Love You And Leave You

Well, after a 3 month absence in the blog I feel it is now time to update.

I have decided not to come back for the 2nd year, I have a job hopefully lined up in web design. The company I work for is getting the contract in October and they say they need a couple of web designers so I decided to get myself in straight away. It is a big risk not getting the qualification at college but one I feel is worth the risk!

I have learnt so much in the past year at college and met some great people along the way who have helped with my progression through the course. I hope you all get what you want from this course just like I did and I hope to see you all qualify with your hat and gown walking down Wood Street next year,

All the best, love one another.

Chris

Web Site Designs

www.yell.com

As far back as I can remember, the yellow pages has always been known as the big yellow phone book with all the numbers you need. Now online, it is one of the easiest and recognisable websites out. With 3 different shades of yellow it is very eye catching and a good example of that a website dosn't need to fill everything with colour with the mass amount of white outside the yellow. When you search for a number, the layout changes a bit but the search bar is always the same.

www.hmv.co.uk

One of my personal favourite websites, the logo is just as popular as they get and the whole site is focused around the colours pink, black and white. The pink on black always makes it very eye catching and when the pink isn't used them its either white on black background or vice versa with both having the same kind of impact, easy readable and they stand out. Any new special offers they have also get created by using the same colours which makes the whole colour scheme of the site very consistant.

www.seetickets.com

A website that I use quite alot, and find it so easy to use. The black background makes you take more notice of the bright blue text and the use of other bright colours used on the buttons. When you move your mouse over a button, the button changes to the text colour and the text changes to the button colour which makes the buttons seem like you have activated them, a really good feature for users of all ages. The images are used well on the home page all suitable sizes and relevent to what is being bought. The colours are used throughout the site and is very consistantly used.

Designs

This design stood out for me, with the brightness of the yellow it catches your eyes and then with the text on the yellow background in blue it takes you straight to the message. The way the lighter blue has been used as a football player to seperate the darker blue has also been designed well as the colours suit well together but something not so outragous just to split the colours easily. Also the white line between the 2 different shades of blue also gives it that extra bit of seperation between the 2 colours. The logo of FIFA has also been edited to suit the style of the flyer by using the same colour of blue as with the text.

This design is a dvd cover of the greatest preformances from the Glastonbury festival over the years. One of the main stages at Glastonbury is the Pyramid stage in which all the big artsits play and when you look at this design you just know what the dvd is about and the way the designer has made the stage gold makes it look important. The way the crowd is split by 4 different colours and those colours are used well at the top of the stage with the effect of a rainbow. The way the text has been used makes it easily readable even with the white shadow drop on it.

This 3rd design is a wallpaper that I use, it is designed around the theme of Pink Floyd band and has many of the bands albums and art in the background and the whole design is phased around the most popular album "Dark Side Of The Moon". With the dark backgrounds and with the triangle in the centre your eyes immediantly turn to the ray of colours that hit the dark triangle. The wallpaper all looks dark and mysterious and it makes out that the ray of colours is the only light in the dark.

Kind of a strange design, its from the artist John Squire. His work has always been impulsive painting and never been planned or designed before which makes it so unique. This was one of about 4 designs each done in different colours but I found this one the most effective, it gives the impression of a steamed window and someone has wrote on the window with their finger. This design could be made more into an advertising logo if the doodles was created more into a company name and perhaps the company name in more sensible and clear writing so that it is readable. The other colourful designs looked more like graffiti and this was the more sensible one in which I see future potential.

CD Designs

The 3 cd designs I found have always been big favourites of mine,

The guitarist of this band had a lot to do with the design, and in his spare time outside music he puts on a lot of art shows to display his own work and one of his main styles is just splashing paint on a canvas and making unique design in which you notice in the background, just a green background with splashes of white and blue paint which make the design more unique. I'm not too sure what the lemons are about as they are also used a lot in the whole advertising of the band as in posters, T-shirts and their singles but now when I see half cut lemons around it always reminds me of this album. The red, white and blue at the side just respresents the colours of the united kingdom flag and makes it look a bit like war stripes that are used in indian tribes. The orange in the letters make it stand out but not too bright and is clear to read.

The third is Paul Weller's "Stanley Road" he has tried to include all his favouite things in the cover and with the mod badge on the right you realise that it is from an artist who has been around since the 70's. The colours have been used just right, again not too bright but they make the album stand out. I like how the actual sign of Stanley Road has been used in the middle instead of just adding text over an image. Some of the images that have been used tells you about some of the songs after you have listened to the album it all becomes clear.

This has to be my favourite design of them all, and considering that the album has been out for over 40 years this has set the style for many artists and many more to come. Your eyes are striaght away focused on the artist Beatles lettering in flowers at the bottom which is both clear and loud. The album's name is straight above the name so you don't have to go looking all over to find the album name. The 4 band members have also been designed wearing colourful clothing to make them stand out from the rest and with charactors from everywhere all around including earlier models of themselves, this album makes it one of the brightest and talked about music album designs of all time.

End Of Year Formative Statement

Well, what a year it has been. It dosen't seem 2 minutes since we was throwing balls at each other trying to remember each others names. I looked back at my formative statement I made during the first few weeks at college and i've really got to admit i've come a long way. I was somewhat of an expert with Frontpage and one of my main reasons for coming on this course was to learn the more advanced programs of web design. I did try learning some of the programs I had heard about like Photoshop and Dreamweaver but didn't really know where to start so I just stuck to what I knew.

Time planning was a big issue throughout the year and after countless lectures on just how important it is for our buisness it was something I had struggled with. I'm more the kind to just get on with things and not plan things out, but this course has taught me that this is the wrong approach on dealing with things. A good time plan is essential, not just for college work but with all your life. The more the year went on the more I got used to using a time plan and is something I will bring into the course next year so I can build on grades and not just hope for passes all year round.

The sketchbook assignment was also something I wasn't expecting to be as important. Sketchbooks previously have just been a pad for ideas and wasn't something I expected on getting marked at the end of the year. I don't think i've done as well as I could have done with this assignment and if i'd have known at the start of the year what I know now I would have put a lot more effort into this.

I had expected the course to be a more hands on course with not much written work but within the first few weeks we got given a big reasearch assignment with a lot of essay writing to be done. It wasn't what I was hoping for. After me going to and from college various college courses through the years this was something I hated and part of the reason I never completed some of the courses and felt this course was going the same way. It was more enjoyable then other essay written work I have been given through the years but still wasn't happy.

I knew I wasn't going to find this easy and had a hard time settling into this, with at the time I thought I could handle a full time job as well as attending college I was working myself to death. Also with all the college work expected of me outside of college my college work was suffering at first. I couldn't carry on this way and knew something had to change but it never crossed my mind to finish college, I knew I had to cut my hours down at work but could I afford it? After getting a referal for my first assignment I thought it was just a case of me adjusting to full time education again. And for the second assignment I knew I had to do something about my work so that I could give my best at college.

When the second assignment came I was still working full time but when I realised the amount I had to do I found myself a part time job on evenings so that the day time could be spent with college work. This gave me a big boost in what I could do at college now and was ready to getting started on a new assignment. A lot of written work again had to be done, mainly with reasearch about why I was designing the site and the audience it was being aimed at. Something I would have never thought about before enrolling on this course. With us doing the written essay in the first assignment this was to be very much the same again. So with me getting a referal I was told what I did wrong, so all I had to do was make sure I didn't do it again.

A lot more research had to be put into this assignment as it was designing a website for beginners with computers. I made every effort in researching this as the first assignment I had to admit that I didn't realise just how much research I had to do. I felt confident that I could at least pass this assignment this time and took a lot from what I did last time in. After putting a lot of hard work into this I recieved a pass, I don't know what I would have done if I didn't at least get a pass as I put a lot into it. This again gave me an extra boost and made me realise that this is the course for me.

The next assigment I was prepared for more essay work but now was the bit I was looking forward to, learning Dreamweaver. I loved every minute of Dreamweaver and found it so much easier to use then Frontpage. I did a lot of work in my spare time learning more and more about Dreamweaver and now I don't know how I coped without it. This assignment was actually designing a website that we did in our last assignment about the basics of computing. This didn't actually take me that long to create but it was the fact that I had all my images basically double the size I had wanted them due to me not knowing how to resize images in Photoshop (which now seems the easiest thing in the book).

Half way through this assignment I decided to switch to the HNC part time course which I found much easier and felt I could really achieve what I wanted and also give my full commitment to out of hours study too. A choice I still think is the best I could have made. I handed this assignment in a bit of a rush and thought I had everything finished, but the large image files wasn't the only problem so I again got a referal. I had to redesign the website again and with us getting set a new assignment this was something I didn't need.

The new assignment I was really looking forward to, it was to design a cd cover to suit the style of music we was going to be given. This really sounded great to me until we heard the actual music! It was electrical music and with me choosing proberly the worst out of the lot I wasn't the happiest in the class. After a few listens the only thought that came into my mind was water sounds and the relaxation of being by the beach so I sketched various beach designs and thought the worst bit was going to be putting my ideas into digital designs.

However this wasn't to be, my final designs in my opinion look a lot better and even better then I had expected them to be. This was the image I had chosen from www.dreamstime.com

And after a bit of editing in Photoshop I came up with these designs,

CD Cover
Inside Inlay

I have learnt such a lot this term, not only new software and the way I look at websites now, but things about myself I never thought I could achieve. I have met a good bunch of friends on the course with whom I can rely on if I need help and advice. I am really looking forward to the second year now and hope to learn lots more.

My main goals that I have set for myself next year

• To acheive higher grades in my assignments.

I have basically just relied on getting through this course on just passes, but now I know what is expected of the course I am hoping I can achieve more higher grades. I am looking at at least 2 Merits and 3 passes just so that I can achieve this goal.

• To design a webpage using just CSS.

I've never used CSS before, and is something I have heard lots about. One of our assignments is to create a webpage using CSS so I am confident in achieving this goal.

• To plan my self study more.

At the start of the year this is something that took me a while to get into, as the year got on this drastically improved, something I hope to continue into next year. At the moment my time planning has been fairly sketchy, but I feel I can go more into detail and break assignments down into smaller sections.

Lifes A Beach

I've started getting into a nice little routine with regards to my college work, I usually give myself Monday morning to prepare for things I can do at college on Tuesdays as I don't really work well from home so i've started coming in on Tuesdays. This gives me big help in planning what I need to do and has helped me not get behind in this assignment.

With only under 2 weeks to go until the deadline day this week i've had to make a decision about what my cd cover will look like. On Tuesday I decided upon a design but its when i'm creating it digitally that seems to be the problem, I didn't know whether to design something from scratch or to use an image. I chose to go with the image one as i'm not yet a pro with design software it was just an idea I was thinking and found it hard to do digitally. If I had of chosen my design earlier then I would have proberly created from scratch.

I have decided to design my cd with a beach/sea theme. It is kind of relaxing and just reminds you of lying on the beach listening to the waves crash against the rocks. However if you read someone's comments on my cd choice it is completely different and mentions a lot of dark music. It must be one of us who hasn't got a musical ear.

I have managed to book some time off work near deadline day just so that I have 100% focus on the assignment. And there isn't just this assignment, there is the sketchbook assignment also in which I have a good bit of work to do on before I hand this in. But all in all I am pleased with my progress and don't see a problem coming up in the weeks building upto deadline day.

Good To Be Back!

This week has been quite a shock in all, the final weeks of college are quickly approaching and whlist I feel I am on course to complete the course it just makes you realise that it didn't seem like 2 mins ago we was throwing eggs out of a window.

After sketching some ideas for my cd artwork I have finally come up with a good choice, which I will post when I come around to designing it in Freehand, which is a big task in itself. Its been good to get back into college this week and with me coming in on Tuesday it gives me a chance to prepare for Wednesday's class.

I'm wanting to keep coming into college on Tuesday's as it just me that extra help to prepare for the next day.