Evaluation of first year.

As far back as I can remember had always been a creative person, as a kid I used to love drawing and just going crazy on pieces of blank paper. This creativity thankfully had never left me and when the time came for me to think about my career and future I came to the decision that the design industry was for me. Another thing I have always loved is computer and digital gadgets.

As a result, after taking and passing my all my GCSE’s I then undertook an AVCE in ICT at Wakefield College. I really enjoyed the course and passed it with extremely impressive grades, two of which stuck out from the rest, these were the units of “Multimedia” and “Web Page Design” where I achieved the maximum possible grades.

After completing the course I thought I would explore the design industry more as I had always had a keen eye for creativity and I had already had a bit of experience in some of the programs that the industry uses [albeit just for my own personal use].

After researching the industry further I came across a very interesting course [still at Wakefield College] and this was the HND in Interactive Media. After reading through various prospectuses, leaflets and website I decided to apply for it to see first hand what it was about.

Not so long later I was called for an interview with the course leader Steve Smith, in which he showed me some of the type of work that previous pupils had done and in my mind I was thinking “I do this kind of stuff in my own time, wouldn’t it be great if I could get paid for doing something I would enjoy” After leaving the interview room, my mind was already made up. Not only would I be doing something that I was really fond of but there was also many more advantages for me personally. The proximity of the college to my home, the course fees and the fact that it was just two days a week [Which would allow to still having a job along side my studies] are just some of the factors that persuaded me to join the course.

Without any hesitation I accepted the place that was offered to me and discarded the university courses I had also applied for. Even though I had always wanted to live and study away from home the HND seemed more feasible and flexible, which is why I took it, and after the first year is now complete I don’t have a single regret with regards to course choice.

At the beginning of the course I was slightly uncertain as to how I would fit in with the rest of the group, as any one naturally will be when meeting the 15 people that they would have to interact with for the next two, possibly three years. Thankfully, I had no problems and I don’t think anyone else in the group had any altercations with each other. Everyone was very friendly, helpful and understanding [including the tutors] and I strongly believe that this is the biggest contributing factor as to why no one had left the course yet. Considering the different backgrounds, different ages and previous experience I was somewhat surprised that we would all get along as well as we have done.

Looking back at the first year as a whole I can safely say that I have thoroughly enjoyed it. Of course there has been the odd time when it’s late in the long day, its dark outside, I have a headache and I’m stuck in front of the computer figuring out file sizes. But little things aside, I have never thought that I dislike what I’m doing nor has the thought of quitting ever crossed my mind.

Another major factor for joining the course apart from to make friends and enjoy myself was to actually learn something and gain a more technical proficiency that would aid my life long ambition of breaking into the design industry. I believe that I have learnt a great deal of new things in this first year, a lot of which has been design skills and useful things to remember when designing but I’ve also gained a lot of technical skills [i.e. New Software]

The design industry revolves around the use of creative software, and any budding designer will have to know the software they use inside out or they won’t be a designer for very long.

On the HND interactive Media course I have been given a basic knowledge of numerous industry standard software packages, which Include Macromedia Dreamweaver, Adobe PhotoShop, Adobe InDesign, and Macromedia Freehand/Adobe Illustrator.

A person’s creativity comes from deep inside and I don’t believe creativity can be thought. But if a person has even a slight bit of creativity then thorough knowledge of the software packages will no doubt contribute to and influence the final outcome of the design piece.

Let’s put it this way, before September 2006 I had not even heard of some of the software packages that are used in the industry, let alone used them. I could not properly create and upload a website to the internet [using correct procedures i.e. FTP], and now at the end of the first year I feel extremely confident and capable when using some of the programs, especially PhotoShop and Dreamweaver.

Feeling confident is one thing but actually having thorough knowledge that will allow me to be employable is another. I can honestly say that I’m not yet there and still have a long way to go, but so long as I enjoy what I do I don’t see why in time I can’t get there.

Mainly I think what I lack knowledge in is the whole coding side to web design, and also CSS which apparently is the future of web design is something that in the future I look forward to learning and putting into practice. I’m glad to know that in the second year we will be looking into CSS and I will no doubt pay extra attention to these lectures, because even from just looking at some job specifications, 99% will see CSS as a standard requirement.

I don’t fear that I will not pass the course and my grades so far also indicate this, although to be honest I know that I am capable of higher grades than just “Pass”. In hindsight things could and should have been done differently from the very start.

Time planning is the major thing that I underestimated at the beginning and that is solely the reason why I received “just passes” Toward the end of the year I started to see the importance that time planning had on the work that I produced and that the two were directly linked. My later assignments were noticeably improved and again this was evident in the grades I received when merits started to appear on the grade sheet.

Overall, it’s been a great year for me. Meeting new people and making new friend has all been fun and enjoyable, but the real importance of learning and passing the year had not been forgotten and has also been achieved. I’m very thankful to everyone that has helped me though the year, mainly Steve Smith my tutor and also the rest of the group for making it a pleasant experience for me. Another person that deserves praise is John Munday, John provided me with extra “out of class” sessions, and I believe it’s mainly down to John that I came to see the importance of time planning in the industry and on the course.

With the final deadline larking close by, its time to wrap up the year and look forward to the next, with no fear but pure anticipation as to what it will bring, and if its even half of what this year has been then it will be great.

Goals For Next Year:

• To progress onto the second year.
• To build at lest two websites using solely CSS and/or hand coding.
• To achieve atleast three merits.
• To achieve at least one distinction.

Yer But…No But…

The main talking point of the week for me has been the creation of my CD packaging. Something that I initially anticipated to take no more than a couple of hours seems to have taken up a massive amount of time already and is still not complete.

To be fair I think so far I have managed my time well and have managed to complete all of the corporate identity stuff and even the web style guide, which left me with about 3 whole weeks to concentrate on the CD cover. It may seem like a massive amount of time, but when something is not good enough if its not perfect the time just seems to fly past trying to perfect it.

I had created this design [above] that I personally really liked and felt it was very aesthetically pleasing. Everyone else also said they thought it was really good, but one person in particular seemed to be harder to please than I thought, of course this person being Steve. He claimed it was to “Christmas Caroly” and did not represent the type of genre that the music is from. Of course I was annoyed at the fact that something which I had spent a lot of time and effort on was “Inappropriate” and wrong basically. So, like any good sales person I tried to sell him the concept and came up with millions ways of trying to make him see what I was seeing, but he was having none of it, his mind was made up the moment he saw it.

Mirhad: “Yeah but Steve, how about…”

Steve: “No buts”

Mirhad: “I know but if I…”

Steve: “No”

Honestly I can appreciate his comments and I totally see where he is coming from. So I took it like a man :) and started from scratch. All of Thursday was spent on the design of the CD cover. I had come up with a number of variations of which I then chose the best one. Below is an image of the CD cover in its present state, feedback is welcome as always but please don’t make me start all over again. :)

One of the reasons that it seems to be taking me so long to create the CD cover is the fact that everything on the first one was my own. I actually even took the picture myself (of my nephew) and had somewhat become emotionally attached to it. It’s very easy to become attatched to something and even if you know its wrong you can’t help but like it. Clients don’t care if you like somehting, there paying for it and if they don’t like it then your oppinion counts for nothing. So, make sure that none of you get too attached to one design, because in one second it can be totally dismissed, a very important lesson to learn and im glad that it has happened now with two weeks to go.