http://www.kirupa.com/developer/flash/index.htm
This website has hundreds of tutorials, ranging from basic flash tuts to dealing with the server-side of flash.
http://www.gotoandlearn.com/
There is a lot of video tutorials on here and deals with the actionscript side of things as well as flash work.
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/
A community to get tips and feedback on your work, has loads of tutorials for every problem you could find using flash.
http://www.flashkit.com/
Also a community with hundreds of resources and people willing to help out when you need it. Great tutorials and fast advice.
http://www.actionscript.org
Dealing with the actionscript side mainly, it shows you how to streamline your work and gives you tips and hints for your building process.
http://www.pixel2life.com/tutorials/adobe_flash/
Probably the site that has the most amount of resources, literally anything you want can be found here, with multiple ways to do it.
http://www.flashperfection.com/
Bringing tutorials from various sites to put together a staggering range and depth of tricks, tips and hints for flash users.
http://as3.metah.ch/
I think the most module and class structured resource I've found, it really breaks everything down for you and puts it in an easily readable language.
http://tutorialoutpost.com/tutorials/flash/actionscript
Hundreds of tutorials dedicated to flash users and really focusing on the input of actionscript alongside.
http://flashspeaksactionscript.com/begin-learning-flash-in-a-flash/
Probably the place I'm going to look at first when it comes to the assignment, it's very easily usable for the novice user.
Monday, 12 January 2009
Wednesday, 10 December 2008
Flash in the Pan
The way I see the industry going, when looking around at various high-end sites and at the design top 40's is with Flash. Everyday it's becoming more and more usable and inturn the age old arguement of 'usability' problems is starting to be obsolete, forward movements in not only the browser technologies ability to handle a wider and more advanced range of code. The ability to create interactive experiences that the client/user takes part in, offering great feedback and the knowledge they want is definitely the way forward.
The best customer service is to go beyond what the customer expects of you. Exactly what Flash enables you to do, a person goes there expecting a simple site, but instead you give them an experience. Something to remember. This encourages a return visit, having this interactive process means that no two visits have to be the same melodic plod along to the information.People are always impressed with a well built Flash website, it gives out more of a wow factor than the generic CSS/HTML based interface of old. Now it's become a talking point, encouraging family and friends to enjoy this experience aswell.
It's something I want to learn and have always wanted to learn but never really had the chance to get into it seriously. For this reason and what I know the outcomes can look like I know I'll enjoy getting to grips with Flash, learning how everything works in conjunction with Action Script to produce that wow factor I've always been looking for. Not only that, it suits my design style so much.. I see myself as quite a minimalistic, conceptual designer. That goes for more of a stylistic aesthetic rather than obvious lording of my design talents. Flash with Action Script matches the way I work so much, offering the capability to turn the minimalistic into an experience.
The best customer service is to go beyond what the customer expects of you. Exactly what Flash enables you to do, a person goes there expecting a simple site, but instead you give them an experience. Something to remember. This encourages a return visit, having this interactive process means that no two visits have to be the same melodic plod along to the information.People are always impressed with a well built Flash website, it gives out more of a wow factor than the generic CSS/HTML based interface of old. Now it's become a talking point, encouraging family and friends to enjoy this experience aswell.
It's something I want to learn and have always wanted to learn but never really had the chance to get into it seriously. For this reason and what I know the outcomes can look like I know I'll enjoy getting to grips with Flash, learning how everything works in conjunction with Action Script to produce that wow factor I've always been looking for. Not only that, it suits my design style so much.. I see myself as quite a minimalistic, conceptual designer. That goes for more of a stylistic aesthetic rather than obvious lording of my design talents. Flash with Action Script matches the way I work so much, offering the capability to turn the minimalistic into an experience.
Wednesday, 3 December 2008
Jog to Christmas
I'm quite happy with how the course has gone by so far in it's 2nd year, I've discovered a never thought ability of being able to efficiently time manage. Which is something I've always struggled with, especially when it was taken on by such precedence in the 1st year. That and organization has never been my winning skill, sometimes I find it a barrier that holds back my creativity, though with the new 'Time Log' I've been using with the team project it's helped a great deal.
Instead of having to stop and record what I'm doing all the time.. I just let a full day flow out and then at the end assess how the day has gone and look at what I've done and how long it took me. I think this mixed with a small schedule is the method that suits me best. Starting the day off knowing exactly what I'm going to do, but knowing I could do each bit at any time and I'm not restricted to filling out a time sheet every time I switch from project to project.
It's something I did consciously work on, but not so much as to sit down and work all the fine details out. It's mainly been something that I've needed to get what has been needed done and organize it in a way I know what to do when. With a small help from Tom giving my a kick up the bum when deadlines are looming.. I've really been able to use it and pickup this skill I can carry on with.
Also has the 2nd year has developed, I've really refined my presentational skills and become a lot more confident when standing up there. This gives me the ability to project what I need to say properly and produce good presentations that can connect with the audience. I think a few things have been essential to this, the first of these is preparation.. I think maybe that's the biggest thing. If you are not prepared for the presentation you won't come across as confident because you don't know exactly what's going be said. Knowing your subject matter enables you to be comfortable and stop the nerves creeping in.
The 2nd of these is practice, with could be said as part of prepare, but it's nice to really highlight the need for practice. Going through it definitely helps you prepare, helping you iron out bits of the presentation you don't want to go in, this was very obvious in mine and Tom's practice presentation to Steve and the rest of our group. But because we had that practice and then another 'attempt/practice' the final one managed to come out great and we ended up landing the pitch.
I've really grown in myself over this past year so far, I'm now more mature and ready to handle the pressures of work. My core design skills have been more refined due to the more inspiration I'm having to find has part of A1 again. Confidence has soared recently and I'm happy with the way things are going.
Instead of having to stop and record what I'm doing all the time.. I just let a full day flow out and then at the end assess how the day has gone and look at what I've done and how long it took me. I think this mixed with a small schedule is the method that suits me best. Starting the day off knowing exactly what I'm going to do, but knowing I could do each bit at any time and I'm not restricted to filling out a time sheet every time I switch from project to project.
It's something I did consciously work on, but not so much as to sit down and work all the fine details out. It's mainly been something that I've needed to get what has been needed done and organize it in a way I know what to do when. With a small help from Tom giving my a kick up the bum when deadlines are looming.. I've really been able to use it and pickup this skill I can carry on with.
Also has the 2nd year has developed, I've really refined my presentational skills and become a lot more confident when standing up there. This gives me the ability to project what I need to say properly and produce good presentations that can connect with the audience. I think a few things have been essential to this, the first of these is preparation.. I think maybe that's the biggest thing. If you are not prepared for the presentation you won't come across as confident because you don't know exactly what's going be said. Knowing your subject matter enables you to be comfortable and stop the nerves creeping in.
The 2nd of these is practice, with could be said as part of prepare, but it's nice to really highlight the need for practice. Going through it definitely helps you prepare, helping you iron out bits of the presentation you don't want to go in, this was very obvious in mine and Tom's practice presentation to Steve and the rest of our group. But because we had that practice and then another 'attempt/practice' the final one managed to come out great and we ended up landing the pitch.
I've really grown in myself over this past year so far, I'm now more mature and ready to handle the pressures of work. My core design skills have been more refined due to the more inspiration I'm having to find has part of A1 again. Confidence has soared recently and I'm happy with the way things are going.
Wednesday, 5 November 2008
Soft Skills.
Throughout this course we've unconciously learned skills that will see us throughout life, namely called 'Soft Skills'; these are skills used frequently and usually occur without us knowing. Simple things like teamwork and communication that can be taken from this course and used in the real world. Taking part in other activities such as football, the skills learned can be displaced and make a person be able to talk to his fellow teammates easier and also work better as part of the team. These are generic life lessons that will follow us around forever.
I've personally learned a lot about humility and trying to be positive when speaking to colleagues around me, helping them along to get to the place they want to be in. Though I still try and give my feedback as bluntly as I ever did, I now see the worth in a balanced approach... helping my points to sink in further and really make a difference.
Presentations were never something I've been worried about in my life, I feel the confidence is there to produce a 'performance' or 'pitch' enabling me to successfully put forward my opinions and findings alone. This course has helped me streamline this, by pointing out things I needed to work on... such as walking around too much and touching my face a lot during presentations. Hopefully meaning I'll be able to communicate the objective of my presentation far in advance of my previous ability.
With the completion of this course there will be the elation of a long-term goal reached. Giving me the confidence to persue things knowing I've got a good understanding of the hardwork and dedication it takes to get there. Experience counts a lot in the industry, not just with design, but with the work ethic that needs to come alongside it, enabling me to the be the best I can... and in the end making myself a more employable person to a possible client or boss.
I've personally learned a lot about humility and trying to be positive when speaking to colleagues around me, helping them along to get to the place they want to be in. Though I still try and give my feedback as bluntly as I ever did, I now see the worth in a balanced approach... helping my points to sink in further and really make a difference.
Presentations were never something I've been worried about in my life, I feel the confidence is there to produce a 'performance' or 'pitch' enabling me to successfully put forward my opinions and findings alone. This course has helped me streamline this, by pointing out things I needed to work on... such as walking around too much and touching my face a lot during presentations. Hopefully meaning I'll be able to communicate the objective of my presentation far in advance of my previous ability.
With the completion of this course there will be the elation of a long-term goal reached. Giving me the confidence to persue things knowing I've got a good understanding of the hardwork and dedication it takes to get there. Experience counts a lot in the industry, not just with design, but with the work ethic that needs to come alongside it, enabling me to the be the best I can... and in the end making myself a more employable person to a possible client or boss.
Wednesday, 8 October 2008
The, Designer.
http://www.creativepool.co.uk/employee/jobdetail.php?ref=DES/EN683/JN312
"Global beauty brand is looking for a graphic designer to join their busy studio. Working on a number of sub brands across all forms of print media - packaging, POS, Promotional, marketing and advertising you will be responsible for projects from concept through to print. You will need to possess excellent client facing skills as the designers have autonomous roles liaising with their internal clients and marketing professionals. Successful candidates will be able to demonstrate a creative flair in their folio especially on the lifestyle and cosmetics/beauty brands."
It's working with print design, something I'm really looking to go into a lot more than 'the web' side. Their design studio is located in Centeral London, a place where I think creativity thrives.. offering the bigger range for client contacts, a heavier stream of competition and higher demands placed on the employee. Pushing you further and further, striving for the excellence that surviving in this highly motivated industry requires. And there's no truer place in the 'Design World' than the 'Fashion Universe'. Therefore I expect to be dealing with big fashion brand name clients, leading me further down the path of my ultimate goal, which is high end design.
There are things I'd need to be really familiar with, if I was to be very serious about the job possession; processes and skills that I don't have much experience with right now. This would be working with different textures and inks to produce a certain finish, right now most of my work has been web/digitally based.. and this move towards print would mean an adventure in learning.
It would also mean be building up my portfolio with more examples of “fashionista” work and packaging examples, showing that I could adequately produce work at high end fashion standard, consistently. Having some expejavascript:void(0)rience with actual Marketing would be crucial too, the 2 year Advertising course at Leeds College of Art & Design would enable me to move onto this new pasture in design.
"Global beauty brand is looking for a graphic designer to join their busy studio. Working on a number of sub brands across all forms of print media - packaging, POS, Promotional, marketing and advertising you will be responsible for projects from concept through to print. You will need to possess excellent client facing skills as the designers have autonomous roles liaising with their internal clients and marketing professionals. Successful candidates will be able to demonstrate a creative flair in their folio especially on the lifestyle and cosmetics/beauty brands."
It's working with print design, something I'm really looking to go into a lot more than 'the web' side. Their design studio is located in Centeral London, a place where I think creativity thrives.. offering the bigger range for client contacts, a heavier stream of competition and higher demands placed on the employee. Pushing you further and further, striving for the excellence that surviving in this highly motivated industry requires. And there's no truer place in the 'Design World' than the 'Fashion Universe'. Therefore I expect to be dealing with big fashion brand name clients, leading me further down the path of my ultimate goal, which is high end design.
There are things I'd need to be really familiar with, if I was to be very serious about the job possession; processes and skills that I don't have much experience with right now. This would be working with different textures and inks to produce a certain finish, right now most of my work has been web/digitally based.. and this move towards print would mean an adventure in learning.
It would also mean be building up my portfolio with more examples of “fashionista” work and packaging examples, showing that I could adequately produce work at high end fashion standard, consistently. Having some expejavascript:void(0)rience with actual Marketing would be crucial too, the 2 year Advertising course at Leeds College of Art & Design would enable me to move onto this new pasture in design.
Tuesday, 7 October 2008
A Structured Cloud.
The last year was really an adjustment year for me, really stepping up to a more business like pace.. hopefully leading towards showing and getting me comfortable with full industry speed. Which already has started happening in 2 year. My real overall aim with this course has been to sharpen my design skills and give me a firm grasp of the coding side, enabling me to create anything I would want to, how I want to. For this reason I've been glad the first assignment has been CSS, I've been eager over the years to get into the development side a lot more, using CSS, PHP, Javascript. The main reason being because it makes me more employable. And since I'm passionate about the Design sides, I feel developer is just another notch on the resume.
Which brings me to next year's aspirations, hoping to have a place on the Huddersfield Multimedia course. I'm choosing this because it'll give me a wider range of skills and abilities, hoping to have a notch over my competition on employability factors. At Huddersfield they teach 3D modelling and animation, something I've dabbled with in the past and something I'd like to really get into. It would enable me to take simple graphics to a whole new level, giving me that edge over the thousands of freelance designers out there.
In the long term future I'd hope to work for a large (in client) niche design company, a bit like The Design Republic. Hopefully with like minded people with similar abilities and could be part of pushing the boundaries of design.. right now I'm sticking within them for the firm skill foundations. One day maybe even free lance.
Which brings me to next year's aspirations, hoping to have a place on the Huddersfield Multimedia course. I'm choosing this because it'll give me a wider range of skills and abilities, hoping to have a notch over my competition on employability factors. At Huddersfield they teach 3D modelling and animation, something I've dabbled with in the past and something I'd like to really get into. It would enable me to take simple graphics to a whole new level, giving me that edge over the thousands of freelance designers out there.
In the long term future I'd hope to work for a large (in client) niche design company, a bit like The Design Republic. Hopefully with like minded people with similar abilities and could be part of pushing the boundaries of design.. right now I'm sticking within them for the firm skill foundations. One day maybe even free lance.
Tuesday, 13 May 2008
Ending Evalution
Initially when applying for this course I had the misconceptions of being immersed in an arty world of creativity, days out in the parks and industrial landscapes; armed with a sketchbook looking for inspiration. Voyages to unparalleled worlds of electronic beams of light and techno images, which the weirdest of ways relates to the last project, my previous ideas came to be; though more towards the end of the course than the beginning. Constantly throughout the assignments having to jump threw over these academic hurdles, which made me realise my previous thoughts before starting, really were a misconception.
Our first assignment helped me adjust to the pace of higher learning, before this course 6 form had been a slow drag towards deadlines, with no velocity for work at all. Where as here the volume needed-mixed with the time length allowed really told me this was another level; the name higher learning does have the Ronsil effect and is a clear step-up from A-level and college courses. I initially started like a bat out of hell, researching, designing and generally doing everything that made me ignore one crucial lesson I needed to learn early, to be successful on this course and in the industry. This was the importance of time planning, with the necessary time sheets to produce every week; your time actually had to be properly planned out and thought about. Given that I had never done anything like this before, it really took some time to adjust. Halfway through the first assignment I saw the real benefits, after my initial zooming off with getting all the work done, I had looked around and saw that know one else was at my current stage; knowing this I really slackened off thinking that I could take somewhat of a breather. This was soon proved as being the wrong thing to do, as when looking around I saw the majority of people had not only caught up with me, but overtaken where I was currently at. Now in the rush to get myself back up to par, I let the quality of my work slip and the time sheets had really been thrown out of the window, by such a rollercoaster ride throughout the first assignment. Frankly this was the main reason for not passing the first assignment, but in this I did learn the lesson of proper time management helps the quality of your work and also helps you to explore your priorities a bit more when decided when and where to do things along the way.
With this in mind, I started the next assignment with the death of the first one hanging over me as referral work needed to be done and focused on; which made doing this current one hard… having to go threw tutorials that I wouldn’t need until a few weeks time. I was eager to get on with this work there and then. Though because the first assignment was a website plan too it helped everyone cut a few corners that they’d learnt previously, but still the intensity had been heightened and we’d stepped up another level to what our production would continue you at throughout the year. This meant adjusting again and with the referral work still in the background, I found it hard to juggle both… this is really where my referral rut started to take shape. I saw myself focusing too much on the design work, and not paying enough attention to the real ground work that needed to be done so I could do this design work more effectively and too a higher level; this was another lesson I’ve learned throughout my time so far on this course. You can’t run without laying solid foundations to run on.
Going hand-in-hand with the A3 assignment was Image Rights, one that required you to do a lot more graphical tasks along the way; personally this made me happy as obviously I’d really say that is my forte when it comes to the overall task of ‘Website Design’. Within the A4 assignment was the creation of banners for the Jazz artist, the first real graphic thing we’d done throughout the course and up to this point probably the most enjoyable. I really enjoyed the timed part of it where we had to sit down and do all the developmental work in such a short amount of time. It helped me get a real feel for the industry pace. I think this is where I started to shine some what, hoping that the graphic talent I had gathered of the years was able to be showcased throughout this assignment. Which all culminated recently when I was told, if I had not referred the assignment due to my Image Restoration work not being up the level of my other work I’d of nearly reached merit or actually reached the merit criteria for this assignment. Though still laying in this referral rut and finding it hard to get out, trying to focus on 3 assignments this time and also time manage all this effectively was pretty hard going at times. I know from the real rush towards the end of this assignment to complete that all 3 at the same time really effected how I worked on them and how I was able to divide my time between them.
Now finally onto the building of the website, I was eager to get started; get one with the actually website and get something up and running online, but due to my referral rut I was stuck doing A3 work until I finally had it perfect and was able to get on with my design. Frustration set in as I started going ahead with the online design without the final word from Steve to say I could actually do the design how I wanted, and that he was happy with it. Though finally I managed to get the original work passed and sorted so I could move along with the Website work, and due to my earlier progress I had a bit of a jump start on this and was able to get along quite quickly. No huge problems ever really occurred throughout the building of the website stage, and the design I had finally worked out suited the target audience and everything fit together nicely. Recently during the referral work for this assignment, I managed to streamline the site a whole lot more and really make it something that was user friendly and manageable with the good addition of lightbox; and also the taking away of a useless diverting page. Helping the user’s to get to the information they wanted a lot more easily.
Having ‘Revert to Type’ alongside the Builder helped me a lot, when it came to me getting overly frustrated when building the website, I was able to settle back with some design work for the A6 assignment, whether it was the presentation or the timed tasks. I think this was one of the main enjoyments for me during this assignment; it helped me fathom some real ideas about the pace set when actually in the industry and also the developmental process that had to be done so quick, you needed to be on top form all the time. Not only this, it also give me some ways to explore mediums of design that I’d never really dabbled in before, such as newspaper articles and even so much as product specific designs for the paint tubes we had been given. During the A6 assignment there was the under lying presentation looming, well I only say looming in retrospect because up until this point I had been comfortable with doing presentations and was quite confident when it came to my abilities to do them. I think a few factors like not being fully prepared added up to me not performing as well as I previously had done; this mixed with the fact it kept getting built up from the first time and I un-characteristically let the pressure get to me rather too much. I’ve learnt how to prepare in properly in the future and hopefully there will not be a repeat performance of this.
Though out the course developmental work has been mentioned when it comes to the graphical side of your work, I knew this was important but never used it as effectively or to such a large scale as I did when doing the A7 assignment. I really stepped my development game up here, I felt I really needed to show the diverse range and quality of idea’s I could come up with… I tried brainstorming as much as possible just to keep bringing new ideas hoping to improve the quality of the final work I would come up with. This assignment has been my favourite overall and a nice finish to the year, I was very happy with the final CD Digipak produced and it conveyed exactly the message I wanted to, taking elements from the name ‘Gas’ and influencing my whole layout and really being one of the main features of the design. I felt the music was thrusting you into a whole new out of this world dimension, so I knew I wanted to create an environment that was kind of gothic and eerie but at the same time mysterious; hoping that a buyer would be drawn in by the cover wondering what could be behind an intriguing design. Alongside this CD design, was the ‘Emit Records’ logo, I knew something that you wouldn’t see everyday was appropriate. I had a lot of idea’s when it came to the logo and originally wanted to go for something a lot more freeform, to really convey an out of this world feeling something that wasn’t really hitting any limits and could be taken various ways. In the end I went for a logo that used the ‘E’ in an interesting way, to really help get some brand identity to the company and hopefully make this something that people would see and recognise anywhere.
Our first assignment helped me adjust to the pace of higher learning, before this course 6 form had been a slow drag towards deadlines, with no velocity for work at all. Where as here the volume needed-mixed with the time length allowed really told me this was another level; the name higher learning does have the Ronsil effect and is a clear step-up from A-level and college courses. I initially started like a bat out of hell, researching, designing and generally doing everything that made me ignore one crucial lesson I needed to learn early, to be successful on this course and in the industry. This was the importance of time planning, with the necessary time sheets to produce every week; your time actually had to be properly planned out and thought about. Given that I had never done anything like this before, it really took some time to adjust. Halfway through the first assignment I saw the real benefits, after my initial zooming off with getting all the work done, I had looked around and saw that know one else was at my current stage; knowing this I really slackened off thinking that I could take somewhat of a breather. This was soon proved as being the wrong thing to do, as when looking around I saw the majority of people had not only caught up with me, but overtaken where I was currently at. Now in the rush to get myself back up to par, I let the quality of my work slip and the time sheets had really been thrown out of the window, by such a rollercoaster ride throughout the first assignment. Frankly this was the main reason for not passing the first assignment, but in this I did learn the lesson of proper time management helps the quality of your work and also helps you to explore your priorities a bit more when decided when and where to do things along the way.
With this in mind, I started the next assignment with the death of the first one hanging over me as referral work needed to be done and focused on; which made doing this current one hard… having to go threw tutorials that I wouldn’t need until a few weeks time. I was eager to get on with this work there and then. Though because the first assignment was a website plan too it helped everyone cut a few corners that they’d learnt previously, but still the intensity had been heightened and we’d stepped up another level to what our production would continue you at throughout the year. This meant adjusting again and with the referral work still in the background, I found it hard to juggle both… this is really where my referral rut started to take shape. I saw myself focusing too much on the design work, and not paying enough attention to the real ground work that needed to be done so I could do this design work more effectively and too a higher level; this was another lesson I’ve learned throughout my time so far on this course. You can’t run without laying solid foundations to run on.
Going hand-in-hand with the A3 assignment was Image Rights, one that required you to do a lot more graphical tasks along the way; personally this made me happy as obviously I’d really say that is my forte when it comes to the overall task of ‘Website Design’. Within the A4 assignment was the creation of banners for the Jazz artist, the first real graphic thing we’d done throughout the course and up to this point probably the most enjoyable. I really enjoyed the timed part of it where we had to sit down and do all the developmental work in such a short amount of time. It helped me get a real feel for the industry pace. I think this is where I started to shine some what, hoping that the graphic talent I had gathered of the years was able to be showcased throughout this assignment. Which all culminated recently when I was told, if I had not referred the assignment due to my Image Restoration work not being up the level of my other work I’d of nearly reached merit or actually reached the merit criteria for this assignment. Though still laying in this referral rut and finding it hard to get out, trying to focus on 3 assignments this time and also time manage all this effectively was pretty hard going at times. I know from the real rush towards the end of this assignment to complete that all 3 at the same time really effected how I worked on them and how I was able to divide my time between them.
Now finally onto the building of the website, I was eager to get started; get one with the actually website and get something up and running online, but due to my referral rut I was stuck doing A3 work until I finally had it perfect and was able to get on with my design. Frustration set in as I started going ahead with the online design without the final word from Steve to say I could actually do the design how I wanted, and that he was happy with it. Though finally I managed to get the original work passed and sorted so I could move along with the Website work, and due to my earlier progress I had a bit of a jump start on this and was able to get along quite quickly. No huge problems ever really occurred throughout the building of the website stage, and the design I had finally worked out suited the target audience and everything fit together nicely. Recently during the referral work for this assignment, I managed to streamline the site a whole lot more and really make it something that was user friendly and manageable with the good addition of lightbox; and also the taking away of a useless diverting page. Helping the user’s to get to the information they wanted a lot more easily.
Having ‘Revert to Type’ alongside the Builder helped me a lot, when it came to me getting overly frustrated when building the website, I was able to settle back with some design work for the A6 assignment, whether it was the presentation or the timed tasks. I think this was one of the main enjoyments for me during this assignment; it helped me fathom some real ideas about the pace set when actually in the industry and also the developmental process that had to be done so quick, you needed to be on top form all the time. Not only this, it also give me some ways to explore mediums of design that I’d never really dabbled in before, such as newspaper articles and even so much as product specific designs for the paint tubes we had been given. During the A6 assignment there was the under lying presentation looming, well I only say looming in retrospect because up until this point I had been comfortable with doing presentations and was quite confident when it came to my abilities to do them. I think a few factors like not being fully prepared added up to me not performing as well as I previously had done; this mixed with the fact it kept getting built up from the first time and I un-characteristically let the pressure get to me rather too much. I’ve learnt how to prepare in properly in the future and hopefully there will not be a repeat performance of this.
Though out the course developmental work has been mentioned when it comes to the graphical side of your work, I knew this was important but never used it as effectively or to such a large scale as I did when doing the A7 assignment. I really stepped my development game up here, I felt I really needed to show the diverse range and quality of idea’s I could come up with… I tried brainstorming as much as possible just to keep bringing new ideas hoping to improve the quality of the final work I would come up with. This assignment has been my favourite overall and a nice finish to the year, I was very happy with the final CD Digipak produced and it conveyed exactly the message I wanted to, taking elements from the name ‘Gas’ and influencing my whole layout and really being one of the main features of the design. I felt the music was thrusting you into a whole new out of this world dimension, so I knew I wanted to create an environment that was kind of gothic and eerie but at the same time mysterious; hoping that a buyer would be drawn in by the cover wondering what could be behind an intriguing design. Alongside this CD design, was the ‘Emit Records’ logo, I knew something that you wouldn’t see everyday was appropriate. I had a lot of idea’s when it came to the logo and originally wanted to go for something a lot more freeform, to really convey an out of this world feeling something that wasn’t really hitting any limits and could be taken various ways. In the end I went for a logo that used the ‘E’ in an interesting way, to really help get some brand identity to the company and hopefully make this something that people would see and recognise anywhere.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
