When I started I wanted to learn and develop new creative skills so that one day I could get a job in the industry. After only one year I feel I have learnt so much I’m finding it difficult as to where to start. At the beginning I had no knowledge what so ever of any the software applications we have used on this course. Sometimes I felt this left me behind especially with Photoshop but the course is well structured and gave me easily enough time to learn what I needed to learn to achieve things on the course. I am very pleased with all the software applications I can now use such as, PageMaker, Photoshop, Freehand and especially Dreamweaver.
The first assignment we were given which we are only just ready to hand in has been a year long assignment about our blogs and sketch books. This is the first higher level course where my sketches and design processes are going to be marked. This did make me quite nervous at first because I felt I could come up with some good ideas but iv never really had anyone else agree with me like the way people have especially in the blogs. Although I have said in the past especially to John that I was doing the blog every week just to pass the assignment looking back I do realise it has been a very good tool which has let me show my work off, which has let to some good feedback form the group.
The second assignment we were given was assignment about creating a web plan for a famous Briton. The amount of work at first was hard to cope with because I had been out of education for some time and everything was new and a lot more intense than I had previously been used to on other courses. But looking back at that first assignment, with the knowledge I have gained that assignment would not take nearly as long if I were to do it again now.
The next two assignments we received at the same time one to do on a Wednesday and one to do on Thursdays. This was quite a big jump at this stage of the course because it meant less time to complete things so the pressure was on a lot more I felt. A3 was another website plan but this time we were going to have to create the website later on in the year so it was important to get this one right. I thought this assignment went well I felt I knew what I was doing a lot more after the experience from the previous one. I learnt some very important terms while doing this assignment. I think the way it had been set up was key to me learning all the information because it would have been easy for Steve to say you need to know all about a computers internal components, external components, software etc. so go out an learn it and you will be tested on it later. But the fact we had to build a site based on all of this information really meant it all just seemed to sink in somewhere down the line. I think it was a much better way of learning al the details that we needed.
A4 was my first experience with Photoshop. Even though the assignment only wanted me to use the very basic of its functions I still found it difficult. This assignment also introduced me to vector and bitmap images. When I look back I actually enjoyed doing this assignment but reading a couple of my old blog entries back you wouldn’t think so. I was happy with my banner designs and the image restoration. I new I had only just touched the surface with Photoshop however and that I would need to improve with this software a lot if I wanted professional quality results in the future. I am still learning Photoshop now but I feel I can defiantly create a finished product using this software.
A5 was the building part of the A3 assignment, and my first look at Dreamweaver. I was nervous about this because there was a lot of feeling in the group that using Dreamweaver and tables and cells would be hard work. I regret I got stuck straight in to designing my site without looking what I could have done. If I had created a template for my site it would have saved me a lot of time and effort in the long run because I had to go back through the site and change every page and having around 20pages to my site this was very tedious and I soon learnt from my mistakes for the next website I had to create.
The next assignment Steve built up to be one of the most nerve racking assignment of the year. This was because not only did we have to create a presentation about a famous typographer we were going to be given secret timed task that had do be done in a very short space of time. I feel my presentation went well and it has given my more confidence for when I will be required to do the next one. I didn’t like the timed assignment really and I was very nervous after completing all of these about what grade I would receive. But the fact I gained my best marks of the course so far made me realise that Steve’s rule by fear method must have worked on me. I was only one point of a distinction and this shocked me but it just shows what I can do if I put some real effort in and really concentrate at the task at hand.
A7 is the current assignment that is due to be handed in next week. This assignment we have to create a new company redesign a company logo, give the company a new corporate identity and put it on the internet in the form of a style guide and create a new CD design on a CD that we weren’t allowed to hear the music from when we chose it. I think the website I have created is much better than the first two and I think it is clear to see my progression from first to present website. Creating the logo took a lot longer than I thought it would it seems so small most of the time but I have realised a logo has to appear on everything so it has to fit in and not look out of place, this means getting the logo right is just about the most importing aspect of a company re-branding. The CD cover I have produced I am a little concerned about because although it is very eye catching it doesn’t seem to print off with the same vibrancy. This is probably going to be my next big lesson that I learn from the course and Steve has said many, many times that just because it looks like that on screen it doesn’t mean it going to print the same.
I have really enjoyed my first year on the course. I have learnt so much in just one year that I can’t wait for the next. I am a little nervous about the step up that the second year will be but I do know I will have to step up a lot if I want to get the kind of job I am after at the end of it. I don’t think I could go out and find a job in the industry at this stage but I certainly know a lot more about the industry and the job I may be doing at the end of the course. This was due to the old students that came in to give us a presentation about what they did when they left the course and what there day to day life is like working in the industry. I regret not going to the design mechanics studio but if another trip is on the agenda next year I will defiantly have my name down to go.
Goals For Next Year
Next year I hope to have created a full working website using CSS.
I hope to have a profesional Flash project added to my porforlio.
I hope to create a professional standard portfolio in the second year.
I want to have gained more merit grades than in the first year.
I want to achieve at least two distinction grades on the second year.
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