Semester 1, Steep Learning Curve.

The first semester is gone. Doesn’t seem long ago that I was walking into MF18 for the first time.
There have been plenty of positives to take from the first semester. Apart from the people I have met, over the last four months I’ve learnt more than I could of imagined. I didn’t expect to learn quite so much about design.

I found myself putting the design theory we’ve used into my working life has a graphic designer. The PARC principles (Proximity, alignment, repetition and Contrast), colour harmony and grid systems are things I now use daily. This can only make me a better designer.

A big negative was referring A2. Thankfully I have now passed. The next assignment A3 has been very enjoyable, due to the creativity involved. The one thing about A3 that shocked was the amount of development we must do in our sketchbooks. I am not used to working in this way. Usually at work digital work is quite often started immediately due to massive time constraints .

Besides A2 and A3 I’ve been working on the ongoing assignment (A1). The SketchBlog assignment has proven very beneficial. I have really enjoyed collecting pieces of design and not found it a burden, I know some of my colleagues have. It has proven very inspirational. Since the start of the course I now look at all the different design I see in a very different way thanks to the principles I have learnt.

The hiccup with A2 really knocked my confidence. But I hope turning the experience into a positive will help my work. I am now much more vigilant when it comes to checking my work, especially SPG and referencing.

Time has become very precious to me over the duration of the first semester. Working full time and trying to maintain any sort of a social life as well as keeping on top of assignments has been very difficult.

I now face a nervous time again as anxiety kicks in as I wait for my marks back for A3. Looking back on A3, I feel I need to use my sketchbook much more to show my design development. This is something that doesn’t come naturally to me.

I’m looking forward to turning my screen design from A3 into a working web page. The technical aspects I will no doubt find very challenging. I have already encountered problems with my screen design, in not fully respecting the restrictions and constraints of web design. This is something I must adapt to quickly if I am to be successful in web design.

Time management is something I still need to get a good grasp of, to avoid the amounts of anxiety and stress I have faced. A much more detailed production schedule at the start of each assignment should help.

I now feel I am on the right track. I have chosen the right direction to go in by choosing this course. I feel more motivated now then I did at the start. With the bulk of the written work for year one out of the way, I can now hopefully look forward to implementing more of my creativity.

Hard Pushed

Now Christmas is out of the way, I find myself a quarter of the way through the course, with deadline day looming for A3.

I planned to use the Christmas break to good effect and really get in front on A3, instead I found it hard to motivate myself throughout the festive period. This was not just down to the festivities, but also the fact I've been working full time through out the break too. Going home and switching on the computer to crack on with A3 hasn't always been the easiest of things to do. When I did get engrossed into my screen design I found it very enjoyable. It has given me a chance to be creative.

I thought I was restraining myself from being to graphical and ambitious as I had in mind the global document size (100KB) and technical difficulties I will no doubt face once the build starts with the next assignment.

I wasn’t as restraint as I thought with my design. Steve instantly reminded me I had to actually build the design. A re-think and some tweaking set me back as the final week began.

With just days remaining before hand in I find myself mentally exhausted. But I am confident I will meet the deadline. Some more proof reading time and general tweaking this late on would be beneficial, rather than heavy revisions I find myself doing.

My time management could be better. I used a production schedule, but failed to take into account things that could go wrong later on and as a result should of given myself more time on the actually screen design and written work, rather than spending too much time on development early on.

Here’s my finished design, any comments much appreciated.