Better or Not
This week started with problems at home distracting me from getting in the full 16 hours. This quite annoyed me as I have to find the time this week to get some extra work in. I suppose you can’t stop illness happening within the family though.
The first lecture was about P.A.R.C (proximity, alignment, repartition, contrast). The task was to design a business card but with only using the colours black and white, and only text. So after putting together a few designs I came up with the final plan and then created it using PageMaker. After printing the work it was put on the wall for the other peers to criticise. This made me think about P.A.R.C in my next designs so it looks like it was designed that way for a purpose.
Also this week I got feedback about my last assignment where Steve highlighted some of the problems and offered ways of improving my work. I was left at the end of the meeting with the choice of bettering my grades or staying at the same level. This made me think quite a lot as what do I actually want from this course. I was quite happy about how the meeting went as it opened my mind in to ways of getting those higher grades so I’m always improving myself instead of just passing by.
On Thursday it was back to the second assignment trying to get into the head of one of the designers in the designers republic. I was trying to think what each of the pieces mean to me and why the designer chose to do it that way. I found this task quite a challenge because I couldn’t get into the find of a designer.
In the group meeting Julian showed us a great week to plan for the owl assignment that would make the rest of the time planning easier. I hope to implement a similar idea into the rest of the assignments. I got quite a bit of feedback in the meeting as well which helped me quite a lot. I was quiet happy to get the feedback as it showed ways of improving my self.
Friday, November 10, 2006
Friday, November 03, 2006
Laptop Worry Finally Over
This week the worry was finally over about waiting for the laptop. After discussing about how it is disrupting my work load at home with Steve the laptop finally turned up at home. I suppose this couldn’t have been resolved but to stop this happening in the future I should look in getting my goods from somewhere else.
One of the thinks I was quite amazed with this week was the fact that one of the peers in the group got a comment left on his Blog (http://www.jdyercollegeblog.blogspot.com/) from one of his entries earlier in the course. The entry was quite strongly criticized and not very constructive. The comment he got back wasn’t that bad and could lead to a future client. This showed us that anyone can look at your Blog so be careful about what you write and how you write it. In the future I will make sure that the entry does not hurt anyone’s feelings.
When I arrived on Wednesday I was quite happy to get my result thinking I had done quite well but when Steve went through a lecture about what he found wrong in some of the last assignments. I don’t think I’ve ever felt as nervous in my life. I was hoping that id past the assignment at least. I was so relieved to find out that id passed the assignment and cant wait to find out ways of improving on the next assignment.
Something that I and the group thought looked better this week was just inverting the colours of one of the designs we were looking at seeing how much better it looked. It’s quite amazing how something so simple can make a vast improvement on a design. Now when building things I should consider different colour schemes instead of just one.
The worst part of the week was finding out that the workload had doubled and I would have to take this into consideration when time planning. I suppose this shows you could have more than one client at once. So I gather this is a step towards that. So in the future I hope that I will be able to juggle more than one project at once.
This week the worry was finally over about waiting for the laptop. After discussing about how it is disrupting my work load at home with Steve the laptop finally turned up at home. I suppose this couldn’t have been resolved but to stop this happening in the future I should look in getting my goods from somewhere else.
One of the thinks I was quite amazed with this week was the fact that one of the peers in the group got a comment left on his Blog (http://www.jdyercollegeblog.blogspot.com/) from one of his entries earlier in the course. The entry was quite strongly criticized and not very constructive. The comment he got back wasn’t that bad and could lead to a future client. This showed us that anyone can look at your Blog so be careful about what you write and how you write it. In the future I will make sure that the entry does not hurt anyone’s feelings.
When I arrived on Wednesday I was quite happy to get my result thinking I had done quite well but when Steve went through a lecture about what he found wrong in some of the last assignments. I don’t think I’ve ever felt as nervous in my life. I was hoping that id past the assignment at least. I was so relieved to find out that id passed the assignment and cant wait to find out ways of improving on the next assignment.
Something that I and the group thought looked better this week was just inverting the colours of one of the designs we were looking at seeing how much better it looked. It’s quite amazing how something so simple can make a vast improvement on a design. Now when building things I should consider different colour schemes instead of just one.
The worst part of the week was finding out that the workload had doubled and I would have to take this into consideration when time planning. I suppose this shows you could have more than one client at once. So I gather this is a step towards that. So in the future I hope that I will be able to juggle more than one project at once.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Money Problem Over
This week I finally found out about my student loan. This is a big relief as I have been short on money since the start of the course. I suppose though if I applied earlier for the loan I would not of had the problem. In the future I shall not procrastinate, as things just don’t get done.
The biggest problem of the week was that I didn’t turn up to Johns meeting as I had to work. I couldn’t find anyone to cover the shift. This still shouldn’t have happened as I was told plenty of time before the date. I suppose again this is just leaving things in tell the last moment. I will never be able to get that hour back either!
Either though the money problem is over I am still having a problem with the laptop arriving. It’s now been six weeks and there is still no sign of the laptop. I suppose this happens every now and again. This is quite upsetting me, as I need this to get the sixteen hours at home as well as at college.
I suppose the main problem of the week is procrastinating. This is one of the habits I need to get out of if I want to achieve the better grades.
This week I finally found out about my student loan. This is a big relief as I have been short on money since the start of the course. I suppose though if I applied earlier for the loan I would not of had the problem. In the future I shall not procrastinate, as things just don’t get done.
The biggest problem of the week was that I didn’t turn up to Johns meeting as I had to work. I couldn’t find anyone to cover the shift. This still shouldn’t have happened as I was told plenty of time before the date. I suppose again this is just leaving things in tell the last moment. I will never be able to get that hour back either!
Either though the money problem is over I am still having a problem with the laptop arriving. It’s now been six weeks and there is still no sign of the laptop. I suppose this happens every now and again. This is quite upsetting me, as I need this to get the sixteen hours at home as well as at college.
I suppose the main problem of the week is procrastinating. This is one of the habits I need to get out of if I want to achieve the better grades.
Saturday, October 28, 2006
End of First Assignment
Well this week as ended on a high, as it is the end of the first assignment. I’ve managed my time well and managed to get everything done on time and managed to check all the work through. I’m very happy, as I believe I have done all the work and gained a merit on the first assignment. I hope to take this attitude into every one of the assignments so I achieve just as well for the two years.
I suppose their was one problem this week though as I realised that sending all of my work to a CD to early is a bad idea as there was still problems with the work that needed addressing before creating the CD. This quite frustrated me, as I had to use up more of my resources instead of just checking the work. From this I have learned to send all the files to a CD at the last moment.
Well I have found the assignment very enjoyable and have learned quite a bit on the course. The most enjoyable bit of the course so far was learning to use new software. PageMaker was very easy to use and I could create some outstanding looking work, but there were also problems with PageMaker as well. These problems ranged from bullets all the way through to tables. I found these problems very frustrating and time consuming but I suppose the best work takes time.
Well this week as ended on a high, as it is the end of the first assignment. I’ve managed my time well and managed to get everything done on time and managed to check all the work through. I’m very happy, as I believe I have done all the work and gained a merit on the first assignment. I hope to take this attitude into every one of the assignments so I achieve just as well for the two years.
I suppose their was one problem this week though as I realised that sending all of my work to a CD to early is a bad idea as there was still problems with the work that needed addressing before creating the CD. This quite frustrated me, as I had to use up more of my resources instead of just checking the work. From this I have learned to send all the files to a CD at the last moment.
Well I have found the assignment very enjoyable and have learned quite a bit on the course. The most enjoyable bit of the course so far was learning to use new software. PageMaker was very easy to use and I could create some outstanding looking work, but there were also problems with PageMaker as well. These problems ranged from bullets all the way through to tables. I found these problems very frustrating and time consuming but I suppose the best work takes time.
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Printing Problems
This week as been mainly adjusting my work. I have found out that the worst thing about the assignment is checking all of the work and finding out all the little errors that don’t seem to appear on the page in tell you have printed. I was quite annoyed that I had to keep printing the same document over and over again. I must have now spent about two pounds just adjusting small little things on the page.
I suppose this was a good and bad process as is stopped me failing the units and my work was of better quality. The bad aspect of the printing was that I have to keep putting on printing credit. I suppose if I did this again I would still have to print the document more than once as the document will always have some errors the first time.
I have also realised that slightly adjusting your work creates the biggest problems with your references on the document as the reference doesn’t match up with the right part of the document. This quite frustrated me as I had to keep adjusting the references to meet up with the right part of the documents. The better idea would have been to put the references in as the last thing to add to the document. The next time I create a long document I am going to make sure that the references go in last.
One of the better parts of the week was finding out how to create a better blog. I was quite happy to find out ways to improve my blog and ways to improve the blog as well. This was a great idea as I now know what changes I need to make to my blog. I suppose before I got told this I could of investigated blog a lot better than I did. The next time I am learning something new I need to investigate further into the subject than I am doing at the moment.
This week as been mainly adjusting my work. I have found out that the worst thing about the assignment is checking all of the work and finding out all the little errors that don’t seem to appear on the page in tell you have printed. I was quite annoyed that I had to keep printing the same document over and over again. I must have now spent about two pounds just adjusting small little things on the page.
I suppose this was a good and bad process as is stopped me failing the units and my work was of better quality. The bad aspect of the printing was that I have to keep putting on printing credit. I suppose if I did this again I would still have to print the document more than once as the document will always have some errors the first time.
I have also realised that slightly adjusting your work creates the biggest problems with your references on the document as the reference doesn’t match up with the right part of the document. This quite frustrated me as I had to keep adjusting the references to meet up with the right part of the documents. The better idea would have been to put the references in as the last thing to add to the document. The next time I create a long document I am going to make sure that the references go in last.
One of the better parts of the week was finding out how to create a better blog. I was quite happy to find out ways to improve my blog and ways to improve the blog as well. This was a great idea as I now know what changes I need to make to my blog. I suppose before I got told this I could of investigated blog a lot better than I did. The next time I am learning something new I need to investigate further into the subject than I am doing at the moment.
Monday, October 09, 2006
Changes - Changes
This weeks gone quite well as I have got most of my work to a reasonable standard. One of the things I have enjoyed doing this week is getting my website designs finished. This also includes getting all the sizes some where near.
From this my group members Scott and Ben criticized my work. I was quite happy about this as I got to see what my work looked like to other people and what they thought would be good changes. From this I took the feedback from the group and created the changes to the site. When I create my designs next time I will get more feedback from my group along the way so less errors happen at once.
Some of the problems with creating the finished designs were getting all the guidelines onto the page and making the page easy to use. I got quite annoyed trying to get all of the objects to the page to fit in the right space on the site.
I also converted all of my assignment over in to PageMaker and found this very stressful as I had to change the fonts and size of all of the text. I also couldn’t just drop images straight in to PageMaker I had to use PhotoShop to change the file format of the image. To resolve this next time it would be easier to save all the images as the right file format.
My main problem of the week was transferring my table from Word into PageMaker. This was the most annoying and stressful thing I have had to do so far as I couldn’t even just copy and paste the table straight in. The first idea was to take a screen shot and paste the screenshot in and crop it down to size. The problem with this was that the pictures were very poor quality. So instead of this I had to create all the tables by using the line tool in PageMaker. This took quite a bit of time but the tables looked more professional and were a lot easier to read then the other tables.
I was quite happy with the tables, as I had to create them my self instead of just copying and pasting them into the document. If I were to do this again I would leave plenty of time for creating tables and inputting pictures.
This weeks gone quite well as I have got most of my work to a reasonable standard. One of the things I have enjoyed doing this week is getting my website designs finished. This also includes getting all the sizes some where near.
From this my group members Scott and Ben criticized my work. I was quite happy about this as I got to see what my work looked like to other people and what they thought would be good changes. From this I took the feedback from the group and created the changes to the site. When I create my designs next time I will get more feedback from my group along the way so less errors happen at once.
Some of the problems with creating the finished designs were getting all the guidelines onto the page and making the page easy to use. I got quite annoyed trying to get all of the objects to the page to fit in the right space on the site.
I also converted all of my assignment over in to PageMaker and found this very stressful as I had to change the fonts and size of all of the text. I also couldn’t just drop images straight in to PageMaker I had to use PhotoShop to change the file format of the image. To resolve this next time it would be easier to save all the images as the right file format.
My main problem of the week was transferring my table from Word into PageMaker. This was the most annoying and stressful thing I have had to do so far as I couldn’t even just copy and paste the table straight in. The first idea was to take a screen shot and paste the screenshot in and crop it down to size. The problem with this was that the pictures were very poor quality. So instead of this I had to create all the tables by using the line tool in PageMaker. This took quite a bit of time but the tables looked more professional and were a lot easier to read then the other tables.
I was quite happy with the tables, as I had to create them my self instead of just copying and pasting them into the document. If I were to do this again I would leave plenty of time for creating tables and inputting pictures.
Monday, October 02, 2006
Design - Redesign
This week started with me learning a new programme, which was PageMaker 6.5. I felt that the programme was easy to use and worked well on the designing part. I created my first work of art this week, but only in back and white though. I think that the piece looked professional and suits the purpose it was designed for.
I also started to create my site on Guy Fawkes and realised that finding colours to blend in with each other isn't as easy as I as thought. Thanks to the book I bought to help me with the course 'Colour Index'. This made it a lot easier to find colours that work with each other. I decided to use pastel colours of red, orange, and yellow. I also found that converting mm. into px. isn't as easy as id wished. Thanks to the internet though I managed to find that it was 1mm - 2.83px. A use ful site was www.xmlmill.com/pdf/rnotes/rnotes160.pdf. This made me feel relieved, as I needed my designs for my site in mm as well as px.
One of the setbacks of the week was creating my designs and finding out that I created the designs to the wrong size. This quite annoyed me, as I’ve had to create them again. From this I have realised that I need to spend more time researching into subjects then just rushing in after the first piece of information. From now on I am going to check out more sources then I am.
This week started with me learning a new programme, which was PageMaker 6.5. I felt that the programme was easy to use and worked well on the designing part. I created my first work of art this week, but only in back and white though. I think that the piece looked professional and suits the purpose it was designed for.
I also started to create my site on Guy Fawkes and realised that finding colours to blend in with each other isn't as easy as I as thought. Thanks to the book I bought to help me with the course 'Colour Index'. This made it a lot easier to find colours that work with each other. I decided to use pastel colours of red, orange, and yellow. I also found that converting mm. into px. isn't as easy as id wished. Thanks to the internet though I managed to find that it was 1mm - 2.83px. A use ful site was www.xmlmill.com/pdf/rnotes/rnotes160.pdf. This made me feel relieved, as I needed my designs for my site in mm as well as px.
One of the setbacks of the week was creating my designs and finding out that I created the designs to the wrong size. This quite annoyed me, as I’ve had to create them again. From this I have realised that I need to spend more time researching into subjects then just rushing in after the first piece of information. From now on I am going to check out more sources then I am.
Monday, September 25, 2006
Bad Timekeeping
This week as gone quite well, I’ve progressed quite rapidly through the work load and made a big dent into the first bit of the assignment. This gave me the sense of achievement and made me want to progress further with the work.
One of the laybacks of the week was been late back to the lesson which lost me a bit of time with the tutor. This quite annoyed me that I had to find a computer somewhere else. Something that was good about this was I got time to reflect back on what I’ve done and not to do it again. To stop this happening again I’m going to get back to collage.
Overall the weeks going well and I’m enjoying the course and would recommend to someone else, check out the courses site on www.hnd-interactive-media.co.uk. Looking forward to the week ahead got a few ideas about what the site should look like and looking forward to seeing what they look like on paper.
This week as gone quite well, I’ve progressed quite rapidly through the work load and made a big dent into the first bit of the assignment. This gave me the sense of achievement and made me want to progress further with the work.
One of the laybacks of the week was been late back to the lesson which lost me a bit of time with the tutor. This quite annoyed me that I had to find a computer somewhere else. Something that was good about this was I got time to reflect back on what I’ve done and not to do it again. To stop this happening again I’m going to get back to collage.
Overall the weeks going well and I’m enjoying the course and would recommend to someone else, check out the courses site on www.hnd-interactive-media.co.uk. Looking forward to the week ahead got a few ideas about what the site should look like and looking forward to seeing what they look like on paper.
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Week 2 First Assignment
The main problem of the week was right at the beginning when we got given are first two assignments, the worry was relived when I realised that they wasn't as bad as I thought. Another problem of the week was finding out which Great Briton to do because all the well known people will have been chosen multiple times by other people so decided it would be a good idea to do Guy Fawkes.
Something I really likes about this week is Steve giving us some help with how the assignment should be set out this was a great help as this was are first assignment. Another thing I’ve enjoyed doing is having a look at other people sites and noticing the good aspects and the bad aspects on the Great Briton I’ve chosen.
The most worrying bits of the size where the title been at one site of the page and the content been on the other. The most annoying thing i saw though was on this site called www.twilightbridge.com/hobbies/festival/guyfawkes/history.htm this must of been one of the worst designed sites ever. The background flashed, it used flashing images, it had a picture off a home next to the hyper link home. Apart from this I’ve had a great week.
The main problem of the week was right at the beginning when we got given are first two assignments, the worry was relived when I realised that they wasn't as bad as I thought. Another problem of the week was finding out which Great Briton to do because all the well known people will have been chosen multiple times by other people so decided it would be a good idea to do Guy Fawkes.
Something I really likes about this week is Steve giving us some help with how the assignment should be set out this was a great help as this was are first assignment. Another thing I’ve enjoyed doing is having a look at other people sites and noticing the good aspects and the bad aspects on the Great Briton I’ve chosen.
The most worrying bits of the size where the title been at one site of the page and the content been on the other. The most annoying thing i saw though was on this site called www.twilightbridge.com/hobbies/festival/guyfawkes/history.htm this must of been one of the worst designed sites ever. The background flashed, it used flashing images, it had a picture off a home next to the hyper link home. Apart from this I’ve had a great week.
Where I’ve Come From
I got into computers at a young age, I first started using computers in Earlsheaton high school. I used the computers to make simple spreadsheets and word processing. We also made simple designs of rooms. In year 10 I started doing a GNVQ in ICT. On the course I used applications such as MS Word, MS Access, MS PowerPoint, MS Publisher, MS Excel, and MS FrontPage. From this course I achieved three passes.
After this I went to St John Fishers Six Form to do a double AVCE in ICT but I didn’t find the course for interesting as it seemed to be the same as the GNVQ that I had just done so I decided to have the rest of the year out of education. After this I enrolled on the BTEC for IT practitioners in information technology at Wakefield College. On the course I gained an all around background of IT. I used applications such as Word, Access, Excel, FrontPage, Notepad, C++, PowerPoint. I also did a bit on the hardware side of computers such as putting a computer together, networking two computers together and also networking a room of computers together. On this course I achieved a MMP.
Where I’m At Now
From the BTEC course I realised that I liked building websites and would like to get more experience in that area of IT, so I decided to enrol on the HND Interactive Media course. From the course I hope to be able to build a series of functional websites using new software such as Dream Weaver, Flash and Photoshop. These will allow me do integrate my own graphics into a website and also use some animation on the site as well. I would also like to find out how the industry works and is this the industry for me.
Where I Want To Go
If I get the grades I need from the course I plan to do a top up year at university to get the full degree at the best grade possible for me. From this I hope to go into a commercial business to actually find out how the business works and work as part of a team making products for clients.
After I get a bit of experience in web site deign I hope to become a freelance website designer working for my self and then getting my own team of people and working for my own clients.
I got into computers at a young age, I first started using computers in Earlsheaton high school. I used the computers to make simple spreadsheets and word processing. We also made simple designs of rooms. In year 10 I started doing a GNVQ in ICT. On the course I used applications such as MS Word, MS Access, MS PowerPoint, MS Publisher, MS Excel, and MS FrontPage. From this course I achieved three passes.
After this I went to St John Fishers Six Form to do a double AVCE in ICT but I didn’t find the course for interesting as it seemed to be the same as the GNVQ that I had just done so I decided to have the rest of the year out of education. After this I enrolled on the BTEC for IT practitioners in information technology at Wakefield College. On the course I gained an all around background of IT. I used applications such as Word, Access, Excel, FrontPage, Notepad, C++, PowerPoint. I also did a bit on the hardware side of computers such as putting a computer together, networking two computers together and also networking a room of computers together. On this course I achieved a MMP.
Where I’m At Now
From the BTEC course I realised that I liked building websites and would like to get more experience in that area of IT, so I decided to enrol on the HND Interactive Media course. From the course I hope to be able to build a series of functional websites using new software such as Dream Weaver, Flash and Photoshop. These will allow me do integrate my own graphics into a website and also use some animation on the site as well. I would also like to find out how the industry works and is this the industry for me.
Where I Want To Go
If I get the grades I need from the course I plan to do a top up year at university to get the full degree at the best grade possible for me. From this I hope to go into a commercial business to actually find out how the business works and work as part of a team making products for clients.
After I get a bit of experience in web site deign I hope to become a freelance website designer working for my self and then getting my own team of people and working for my own clients.
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