Refreshments Served..

My title, abstract but accurate.

This week has been quite a refreshing change for me and has definitely backed up my new found revelations about the course, as me and Steve have discussed; over the half term I was thinking hard about this course, wondering if it was actually the right one for me. With which I came to the conclusion that it was, this upped my overall work rate and hunger for the course, in turn showing in my commitment with blog posts / blog entries and email replies. This has been noted by Steve and I've had reassuring feedback which further galvanized my want to be a success with this course, he identified that he'd noticed this particular change in my behaviour and also had some evidence to back what he was saying up.

I've found these past two weeks on the course probably the most enjoyable for me, yet; even though I referred on my A2 assignment, the changed that I feel need to be made from the feedback I was given.. I'd be able to complete with a good 2 days worth of work and get this out of the way, enabling me to concentrate on the other two assignments fully.

The enjoyment has come from the new subjects I am encountering like the argument with 'Art or Design' and the question that was put to us 'Are we Artists, Are we Designers, Or Both? Which is what I thought the course would be like when I first signed up to it, I expected these types of philosophical questions that made us think and explore a lot more frequently; alongside more design work. Which this week I have found we are moving onto more, the 'Image Compression' subject has also interested me a lot, and in the lecture this morning i found myself concentrating on the information quite hard, thinking this to be along the lines of things I am used to. Using Adobe Photoshop to complete tasks and problems.

I've started this latest assignment with a lot more organisation than previously, I already have a place for all my screenshots to be stuck in, micro task checklists to enable me to tick off each part of the assignment as I do it. All my electronic files are organised in their separate folders and every file name is linked directly to what the file actually is and explains what's inside, enabling me to quickly search through and keep track of everything when it comes to burning it out onto a CD for the deadline. All my timesheets are upto date and everything I have filled in on them is exactly what I have done, including right now posting the blog, the work today was completed quickly and efficiently.

• Continue on the Image compression work, do essay.
• Turn referal around and complete work necessary to pass this time around.
• Have alot of creative time and think about ideas for a layout for A4 Task.

Backup the hill...

This week has a been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster ride for the group, the pressure of presentations on the first Monday back, were evident as I looked at the faces around me. Though through the nervousness came a sense of calm as we sat talking in the refectory, it was a real chance for everyone to converse and get to know more people better, I personally thought doing this made us come together as a group alot more. I think it was the shared nervous feelings around the presentation and our first assignment rules that really created this bond between us all and showed Steve that we were one of the groups that could bring its self together and help one another out.

As each person got called up the optimistic feeling within the group rose; mainly because after a person came back from presenting their work they seemed elated with what they had produced, how the presentation its self went and how well they think Steve received their particular presentations. In the aftermath we were told Steve was happy with how the presentations went and there was definately a shared feeling of relief.

The Results: Referral,
Feeling: Dissappointed,
On The Top: Calm,
Comments: I know what I need to do.

Today we had the type of lecture that I thought the course would be based around a lot more, with the introduction of the A3 assignment. The particular question posed to us by Steve was "What's the difference between Art & Design?" a very open ended question with alot of room for discussion, and it really didn't fail to provoke that kind of response from the class and myself. In our new seminar groups Shaun & I were already arguing the thoughts and opinions based around this subject, we knew that when it came time for the class discussion there was definitely going to be some interesting points made; alongside heated debate over the subject. Which after some careful consideration, and of course taking alot of Steve's points into account I settled on that 'I am a Designer'.

This week we have a few tasks to complete; one of these is an essay on the latter subject, I am particularly looking forward to as it gives me sufficient time and space to rant about my own opinion around this subject, and I like to be opinionated on subjects like this. The only thing I might slip up on is the word count being for two essays, I'll have to set it out at 700 each... but about this subject I know it's possible for me to write atleast double that, I will have to find away of fitting everything I want to say in not so many words. I think another thing to take into account is the next essay after this and think about switching the percentage of my word count on each, to enable me to write more than just 700 on this one.

Seeing Red; Mixed With Yellow.

Well the colour I've been given is 'Brown'; at first I thought this was a bad choice and was gutted I didn't get more of a primary colour rather than a derivative of orange, or red and yellow mixed together. But as time when along and my research turned up more and more, I am quite happy with the colour and think I come up with a bit of luck in this particular one.

The first thing I found was the links to the National Social Party (Nazi's) which took me back to when I studied it in A-Level History a few years ago, and it brought back a few memories such as the 'Hitler Youth' which was all the pure German born kids in an organisation run by the Nazi's. They'd have days out, fun activities a lot of sport and physical things going on, which of course as a young boy was heaven, they used this to brain wash the kids into thinking the way of the Nazi's, all these boys wore Brown Shirts.
A part of the army that also wore these brown shirts were the SA, the core of the Nazi Party ideology.

I thought I'd give people a preview to what may crop up in my presentation, as it seems to be the biggest thing I've found about the colour brown.. except all the natural symbolism that goes along with it.

In reflection I have found this subject quite interesting, which is surprising considering my first reaction to doing a presentation of a colour was 'Are you serious?' I really wasn't sure whether I would be able to fill the whole five minutes on just a colour. Then after reading into it further I discovered it to be quite deep and one that enables a lot of creativity as well as good practice for presentations in the future.

I'm 50/50 with my confidence right now on the presentation, at the moment it is not affecting me and I'm thinking it will go smooth and I am quite confident about presenting my colour. This may be because I have a generally high confidence level and I'm not that scared when it comes to speaking in group situations whether it is answering questions or the like, though I know that presentations are a whole different kettle of fish. I know when it comes 5minutes before the actual presentation the nerves definitely will start to kick in somewhat and I will start worrying.

I have also decided to keep a practice timesheet this week, which was a suggestion Shaun made as he is keeping one too, just to show everything has been done in an organised time and also just to keep the timesheet being a regular thing and staying with the routine.

Half Termination

Well, for a week anyway..
After pondering the last assignment and the future assignments over this last week or so, I've realised my mistakes & downfalls, so the idea mentioned by other students in the class and also the original idea by Steve I think I the timesheet collection idea would be a good solution. For the simple fact it helps me keep an eye on everything a lot easier and then when it comes to the end of an assignment that part is not something I have to deal with.

I'm eager to get on with the next assignment to prove to myself & the tutors what I really can produce, the last one (without realising) was more to test the waters for me to see what actually had to be done in order to produce a good quality piece of work.
It's not only helped me understand the amount of work that's involved, but also the detail involved with each task; in each task there is mini tasks or as the lingo would be 'Macro & Micro' tasks. I know that when the next task comes around I will be even more focused and dedicated to produce the necessary quantity and quality work to get very good marks.

In this week of pondering, I did question myself on whether this was the right course for me; after thinking long and hard I decide it really was & that it was more of a complete course for me than I previously thought. I was sad upon hearing there was going to be no 3D modelling or animation involved in the course at all, as I think that is one of the ways media in general is going, but as far as core design skills this is the place to be; it's possible for me to follow these methods out of college as well.

Gold Rush

With the deadline past mixed feelings are apparent, I'm not sure whether to be happy with what I have done or not.
The main worry for me was the loss of some of my original time sheets and my production schedule, after I had done my evaluation in which I spoke about how good my organisation skills were and how I was keeping up with my time sheets efficiently. I did try to draw some up to cover my steps but found it hard as I only had a few original time sheets to work from, which meant my production schedule was thrown totally off course.

I was however originally stuck on what to write for my evaluation, it took a few days of pondering to figure how exactly what i wanted to include in it, with trying to start but then giving up. I finally worked out what i wanted to say and the words just flowed out and before I knew it, I'd hit around the 850words mark and found myself at the end.
In a way this is similar to how I am when it comes to writing blog entries, sometimes I can just get a topic from the start and seem to go on forever about it, sometimes it takes a while; I usually get it in the end though.
When seeing my actual project and assignment completed, I was overcome with happiness; it is such a burden lifted off my shoulders to see the work all in the InDesign file and looking neat and everything exactly how it should look.

• Think about my presentational skills and make some decisions on how I will approach it.
• Think about how I can improve with task in the future; which I have already started.
• Keep learning Adobe InDesign and working through it's many powerful features.
• Try expand my range of designs, I noticed I was very comfortable with the design i did, it was something that I would have done given no target audience to match with.
• Prepare a lot better for the assignment, I waited until late to make preparations which meant when it came to the final deadline day, i was worried about presentation and getting everything together; instead of the actual work in hand and proof reading everything.

I am excited about the aspect of presentations, I think it as a key skill that is needed in the industry and personally I am happy to explore it. I can see others in the class are quite shy when it comes to presentations and this might hinder them when the day comes, but I feel that if i prepare properly that it should be a task well within my capabilities.

Tickertape Ending

The last week is upon us and a serious tone has hit the group, everyone has realised they need to get down and do some hard graft to get this assignment finished. Personally I was quite relaxed last week behind what maybe was rose coloured glasses, this week it has only just really hit me how much work there was left to complete. Last week was when the amount of detail we actually had to go into made its self apparent, but now when evaluating I'm realsing actually how much work we have done.

On paper 2.5k doesn't seem like a whole lot, if you think our average blog posts are around 500 words. But when you add all the research, putting it into page maker, design work.. everything, I certainly did under estimate the amount of work we would have to do, after week one.

And this is nothing compared to A3..

After a meeting I had with Steve & John, we decided I really needed to pull my finger out, or not only would i be letting myself down, but also them down as tutors; they do put a lot of time and effort into this. It is mostly to do with this very blog its self. I seem to find it very difficult to give people feedback and advice unless it is in coordination with something graphical, or something i can break down from what i can see infront of me, and opinion..etc

• Master Adobe InDesign, with all its functions.
• Proof read, get someone else to proof read.. then proof read again.
• Get myself properly organised with paper/digital files.
• Look over my finished work & see if I can try going into more detail.
• Evaluate it all.

The Homestraight

Final week for until our first real deadline; I'm strangely anxious about it. I think this being our first one creates a whole cloud of mystery, we've not been through this process before, we don't know how anything around it works, except we hand our work in & get it back with the grade. I know it's not a factor of the work that is making me feel like this, because I'm feeling that I'm on top of the workload and schedule.
I will not be rushing to get it finished, this maybe because I have timed managed effectively enough to allow me the final week be relaxed with my work. All the preparations in my sketch book to give me the necessary information ready at hand to complete my mini-tasks in the assignment quickly and to the best of my capability, has helped with this a great deal.

When first properly learning about Adobe Pagemaker this week, I found it to be an awfully complex programme for the job it was actually doing; it basically incorporates a few lines here & there, but the simple factor that you can't move lines along a pixel at a time greatly hinder it's usage.
I told Steve of my problems with Pagemaker, in our tutor meeting today; in which we agreed due to my history and experience it might be best for me to move on to using Adobe InDesign. Which would allow me to create what I wanted, more coherently than before and quicker.

Yesterday in a meeting with John we decided that I would set a few goals with my weekly blog entries, as this would give me some concrete things for me to work towards & hopefully get the best out of my self study time.

• Get familiar with Adobe InDesign / Create my finished screen design with it.
• Collect & organise my references; to help me to add them quickly at the end.
• Include & annotate some more inspiration work in my sketch book.
• Do everything with micro tasks, enabling me to get into intricate details.
• Push for at least a merit; marks that will show my actual capabilities.
• Finish it.

I've done some nearly finished screen designs, hopefully this will give you the idea of the target market and shed some light on the kind of look/layout I'm trying to achieve.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y24/seyance/ericsite.jpg - White on Black

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y24/seyance/whiteeric.jpg - Black on White

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y24/seyance/littleeric.jpg - Grey on White

Feedback on these would be appreciated..