than I have).
In other events a big thank you actually goes to Steve for showing us how to use ‘Adobe PageMaker’. By giving us a quick tutorial we were able to create an article about a female candidate known as ‘Nikki Iles’ (Not that the name rings any bells). But, in the tutorial we learnt how to use a number of tools which will come to use when we start to use the application to bring our assignments in.
Also, over the last week I have been trying to get my head around most sections in the delivery requirements such as CGI, HTML and the ‘Web Accessibility Guidelines’. This week I have learnt a great deal about these elements for example, it was not to my knowledge that there are software applications and pc components that were created solely to give computer and internet access to the blind.
This weeks self study tasks are to carry on with the assignment using the time sheets, take on the student agreed form of punishment which is to write 2-5 pages in out sketch books about the ‘Web Accessibility Guidelines’. I will also gather more sources of information to place in my sketch book as I am only half way through (This may seem a lot to some people but I feel as though other class members have done a lot more sketchbook work than I have).
Tuesday 18 September 2007
Past Statement!
Endure is a statement I have used in the past and Steve can back that up. My reason for saying this is because, so far I have completed only the ‘Project Goals’. The other tasks started are still ongoing. These tasks involve the ‘Target Audience’, the ‘Delivery Requirements’ and the ‘Competitive Analysis’. The reason for this is that the target audience task needs to be thought about a little more as my main target audience is primarily set for any fiction story reader who is interested in the work of Charles Dickens. The secondary audience falls in to the student category of English GCSE and H/E. As stated by Steve, I need to be a little more specific when it comes to thinking about the target audience.
The delivery requirements are pretty much up to scratch in terms of client and designer needs for the project. The hardest part is to gain as much information about ‘HTML’, ‘XHTML’, and ‘Java Scripts’ in order for me to understand them. So far in this task I have managed to find out information about CGI Scripts/Proxy and the Web Accessibility Guidelines.
Conclusion:
This week’s self study will result in me having to really pull my finger out and research the named web scripts as much as possible in order to keep up to date with the assignment. This is required of me so that I am able to complete the following tasks:
- Target Audience
- Delivery Requirements
- Competitive Analysis
Other ongoing tasks to work on are:
- Placing images of inspiration in my note book
- Gain more images of inspiration
- Gain more evidence in my note book
For gaining inspiration I will be keeping my eyes open through the week, so that I don’t miss possible chances of gaining inspiration from other people’s graphical imagery or advertising.
In other news we have had another group meeting with Steve in our seminar groups in which we discussed our current progress in the assignment so far. This lasted 45 minutes and we covered all the above readings on the assignment. We also had a visit from the student finance office of Wakefield College in which a female candidate talked about information on applying for a student loan, how to go if you haven’t received your student loan and what you can do if you haven’t applied for a student loan.
The delivery requirements are pretty much up to scratch in terms of client and designer needs for the project. The hardest part is to gain as much information about ‘HTML’, ‘XHTML’, and ‘Java Scripts’ in order for me to understand them. So far in this task I have managed to find out information about CGI Scripts/Proxy and the Web Accessibility Guidelines.
Conclusion:
This week’s self study will result in me having to really pull my finger out and research the named web scripts as much as possible in order to keep up to date with the assignment. This is required of me so that I am able to complete the following tasks:
- Target Audience
- Delivery Requirements
- Competitive Analysis
Other ongoing tasks to work on are:
- Placing images of inspiration in my note book
- Gain more images of inspiration
- Gain more evidence in my note book
For gaining inspiration I will be keeping my eyes open through the week, so that I don’t miss possible chances of gaining inspiration from other people’s graphical imagery or advertising.
In other news we have had another group meeting with Steve in our seminar groups in which we discussed our current progress in the assignment so far. This lasted 45 minutes and we covered all the above readings on the assignment. We also had a visit from the student finance office of Wakefield College in which a female candidate talked about information on applying for a student loan, how to go if you haven’t received your student loan and what you can do if you haven’t applied for a student loan.
Tuesday 11 September 2007
In the Beginning
Today at college I have researched a wide variety of information about a fictional story author known as Charles Dickens. The reason for doing this is that we have started our first assignment. This is about a listed ‘British’ candidate that has accomplished something in their life. So far I have visited a number of sites using the ‘Google’ search engine to find more sources of information that I can evaluate. I will then use this to find the correct information I am looking for.
The things I have learnt today can be quite useful in the future of planning. For the start of the assignment I completed a production sheet, which is a time management document to help me split down the assignment and manage the task in easy manageable sections. Also I have started to produce weekly time sheets that will show effective time keeping each week as we progress through the assignment.
We also had a seminar (feedback group), where we had a discussion about our opinions on our work so far and the sort of work we should be aiming for. In the seminar we discussed the project goals of this assignment and realised the main goals besides completing the assignment, are to make a file/webpage as small as possible. Having a huge file size will slow down the rate of download. The screen resolution was also a factor, as screen sizes vary. We also had a chance to view some sketch books from previous students of the 1st year to give us a better example of what we should be putting in to our sketchbooks. The length of time taken in the seminar was 30 minutes, which in my opinion wasn’t enough time. The amount of time I would prefer would be around 45 minutes to 1 hour as I would have liked to gain information about more topics related to the assignment.
The most effective part of the day was gaining some understanding of the sort of things we should be looking for in the assignment. This was also discussed in the seminar in groups, which made things a lot easier because we were able to share our own opinions.
Thing I could improve on:
- The speed of my sketching. A presentation flies by pretty quickly and it is hard to gather all the information you want to successfully understand what’s going on.
- My research skills. Currently I can search through a number of sites and gather the correct information, but it would be better for me if I could do it more speedily to give me more time to understand other tasks.
- My language skills. Every now and again a piece of unrespectable language seeps its way out. Due to this I have had a fellow student and the tutor tell me to watch my language.
The things I have learnt today can be quite useful in the future of planning. For the start of the assignment I completed a production sheet, which is a time management document to help me split down the assignment and manage the task in easy manageable sections. Also I have started to produce weekly time sheets that will show effective time keeping each week as we progress through the assignment.
We also had a seminar (feedback group), where we had a discussion about our opinions on our work so far and the sort of work we should be aiming for. In the seminar we discussed the project goals of this assignment and realised the main goals besides completing the assignment, are to make a file/webpage as small as possible. Having a huge file size will slow down the rate of download. The screen resolution was also a factor, as screen sizes vary. We also had a chance to view some sketch books from previous students of the 1st year to give us a better example of what we should be putting in to our sketchbooks. The length of time taken in the seminar was 30 minutes, which in my opinion wasn’t enough time. The amount of time I would prefer would be around 45 minutes to 1 hour as I would have liked to gain information about more topics related to the assignment.
The most effective part of the day was gaining some understanding of the sort of things we should be looking for in the assignment. This was also discussed in the seminar in groups, which made things a lot easier because we were able to share our own opinions.
Thing I could improve on:
- The speed of my sketching. A presentation flies by pretty quickly and it is hard to gather all the information you want to successfully understand what’s going on.
- My research skills. Currently I can search through a number of sites and gather the correct information, but it would be better for me if I could do it more speedily to give me more time to understand other tasks.
- My language skills. Every now and again a piece of unrespectable language seeps its way out. Due to this I have had a fellow student and the tutor tell me to watch my language.
Wednesday 5 September 2007
Before the Starting Line
My name is John Browne, a student of the HND Interactive Media course and to get to this current stage it has taken me 4 years of previous education. Over the last 4 years I have had to attend 3 previous courses at Wakefield College. The first course was the Foundation GNVQ in ICT which consisted of the basics in computing and information resources. For this course I obtained a Distinction level which was enough to jump to the advance course of this subject, but as I wanted to learn the topic gradually, I chose to attend the intermediate course. In my opinion it is better to slowly learn something rather then jumping to the highest point and finding it a struggle to get through. The second course that I chose to attend was the Intermediate GNVQ in ICT which was very similar to the first year, but was more in-depth on the subject. For this particular course I obtained a merit level. The third and most previous course was a GCE in ICT which was an advance level of ICT in which we researched and produced portfolios’ on the more professional aspects of ICT such as Multi-Media, Web Hosting, Networking and Project Management.
The directions in my life that I most want to go are on to full time employment in the design industry as either a ‘Web Designer’, ‘Graphic Editor’, or an ‘Advertising Clerk’. Also a tutor’s position that involves subjects I have or am currently studying sounds of some interest. This sort of career interests me as I believe I have a creative imagination which could be a core benefit to the business I am appointed to when the time comes. The tutor position inspires and attracts me as I feel that it could be a rewarding career by passing on my creative and design (soon to be learned) skills on to up coming generations of possible potential.
To get to the stage I want I am aiming for, I am going to have to endure more challenging and pro-longed work loads which will improve both my design and technicality. By doing this, I will become a good asset to any company/business of employment in any part of the design industry. My targets during the build up to this state of employment are to improve my literal and communications skills, improve on my creative and design skills. I would also like to understand the relevant software applications, become compatible with both Apple Macs and regular Personal Computer's (PC's). Other targets are to over come any obstacle, no matter how difficult, to gain more understanding about how the industry work and to be able to explain my opinions on any peice of graphical artwork. It would also be essential for me to be able to mark work correctly, and to learn how to be part of a team in a full on work environment.
An over all summary of this is that I intend to do my over all best in the course I am currently attending whilst taking in new skills and widening my range of creativity.
The directions in my life that I most want to go are on to full time employment in the design industry as either a ‘Web Designer’, ‘Graphic Editor’, or an ‘Advertising Clerk’. Also a tutor’s position that involves subjects I have or am currently studying sounds of some interest. This sort of career interests me as I believe I have a creative imagination which could be a core benefit to the business I am appointed to when the time comes. The tutor position inspires and attracts me as I feel that it could be a rewarding career by passing on my creative and design (soon to be learned) skills on to up coming generations of possible potential.
To get to the stage I want I am aiming for, I am going to have to endure more challenging and pro-longed work loads which will improve both my design and technicality. By doing this, I will become a good asset to any company/business of employment in any part of the design industry. My targets during the build up to this state of employment are to improve my literal and communications skills, improve on my creative and design skills. I would also like to understand the relevant software applications, become compatible with both Apple Macs and regular Personal Computer's (PC's). Other targets are to over come any obstacle, no matter how difficult, to gain more understanding about how the industry work and to be able to explain my opinions on any peice of graphical artwork. It would also be essential for me to be able to mark work correctly, and to learn how to be part of a team in a full on work environment.
An over all summary of this is that I intend to do my over all best in the course I am currently attending whilst taking in new skills and widening my range of creativity.
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