Wednesday was one of my favourite days at college so far, as far as work was concerned. Before joining the course I expected it to be very practical, and all day Wednesday I was just building a website, which was great. I totally forgot about the academic side of things that I have got used to so far, and just concentrated on completing as much of the website as possible.

I didn’t encounter too many problems whilst making the site and anything I did come across I found that help was always there, from my feedback group and other peers. Wednesday was probably the most constructive day of the course so far as well. I think I must have done at least 2 weeks worth of wok in one day. Most of the site is now complete, but having said that the site I have designed is not very complex. Simplicity and a very calming colour scheme were the key things I concentrated on whilst designing the site last semester, and I believe I have achieved that, which I am very happy with. I’ve included a screenshot of the site with this Blog entry, so feel free to comment and criticise.

Another thing that I found difficult was trying to stick to what I had actually planned, although I did manage it. Every single size on the site is accurate to the sizes given on the proposed screen layout to the pixel. I did take a lot f patience and time to do, but I am happy with the outcome.

On Thursday I did a lot of re-search on my “Font designer” and topic for my presentation Herman Zapf. When I initially looked on the web I couldn’t seem to find a lot about him, which worried me slightly as I have to plan, create and present a 5 minute presentation on his work, and very soon. But I managed to find somewhere t start and have begun putting the presentation together. I’m looking forward to getting it out of the way. :)

Here are a couple of screenshots of my website…

Home Page [Still in Lipsum Mode] :)

Content Page

A much eagerly anticipated return to college was finally brought to an end on Wednesday. After such a long time of college I found it hard to get back into the normal mindset. However, once I walked into the classroom and saw the agenda for the day and the new assignment I immediately felt more comfortable.

Something that had been on my mind during the whole of the holidays was my last assignments and what grades I would get for them. I knew from the firs assignments that I had underestimated the higher grades by a long shot, and didn’t want to make the same mistake again. Once I saw my grades I think they were kind of what I expected to get to be honest, of course I didn’t want a referral for one, but Steve had told my already that it was only a small change so I wasn’t really too worried. The other was a ‘pass’ which isn’t the best grade but I knew that my work was not in depth enough to achieve anything higher. This is something that I am currently working on, and looking to improve for the new assignments.

On Wednesday we had our first real look at Macromedia Dream weaver, it’s a program that I had not had much previous experience with and was eager to get to know. I had purchased the software about a month prior to the start of the course and had played about with it on a few occasions. Wednesday’s tutorial thought me a lot of the simple basics of the software that I was unaware of. We also learned how to FTP [File transfer Protocol] which is also a very useful tool that I was unaware of how to use.

Since the session, I have had chance to try out all of the things I have learned. Using the techniques I created a site www.mirhad.co.uk , it is live on the web so please feel free to have a look at it, although there isn’t much on it yet.

End of the first semester - HND Interactive Media

When choosing a HE course I took a lot of time to research all my options and found that the flexibility of the HND would suit me the best, and I have found this to be the case. Only attending two days per week means I have a lot of free time, which I can then use to conduct self study and even work, which is very important for me at the moment. I currently can not afford to be out of work and had I chosen to go to university I may not have been able to, for some of the courses I looked at required me to attend all five days a week. Which would have made my life a whole lot harder than it is now.

With regards to course content it is exactly what I expected and more importantly it’s exactly what I wanted. Before I joined the course I had a look at the HND website and attended an interview where I was shown some of the type of work the HND students did, and immediately knew that it was for me. Something else that really pulled me even more to the HND was the fact that there will be no formal exams and that the work is purely portfolio orientated. I know this might sound a bit customary but I have never liked exams, I hated all the preparation and revision that went in to one exam, I hated the fact that there was a lot of pressure on me for every exam, knowing that I would only have that one chance to prove that I knew what I was talking about and if I couldn’t then I would fail and there was no chance of sorting that out.

Another thing that has impressed me is the way that the course is run. It is very organized and disciplined, and is nothing like I have experienced as yet. I am starting to see that I am not here just to learn web design skills, in fact so far this first semester I would go so far as saying that I have learned more about my self that about web design. I have learnt that my time management was extremely poor, and that is something that I am constantly working on improving. Prioritizing things that are important is something else I need to look at, because ultimately the qualification that I gain from the course will allow me to pursue my life long ambition of entering the design industry. I have changed me working hours so that I now have another two free days, which I will then use for my self study. Toward the beginning of the course I never saw the real importance of self study, but I have now realized that it is as important as my actual time in college. As my tutor always says “I can just give you the basics, its then up to you to take that further”.

The Blog is another place where I found my self lacking in motivation, I saw it a chore and didn’t quite realize that it is a whole unit on its own. I am now striving to make my Blog entries as interesting as possible and am trying to use the Blog to collect and give constructive feedback, to and from my fellow peers. I’m actually starting to enjoy the Blog now, it a place where I can get a lot of my chest and express how I actually feel. Something I may not be able to always do in real life.

At the beginning of the course my web design skills were somewhat limited and my only previous web experience is that of my AVCE course which was no where near the standard that is expected of me at higher education. Now that the first semester is over I still wouldn’t say that I could fully build a complete website without any problems. Having said that, we haven’t even started to look at building websites yet. In my own self study time I have tried making a few website using the Macromedia Dreamweaver software that we will be using, and have came up with a few interesting designs that I will try and get on the internet so that you can all have a look as soon as I get my web hosting sorted out.

The next semester is rapidly approaching and I can’t wait, I’m really looking forward to getting back and expanding my limited knowledge even more. I have no regrets so far, and know that I have defiantly made the correct decision. Many people have jobs that may be well paid and may sound good (like accountants) but I’m sure that they don’t have a passion for what they do and I can almost certainly guarantee that they don’t enjoy the work they do day in and day out. Design is different; I think it’s very hard to teach design to somebody who doesn’t naturally have what it takes. I know I enjoy it and that I have the will power to pursue it all the way and I’m hoping that this HND course will be a major stepping stone to making that dream of mine a reality.

Please feel free to comment or question my evaluation.