HND Interactive Media - Mirhad Kalabic

Final Summative Evaluation

noreply@blogger.com (Mirhad Kalabic) — Thu, 15 May 2008 07:47:00 +0000

In a quest to make it big in the design industry, I decided for my major stepping stone be the HND Interactive Media course at Wakefield College. I had little design experience before i joined the course and when I was shown some of the previous students work at the interview I was hooked, I knew that this was exactly what i wanted to be a part of.

Two whole years i spent at the Thornes Park campus and enjoyed pretty much every day of it. I started the course at a very basic level but knew that I could make the most of the two years that would follow and gain enough knowledge to ultimately get a job in the industry.

The course has taught me pretty much al the basic things I need to know about building web sites and creating graphical work. I can actually build a web site from scratch which in it self is an achievement. However, I have also learnt some things that have nothing to do with web design but equally as important. The lifelong learning unit is a prime example and knowing that I can teach myself anything I want/need to know is very reassuring.

The second year brought along new goals for me and a Cascading Sytle Sheets was at the top of my hit list. A lot of hype sorounded the importance of CSS and I knew that i would need to know it pretty much inside out before i left the course. Thankfully, I can report that can now use CSS, I'm still not an expert, don't get me wrong but I feel comfortable using it and have built every web site in the second year using it.

Overall, I don't really have many complaints for the last two years. From an educational sense I think I have learnt probably more than I first thought and from a general sense I have made some friends for life, had a great time and hopefully the ultimate goal will soon be realized of entering the scary place of the working life.a

Final Screen Designs [Portfolio Site]

noreply@blogger.com (Mirhad Kalabic) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 21:25:00 +0000

Folowing the feedback that I have recieved over the past week or so, I have now took some of you advice and have come up with what I hope will be the final screen designs. Sorry to dissapoint some of you but the textured background is staying, purely because I feel it makes it slightly more interesting and different.

Home Page

Interior Page

I have also created the site structure diagram to go with this.

Site structure

Screen Design Version 2

noreply@blogger.com (Mirhad Kalabic) — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 21:05:00 +0000

Folowing the feedback left for me from my last post regarding the screen designs, here are a new set that I have derived from the original. A few changes have been made, including shades of colour and the background colour. Again your help is always appreciated.

Home Page screen design

Interior Page Screen Design

Portfolio Screen Designs

noreply@blogger.com (Mirhad Kalabic) — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 21:00:00 +0000

Here are a few variations of what could possibly be my web portfolio. The designs are only very basic and are the first major part of the design process. Any feedback or comments are welcome.

#1 - Simple and effective
Here I have chosen to make it as simple as possible in an attempt to make the work speak for itself.

#2 - Simple but with colour
Here I have again tried to keep the design relativly simple but this time have added a bit of colour to just liven it up a bit.

#3 - Something a bit different
as an alternative I tried to just design something that I would normally not, just something a bit wacky and different.

Competitive Analysis

noreply@blogger.com (Mirhad Kalabic) — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 16:29:00 +0000

http://www.cliftonwebdesign.co.uk/portfolio-web-design.htm
From the beginning I think that it is very obvious that this portfolio is supposed to not over power the work as it is very simple and plain. I’m sure that a company like this has created hundreds if no thousands of websites so what they have tried to do is pick only the best 6 and the ones of the highest profile and only display them, which is something that I am also looking to do in my own portfolio.

Its simplicity is also very appealing to me because not only does it allow your work to speak for itself but also provides a user friendly environment that is easy to navigate and understand.

Each of the websites that they have designed has a small preview, a description of the project and then is finally linked to the live website. All three of these are something that I must also consider when designing my own portfolio.

There is a small section outlining some of the current clients that the company are working with, but seen as none of them are links to anything and don’t go into any kind of depth about the project then it seems just a bit pointless.

Overall the portfolio part of the site is I believe a success and the only thing letting it down it the lack of more examples of work. Only six examples seem to be somewhat too little for what seems to be a fairly large company. Its also reassuring to see that the page is actually valid which make a change from most design companies.

http://www.matt-gibson.co.uk
This website on the other hand is the complete opposite. The designer has opted to make the portfolio itself a design task and has made it very flashy and arty. This approach still works but in a different way, what he has done here is actually distracted the users from being able to easily view his pieces of work that they have came on the site to view in the first place.

The designer has also split his work into five different categories which is helpful for the potential employer to differentiate some of the pieces in order to find what they are actually looking for.

Dark blue text on a black background also was not the wisest choice and it proves extremely difficult to read at times. Also when you hover over the thumbnails they turn black and white which I can’t really understand because the whole point of a mouse over is that it makes the selected item stand out even more from the rest and not make it even harder to see.

Something else that I found strange is that there are actually three menus on each page and all three are the same, two at the top and one at the bottom of the page.

Overall this is not a particularly bad site even though it does have many flaws, the designer has opted to almost try and make the site itself a piece of art but has somewhat failed in my opinion, simplicity I believe is the way forward.

This page is also not Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional

Refined Target Audience...

noreply@blogger.com (Mirhad Kalabic) — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 16:54:00 +0000

Primary – Educationalists
Gregg is 37 years old and works at the examining body BTEC. Gregg is fairly self contained and spends a lot of his time on his laptop computer. He has a 17” widescreen laptop with a screen resolution of 1152x864 Pixels, his operating system is Windows Vista and the browser he uses is Internet Explorer 7.

He mainly uses his computer as a means of communication when he is on his travels and often uses his computer on the train. The main other uses he has for his laptop are internet viewing and word processing. His skills in using his computer are not really that great but he can comfortable use it for his requirements.

As he uses his computer a lot on his travels he has a 3G mobile connection so the speed is not as high as broadband but is still higher than dial up. He also has a monthly download limit of 3GB.

Secondary – Potential Employers
Trevor is 35 years of age and is the owner of a small design company based in Leeds. His company is only 5 years old but has managed to establish itself as one of the best design companies locally. His pay is based on the number and level of clients that they receive, but is generally in the region of £40,000 P/A.

Trevor has access to a number of computer systems; at home he has a 15” Mac Book running the OSX operating system. On this computer his screen resolution is 1152x864 and the browser he uses is Mozilla Firefox 2.0.

At work he has also uses his Mac Book but has in his office he has a 20” iMac that is also running the OSX operating system but this has a screen resolution of 1280x1024 and he also use Mozilla Firefox 2.0 here as well.

Tertiary – Private Clients
Carl is 45, is married and has two children. He is a homeowner and is self employed. He owns a small shop which involves selling home made furniture that he and his brother produce. Their business is started well but they would like to extend into the national market and appeal to customers all across the UK and because of this they are looking to create a website.

Carl does not have any notable experience with computers and only uses it for email and the occasional catch up on news websites. He has a fairly old computer system in the back room of their workshop.

It’s a very basic computer and not very fast. It is running Windows XP and has a screen resolution of 1024x768. He does not really understand how to update his system and is still using Internet Explorer 6 as his browser.

Carl would require some form of training on how to use the website for processing orders and some basic requirements for the website are contact information with a map and he would also like customers to be able to place orders online and would also require a method of online payment.

He does not necessarily want the site to be all singing all dancing and would prefer if it worked well rather than looked nice.

Delivery Requirements - Portfolio

noreply@blogger.com (Mirhad Kalabic) — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 15:24:00 +0000

Technologies:
CSS Version 2.1
This is something that I have only reacently picked up and am looking to improve upon even more. CSS will be the vital ingrediant to the look and feel of the website as it will be used to style all of the pages and their elements. In order to create the CSS I will be using Dreamweaver.
The style sheet will also need to be validated using the W3C Validator.

XHTML 1.0 Transitional
XHTML is now seen as the standard web language and has replaced HTML. I will therefore use it to place content onto the web page, which will then be styled by the CSS.

FTP (Dreamweaver)
The file transfer protocol (FTP) within Dreamweaver will be used to upload the created website and associated files from my local machine to the internet.

Flash
I will also look to incorporate some form of Flash in the design, this will not be anything major, but as it is a new skill that I have learnt reacently I will be looking to show off some of the techniques I have learnt.

Feedback Form
This will be the main and preffered method of communication that the users will be able to use to get in touch with me. There will be a small box where the user can input their comment and also a drop down menu where they can select how they have managed to come across my website. The feedback for itself will be linked to my email adress.

Software:
Dreamweaver
This program will be used for the actuall build of the site. It will also be used for the creation of the CSS code. The FTP within dreamweaver will also be used, so this is a piece of software that I will be using throughout the majority of the build process.

Adobe Flash
This software will be used for creation of any flash elements, whatever they may be.

Adobe Photoshop
Photoshop will be used for creation of any graphical work on the website. The look and feel of the site will ultimately be decided on the type of graphical elements that are on the page, which is why Photoshop will have a major role to play in the creation/.

Portfolio Target Audience

noreply@blogger.com (Mirhad Kalabic) — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 22:22:00 +0000

Primary Audience - Educationalists
The design of the portfolio is for use in the final presentation where there will be a number of educationalists present, so it makes sense that they are my primary target audience. An educationalist is generally someone who will be able to appreciate good design when they see it and will also be very specific in their likes and dislikes. Age wise I think generally between 30 and 50.

Secondary Audience - Potential Employers
The level of web experience that a potential employer will have is quite high. They will be very specific about what they want to see. Generally an employer will have experience in actually creating websites and graphical work. The reason that they will be on the website in the first place is to try and spot someone that they see potential in, so the portfolio must only show the best of my work.

There is however some potential employers who have no experience in web development at all and are simply in charge of the business because of their management skills. This type of potential employer will probably be more difficult to please as they will not be able to appreciate some of the work that goes into creating even something rather simple.

Tertiary Audience - Other Designers
As is often the case I find myself scouring the web for other peoples portfolios, often just for that bit of inspiration to keep me going when I lose concentration. I hope that my website will be used by other designers to offer them inspiration.

The profile for a designer can vary drastically. It starts with beginners or “baby designer” as the phrase goes. The baby designers won’t have that much experience in web development or graphic design. Baby designers are in most cases students between the ages of 16 and 23.

On the other hand there will be the more experienced and probably employed designers who will be generally between the ages of 20 to 40.

Portfolio Website Goals

noreply@blogger.com (Mirhad Kalabic) — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 21:32:00 +0000

Must be limited to containing at least 10 main pieces that will be accessible to the general public
This will allow the website not to become cluttered which will hopefully allow the work to be more easily accessed. Limiting it to a maximum of 10 pieces of work also make me only choose the best of my work where as I otherwise may be tempted to put on something that I would not this way.

To be made using CSS
Weather the portfolio should be a design task itself or if it should be something subtle and let the work speak for itself. Making the portfolio in CSS is a way of still making the portfolio a piece of work even if the design is plain because it shows a different skill that you are capable of.

Must Validate
A simple yet very effective goal, it will show that the coding is correct and it is an crucially important, especially when the large proportion of the target audience is potential employers.

To meet Priority 1 of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
Meeting this priority is something that I think the majority of web designers should be taking as a given, but many are not doing so. Simply making the website accessible to a wider range of people is what every designer wants, so why they are not doing it is beyond me. If I’m honest this is something that I have only recently become familiar with, but I will now start to try and implement it into my working methods.

Coke Bottle Design Feedback

noreply@blogger.com (Mirhad Kalabic) — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 23:30:00 +0000

These are the three designs that I have chosen to digitise, any comments, suggestions or improvements would be greatly appreciated. Please don;t be too harsh because they too me ages, especially the second one...

On the home straight... almost!

noreply@blogger.com (Mirhad Kalabic) — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 23:16:00 +0000

It’s nearing the end of the third semester, ¾ of the way through the entire course, which is kind of scary. Time seems to be flying and it seems like just yesterday that we were throwing a ball to each other and throwing eggs out of the window. The fact that time is flying is usually a sign when you’re having fun and I think this semester out of them all has been the most enjoyable.

We have had the group assignment this semester and that experience was fantastic. Everything about it, from the choosing of the roles to meeting with the client and organising a great user testing day flowed seamlessly. This unit has generally taught me the most, and especially the importance of user testing, which I somewhat did not take much notice of before but now seems to me that it should be the centre of any website that I make. User testing is simply the best way of ironing out a websites flaws, which me and my group learned the hard way the first time around because our site was simply not user friendly at all.

Another assignment that we are currently in to process of completing is the Culture Vulture. Again this has taught me a great amount and has given me a new found respect for artists. We literally had to sit behind our desks for three consecutive weeks and come up with designs for and unknown product which meant that they would be extremely diverse, and to be fair they were but after a couple of hours my mind tended to go blank and new distinct ideas were hard to come across. At these types of moments I always thought how it is for artists who have to come up with extremely distinct ideas day in day out, probably not at the pace we had to but even still their minds must boggle sometimes.

This semester also saw the introduction of CSS, something that I had been greatly anticipating and have managed to pick up rather well I felt. To say I had started with no knowledge whatsoever I was genuinely impressed with the final outcome, which although not perfect and not the best design in the world proved to be almost and exact replica of what I envisioned it to look like.

To say there is only one semester left and not a very long one if you take out the holidays I think its time to realistically start looking at the future and to look at the types of jobs that are currently available. Uncertain of exactly what type of job I want at the end of it all I think I will probably apply for a number of different types and hopefully I will the get a more specific idea of what I want to do. A third year at university I think is out of the question, for now at least. I just don’t see what I would gain from it and at the end of the day if its possible to obtain employment with what I think is a rather credible qualification then why waste another year, and I think from what I’ve heard I would learn much more in a year at work than I would in a year at university. So let’s bring on the last semester and learn some Flash!! Although I can’t wait for the Christmas holidays…

Skillset or BTEC?

noreply@blogger.com (Mirhad Kalabic) — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 21:12:00 +0000

Education is all about working and training to a certain level that is required for you to be seen as an employable person. Sounds pretty simple, but the difficulty in this is who do you get to actually set this so called standard that we should all be aiming for?

Many courses these days including the one that we are currently on are sort of being torn apart by two different groups of people. First of all by people who actually run the courses and who provide the platform for the tutors to then interpret these elements in their own understanding and then there is the people who are actually experienced industry professional and therefore potential employers.

The majority of us are all on the course to learn the skills required for us to enter the world of work; therefore it would make logical sense for us to be told what we should learn by the experienced industry people rather than people who have probably never been to a design studio, let alone have any sort of in depth knowledge of what goes on in one on a daily basis.

Due to many reasons all of which we don’t really have much choice in, our course is ran by what I would say are the wrong people. Simply looking at the two standards and requirements it is clear to me that Skillset seem to know more of what they are talking about. Their standards are laid out in three columns labelled “What you must know”, “What you must be aware off”, and “What you must be able to do” and that is really all we need to know, this would in turn allow the tutors to become much more creative in the writing our assignments, and that in it self would make the lives of the students and teachers a lot easier.

The thing that drew me towards this particular course was the fact that I knew I loved graphic and web design and had previously done rather well in these areas. Something else that attracted me towards this course was the fact that there were no examinations and I always figured that it would be a very creative course rather than an academic one. This sadly was not the case and there seems to be at least a 50/50 spilt between the two. The creative is very enjoyable and I feel myself and many others are being pulled down by what can only be described as lack of competence on the academic part. Admittedly there must be some sort of evaluative pieces and research but it’s at a level that I did not expect, at least not on a vocational course. A lot of this I can see the point of, mainly to give us an understanding of the industry but it often does affect the grades of people with real potential to work in the industry.

The other thing that seems quite major is the fact that the BTEC ones seem to be very outdated and I think this is the most obvious when they still consider CSS as a New technology even though it has been around and fairly widely used for a number of years now.

Overall without going into too much depth I think it is very clear that people who not only know what they are talking about and have the experience to back it up but are also seen as our potential employers should be setting standards to which we should all be aiming for which is why I am a fan of the Skillset standards more than that I am to that of BTEC.

CD Tracklist

noreply@blogger.com (Mirhad Kalabic) — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 15:49:00 +0000

Not sure if their in exactly this order because iv'e lost the playlist, but the songs are all listed below.

1) Rocky Soundtrack - Eye of the Tiger

2) Bryan Adams - Summer of 69

3) Dino Merlin - Nesto Lijepo Treba Da Se Desi

4) Kaiser Chiefs – Ruby

5) Brad Paisley - I'm Gonna Miss Her

6) Mash-Ups - Fat Boy Slim Vs Offspring - Pretty Fly For A White Guy

7) Puff Dady-Ill Be Missing U

8) Pink - Just like a pill

9) Kanye West ft Daft Punk - Stronger

10) Rednex - Cotton Eyed Joe (Country Dance Remix)

11) Rob Thomas - Lonely No More

12) Sean Kingston - Beautiful Girls

13) The All-American Rejects - Dirty Little Secret

14) Tifa - Dani bez tebe - Duge kise jesenje

15) Timbaland- The Way I Are

16) Will Smith - Miami

Blue and Yellow = Bellow

noreply@blogger.com (Mirhad Kalabic) — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 21:12:00 +0000

These colours are both primary colours, they are both natural colours and symbolize nature and everything that is natural. The sun is Yellow, the grass is green and the sky and sea are blue.

Probably one of the first few colours any of us became familiar with as children.

Blue is a cold colour and yellow is a warm colour, but when used together it is possible to create some magnificent pieces of design work, mainly because there is a great deal of contrast between the two.

Believe it or not the cool, calming effect of blue makes time pass more quickly and it can help you sleep.
Blue is also the main colour of trust which is why many banks use blue in the corporate id.

Yellow is one of the three colours in the lower half of the visible spectrum it is known as a "warm" colour and has a stimulating effect. It is the colour of the intellect and can be very helpful with study and where concentration is required

Here are some examples of where yellow and blue have been used to some stunning artefacts.

Yorkshire Sculpture Park Visit...

noreply@blogger.com (Mirhad Kalabic) — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 20:58:00 +0000

After what seemed quite a long time we finally got the chance to present out presentations on our chosen design icons. I had been looking forward to this day and to be honest really enjoyed it. I though I was very confident in my approach and felt it went pretty well. After the presentations today we went over to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, which proved to be a rather interesting visit.

When we arrived there we started to walk around some of the sculptures and to be honest most of them were fascinating. I was impressed to see what people can come up with such limited and sometimes rather strange resources. I think it just goes to show that the creative industry is not for everyone. I really appreciated most of the pieces although some of them I just had to laugh at and think “what is that?”. The first few, where the people actually used trees and wood to create their pieces were amazing I though, especially the room where the ceiling and the walls were completely covered in wood and even the smell of the place was really interesting. Unlike the others that were very modern and minimalist this one actually smelt damp which was more appropriate I suppose.

On the other hand the one where the artist used manure to create these paintings just dint appeal to me. I can see how it’s something different and new, but I just don’t see where they can get such motivation to do such a thing. But ohh well that’s probably why im not an artist and am a designer, and let’s not open that can please…

Today we also got our results from the CSS assignment and I was very disappointed to say the least. I know that I did struggle with the assignment at the beginning but I genuinely thought that I made a lot of progress and have learnt so much in such a short space of time. The things I referred on were nothing major which was a bit reassuring but I was still gutted after all that hard work to be the only person in the group to refer. Never mind, I will treat it as a lesson learned to pay more attention to the small things when handing in, in the future.

Here are some of the photos that I took whilst at the sculpture park. Comments and opinions welcome as always.

noreply@blogger.com (Mirhad Kalabic) — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 20:34:00 +0000

Ok, for a start I think I have a slightly different taste in music to most of you guys in the class, but anyway I’ve managed to come up with a CD that I hope you will enjoy. Not a lot of other people in the group seem to really like dance and r ‘n’ b so I’ve tried to put on some things that I think no one will take offence to or have anything against; there are quite a few old songs on there and one or two from my home land (Bosnia).

Song 1 – Kanye West – Stronger

Every lunch time me and a few of the guys from the group go out to eat, and I think they will agree that for the past month or so this is the only song that has been playing in the car, it’s been on repeat for ages so it just wouldn’t make sense for it to not be on the CD.

Song 2 – Dino Merlin – Nesto ljepo treba da se desi

I think you can probably see from the title that the song is not English. Its Bosnian, where I’m originally from. There are millions of Bosnian songs, so why did I choose this one then. Basically Dino Merlin is probably the biggest star in Bosnian music, an absolute legend. He has represented Bosnia twice in Eurovision song contests and released his first album back in 1985, 2 years before I was born. This particular song was on his 1989 album, so when I was 2 the song was released. Even though his music is very old it’s still extremely popular even today.

Song 3 – P Diddy – I’ll be missing you.

When I first started to learn English around 12ish years ago I found that listening to music was a good way of picking up the language. This song was one that I loved back then, even though I never understood a word of it. Even today I often listen to it and a number of other older songs, which are often better than some of the rubbish that is being released. For me this song is a classic and one that even in years to come I will still sometimes put on and listen to.

noreply@blogger.com (Mirhad Kalabic) — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 16:23:00 +0000

The Year So Far...

The first half term has just finished and it really seems to have flown past. It seems like yesterday that we came in for enrolment and to hand in our summer assignments, but in fact it’s been nearly three months. I think that this is probably due t the fact because the course so far this year has been a lot more challenging and thus making it a lot more enjoyable, and we all know that time fly’s when you’re having fun.

Things definitely seem to have moved up a gear as opposed to last year. Even though the current assignments are pretty difficult and demanding I’m really enjoying it and feel I’m really learning a lot this year. At the end of the first year I had one main target in my head for the second year and that was to learn CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and I’m glad to report that I have achieved this. Ok, I must admit I’m not a total expert in CSS but I do know the basics and as long as I know this then I feel that there will be time for me to improve and build upon the knowledge that I have gained. This however is not the only place that I feel I have improved.

In all honesty last year my time management skills were not as good as they should have been, I noticed this because work was being left to the last minute and then had to be rushed at the end. This was not a good way of working and I said to myself that in the second year something will need to be done. This is why now I give my college work first priority and don’t mess about with the deadlines that are given to me. I have also created my own time management sheets, which really work well for me. Their very simple and for the time being are working really well for me but may at some point need to be updated to cope with the extra work load that we are expecting in the near future.

Something else that I have noticed is that so far this year the entire group seems to be gelling really well together, or maybe it’s just that I’ve started to now really settle in. I now find myself talking and really getting on with people who last year I didn’t really interact with that much, except for work related things. I think this has really been helped by the fact that we now have a group assignment in place. I must say that the group assignment so far has been the most enjoyable assignment of the entire course and I can only see it getting better as time passes. The group that I am in seems t have a great blend of all the qualities needed to successfully see a project through, including great project management skills shown by Craig Burgess. Craig’s enthusiasm and dedication to the group project seems to have really had a great effect on me personally. Letting a group down is something that I couldn’t do, which is why I try my upmost to meet all of the deadlines and criteria that Craig sets us on a weekly basis.

Like I’ve said the year so far has been really enjoyable and I can only envision it getting better as the year progresses. But the only scary thing is that time seems to be flying a bit too fast for my liking, because it’s only a matter of a few months that we will be leaving the course for good and being let out into the real world on our own, where there are no Steve’s, John’s or Craig’s. J Scary!

noreply@blogger.com (Mirhad Kalabic) — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 16:04:00 +0000

Describe yourself in three words…

Tall, Dark, Handsome

How would you measure the effectiveness of your interactive media product?

After making a website, the key thing for measuring the effectiveness is when the client says “Well done!, that’s spot on”. Another way of testing the effeteness is using software that will track the progress of the website after it has been published, such as Google analytics. This would tell me how many visitors the site has had and many returning visitors there are. The higher the level of returning visitors then more effective your product is.

How do you handle criticism?

I used to take it personally and this did not have a good effect on my work. Understanding that your generally not designing for yourself is the key. Recently this has become clear to me and now I see criticism as a positive thing even if someone says something blunt like “That’s rubbish” I see that there not saying I’m rubbish but the work that I’ve created is rubbish. It doesn’t have much of an effect on me now.

Describe a difficult problem you’ve had and how you solved it?

Something that is very difficult for designers is when you come to a point in the day where you loose inspiration and you mind goes blank and what ever you create you dislike and end up starting again. It’s very frustrating and what I do in these circumstances is to take a few minutes out and go on the web or look through magazines and find things that are really good design pieces and just try and inspire myself to create something better. For me personally this works all the time.

Describe how you fit into a team?

Team work is something that I am very keen on and think I function well as part of a team. In a team, I’m generally the guy who will relax the tensions in a stressful situation. I’m not afraid of doing my part for the well being of the team and I always lay out my own responsibilities and make sure I see it through. I hate being a weak link.

Do you have any questions?

* Do you generally employ people who specialise in one application or people who are fairly comfortable but not excellent in more applications?

* Is an impressive portfolio a greater advantage than impressive qualifications?

noreply@blogger.com (Mirhad Kalabic) — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 22:44:00 +0000

Evaluating my mock interview Blog post

As you can see the post pervious to this one was a case of answering mock interview questions and as you can see I didn’t do too well, did I? For a start I didn’t quite understand the way that the procedure worked and I thought I was required to answer the questions as if I was applying for the job through a letter but this was not the case.

Anyway regardless of this, looking back at some of the answers I gave I find it hard to believe that offering the job to me would even cross the interviewer’s mind. For a start when asked where I see myself in 5 years I did not make it clear that I wanted to stay with the company long term. It’s a bit of a silly thing to say to your potential employer, that you don’t see your future with them.

My answer to my greatest weakness was also a downfall for me. I knew what I wanted to say and it wasn’t a direct weakness, but something that I thought would turn the question on its head and actually turn out to be a positive. The wording was wrong however and it’s clear that the person interviewing me would think that I don’t know how to use InDesign and am still learning. What I should have said was something along the lines of “Since I have learnt InDesign, I now use it for all of my page layout tasks”

There is a lot of useful websites on the internet about interview techniques and the importance of body language in an interview which are also very useful, but answering questions accurately and saying what the employer want to hear is the most important thing and the answers I gave in the practice task were not up to scratch.

noreply@blogger.com (Mirhad Kalabic) — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 16:27:00 +0000

Job Details
Reference :WIM0018183-1
Position :Trainee Graphic Designer
Location :DOUGLAS
Salary :Not available
Company :Promenade Shirts & Embroid Ltd
Date Posted :02/10/2007
Close Date :23/10/2007

Source: http://jobstoday.co.uk

Why do you want the job?
Well… as far back as I can remember creativity has always been a strong point of mine. This lead me to try and peruse a career in the design industry. I have just completed a two year HND course at Wakefield College, in the interactive use of media and even though this was mainly based on web design it also involved a lot of graphic design, both for print and digital. I now feel very comfortable using Adobe Photoshop and feel I have the necessary skills to undertake this job role, which based on my skills seems ideal.

Greatest strength?
Like I said, I see graphic design as my greatest skill, especially in Photoshop.

Greatset weakness?
I sometimes rely too much on Photoshop for every day tasks, but have recently tried to learn new software skills including Adobe InDesign.

5 Years from now?
5 years from now I would ideally like to have a secure job that I actually enjoy. Not freelance but actually working for someone.

Current innovation that excites you the most?
The latest version of Adobe Photoshop (CS3) which I have had no experience with so far but hope to get hold of in the near future. Reading through some reviews and reports it promises to improve on what is already a near perfect piece of software.

Who is your hero and why?
Herman Zapf, a famous font designer. Designed some of the best fonts many of which I often use in everyday design task.

noreply@blogger.com (Mirhad Kalabic) — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 15:35:00 +0000

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.

noreply@blogger.com (Mirhad Kalabic) — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 16:36:00 +0000

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.

noreply@blogger.com (Mirhad Kalabic) — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 19:46:00 +0000

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.

noreply@blogger.com (Mirhad Kalabic) — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 15:43:00 +0000

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.

noreply@blogger.com (Mirhad Kalabic) — Mon, 14 May 2007 22:13:00 +0000

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.