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.

CD Cover

A cheeky bit of feedback, please?

Aspirations

This last few days have been such a big few days for me, I think it's the combination of the weather and warmth, it's just brought the real creative side out in me; and I'm so enjoying it while it's here. My juices have been flowing in such a big way, new ideas just falling from everywhere.. not just with a few sources; just everything has added to this storm of creavity. I've definitely been taking advantage of this boost, so much more work in my sketchboook.. today I spent a happy 2-3 hours just sketching new ideas, developing them and seeing the possibilities of where I can take each little nuance to the fullest. I've started throwing these ideas round on Adobe Photoshop and I have to say I'm so happy with the results I've had so far, nothings finished totally yet but I can picture the finished product and am so eager to see how it's going to turn out. I was a little unhappy with the previous CD cover I'd created; though I did think there was enough manipulation and creavity in it thats required for this assignment. And that's always a safe one I can go back to if these don't work out how I hope. But I'm really trying to showcase myself and take this to a new level, a real professional level that you definitely could see on the shelves next to big name artists and not even just blend in; I'm wanting these to stick out from the crowd. Have an emotive effect on a buyer whatever the mood it creates is, just inspire some response and connection from the average person. So when it comes to the music they're ready to explore the boundaries of the ambient enviroments created inside.

I was starting to feel a little burnout before this assignment, and the timing of it was exactly what I needed to get me back on my previous wavelength and direction. Feeling really rejuvenated about everything, hopefully that will show in the work I'm producing again. Even looking on retrospect on the A5 assignment, the concept and everything was there for a great piece of work, but the actual stream-lining and development of it was so no where near the level I could've taken it to. Thanks to some ideas from Steve about the page arrangement and other idea's I could bring into it like lightbox, that helped me push it a little way nearer the level and hopefully to pass level. Kinda made me see things a alot more clearer about the whole concept of a website, get rid of the useless faff and really make your user have the ability to connect with your website; this is what you need to make the user feel like they've full filled their purpose of going there.

Looking forward to the summer assignment and next year I'm so excited, over this summer I'm setting a few short term goals for myself when it comes to my own skills. Remember the phrase 'Skills underpin Abilities', and keep this in mind when learning new things, don't set your goals too high although it's great to be ambitious you have to be realistic at the same time. Ask yourself if you have the ability to learn this particular skill; and if the answer is yes.. go for it. This summer I'm going to make the effort to iron out my personal weaknesses, which mainly has to do with the developing side of everything. I know with some work I could step my coding game up to something where I'm comfortable with it all, though I know this may be a stressful learning curve, I'm willing to go through this to get to exactly where I need to be right now. Get myself ready for this first assignment in year 2, and I previously never thought I'd say this, being my usual stance on the coding side, but 'really get into CSS'. The drive for this is the possibilities open if you have the talent of both sides, developing and designing.. it just makes you such a better prospect for the actual industry and also personal development; I think this willingness to learn and passion for it is what actually takes you to the next level and gets you seriously ready for the industry. I'm hitting this second wind and excited about it.

Look out over the next few days for these final ideas and developed designs to be up for feedback, not only here but on the forum aswell.. and when I catch a few people at ridiculous in the morning times. I think as a class we really need to start getting into some proper feedback in a big way, just think of it as a team of designers and developers with the same goal.. think about how much we can push each other and drive ourselves onto this goal. It'll be so much easier with everyone behind everyone helping, giving the advice and feedback that we need when we need it, and at low points taking people by the ear and pulling them into the right direction.

Gaseous Outcome.

Closing into the final deadline this week has been a pivotal week in our development and full creation of the assignment tangibles. With the logo already finalised, finished and fully polished off; our total focus fell on the foundations in which the logo mixed with the music and research presented us with. Alongside our earlier work we needed to have our final CD cover idea presented today, not totally finished; but something that would lead and be very similar to the final handed in work. I'd got some really strong ideas and had virtually developed a finished piece with one of them, which I presented in the seminar groups on Tuesday. I feel it got good feedback and people were pleased with the work I did, there wasn't too many complaints when it came to criticism and the ones that cropped up had already been noticed by me and changes planned for the future. Although I still like this design, I don't think it's as good as I could make it or as good as another idea could be produced. I think the composition especially of the pipework is done quite poorly which leads to it not having a great presence in the front cover. Also when looking at it alongside professional CD covers I do not think it would hold its weight very well; just for the simple fact it doesn't jump out of your with any kind of design swagger or smooth graphics; it's a bit plain. This is the main reason for my developing other ideas as much as I have this one, so I can be happy with knowing the final design is the best I could create.

The logo I've developed I feel suits the record label, but not only that I think it really suits the style of my music, originally it looked alot more like a sports logo; but with the recently developed side of it.. I think the logo flows alot more. Symbolising the music and label, with the smooth and clear curves mixed with the sharp points and flat diagonal of the left side, as Emit and it's music it quite a varied range and you never seem to know what your going to get when it comes to the records released.

We're sharply coming to the end of our first year, I think there's a continuous feeling throughout the group that it's so sudden; on reflection at break today over our first day and the activities we did: it really just seems like only yesterday we were talking our introductory walk around Thornes Park and getting to know each other. Over this past year I've seen us really grow as a group and individuals have come together to make it an enjoyable place to learn and design, which is one of the main reasons the year has flown by. Another reason for this is the amount of work we've done over this year, the speed it has really seemed like we've started one assignment then finished it in no time at all. There has always been a lot of work going on at once and the demand asked of us has always been high, so there was no time to flounder around.

Over these next few weeks there won't be a splendid amount of work to do, most of it will be polishing off already worked out ideas and a lot of time spent on the A1 assignment. I think this will be my biggest effort of the year, I know theres alot to do when it comes to A1; especially I've a lot of annotation to do with the inspiration I've been sticking in my sketchbook throughout the year. And also some of the annotations on on developmental work I've done this term, With the added relief of having to stick in loads of previous free sheets, but this part will all be over soon.. eager to look forward to the next year.

Musically Inclined

Developmental work has a been a big part of my last week, I not only really started to develop my original ideas and previous designs to a better standard but I continued creating even more ideas, through many different mediums. I thought this would help me broaden and expand my range of ideas and give me other elements I could bring into my final design. I also started to sketch to a more accurate standard than I had done before, I felt that with the adding of annotations would really be able to present my developmental ideas and give the marker a lot more of an idea of the actual thing I was going for.

Last week I also finished my final logo which I will upload later, I'm happy with the developmental process that I went through to get to my final design. It shows a clear start to where the idea came from and exactly how I've developed it throughout individual stages, I also showed where I'd tried to use that idea to develop other ways and similar designs based around this initial idea. I previously thought I'd finished my logo, but last week I decided to round the corners on the edges, I just think this made it a lot stronger for the branding and also made my logo relate more to the 'ambient' feel a lot better. Just for the fact it made it abit more natural, I was going by the thought process that my logo before this would of related to a sports maybe surf clothing company a lot more than it would an ambient record label.

I've really been getting along with my CD cover this week, especially when it came to my final design. I set everything up towards the guidelines and started final design work on the concept I had chosen to develop on screen this week. So far it's turned out quite well, I originally went for a floating island in the background idea giving it an eerie effect and hopefully quite space age trying to represent the music on the actual disk. Especially when it had a factory ontop of the island that produced gas, making it kind of a subliminal message towards the person who might buy this record. Then I developed this idea with a planet instead of the floating island thinking that the island might be abit tacky. I now prefer the one with the planet, I've messed around with the factory ontop of the planet; but I think overall just having the planet coming through the smoke gives it a stronger concept and space effect more accurately representing my music.

The Coverage

I've really been focusing on my CD cover over this past week, trying to get some solid ideas down on paper for when I started moving to Adobe Photoshop. Though I did some small developmental work on Photoshop throughout the week, just so I could my brain onto the design path. Since over the years I've seemed to work better straight on the screen, messing around with stuff and seeing what happens. I think this course has changed the way I design, especially with the developmental work; I've started to prefer to design on paper first and get ideas down, develop them to see where an idea can go. It saves alot of time in the final process of designing, so that there arn't millions of wasted final designs that didn't go according to plan, because I didn't know exactly what I was doing until it happened on screen.

As the week progressed I began to gather more and more ideas, especially since I had started properly researching into CD Covers and found loads of inspirational artwork to spur me on. Even just going threw artwork that wasn't really suitable for my particular genre helped me get ideas, I really liked some of the conceptual photography for bands like 'Blur' and their cover 'The Great Escape', covers that really mean something from a metaphorical standpoint.

I've finalised my logo and really worked on the whole concept of it, due to suggestions made by Steve I made the lines going diagonal on the left edge lineup, instead of the 'e' moving straight down. I think this had made my overall logo a lot better flow, giving more structure. This gives me a stronger brand name and company recognition, hopefully making the business more money in the process as people can really recognise the whole company from just the body of this logo. Not only have I finalised the development of my logo, I've also started taking it to next generations and given it subtle effects to just add a little bit of flare and shine. I think this will help finish the logo off just that bit more and hopefully add strength.

This week I'm really going to make my CD covers into something special, start adding some major Photoshop photoshop effects. Try my best to convey the music that's on the album by with lighting effects and warps. But still trying to retain an ery natural feel, something along the sides of an Aphex Twin effect, mixing the electronic and the natural to create a biotech feel. I'm going to see what photographs I can get to manipulate and create this kind of effect.

Eeee.

This week has been a swamp with the letter e's, as far as the eye could see.. looking around in class means your inundated with logo's, emitting rays of radioactive waste, e's dancing and waving. A whole variety. It's pretty safe to say we as a class have come up with a good range of designs for this logo project, from what I've seen I can see some very solid ones forming in class, and I know that with a little tweakage they could cut the mustard against professional logo's. At the moment I'm fairly happy with the way this project is going, and am enjoying all the sketchbook work, drawing and manipulating; but by the end of the assignment, I'm going to never want to see another 'e' ever again.

I've come up with a few good strong logos, and although personally I would've gone down a different route to the one Steve actually chose out of the ones given to him, I'm pretty happy with the logo I am working with anyway. I think it has all the attributes of a good logo; it fills the space will, there is some real contrast to it, also quite a recognisable shape.. clear brand identity not getting it mixed up with anything else, and also it works at a variety of sizes. It'll be good to see how this logo fits in with my final project of the CD cover, and if I'm going to have to try mirror the style on there or if it'll just all come into place without needing to tweak. I'm hoping the latter, as I think there is a very distinct style to my work in these situations and all kind've follow a similar path from my way of thinking. Really going for a futuristic effect but still being able to be used in the mainstream and recognised, which will give me that vital brand recognition.

This week is the week to start on the CD cover, now I've got some finalisation from Steve on my logo, I can press ahead with the next task. I've already started doing more precise mood boards to convey my feelings around the type of music and how it will be represented on the CD cover its self. Started jotting ideas down, for images on the cover, graphical features I can put in and how everything will be manipulated for the benefit of the aesthetics. I also need to start thinking about what is going to go on the CD its self, really trying to keep a simplistic feel throughout the job, so this shouldn't be such a long task, I just need to get some real solid ideas down on paper and start developing them into great designs, good enough to compete with professional. As this is the aim of this task, hoping that the cover/cd you have designed, can be put in HMV and not look out of place on the shelves.

I have to say I'm pretty confident I can make it to this professional level, I know the design skills, eye are there it's all a matter of the creative side and hoping that the work I come up with will be some of my best. I know throughout this task I'm going to keep striving for better and better, since we've been given so much time to do this. Hopefully the work will actually match my abilty.

Since the talk to John on Monday and the speaker that came in, I'm going to start going out there and looking at jobs; what design companys want from a designer, what skills..etc and also other educational establishments, to see how this compares to what I'm doing at the moment. Then I will be able to see what my rivals and competitors are being taught whilst I'm here, hopefully knowing all this, when it finally comes time to go for a real job I'll have the necessary skills, attitude and foot in the door with my portfolio to be successful. This past year has gone so quick, I can tell the next one will go even quicker; hopefully all this will make me ready for leaving the course and getting out into the big world. As a safety there's other courses at other places, I can use to top up my skills and really persue excellence before going for a job.. the decision will come at the end of the two years, which one my choice will be.