Key Points of the Design Mechanics Visit

The portfolio can be more important that any qualification and commercial work in your portfolio makes you more employable.

All round ability is more desirable than specialising in one sector.

The key to success in the industry is to distance yourself from your work and expect people to not always like what you design.

Making phone calls to pursue an application, after sending a CV both written and through email.

Fitting in with the group is almost as important as your skills.

Reflection of the first two weeks of year 2

I think we can all agree that a large portion of the first year was spent talking about the second year, and often in the first year and there were often days when I went home slightly worried and concerned what the second year will bring. Now that its here it’s not as bad as I thought. A few of the people from the first year have dropped out, which is a shame really but a smaller group will always function smoother than a larger one.

Something that was mentioned in almost every group meeting last year was the group assignment and that is one of three that we have already started and the one that I’m enjoying most out of all three. We were required to create a proposal for two generic web sites in order to determine who would get to work for the two clients that Steve had already found. There was a lot to do, and I often couldn’t help but think how it would be wasted if we did not get the client, but to be honest that spurred me and my group on even more. In the end I am very pleased that we did get one of the clients which means that we do not have to waste valuable time searching for our own. I did the screen designs, which weren’t too bad I suppose but I think the thing that really won it for us was all of the elements that the project manager had created. Craig (Project manager) had really gone all out on the preparation for our group, even building us a website and registering a domain name. Even I was extremely impressed and I was in no doubt that Steve would be too.

Were now well on with the project and tomorrow is the first meeting with the client, a very important day as first impressions count for more than many people think. By the end of tomorrow we should have a rough idea of exactly what they want us to make for them.

Overall im really looking forward to the other assignments that are coming my way, Flash the most, I’ve never tried to create something in flash but have seen some really interesting flash stuff on the web and have wanted to have a crack at it, but have never got around to doing it.

We have also entered the world of CSS; something that last year put fear into me when it was mentioned is actually not too bad. I’m by no means great at CSS but im starting to get the hang of it, and have grasped some of the basic concepts. Like I said im still not too confident in CSS but im not worried, there are a lot of very helpful people who know what their talking about sat around me.

Current Skills and how they will be useful in the workplace...

Personal Development planning
A person is always learning throughout their whole life and it’s nice that some of the things that I have learnt on the course have been recognized, not only by myself but also by everyone else. This blog (Online learning journal) is where this is carried out for the most part. It’s a very useful tool and each of our blogs are visited by each other regularly, where we also offer feedback to each other’s progress and current work.

End of assignment evaluations are also a key place as to what I have done well, done badly and what factors I can improve on, which is a key to the personal development. Seeing thing that need improving is a key to working in the industry and I’m gaining experience of it already.

Attending Lectures and Tutorials
Literally attending the lectures and tutorials is a good place to start. So far I personally have not missed a single day of college and lateness has been kept to a minimum. Therefore my punctuality is excellent to say the least, and the same concept will no doubt apply to the working industry where time costs money.

Whilst in the lectures, I again have learnt a great deal, note taking being the main thing. When a person is stood in front of you talking for hours, it’s very rare that you will remember even half of what they say. Taking notes is a skill that if done correctly can save you a lot of time and effort.

Group Work/Team Projects
The main thing when working in a group is general communication skills. These are key in almost any industry, but a necessity in the interactive media. Interaction is also a part of this, working as a team will always require you to get on with people in order to achieve the goal. Web design industry is no different, in most circumstances you will be required to work as part of a team and should you not fit in or get on with other people, then management will pick up on this and take action regardless of how good your work is, if you ruin the atmosphere then you’re not needed.

Oral Presentation
I’ve never really had too much of a problem with oral presentations, ever since high school I always saw them as a fun and enjoyable activity. Providing you know what you’re talking about you should not have too much problems. The main thin to delivering a good presentation is confidence, if your confident you will fly through it without problems whereas if you stuttering and nervous then your audience will notice. Employees always prefer the confident person as opposed to someone who is scared of public speaking.

Writing Essays
Writing an essay is not as simple as it may seem at first, well maybe it is but writing a good essay is not and a lot of thought needs to be put into it even before you put pen to paper. Writing skills will definitely help in the work place as anything that I write with my name at the bottom represents me as a person and therefore must be impressive. If it’s a CV or even something as small as an email to a colleague, professionalism is key.

Maths & Statistics
During the course so far, I have come across many times where math’s has had to be used. In many assignments figures and sums have played major roles, understanding them and converting them into some form of visual representation was often the deciding factor on whether or not I would pass the assignment. Math’s is a key skill that is used in everyday life often without oven noticing. Figuring out time scales and time plans often require math’s to be used. Therefore, math’s skills, even basic ones will be almost a necessity in the working industry.

Observation
Another main thing that has been instilled in me, I now see things that I never would even think about, whenever I receive post I take time to look at how it has been designed and various factors that have been considered. Observation is again a very useful skill to have as picking up on the small things will be a major part of any job in the design industry.

Research
Again another key skill if I want to pass the course at all. Research is the key to finding things out that I am unaware of. At the beginning of the course research was the thing that saw me get referrals for some of the assignments. Generally I think I have made a lot of progress and have begun to see the real importance of research, and the importance of using a wide variety of sources not just web sites.

Research in the work industry will also need to be undertaken, even if it’s just looking at similar competitor sites, you need to know what you’re looking out for and what if anything you can take from it and improve upon it.

Hello Mr Blogger! I'm Back!

For the most part I’ve had a great summer, been aboard for six weeks, and worked more often, earned my self some extra money and still found time to complete the summer assignment. The summer assignment went really smoothly in fact, which rather surprised me as I had always known that in college I would have someone to ask for help, and even offer help to others, but this time I was alone and am proud of what I had come up with in the end.

The first day back and no messing about, straight in with the new assignment and the beginning of "CSS", which I must say I have been looking forward to with some anticipation but a lot of excitement. The summer assignment was a very useful thing for me personally. Before this summer I had never really even looked at CSS code, let alone build a web site in it. I think my tutors were aware that a lot of the group were not experienced in CSS and hopefully their expectations and my final product will be on the same wave length. Here is to the site I made, nothing special in terms of functionality or aesthetics, but extremely special to me as it is my first ever CSS website, and the first of many hopefully.

The next six months will be...
...tough!, Simply put. CSS is by no means easy, and especially if you don't know what your doing, and even if you do its still pretty tough [So I’ve heard] The aim though is to crack it and I will crack it, if I don't then I may as well forget my career in the industry as it is essential in pretty much any web design job. It's now the end of day one, and already I’m starting to see why people would use CSS instead of standard HTML.

CSS aside, there are a few other things that I would like to achieve during the remainder of the next six months. The main thing is to see an improvement on last years grades. Even though they were adequate enough to see me progress onto the second year, I know I’m capable of more. This is why in the last blog post of first year I set myself a few goals, one of which was to achieve three merits and one distinction and that’s where my thoughts are at the moment.

Long-term, I can still see my self in the design industry. Hopefully in the next two/three years I will have a full time job doing what I love. If the third year is given the green light, then that’s something that I will have to sit down and really think about.