Pockets Deap, Mountain High

This week we were given the chance to get on with our projects, for those of us who felt ready. I personally didn’t know where to start so I did the Dreamweaver tutorial so I could get to learn my way around the workspace a bit better.

I found the tutorial really useful, it did go back and cover the areas that Steve had taught us last week regarding setting up folders etc, but then went a bit further forward and gave help on setting up the design.

After finishing the tutorial I was feeling much more confident about building my own site and it had even taught me some basic CSS which I fell capable of using.

My problem now is that I have designed a website in a way that I thought would be easy to construct but now I find that I want to redesign elements of it having a better knowledge of how a webpage can be constructed. We’ll have to see what happens.

This week was slightly different than usual as Steve had arranged a trip to a design company in Huddersfield. We had been told about the trip towards the end of the first semester and I was keen to go on the trip from the start, unfortunately the offer was only open to four students.

As I was very keen to go on the trip I had asked to go almost immediately and so I was pleased this week to receive my official email invitation to the exclusive gathering. The final four, after the televised auditions with a text vote was Ben, Craig A, Craig B and I.

The business we went to visit is called The Design Mechanics and their website is www.thedesignmechanics.co.uk they are a design company with a new outlook on how to offer a design service.

After the journey by car to what seemed like the top of a mountain, for me and humble car, we arrived at a business estate that was made up of a few small companies. To describe its appearance would make it sound less than it is, but basically it was a group of static porter cabins that were fixed into place with a nice bit of garden in front.

First of all we met Dave Pannel and the Head Designer Paul, we were given an introduction to the company and it was explained how they work. It was interesting to hear that they have what is like an application form which is filled out by one of their sales reps and the customer, this is then presented to a designer who will use this ‘Fact Find’ to produce the necessary design work.

This seems quite a novel way for a design company to work as the designer never meets the customer, they explained this was almost the essence of their business and that cutting out the middle of the design process enables them to keep man hours on projects to a minimum which means they can offer such good prices.

After the talk on the business we were all invited to show examples of our work, Craig B jumped up first, reliable as ever, I thought I was going to have to get up. I went up second, it took me about 5 mins just to get my USB stick out of my pocket amongst lip salve and keys.

I was pleased with the presentation I did as personally I feel I stayed relaxed and entertaining and felt they liked the work I had shown them.

After all presentations were given we then got to go and sit with one of the designers, they were all relatively new, having started the job in September. The work they were producing was of a good standard and I was really impressed with the whole business.

I would recommend any of my classmates to jump at the chance to go if it is offered again, there was so much information we were given today that I’m sure I could carry on writing for a while.

Overall I am really grateful for the opportunity to go to the business and it has made me feel much more hungry and passionate to achieve my goal to get into the design industry. It has also made me feel that I am not a million miles away anymore. Two very enthusiastic thumbs up!

Living The Dream... weaver.

It was great to be back in college this week, as I mentioned previously I have been looking forward to getting to grips with Dreamweaver and having a dabble on the internet.

I have uploaded an initial index page on my website which is http://www.drewellis.co.uk/ and I will be having a further look at it and putting some more info on it over the weekend.

It was a really tense morning in class on Wed as it was time to get our marks on the Back to Basics assignment. The morning was spent discussing how we felt about the past semester before knowing our grade; this revealed that most people were pleased to have come so far and to have a quarter of the course under their belt.

Personally I couldn’t believe it when I realised I had done a quarter of the course now.

After break the results were up and I was pleased to see that I had passed on the assignment in one respect but then I realised that there was a referral on a couple of sections in my research. I was very disappointed with myself as I had tried really hard to get it right first time.

So I was a bit anxious after finding out I had some changes to make to find out what these changes were. After I was told I was quite relieved as it really was a case of printing off some work that I had done but forgotten to submit and also making an adjustment to a paragraph in my written work.

In the afternoon we learnt the basics of starting a website on Dreamweaver, this was interesting and I was pleased to find that we moved through it at a good pace. I have found that in the past when learning to use computer software not everyone has been quite at home on a computer so you could feel the benefit of being in a group of people who all can keep up.

I am now going to get on with making a more substantial index page to have temporarily.

Re-evaluating The Situation

Looking back at the formative statement I produced at the beginning of this course I can see that I was as determined to succeed as I am now.

At that point I was not so sure what was ahead of me on this course and I can see that I was excited and eager to learn. Now that I am at a half way point through my first year I can say that the course so far has lived up to my expectations and even surpassed them.

I think when I set out on his course I thought that the work load might be a little lighter than it actually was, I didn’t realise how much of my own time was going to be needed to succeed with a pass never mind anything of a higher grade.

Having completed now this beginning section of the HNC I feel that I can continue to learn and progress on this course and that if I do I will achieve the goal I set myself, to complete the course and to have a good digital portfolio.

There has been some times when I doubted my ability, I know that the referral I received after submitting the first assignment was a big let down for me as I the reason I failed was just a few glitches that needed sorting out and had I just planned my time a bit more carefully I know that I could have identified these problems before hand.

The highlights of the course for me have been the lectures, I especially enjoyed the work we have done on layout with the business cards which was a really enjoyable task and also the colour wheel lecture was very enlightening. These are very valuable aspects of design to know and remember I think and I am glad to have covered them so early in the course.

Another highlight is the other people in the class I think that everyone is really friendly and helpful and I feel comfortable enough to talk to anyone and ask for their help or opinion on my work.

Getting feedback has been something that has proven really useful this semester, getting the feedback and ideas of my peers has helped my work to progress and evolve. I think is most evident with the Queen Victoria designs I produced. The original design I produced was supposed to look slick and fashionable but give a nod to the ornate, patterned designs of the Victorian age, unfortunately my first attempt at this looked slightly too period and not at all modern. After feedback I gained from my peers and tutors I feel the final design achieved the look I was aiming for and I was very happy with this.

When I then moved onto my second project I had identified that creating my designs was very much aided by having had a theme to inspire things. I felt this helped give continuity throughout the design of the page when it came to designing the buttons and banner etc. this meant that when I was coming up with ideas for my second screen design I thought it would be important to try to come up with a theme again so that my design would have a strong theme running throughout the website.

The problem that I have faced on both projects is my time planning which is something I am still looking to improve upon in the upcoming semester. I think the main problem with this side of my work is that I tend to get caught up in the design of my work and so my theory and written work can suffer from this. A way I tried to combat this with the second project, A3, was to make sure that most of my written work was completed before I would allow myself to get on with any of the final design work. Although this did help me get all the design work finished to a good standard ahead of schedule, it did lead to me having less time that I realised to put all my work into the template once the final designs were finished. Obviously this task took about five times longer than I had expected it too without mentioning the unforeseen problems I encountered with my printer.

Overall I feel that the first semester has been a success though I am very anxious about what grade I will receive for the project A3 on my return. All that I can do is stay focused and positive and keep aiming for my goal.

I am very keyed up about getting back and making my first website as I have mentioned before. I recently registered my domain name drewellis.co.uk which was really exciting for me, how sad, but I can’t wait to have a website that I have made from scratch on the internet it will be a big achievement for me. I know that if I can produce one to a good standard, like that I have designed in my plan, I will be impressed.

A Right Mug

I’m not really sure what to talk about in this blog entry; I have to say I haven’t really done much of relevance over the past few weeks. I really have taken the opportunity to catch up on some sleep with all the bank holidays and my Wednesdays off, it’s been amazing!

It’s only in hindsight that you realise you have missed a bit of an opportunity at Christmas, when I was in Waterstones the other day I came across a really useful and obviously expensive book, about graphic design, if only I had thought to mention to Santa to bring me it, rather than the many mugs I seem to have received, I don’t even drink hot beverages!

As I don’t as yet have much to say on the subject of web design I thought I would post a bit more of my illustration work that I have done in the past.

It’s been a busy Christmas explaining to all the relatives what I am up to at the moment, telling them all about my web design course. It just makes you realise at those times how much you actually want to succeed. Also it made me realise how much more knowledgeable I am on the subject than my aunty.

So at the moment I’m felling very relaxed but I’m excited about getting back to college and getting on with making my first website.