Another one of my aims was to actually be able to create a website from scratch, without the help from templates downloaded from the internet. My first website looks appalling now, although at the time I thought that it was really good. This shows how I have progressed. I can go back and look at my old work and know what I could do to improve them. I have also learnt a lot of HTML code, and actually enjoy coding and finding problems now. Coding was something that I hated before, probably because I had no experience with it. I would definitely change the colour scheme of my old website to something a bit more relaxing.
I seem to have a problem with choosing colours for my work. I do seem to choose the appropriate colours, but maybe a bright shade of the colour rather than one that would suite it better. I feel that this is my personal choice for brighter colours rather than the professional shade of the colour that I need. I will have to revisit my colour lecture in my sketchbook to learn anything I have missed and to also revisit my noted. I do feel that my choice of colours has become better though. I now start my work with white and adding bits of colour rather than starting with lots of colour and adding small amounts of white. Maybe this was just a fear of white space? Steve told me to start with white and to add bits of colour, and not to work the other way around. This is something I feel I will remember well. I also used it with my A7 assignment website. I can see that it has a more professional look if I use less colour.
Over the year I have been taking some lessons with John and found them really useful. One of the things he has been helping me with is my confidence issues. I feel that I have learned a lot from this. I can now say I am more confident in my work and in myself than I have ever been. When I first joined this course I never found my voice to answer questions or to ask them. I used to be a quiet member of the class. With the help I received from John I am now capable of this.
One thing that is grudging my confidence is the lack of ability to pass first time with my assignments. It really puts me down when I see my name with a referral next to it. I do feel that this is down to a time plan that's not effective enough. I left the little tasks to do at the end and gave a few hours to complete the work in but soon realised that this was too late as some tasks took a lot longer than I had planned. I have now started to do the little tasks a few days before the deadline. This way I have spare time for if things go wrong. I am confident in my Sketchblog assignment and my A7 one also. I feel that I have planned a lot more effectively this time. I have also used up all 32 hours a week and sometimes more on my work.
I feel that another thing that I am not good at is attention to detail. Things like not naming folders properly or differently to other folders. Things like not creating a professional looking CD label to hand my work in. Things like spelling and grammar. I feel that these are down to lack of time. These are the sorts of things I leave until the last minute. As I have said above, I will be doing these a lot sooner rather than later.
Overall I have enjoyed the course and I would try harder to the beginning of the course if I was to retake the first year. I feel that I lacked motivation and enthusiasm at that point. I have also learned a lot of professional skills and hope to learn more next year.
My favourite part of the year has definitely been this final assignment. I feel more confident about this assignment, which seems to have made me enjoy it more. There was also a lot of creative work and sketchbook drawings involved, which I enjoy the most. I have also enjoyed working with different people within the class. I worked well with Ben and still do, as we sit together in class. I also feel that I work well with Mirhad, although I have known him for some time. I would have liked with some other members of the class like Craig and Jamie Milsom. I think Steve didn't put us together for good reasons. With the second year approaching and the team assignment getting closer it's time to think about who we have worked well with, and not who we have yet to work with
I also enjoyed creating the image restoration piece. I feel that this was something that I did really well. I will have to do some more of this over the summer holidays, as we won't get the chance to do it again next year.
Some of the bad memories are me getting referred constantly. It really knocks me down. These referrals are my own fault though.
I am still unsure of what I want to do after this course. I am thinking of entering for the third year here at college. I feel it will depend on how the second year goes. If I do well in my Grandmaster Flash assignment then I might see if there's a course on Flash and Actionscripting. I do want to continue onto the second year however.
My ultimate goals for next year are to overcome my weaknesses, acheive atleast 3 merits and to use CSS. I know that acheiving higher level grades will be a big task for me but it will be worth the effort in the end. I also want to use InDesign instead of PageMaker, as it's experience wih new software. I feel that my time planning also needs to improve, as I still find it hard to stick to my plans. I look forward to creating our portfolio of the two years as well. My presentation skills weren't up to scratch, although I didn't do too badly. I hope there are chances next year to practice and improve these skills.
- Overcome weaknesses
- Learn CSS
- Acheive 3 merits
- Use InDesign
- Create a portfolio site
- Practice presentation skills
- Improve time planning and management
It has been an enjoyable first year and I would like to thanks my peers, Steve and John for making it so pleasant.
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