Evaluation (end of year one)...

End of year evaluation.

Introduction
The end of year is in clear sight, all the assignments have been handed in and there is a great sense of achievement flowing through the air. I can’t help but feel disappointed that the end of the year has come so quickly and the fun will soon be over till the next college year. I must say that I have really enjoyed everything in the first year, from building a rocket to presenting typography.

A1 - Sketchblog
This assignment to me has been both good and bad. Bad things first, it occasionally felt like a chore, especially if I fell behind at all during an assignment. An example was that I forgot to collect inspirational art work for a number of weeks, and catching up seemed like a job that was going to take forever. All was done though and quite surprisingly the feel of achievement was and is still their along side it.

The thing I like most about this assignment was when it came down to planning during assignments. The whole sketchbook drawing tasks were at a point where it did not matter what your designs appeared like (with in reason). But the idea’s behind, is where it all counted. A task that was really liked in this form was the static banners task for Assignment 6 – Revert to Type. During the creation of the banners, Steve incorporated a timed atmosphere, getting shorter after every design. Such fun was found in doing that, and if I could find my self in such a career that incorporates this type of design technique, then I must say I have found heaven.

Another aspect of this assignment was to create a weekly journal entry showing weekly progression and to gain feedback on designs. I must say that this fulfilled its expectations and provided me with mountains of design feedback, which was all greatly appreciated and taken in to consideration. Some of the suggestions hold the reasons for me passing each assignment, especially in the designed tasks.

A2 – That’s the Plan
This assignment was most probably the hardest for me. Been the first ever assignment at a HND level I found it pretty difficult to adjust to that methods of submission and appearance. Firstly I cannot say that I have ever needed to reference work before, and the amount of research needed as evidence seemed almost impossible to complete. Speaking of difficult, this was the only assignment that I failed on the second hand in. Not good I must add but I believe I made up for this in the second web plan assignment Back to Basics. Other then that I believe that choosing Charles Dickens may not have been the best choice of character, as looking back I do not like the design I created in that web plan. Besides that I remember there not been much to make the web template on, with only a small number of images to work with as inspiration.

A3 – Back to Basics
After failing A2 I knew there was no option but to pass this and my aim was to do it in the first hand in. Unfortunately, I referred the first time but brought it back with taking on the valuable feedback and amending where it was necessary. During this assignment I had mixed feelings on equal measure. There was the frustration that it was a similar task that I had recently failed, the sense of enjoyment working on more technical goals, and annoyance to how the amount of information there was to research. Having a total of 40 computer components made it very time consuming when trying to obtain the right image and find the correct information.

A4 – Image Restoration
This is where the real fun began for me. Not only did we have a black and white image to restore and two static banners to create. But it also allowed me to become more fluent in Photoshop. When entering the course my skills in Photoshop were almost un-existent and this been the first real opportunity to really get my hands dirty was a god send. This has to be the second best assignment during the first year and I feel it to be stupid if no one else feel a similar sense of joy towards it.

A5 - Builder
Building the website from the plan created in A3 could only be known as one hell of a rollercoaster ride. Just as you feel you’re at an all time high, there is a shear drop just around the corner. Inserting all the information and imaging in to Dreamweaver was as easy as riding a bike. But when it reached the validation stages I hit a huge snag. With coding been one of my major weaknesses in this roll of the assignment I found it really difficult to get through it. Also another aspect that was difficult was the form JavaScript. At first I validated the form using Dreamweaver applications only later on I was notified that JavaScript was supposed to be used in this case. Great, more coding and one hell of a task to work around with my in-experience. All was completed though even though I hit the referral mark. Luckily it wasn’t too much to amend.

A6 – Revert to Type
This was quite possibly one of the assignments that came like marmite. Unfortunately there wasn’t as much love as there could have been. The whole building process of the presentation was a huge struggle and the hand out wasn’t any better. Having been given Stanley Morison and the limitations of his work, proved to quite a task. For starters the design of the presentation and handout lacked in inspiration and images able to implement. I did in fact get to really love the presenting part. It was just the building part that was disliked.

The other part of the assignment included timed tasks. These were set up similarly to the banner creations in A4, which really struck my liking. Most of all I really like creating the Vodafone and the Snake Bites advert as I feel the sense of creative typography was at an all time high and the opportunities were almost limitless.

A7 – Wailing Whales
This has by far got to have been the most enjoyable assignment up to date. It really gave me and I believe the class to really dig in to their creativity barrels. First of all there logo design included rough drawings in our sketchbooks and adjustments drawn in from feedback. The logo did take a number of weeks to complete with its ever going colour tryouts but it was all fun.

The CD artwork was by far the best task of the entire year. The creativity was overflowing with the mood boards and mind maps created over the reading week before the assignment start. Gaining a good feel towards the music was also a newly formed skill and something that will be looked at in the very near future.

Class atmosphere
Looking back at past memories and the tasks performed in the first week, it has come clear that everyone is now more then ever part of this group. From lift of with thunderbird one, the height of friendship among fellow students has soared in to high orbit. The trust is getting greater every day and there is nothing I would change among anyone to improve the atmosphere. It really is that perfect in my eyes.

Tutors
Where would we be with out Steve and John? Admittedly John hasn’t had the biggest role out of the two this year, but sources say that will change at the beginning of next as John joins our group more often and even takes us through an assignment on CSS. That will be something to look forward to. Seminars and lectures have been a vital role through out the course to date. There have been things disliked but its all in the part of learning. I will be looking forward to September when we come back to college to carry on with the remainder of the course, and yet another step in education.

My aim

A short list of thing I will do in time for next year:
- Get a head start on CSS, ready for the upcoming assignment sometime after the summer holiday.
- Keep my creative skills on an all time high by setting my self random design task over the summer.
- Complete the summer assignment as soon as possible, giving me more time and a complete frame of mind to work on my own set random tasks.

A short list of aims for the second year:
- Complete the year with up to 3 merits.
- Complete the year with as little referrals as possible.
- Continue to be optimistic towards the course.

Conclusion
This year has come and gone at light speed. It is almost unbelievable that it is almost nine months since the majority of the HND Interactive Media students of 2007/2008 first met. It has been a real blast working along side everyone and I look forward to doing so very soon. Over all I feel as though I could have done better if a few certain weaknesses of mine were at rest, but as things are what they are. I’m pretty easily distracted, and something will need to be resolved in the very near future. This has really been a great year and something I will not want to forget. So, the end is here, Progress, support, and I have a feeling next year will be even better then this.

Short and Sweet!

Today is quite possibly the shortest journal entry I have ever posted. This is merely because it is reading week, and through out the week so far I have been working on my CD artwork. Through out the week I have hit certain complications in software which has held me back a little. This is to do with installation. I have tried to re-install relevant software but Windows been the pain that it is, is disallowing my attempts saying I don’t have the relevant privileges. The funny thing is, I own the hardware and I am the administrator. But I intend to get back on track over the week and hand in the assignment completed and on time. So to all of you that are going through the same as I, I wish you good luck in this final assignment of the college year. And I will see you in college on Monday.

It would be a great help if I could gain some feedback for my current CD artwork. My apologies for the CD outer not containing the emit logo. I will sort this in the week when I have resolved the software implication. My artwork can be found in the directory of http://www.j-browne.co.uk/a7

Things to do for this week:

- The usual weekly comments.
- Problem solving with software application issues.
- The amendments of my CD artwork (if any)
- The addition of the emit logo to the CD artwork outer.
- The input of the assignment in to InDesign.
- And finally the evaluation.