I'm really feeling good about things at the moment, with my referal work and the A5-A6 work that is on going throughout this. I'm really wanting to get all the referred work out of the way by next week so I can properly focus on A5 and get the most out of it.
The builder assignment is one I'm enjoying most; out of all the previous ones we have done, I think the main reason for this is that building websites is really what my background has been built on. Taking graphical work produced in Adobe Photoshop and providing the Html elements to code it into a fully fledged website, with the final purpose of actually having it on the internet for myself and other's to view. I remember before Christmas, as soon as I saw this was the next module we would be doing, I couldn't wait to get hold of it and see what I could produce and really try show abit of flair in the overall work.
Within the the referral work I managed to show some of this in the form of a change website layout for the plan, my whole website changed.. but still I kept to the goals previously set, and was based around a similar plan to the older screen design. I'm a lot happier with my newest design because I found a way to go really simple, but at the same time keeping the inviting aspects of my older screen design, as well as the overall simplicity of it. I knew keeping this simple would aid me so much down the line when it came time to build it, but still providing some sort of impact on the user. I also aimed for the site to look professional, but not so professional that my target audience might feel rather intimidated; using simple icons and the colour scheme I feel I achieved this.
The newest version you'll find at this link, Http://www.Andrew-Whelan.co.uk
Any feedback on my overall layout would be helpful, so that I could see these problems and input the changes before the hand in deadline comes to haunt me.
A6 Assignment has really interested me, I've always had 'a thing' for typography and I'm always on the look out for new fonts; having my own handpicked crop on my computer with various styles, as a solution for any possible typographical problem I may have. Researching my typographer 'Frederic W. Goudy' has really made me look at some Typefaces I wouldn't usually choose to see, as I find myself drawn to san serif more than serifed fonts. The fact that these are the types of fonts produced by my typographer has forced this comfort zone away and I've discovered a lot of new fonts that I would use in future; for example I'm using 'Californian' for the actual presentation, which I think is a tad ironic as Goudy made that himself.
I feel I've lucked out with a good choice of typographer as there is a wide range of information available for this particular man, also the fact that he did so much in his life. From Teaching to Publishing, makes gathering information for my presentation that little bit easier. Not to mention the fact that Goudy seems to of designed a vast amount of fonts, giving me alot to choose from when it comes explanation time for the presentation (Even if they do all look the same).
Which leads onto today's lecture, I feel a lot more confident about the presentation now that we've had the afternoon lecture going a tad more indepth. I had previously been talking about the individual nuances of each particular part, now that I can really put a name to them.. I think it'll aid me, so it will be possible to get that bit more out of the subject.
Preparation for the presentation is going similar to the one that we did before, in that I feel it's such a big thing knowing the ins and outs of your topic, just as a confidence booster. Confidence matters so much when it comes to presentations, as you just become a lot more able to adequately interpret your particular information to the audience, in ways they understand. Also knowing everything has been done properly and very researched and having the basis that everything is right, stops nerves creeping in when it comes presentation time; nerves that could possibly spoil it all for you. After the successes of last time, I'm going to continue in a similar direction with my presentational style, I just need to remember to not move around as much. That being the thing that let me down abit before. But overall I'm looking forward to this presentation.
Tuesday 29 January 2008
Tuesday 22 January 2008
Sans-Serif-Raff
Quick start this week, being ill Monday meant today I had to get on with things at a fast pace and recover the time I lost the previous day. The first lecture we had today on Typography was quite interesting and has lead me to be more and more into the whole world of font, wanting to know what goes with what, the combinations of serif and san-serif. The uses of colour, italic and bolding in conjunction with emphasis and seeing how everything looks when it is done wrong, so you preceed to discover your own mistakes.
I feel the technical language side I'm really getting to grips with, I enjoy knowing about these words for future reference in conversation and essays, also it is something that shows how professional you are, if you can relate to this terms in the proper manner and how they're meant to be used. All this in conjunction with today’s small timed-task as furthered my want for knowledge around the base of the 'Typography' subject and can't wait to proceed on and learn more about it.
Speaking of today’s task; I found it a mixture of emotions.. on the one hand I really enjoyed it, I love being free (within the brief, of course) to design whatever I want to design, giving position to 'Typography' and the use of colour; colour really does drastically change the look of a font that is visually size and type consistent. As soon as I saw the brief of what we needed to do I was excited and ideas began racing through my mind, though not all of them exactly matched the strict brief we were given. This caused a few problems when it came to getting a bit of feedback from Steve about my initial designs, I realised that I had put a picture in that was previously not in the brief, this being an important part of that actual design caused it to fail.
Thankfully I had a good range of designs that enabled one of them to be successful, but when it came to putting this on the actual page I found that it didn't look as good as I had previously though when sketching this out. Luckily I had another design to refer to and last minute I changed my work to this particular design, got the okay from Steve and printed. Handed -In.
Referral work is coming up and the need for completion is high, I'm pretty confident that I'll pass and be on the road for success, getting this referral out the way and co-incidlingly passing A5-A6 will mean a lot the to future. It will certainly make next semester go a lot smoother and a lot less stressful, just for the fact that I'll be able to concentrate on just the one of two modules instead of last semesters work and the stresses that come with failing that and not meeting expectations again. So on the same page, passing these will give my confidence a big boost; and that is one thing that was knocked quite alot during the beginning of this semester, hopefully it'll return.
I feel the technical language side I'm really getting to grips with, I enjoy knowing about these words for future reference in conversation and essays, also it is something that shows how professional you are, if you can relate to this terms in the proper manner and how they're meant to be used. All this in conjunction with today’s small timed-task as furthered my want for knowledge around the base of the 'Typography' subject and can't wait to proceed on and learn more about it.
Speaking of today’s task; I found it a mixture of emotions.. on the one hand I really enjoyed it, I love being free (within the brief, of course) to design whatever I want to design, giving position to 'Typography' and the use of colour; colour really does drastically change the look of a font that is visually size and type consistent. As soon as I saw the brief of what we needed to do I was excited and ideas began racing through my mind, though not all of them exactly matched the strict brief we were given. This caused a few problems when it came to getting a bit of feedback from Steve about my initial designs, I realised that I had put a picture in that was previously not in the brief, this being an important part of that actual design caused it to fail.
Thankfully I had a good range of designs that enabled one of them to be successful, but when it came to putting this on the actual page I found that it didn't look as good as I had previously though when sketching this out. Luckily I had another design to refer to and last minute I changed my work to this particular design, got the okay from Steve and printed. Handed -In.
Referral work is coming up and the need for completion is high, I'm pretty confident that I'll pass and be on the road for success, getting this referral out the way and co-incidlingly passing A5-A6 will mean a lot the to future. It will certainly make next semester go a lot smoother and a lot less stressful, just for the fact that I'll be able to concentrate on just the one of two modules instead of last semesters work and the stresses that come with failing that and not meeting expectations again. So on the same page, passing these will give my confidence a big boost; and that is one thing that was knocked quite alot during the beginning of this semester, hopefully it'll return.
Tuesday 15 January 2008
A Goud Start.
Back into the 'design cauldron', into the melting pot, into the fire.. it's clear to say this semester has begun where the last one left off, everyone is already going at a vigorous pace and burning along with the assignments. I feel the task A6 that will suit me, as I've always had a small interest in the 'Typographical' side of websites; daily checking DaFont for new font's.. having personally handpicked the set of typeface currently on my computer. People, I think.. don't realise how much typography affects a graphic or a website, it really can ruin a brilliant piece; being that the only thing you can focus on when studying the graphic.
I'm eager to complete referral work in order to start building the site, it will be great to be finally let loose on a site I have been looking at for the best part of a month, wanting to get the paperwork out of the way to get down and dirty with it. I think the group as a whole will be a lot more relaxed during this semester, with the fact there is no much written work to hand in.. even though it will continue at a similar pace to the last one. Maybe it's the fact there isn't much hard evidence of the work in your hand, right then and there.. like there is with the many sheets of the last modules handed in. I think there has been a general calm in the group, a sort of 'phew.. thats out of the way, lets build it' kind of attitude, obviously the reason for this being.. that's exactly what we applied for this course to do.
With already starting the A6 research, I have already been able to find out quite a lot about my chosen 'Typographer' (Frederic W. Goudy), given the ones picked out I don't think mine is one of the hard ones at all, there seems to be alot about him everywhere, and some of his typefaces are pretty famous and well known.. like Copperplate Gothic and Goudy.
I'm eager to complete referral work in order to start building the site, it will be great to be finally let loose on a site I have been looking at for the best part of a month, wanting to get the paperwork out of the way to get down and dirty with it. I think the group as a whole will be a lot more relaxed during this semester, with the fact there is no much written work to hand in.. even though it will continue at a similar pace to the last one. Maybe it's the fact there isn't much hard evidence of the work in your hand, right then and there.. like there is with the many sheets of the last modules handed in. I think there has been a general calm in the group, a sort of 'phew.. thats out of the way, lets build it' kind of attitude, obviously the reason for this being.. that's exactly what we applied for this course to do.
With already starting the A6 research, I have already been able to find out quite a lot about my chosen 'Typographer' (Frederic W. Goudy), given the ones picked out I don't think mine is one of the hard ones at all, there seems to be alot about him everywhere, and some of his typefaces are pretty famous and well known.. like Copperplate Gothic and Goudy.
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