This could be linked with the fear of not being as good as everyone else. I started this course with little design knowledge and I felt that there would be people better than me, and there are. This, now, no longer makes me feel anxious, it gives me the determination to be the best there is.
Another fear was learning the software I knew that I would be required to learn software that I wouldn’t normally use e.g. PageMaker. This is a big step from anything I have ever used and it felt daunting at first to use. However over the first year I can now say I can use it well enough to complete the tasks so I feel I have enough technical proficiency in this.
One software I desperately wanted to learn was Photoshop which, in my eyes, is a truly amazing software package, however it is very easy to get ‘lost in the moment’ when using it and I found out that you can start with nothing and finish with something and be completely oblivious to what happened in the middle. Banned words in Photoshop include Lens Flare, and for someone else Twirl. I feel that I have learnt this well and I did take the time to try out tutorials for my own learning from the website www.tutorialized.com.
Starting the course I had experience in the software package Dreamweaver and from the previous foundation degree scored the highest in a Vendor Skills Qualification of 63%, pass mark 70%, set up by the course leader, closely followed by the next person at around 20%.
I was surprised to see that Flash was not part of this year. Next year it looks like there will be a six month long assignment in Flash. I have some ideas of what I want to do but I will need to take all aspects into consideration and my current abilities in the software. I am not however going too create an assignment, which is too easy, as I want to push myself to my full potential. On the other hand I don’t want to make the assignment too big so that it is too big to handle.
This course allowed me to create my first website. I was pleased with the overall outcome of it, even though I got a referral the first time. The reason for this was because of images that hadn’t been compressed to the fullest. Having learned from this mistake my Ambient World style guide was a lot better, and created in CSS, which is another achievement.
Deadlines were another fear of mine as I sometimes leave things to the last minute. I haven’t missed one in my train of thought, but a referral seems to count as a missed deadline according to the course leader. I did feel a bit down about referring this assignment but I understood why and got it to a pass.
Self Study started off as a bit slow, I will admit that to start with I may not have put in as much as was required but towards the end of the year I found my self doing more than needed. I could see this as either a good thing or a bad thing. On the one hand it showed I was dedicated to the course wanting to get the most out of it, but on the other side it showed that maybe I was doing more towards the end fearing I hadn’t done enough. I would like to think that it was because I wanted to de better.
Tied in with this would be timekeeping. So far I have not been late for college (of my own fault). My time planning in the beginning was not very good at all. I felt that I couldn’t plan ahead of the assignment deadline, and recording what I had done. I have done a lot better in this last assignment and it is no longer a real issue. I now create an overall plan of the assignment and what needs to be done on a calendar like form. Then plan each week a week in advance.
Assignment Sheets. As being part of the ‘Chipmunks’ group we were often tested on the learning outcomes of the assignments. For example “What’s 4.1?” which mostly up in either silence or a random series of words forming the wrong answer. This has taught our group at least to memorise them off by heart in fear of a ‘pop quiz’ from Steve.
And for anyone wondering what 4.1 is it’s “Use a range of idea generating techniques creatively” but you should know that.
Maybe the biggest fear I have is presentations and something that is becoming gradually easier apparently in the 2nd year we’ll have a presentation every month, which to start with sounded absolutely terrifying but now seems like a good idea. I think this stems from a lack of confidence when speaking and I tend to speed up and merge the words into one big one. The second presentation I think was slightly better than the first because I had planned it more but not practised as much as I could have. Nerves are an issue as well as I can get nervous when put on the spot.
As the design industry is driven by communication, both verbal and creatively, it is something I will need to strengthen and is strengthening all the time.
A1 Sketchblog
This is the first time I have written a blog. Another new thing was keeping a sketchbook. I found that the sketchblog got neglected and it shouldn’t have. I think this is because I did not fully understand the assignment sheet mark criteria. I think I could have found more influences to put in the sketchbook but I think that I have attained a pass for it.
With the blog I tried from about week 4 to have a theme for the blog titles and these were references to Marvel characters, some of them lyrics from songs from soundtracks. For example ‘Learn the Hard Way’ is a song from Daredevil.
A2 That’s the Plan
The first assessed assignment was quite easy now compared to the later assignments. This was our first encounter with PageMaker and to start with it was daunting but over time it got easier and I can now say that I have a greater understanding of the software.
A3 Back to BASIC
This is the first website we created for a website that was going to be built. It did feel a bit repetitive to the A2 assignment but this time the content needed to be supplied. Finding free image sites was a hard task in itself. The content was easy to write as most of the technical terms I knew from previous courses.
A4 Picture This
The first real use of Photoshop, the restoration was quite possibly the second hardest assignment to complete. We had to restore an image from its battered scanned form to a good colour image. I think this was the assignment I was dreading handing in and getting the mark back. However I passed it and felt good about doing so. The main concern was not being able to get rid of the imperfections and this was an example of lack of technical proficiency.
A5 Builder
Taking the website plan from A3 we had to create the website. I have to say I thought that the website would look completely different from the screen design but I was pleased to see it didn’t. I was a bit stunned to hear that it had been referred but I know the reasons why and managed to make the required changes.
A6 Revert to Type
This assignment allowed me to see how important the right font is. Before I would have just placed a font type anywhere without regard but now I have the knowledge about where to put it, what alignment, what size and leading etc.
It also included a presentation which I felt went better than those on previous courses.
A7 The Fax of Life
The biggest assignment to date started with the basic challenge of creating a logo for the record label ‘Ambient World’. I think that I may have taken a bit too long in the process. The style guide is the best website I have created so far and the corporate identity part was completed. The CD artwork itself was a simple task but I managed to make the CD inlay 5mm too small on both sides. I cannot even begin to explain how I managed this either but I am glad that it was pointed out before it was too late.
Overall I think I have learnt more than I have on any other course. This knowledge has made me feel a lot more confident about becoming a designer.
I am looking forward to the next year of the course especially working in a team environment I am also looking forward to the self-assessed assignment. I have never had to write an assignment myself and although it sounds a little scary it seems a good way to develop planning skills further.
I am also looking forward to working with Flash; I like using the software so I feel that I will be able to do better in this assignment.
Looking back now I think I have definitely improved from my first website plan I created. From what I have learnt there is definitely some improvement that is noticeable and I feel that this is the right career path for me.
As for next year a few goals I would like to attain are:
- Firstly to pass the first year and get on the next
- To achieve at least 3 merits
- To improve my ideas generation process - e.g, more use of colour earlier on, more volume in ideas (thumbs, roughs, detailed etc)
- To create and utilise a productive time planning form
- To use InDesign instead of PageMaker as a page layout tool
And finally...
- To never give up and never surrender!
