Trexi!

Culture Vulture
This assignment has been by far the hardest assignment I have ever done. The 'Reverse Design' process did seem a little daunting and all through the assignment I was wondering what the product was. With the previous two year's being the Coke Bottle, I was hoping that we did not get this as I thought it might be too easy. Going through my designs now though I do not think I have a design that would suit it.

The two product choices were a bit cryptic as I guess they were supposed to be in order to hide it. I originally chose number 2 which seemed the easiest choice, but in the end I chose 1, "A niche product, Child's play? no way! Urban Vinyl", as I thought what if it is the Coke Bottle? I guess I would have chosen quicker had I have 'googled' it.

It was quite a nervous situation last Wednesday morning having turned up to the room early only to be turned away by Steve. At 9 o'clock we all got ushered in and then those who picked number two had to leave for half an hour. Thankfully though it was only to show us our product.

I am happy with the product choice which happens to be a collectible item known as a Trexi. I am quite a collector of things and have already purchased my first Trexi which is the Godzilla/Dinosaur design. I think the week before receiving this 'product' I was beginning to get tired of the constant creative work. As soon as I saw the product I think I got a new burst of enthusiasm. This week has been the 'apply it to the product week' and I have found Freehand to be an amazing tool, making the 'difficult' bits look easy. Saying that I still have to do the fish on the front of my design and make sure it looks right in the perspective.

I decided to do the skeletal design for the website last week as then it is just a case of dragging and dropping an image into place. I kind of knew which idea was going to be created so I wrote the content to suit it and having looked at the Freehand design I can clearly see it is the best of the 3.

It is a bit scary having an assignment hand in date close to 7 days away as there is still a bit of work to be done but hopefully this time next week it will be over!

Things that need doing for this assignment

• Draw the Fish – all will become apparent soon...
• Finish the Collector Card – Should finish before 5 tonight
• Finish the 'Mini Site' – Just a case of finishing the design off
• Evaluate! – Evaluate assignment

One thing I would like to add is that I would prefer to have 2 weeks creative and 3 weeks build as there is a lot to do in the build exercise. Saying that I have managed to nearly complete the design in a day so I am not doing too bad.

On the Job!
I will be glad to finish this assignment as I feel it may have drawn out a little bit too much. I have enjoyed it though and it is something to add to my Portfolio. I think it has turned out a lot better than I had originally expected.

I think the assignment has gone well though as everything has been finished or is near finish. The assignment has been managed effectively by Scott and there are lots of things that I may have missed had I been the Project Manager. Tomorrow is the client sign of date and feedback and we also need to give a copy of the website to Dean and tell him what needs adjusting and what needs updating.

The only thing that should need sorting out is the folder which can be done tomorrow hopefully by the end of tomorrow the team assignment will be done and dusted so I can concentrate on the Culture Vulture assignment.

I have enjoyed this Semester and am looking forward to finally being 'forced' to use Flash. It is scary that in 6 months time this course will be over and I will be looking for a job in the industry but in a way I am looking forward to doing this as I am happy designing and it was I've wanted to do for ages.

Skillset vs BTEC

For the past two weeks I have been given the task of becoming familiar with the Stndards set by both BTEC and Skillset. It is now my task to compare and contrast the two.

The first major difference between Skillset and BTEC is the size of the document, BTEC having 198 pages and Skillset having only 41. The main reason behind this is because BTEC goes into more pages about a unit giving us an idea on how it should be delivered, BTEC also gives Goals on what will be learnt through the units. Skillset is set out in a table making it easier to understand and shows the 'Knowledge and Understanding' , 'Awareness' and 'Performance Statements'. I personally see this as being easier to understand compared to the BTEC standards and having them on the same page helps keep everything together.

Skillset seems to be more on the 'Technical' side saying that we should learn more coding languages including PHP. I for one would like to learn PHP as I see it as it is a skill that is highly sought after in IM Careers. The Skillset standards also help with life skills including communication and time planning. I don't think that all of these skills could be taught in the two years that I am on the course but I think that it could be handy looking at the units we will not get to do and seeing if I can meet the requirements. It is a shame that we cannot do some of these units as I am interested in some of the units and would like to pursue some of them.

The Skillset standards however do generalise themselves to one specific area/job, which in some places of employment can be accurate when the work force is substancially large. This is handy though as it shows the skills that are needed for a specific role but when the work force is a small team of about 5 people you may find that the roles swap and some people may find themselves with out work to do. So it is common that people will learn more than one set of skills for the job.

Personally if I were to go into a Interactive Media post I would make sure I had learnt about different areas e.g. Coding, DTP, Image Manipulation and Animation, as this would make more accessible to work in a variety of roles.

The information on the BTEC is sometimes seen as old and outdated making it harder to clearly add to an assignment. Some sections have to be re-worded/worked to make it clearer to complete. Skillset on the other hand is updated more frequently and has been updated in the last week.

Personally I think that the Skillset are the most relevant as these are up to date and more relevant because they include coding units and BTEC do not. I believe that coding is a big part of our job and would have liked to learn PHP and mySQL.

Interlude...

As requested here is the CD Tracklisting for my Culture Vulture CD. I had noticed whilst listening to it that most of the songs are from Soundtracks so I will also add where they are from.

1. Chelsea Dagger - The Fratellis
2. Battle in the Forgotten City - Uematsu Nobuo - Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
3. Stop the Rock - Apollo 440 - Gone in 60 Seconds
4. He Wasn't - Avril Lavigne
5. Life is a Highway - Rascal Flatts - Cars (Disney Pixar)
6. The Bartender and the Thief - The Stereophonics - Gran Turismo 2
7. The End of Heartache - Killswitch Engage - Resident Evil: Apocalypse
8. Trouble - Shampoo - Power Rangers: The Movie*
9. Canadian Idiot - "Weird Al"
10. The Night Santa went Crazy - "Weird Al"
11. Feed the Addiction - Ils - NFS Most Wanted
12. Signal Fire - Snow Patrol - Spider-Man 3
13. Hoppípolla - Sigur Rós
14. Those Who Fight Further - Uematsu Nobuo - Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
15. Chase of the Highway - Uetsu Nobuo & Kawamaori Keiji - Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

I really like the last two tracks which are instrumentals and they are from the best parts of the Advent Children film. 14 is from the scene where Cloud & Co. are fighting the Aeon Bahamut and 15 is from the scene where Cloud is involved in a highway chase on motorbikes whilst sword fighting Loz and Yazoo.

*Yes I am ashamed to know this...

CS3 Scandal??

Looking on the Amazon.co.uk website for a legal copy of the CS3 Master Collection (looks brilliant and extra software could come in useful) found to cost £2,029.98. A lot? Definitely, Worth it? So far...

Having read a couple of reviews it appears it would be better to buy this from the Amazon.com store as it is $2,342.49.

Thats just over half the price in converting to English Pounds Sterling but Amazon.co.uk sell it for just under the same value but in £££. So A lot? YES, Worth it? No from there...

Just a warning for anyone intending to buy the legal version.

Colours. As Nature Intended

Colours play a significant part in our lives. There are two colours that stand out for me and these are "Blue" & "Green". There are many colours but only some that go together in harmony and none better than "Nature's Finest".

These colours can be seen everywhere in nature green grass and blue skies. Green trees still blue water.

I can't think of single more successful or more seen colour scheme and works well anywhere. Blue for example is the colour of trust and honesty and green is the colour of rest and relaxation. So together your viewers can have a calm and relaxing experience and can be safe in the knowledge that they are viewing a safe and trustworthy website.

On a final note one Marvel-ous example of this colour scheme would be the powerhouse that is the Hulk, often seen wearing blue shorts on top of his green skin. So this is my favourite colour scheme and quite possibly the best one to use.
(Image from Windows XP)

A Day in the Sculpture Park

Today we went to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Having never been to a sculpture park I was slightly sceptical about the productivity of this excursion. I have to admit I truly enjoyed walking around taking pictures and taking in the culture.

The exhibit I liked the most was one made entirely of logs self-supporting each other in the shape of a hut. Unfortunately I could not get a photograph of this as photo-taking was banned in that block. It looks like a tremendous amount of time has gone into it and just proves that some art is actually really good. I am now more appreciative of art and methods and thinkings behind it and it is not just thrown together in a couple of hours. It does however provoke the question is it art or was it designed prior to making it. I think that there is some design to it but it is truly creative.

I was really inspired by the art work/sculptures in most of the exhibits but me and Julian spent more time outside taking photographs of the natural surroundings. All in all we had an inspiring day taking lots of photographs of the surroundings, trees, sculptures etc to try and to get some textures for the Culture Vulture assignment. Below are a few of the pictures that I have taken today.

I thought this was an interesting sculpture as the sides repeatedly say haha. What you cannot see from this particular angle is that it curves inwards at the middle of the bridge giving it an almost hourglass shape.
I think this personally reminds me of Retro Futurism. It is the overall design and the straight edges and cylindrical elements that, to me, make it look as if it belongs in an old space film.

I am aware that this is a lamp/light but I till think it has an "Arty" quality to it. once again it reminds me of what the future was always conceived to look like by now. I like the curvy design and personally it looks like a huge light bulb.

Up close these are very impressive and really tall. These were a set of three and by the looks of it made out of individual blocks of stone. It was quite scary stood underneath as you never quite know how safe things are, although I guess they'd have to be or it wouldn't have been displayed. I think I spent more time photographing the surroundings instead of the sculptures but thoroughly enjoyed pointing and clicking with a different device. Even if some do not get used for this assignment I have a starter library of stock photos.

I think this was a welcome contrast to this morning's presentation which went a lot better than I thought it would. When it comes to presentations I tend to get nervous but not this time, I did stumble on a few words but managed to present what I thought a good presentation which lasted the 5 minutes including one question.

As I have previously stated the Icon I chose was the Nintendo Game Boy. When I asked Steve if he had any questions it was a bit of a surprise as he asked why I chose that as an icon and did I have anything else in mind. To be honest I chose the Game Boy as it has had nearly a 16 year lifespan and no other games console range has lasted that long.

Another icon I was thinking about was the Shelby Mustang GT 500 which is Eleanor from the film Gone In 60 Seconds. I do really like this car, in fact my dream car which I will never be able to afford but will always long for it to be parked on my drive way. I decided not to do this as I do not really have any knowledge of cars or why it was such an Icon.

So in the end the Game Boy Classic won!

A Spot of "Trouble"

As per Steve's request in the previous post comments I have a some what special song choice to add to my CD.

This is due to the fact that in reading week I woke up a bit late on the Wednesday (9:30am) and was told as a punishment I had to add a song because I was in Trouble.

As you have probably guessed I am required to add Trouble by Shampoo to my CD! This cost me 78p from iTunes (sourced as requested by Steve).

Apologies in advance.