Personal & professional development.

Saturday, 28 April 2012

PPD study task five; Making your mark.

I found a font I liked the look of online that I felt represented me as a designer really well due to it's hand drawn nature. I then took the font and tailored it to look exactly how I liked. These are the initial sketches I had for font ideas and how I was going to lay my name out. Initially I just want to use my name because nobody is likely to know who "KA" is and on its own it reminds people of Ford KA.

I then decided it would be really relevent to have a logo because this can be applied to certain elements such as profile pictures on social networking and still be seen where as my full name can not. The two together make a lot of sense because they are the same style, I just added a unique twist on the intials to make them look a bit different and more exciting. These are the digital versions of my branding.

Business Card

Initially experimenting with layout and where to include to relevent information on my business card. Again, using blue as with the creative CV as this is my favourite colour so is 'part of' me. Due to my full name being able to be larger on the business card, it actually works in blue. Also exploring the idea of having a plain blue back to my business card, again in keeping with the design of the creative CV in terms of a minimalistic look. I feel my business cards might look quite good with rounded edges with being quite plain at this stage of my design ideas. Justified left also looks better because you read from left to right.

Experimenting with the possibility of pattern but not sure because theres no real reason for it to be there.

Satisfied with this layout because it utilises the white space and my name will be the first thing the client sees.

Could print a range of different colours to reflect my personality and add a bit of variety to my simplistic design.

Logo could also be included but I feel this doesn't look as good and it doesn't need to be there as my name is clear on the other side.

Letterhead

Could have a blue back to match the business card and also include the logo so when the letter is folded this could be a unique 'stamp' clients will recognise.

Just experimenting with general layout but justified right works best as there is so much information on a letterhead, it brings balance to the whole design. Although at the moment it doesn't seem to balance out perfectly, once an actual letter is written it will look fine. I also realised having the 'stamp' where it is would work because the letter would be folded the opposite way so the clients address would be seen through the envelope.

Compliment slip

The compliment slip didn't take much experimenting as I took the design from the letterhead but applied it to a different format.

Wednesday, 25 April 2012

Dreamweaver workshop two.

HTML; hyper text mark-up language.

To make a website you need;

Order; <HTML><HEAD><TITLE></TITLE></HEAD><BODY></BODY></HTML>

PHP; applied to sites like amazon that have a lot of products on them.

You can view the code of any website in the world to see how complicated the design is.

The first image to ever be posted online once people figured out how.

To set-up our folder from the ones we've made.

Whenever websites are created the first page needs to be called index.html.

To view codes to edit click on 'code'.

The website progress can be previewed by clicking on the globe symbol.

Options to work with css.

Type body and space, to get type options press shift and {.

Then start typing font and choose font family.

To close each section add a semi colon.

Once the body is done go to the next line and type }.

Icon to link the stylesheet to the website.

To create a div start with #wrapper.

If you indent type it causes less confusion.

If you want something to have a solid background, make it transparent in photoshop and add colour code in dreamweaver.

To save it as transparent use PNG-24.

With no transparency use JPEG (in photoshop)

Dreamweaver workshop one; SCAMPS.

The task we were given in the first dreamweaver workshop was to create some of our own scamps that we could then use when it comes to designing our own website as a template. Usually you design two or three but I did a few more just to give myself more scope for design and ideas. I want to take quite a minimalistic approach to my own website with few buttons to other pages and an overall simplistic design. The sections indicate buttons to other pages and the box with a cross is where the logo and any other imagery would lie (in some designs just the logo). I also included a basic site map of the pages I would have that would be linked to the homepage.

Dreamweaver workshop one.

Aims;

- Identify website purpose.

- Identify target audience.

- Identify audience needs.

- Demonstrate an understanding of interface and layout techniques.

Purpose;

- To showcase your work.

- To get work.

- Employment opportunities.

Target audience;

- Design studios

- Corporate clients

- Events

- Independent buyers

- Collaborators

- Like minded people

Audience needs;

- Overview of work

- Contact details

Which target audience are you targeting?

Look at exsisting websites for personal area of interest.

SCAMP - quick layout of a website design. Usually produce around three different designs and annotate them.

SITE MAP - showcases the content of the website (different pages).

Can ask clients for sites they like as inspiration.

Choose a website and write the first things that come to mind...

Apple; clean, technological, innovation.

Legwork; illustrative, plain, dull, bland.

My own bike; weird, european, intruiging, minimal.

Slavery footprint; too happy, layout, minimal.

No limite arcades; horrible, tacky, busy, garish.

Evangelical catherdral; confusing, strange, busy.

Ling cars; horiffic, too much, bad movement, confusing.

Olly Moss; what?, very minimal, intriguing.

Vicki and Laura; different, simplistic, horizontal.

There are certain web standards that need to be stuck to in terms of size, width, font etc.

Avoid animation. Try and use a maximum of five links.

Your work should be the focus and the website should be basic. The work should speak.

Lightbox - a tool in which video can appear over the top of something else.

AWWWARDS - links out to award winning websites for inspiration.

Websites I found that are 'different':

www.kinetic.com.sg

www.duplos.org

www.timburton.com

www.momentskis.com

www.ultranoir.com

The navigation of a website should never move. Try and fix the navigation.

Make sure networking is applicable to getting a job.

For a website:

Home

About

Work

Contact

Networking

Some elements could go onto the homepage. Could have different pages for work produced in different media.

Web standards:

Rectangle 8:6 sizing (800x600) pixels.

SCAMP example.

There are two things needed to make a website go live; a domain name and hosting.

Make sure you have unlimited bandwidth (the amount of people that visit per month).

There are a list of websafe fonts. You choose a font family so if the person viewing the website doesn't have one, it picks the next one on the list.

If you want to use custom fonts then save them as an image.

Colour can be selected by the colour picker and selecting 'only web colours' in photoshop. Specify colour through the hash tag code.

FTP; can upload the file through dreamweaver.

www.kuler.adobe.com; online adobe colour picker.

Using websafe colours means that the colour is the same on all computers.

Size: to be accessable to everyone it needs to be 800x600. Size depends on what the website is being used for.

We can't use images that we don't own the copyright to.

Monday, 23 April 2012

Image: End of module self-evaluation.

1. What skills have you developed throughout this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?

I have developed my illustration skills throughout this module and have applied this all of my projects so this skill has developed quite well. I have began to develop more of a personal style that could be recognised as my own work. I have also become more confident with this skill because i've managed to put it into practice quite a lot. Time management has also developed throughout this project because a lot of the briefs were just one week so I had to decide what a substaintial amount of work was week on week and whether I was developing things to the best of my ability. General image skills have developed throughout this module because i've learnt the various ways an image can be produced whether it be in 3D, illustrated, photographed etc and then I have also learnt how to combine these skills. I think a range of these general skills has been applied well throughout the module because I have tried a range of techniques throughout each of the briefs.

2. What approaches to/methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?

The main method of design production I have used throughout each of the briefs is illustrating the imagery I need before producing it digitally. This has informed the design development process in the sense that I then take these images to create things digitally so without them I wouldn't have a basis for all of my imagery. I have also used photography as a design development process because this was relevent to some of the briefs. This informed my design development process because it was the last stage in some of the briefs and created the final piece so it finished the process. I've also sometimes used photoshop to edit some of my imagery so that it was ready for illustrator when it came to making a final piece. This informed my development process because without editing some of the images in photoshop I wouldn't have got the same result within my final pieces.

3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?

Illustration skills are definitely a strength throughout my work because I have become more confident with my drawing style and feel as though i'm developing something that is beginning to look like 'my own'. In future I will capitalise on this by using this skill more often whenever I am given chance in a brief, even if just for experimentation. Completing the briefs for the correct deadline has also been a strength throughout this module because if I hadn't had kept on top of the work I would have struggled to get everything done for the module deadline. In future I will make sure I manage my time just as well so that things get done and I dont have a big build up of work at the end. My ability to come up with a range of different ideas has also been a strength throughout this module because it means I have created a range of work and experimented with things I maybe haven't done before. In future I will make sure I explore a large range of ideas so that my work becomes more diverse.

4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in future?

My work throughout this module has two main weaknesses. The first weakness is that I have not researched as much as I could have for each of the briefs. In future I will make sure I research as soon as I get a brief so all ideas I have intially are inspired by something and can be informed and developed fully by a better body of research. The second weakness I found was the amount of experimentation I did. I found that I threw myself straight into things instead of spending time coming up with a range of ideas because I didn't want to spend too much time with only having a week one most of the briefs.

5. Identify five things you will do differently next time and what you expect to gain from doing these?

1. Look and consider more research: My ideas will be more informed and it is likely I could come up with better ideas too.

2. Prioritise each module that is running as high as the other: The briefs won't feel as rushed and i'll have put more effort into them. They will not be forgotten about.

3. Develop more: I could come up with some really good ideas through doing this instead of just going with the first one I come up with.

4. Experiment more: I could have used a range of different techniques to create final pieces. I would have a more diverse range of work and it would be more visually exciting.

5. Use a greater range of sources for research: I may come across something I wouldn't find on the internet for example.

6. How would you grade yourself in the following areas:

Attendence 5

Punctuality 5

Motivation 3

Commitment 3

Quantity of work produced 3

Quality of work produced 3

Contribution to the group 3