Merry Christmas!

After a full day of unwrapping presents, eating, unwrapping more presents and eating some more. I thought I would come online to say...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I hope you all had a great day!

1/4 of the way...

This first semester has gone surprisingly fast, so fast I can hardly believe it’s already December with Christmas just around the corner. Even though I started the course two weeks after the rest of the class, I feel part of the group and I’ve made friends with everyone – something which I initially thought would be hard as I’d been out of college education for a couple of years now.

At the beginning of the course, I had a limited amount of knowledge regarding the design process. Apart from knowing how to use some of the software at a basic level, the rest of the process was new to me. Even though I had already built a few websites, I now realise how badly they were put together with the amount of knowledge I’ve learnt in such a short time on the course.

There are certain aspects of the course that I didn’t expect; I knew that there was a requirement of a sketchbook, but I simply thought that this was just for drawing our ideas and designs. I didn’t quite expect the major impact the sketchbook would have on assignments and my research. At first, I found it quite difficult to use and didn’t quite grasp the need for it but as the course as progressed, I’ve found myself using it more and more. This was also the same with the blog, although I’ve wrote blogs in the past they were on a more personal level. Writing a blog about one particular subject seemed ‘weird’ to me but something I settled into pretty quickly.

The level of work involved is much much more than I originally anticipated. The huge step up from FE to HE is certainly something I felt in the first few weeks on the course, but I’ve enjoyed the challenge and passing the first two units helped to confirm that this was the right course for me.

Overall, I’ve found this course really enjoyable. I enjoy going to college each week learning about something I have a real interest in and doing work that serves a purpose, rather than doing it for the sake of ticking it off a syllabus list. Hopefully this will continue during the remaining 3 semesters and provide me with extensive knowledge of the design industry reading for employment.

Main Goals

- Short Term
By the end of semester two, I hope to have achieved at least 1 distinction in my work. By pushing myself to achieve the highest grades, I will reach my full potential and prepare myself more for what’s ahead on the second year. By continuing to ‘mess about’ with the software associated with design and desktop publishing software, I’ll become familiar with the layouts and menus so that I can find my way around them with ease.

- Medium Term
By the end of the two years of the HND course, I’m hoping to have gain enough knowledge and awareness of design to gain employment AND to continue onto the third year. I’m hoping to be able to find myself a job that will allow me to continue onto the third year of the course. Hopefully an employer will allow me the one day off a week to attend college. Fingers crossed!

- Long Term
After completing the third year and gaining myself a year’s worth of experience in a design job (if all goes to plan!). I’ll be able to take my experience and qualification forward with me to get myself a design job more suited to my needs. For this, I’ll be able to build myself a portfolio of the three years on my Interactive Media course to aid me at interview with prospective employers.

In summary:

• A short term goal of achieving my best potential on assignments will aid me in the second year of the course. Once I reach the higher grades, I can use these as a benchmark for future assignments and gain my full potential.
• By completing the two years, I will be prepared for employment AND to move onto the third degree year. By finding myself an employer willing to let me have the one day off a week for college, I’ll gain design experience while learning, therefore beating the catch 22 situation most design students experience.
• Once I’ve achieved enough experience in my junior role with a design agency, I can use my qualification and my experience to move myself forward in the design industry – maybe achieving myself a more senior position.
  

Thanks for reading.
Sue

7 days and counting...

With a week to go until both A3 and A4 deadlines, my work is steadily coming to a position where I can finally finish it off. After a few late nights/early mornings I can certainly feel the pressure of getting them both in on time and to a standard that I am happy with. The pressure is something that seems to spur me on though, the more pressure there is the more I thrive under the conditions set and produce, in my opinion, my best work.

A3 - Back to BASIC
This assignment has come a long way in the past week, after deciding that my screen designs were reaching the potential that they could reach, I decided on a last minute 'revamp' to make good use of the feedback that I had been given. I've really enjoyed doing this assignment, knowing that I'm going to build this website after Christmas has provided me with a challenge, once again, something that I am thriving off.

Below is my final final design, feel free to comment:

A4 - Image Rights
This assignment has provided me with some experience in a software package that I've not used too much in the past before. Adobe Photoshop is a program that I've used for simple images, but never for anything as complex as image restoration before. The two essays have provided me with an insight back into the days of high school (as this is the last time I wrote an essay), discussing something that I have an interest in made the essays more enjoyable and provided me with the motivation to get them completed.

The whole class have really pulled together these past two weeks, providing one another with formative feedback and support through the designing process of both assignments. Something which we saw happen during the last two weeks of the previous assignment.

To get my assignment completed for next week, I have a few things on each assignment to complete before monday, preferably.

• Evaluate both assignments, provide a bullet pointed action plan stating what I would do next time to improve on my skills.
• Write up merit/distinction criteria for both assignments.
• When handing the assignment in, don't forget to include the production schedule!!!!!

This time next week I'll be posting on my relief that they're handed in (fingers crossed) and that I can look forward to spending the Christmas holidays with my family.

Thanks for reading.
Sue

Final Screen Design

Well, here's my final design developed from the initial screen designs posted last week. As you can see, I've incorporated the colour scheme from design 1 with the layout of design 2 as suggested by the feedback I received.

Please feel free to leave further feedback about this design, there's still things I need to complete before it is totally finished and I'm still undecided on font sizes. If you have any advice, then please, share!

Thanks for reading.
Sue

IAB - It's the way to be!

Due to personal reasons, I was unable to come to College yesterday, so my time was spent working from home on my A3 assignment. Surprisingly, I got more done at home than I initially thought I would. After collecting most of my images from open source websites, like SXC, I began to compile them into my assets list (which for this website is going to be huge!).

Saturday Night, I posted my rough sketches of my screen designs on my journal and the college forum, since then I've received feedback from my classmates and will put all their comments into consideration when I develop my final screen design this week. I'm pleased to say that the full content (images and writing) is out of the way and I can now concentrate on getting the assets list completed, site structure and budget statement.

Today, the class faced a rather intense morning of banner work. During a half hour session, we had to design banners for a series of photographs with information provided. Each time we moved onto a new photograph, the time limit (in which we had to come up with four designs) reduced. Thus recreating that design environment again, like last week. Once again, I enjoyed the task set before me and went with the flow of the exercise. As you can see, two of my designs I've completed so far, I'm not sure if these two are going to be my final two yet, but please feel free to leave any feedback!

Next week, I'd preferably like to have my A3 assignment fully completed with the spare week to proof read and amend ready for hand in day. Finishing my assignment for next week will also mean I'll have more time for the banner task in the final week and to bring the whole of my A4 assignment together for hand in on the same day.

So for next week I need to:

• Complete the assets list, viewing my notes in sketchbook on copyright notice on my images.
• Draw up my screen designs, main page and feedback form.
• Draw up the site structure diagram WITH css and template attached.
• Complete budget statement showing charges for a year.

Thanks for reading.
Sue

A3 - Screen Designs

As mentioned in my previous post, here are my screen designs for Back to BASIC.
(There will eventually be five, so please bear with me. These will be posted online very very shortly!
Sorry for the 'wonkiness' of some of them!)

[Screen Design 1]

[Screen Design 2]

[Screen Design 3]

[Screen Design 4]

Please feel free to leave any formative feedback.

Thanks,
Sue.

Pixel by Pixel

After receiving the restoration task last week, this week has been dedicated to adding some colour to my image. Finding a suitable flesh tone was the hardest task and to be honest, I’m still not 100% happy with the colours that I’ve chosen, so throughout the rest of this week I will be dedicated my A4 self study time on improving my tones and working on areas that are still need some attention. During our seminar group today, we showed our restoration images and the work we’ve done on them so far. As you can see below, mine still needs some work doing to it.

To get us into design industry practise, we had a timed task yesterday. In half an hour we had to design and create a business card, set to a specific brief. Initially I found this quite daunting, as I usually prefer to plan things out in a lot more time than the 15 minutes sketchbook work we were given. But once our time was over, I had produced quite a few ideas that I thought could be developed into something better. After printing off and sticking our designs on the wall, I was pleased to find out that my business card adhered to the brief Steve set and that there were no typographical errors.

My work on the A3 assignment is now picking up speed. This week I’ve finished the content section of the web plan and now I’ve moved onto some initial thumbnail work. Yesterdays exercise has helped me a lot with this. To make sure that my ideas were off the top of my head and not too thought out, I set myself a time limit in which to get a certain number of ideas down in my book. Hopefully by the end of the week, I can choose five to develop and show them on my blog for feedback.

For next week’s seminar, I need a fair bit of work ready for feedback.

• Web Content (which I completed last week)
• Screen Designs
• Site Structure Diagram
• Assets List
• Budget Statement

Because of the level of work needed, I’ve done a time plan with a quota over 32 hours. This may increase during the week as I think I may have under estimated some tasks.

Thanks for reading.
Sue

Clone, Heal, Rinse, Repeat

Image manipulation is a topic that I've always been interested in but never had the skills to put into practise before. When we received the image that we had to manipulate, I immediately set about trying to fix various parts of it before quitting the image and beginning all over again. After three false starts, I decided that there had to be another way to approach this task. After what felt like an eternity staring at the computer thinking of better ways to tackle the different aspects of each task, I made a design decision and started on the torn corner.

For the rest of the week, I'm going to have to keep messing about with the different techniques mentioned to us in the lecture this morning and see which one gives me the best effects on the photograph. Then once I'm satisfied I can move onto the application of colour, which will be hard. TO get the correct colour of certain aspects will take some time.

Yesterday, after realising I'd set about my A3 assignment the wrong way, I had to bring myself back to the point where I was meant to be at, rather than getting ahead of myself. In today’s seminar group, I've realised a few key pointers about the way I want to do this website. Although, in my opinion, I've got a good competitive analysis, I don't want my delivery requirements to let me down again. My target audience is a lot stronger than last time, I’ve even gone as far as naming her! Yes, her!

Things to improve on: I really need to begin to improve my time planning. At the minute, my self study time between the two assignments is a little all over the place. I need to continue the practise made in college time and devote half of my time to one assignment and half to the other assignment.

For next week I need to complete:

• Finish writing up my delivery requirements, making sure that I have a more in-depth web hosting comparison this time. Concentrate on the technologies that are going to be used.
• Begin the content aspect of the assignment; try to get around 50 words for all 40 terms. While doing so, collect images from open source/free web sites if able to do so. If not, email the owner for authorisation to use the image.
• Continue with restoring the photograph ready for formative feedback in seminar groups next week, add colour.
• Print off image compression essay, also for seminar groups.

And to finish off this blog, could I just say congratulations to Mark on the birth of his baby girl!

Don't be such a GIF!

During the course of yesterday, we received feedback regarding our A2 - That's the Plan assignment and the areas which could be improved for next time. Apart from forgetting my Production Schedule (which cannot be forgotten next time!), the other areas of improvement were things that with practise during this assignment I will definately improve on.

Last week we were given the topic of Art vs Design for our first of two essays on the A4 - Image Rights assignment, I found that starting this essay was the hardest thing I've had to do on the course so far, getting the right start was important to me as it meant that I could get in the right 'flow' of the assignment and aim for as many words as I could. Sadly, I fell 100 words short of where I wanted to be. But this can always be made up in the second essay, which we've begun today.

This weeks essay is all about Image Compression and the best format to use on images. After choosing two images from a selection of eight, we had to test different compression settings and record our findings ready to answer the question:

Assess how effective industry-standard image compression schemes are on a range of bitmap images. Describe the pictorial content of each image and then present your qualitative and quantitive findings in an illustrated essay.

For this essay I need to be able to write about 600-700 words, so that I don't exceed the combined word limit of 1,500 for the two essays.

For my A3 - Back to BASIC assignment, a list of 40 computing terms have been given to us which we need to research and write around 50 words for each, specifically aimed at 'silver surfers' without sounding patronising. Therefore, my main content will be around 2000 words. My project goals are a lot better than the ones I did last time and they are a lot more measurable.

My time planning for the rest of this week includes:

• Begin and hopefully complete essay #2, with no more than 1,500 combined with #1.
• Research the 40 terms given to us and write 50 words about each one.
• Collect images relating to the terms provided from free sites or gain copyright permission for non open-source images.
• Complete delivery requirements and competitive analysis on A3.

Thanks for reading.
Sue

Artist or Designer?

That is the question indeed.

Another week of tense and exhilerating work in the life of an Interactive Media Student. The most daunting week I think I've faced so far consisting of new assignments, previous assignment results and my first ever presentation on this course.

On Monday Morning, we had our presentations. To my relief we didn't have to present to the whole class, just to Steve, which is how I wanted it to happen. My second sign of relief was that I wasn't the first person to present, which eased me into the process better. During my presentation, I was helped along by Steve, the fact that he was acknowledging the facts that I were presenting to him made me more confident to continue with the information that I had prepared. I met the five minute time duration we were given and hopefully managed to keep within the 30 seconds we were allowed either side. A huge sense of self gratification was felt afterwards!

Monday Afternoon and something new to get nervous about - our assignment results. As Steve was reading our names out on the list to the class, telling us whether we'd refered or passed, I felt my self getting more and more anxious as my name came closer. Eventually it was my turn and a sudden rush of adrenaline came over me as I heard him say Pass! My worry over the past two weeks was finally over and I'd achieved the grade that I wanted!

Now for this term and my two new assignments:

A3 - Back to BASIC
This assignment requires me to create a website plan similar to my website plan for A2 - That's the Plan! With my target audience of 'Silver Surfers' in mind, I have to plan a computing fundamentals website which will detail components related to computing. Collecting Images (and therefore image rights permission) will be a major part of this assignment and therefore the use of a free photo site will need to be used.

A4 - Image Rights
This assignment requires me to do a number of small tasks.
My first one is to write an illustrated essay about Design and Art, are we designers or artists? Or both? I have to relate this essay to tDR (the Designers Republic) and include some examples of their work relevant to the topic I'm writing about. My second task will to be to write an essay on my findings relating to an image compression task we shall be doing in class next week. Then to the creative tasks, firstly an image restoration task using Adobe Photoshop, which i'm really looking forward to. And finally, two static banners relating to a topic Steve provides us with. Again, something I'm looking forward to.

So, in relation to the A4 assignment, I'd be grateful if you could leave some comments on how you feel regarding my first essay question. Is Art and Design the same thing or are they different? Are we Designers or are we Artists? Or are we both? All opinions are welcomed.

Things I need to do for next week:

• Research into the Designers Republic and find out some information about them and their style/techniques.
• Find some examples of their work to include in my illustrated essay.
• Begin to write (and hopefully complete) the essay for next week.
• Remind Jonny B to wear his gorilla suit to college on Monday!

Thanks for reading.
Sue

Presentation Nerves

This week is reading week, time to study from home and complete the usual weekly tasks asked for by Steve. After reading my assignments last week and compiling some questions, I may want to ask, I’m getting myself stuck into my individual task.

After emailing Steve yesterday morning, I set about researching and preparing myself for next Monday. My task is to prepare a five-minute presentation for Monday 5th November, to present to my class using a visual aid and handouts on a colour chosen for me by Steve. My chosen colour is BLUE. My presentation can contain facts and figures about my colour and mention the different psychologies and symbolism the colour represents around the world in different aspects of life. E.g. religion.

At first, I was disappointed with my chosen colour, I wanted to trade with John as he has my favourite colour, PURPLE. However, that’s not allowed. The task itself is great; I’m really getting my teeth stuck into it and researching heavily into my subject so that I know it inside out for next week. Until this task, I didn’t realise the effect a colour that I put onto a website or a logo can have on different people. The religious interpretations on a colour could offend some people if not used considerately.

The presentation is another matter; I’m absolutely daunted by the issue of presenting to the whole class. I know that this is normal and that everyone gets nervous before presentations so I’m trying to not let it get to me too much. Throughout the rest of the week, I’m going to practise my presentation to my family to test the time duration and see how it fits within the five-minutes (with a fault of 30 seconds either way) we’ve been given.

Another task we’ve been given is to read through and retrospectively apply a set of definitive communication guidelines to our journals. These will be uploaded for 6pm tomorrow, so I need to check the Communications URL provided for these and implement them as required.

So, in conclusion, for next week I need to:

• Research into my chosen colour more.
• Prepare a computer-aided presentation in Pagemaker/InDesign.
• Prepare handouts for the whole class.
• Practise my presentation and refine if needed.
• Remember to start strong, speak clearly, make eye contact and finish strong.
• Implement communication guidelines to my journal.
• Ensure I have the correct number of comments made to my classmates that are relevant.

Thanks for reading.
Sue.

Half Term Rest

After the assignment deadline last week and my successful hand in, I can’t help but worry about whether or not I have passed or been referred.
With two weeks to go until I get to find out my result, I have a few things to preoccupy my mind with. Assignment A3 – Back to BASICS has been posted up onto the HND Media website, so I’ve taken the time to download this and read through it preparing any questions I may have. I’ve started some research to try and get myself a head start on the assignment, mainly about language codes.

Next week is reading week and we all have a small individual task ready and waiting for us, once we email steve. I’m going to continue with the research I’ve already started and print some information off so that once I receive my sketchbook back I can begin to write some notes up.

Before returning to college on 5th November, I’ve still to keep this blog up to date and read my classmates blogs and comment/support them. Assignment A4 will also be added onto the HND Media website, so I’ve to keep an eye out for this and print it off to read through once it does.

Thanks for reading
Sue

First one down...

So 12oclock has been and gone and my first deadline has been met. After the initial panic I had when I first received the assignment, due to my late start onto the course, I managed to knuckle down into some work and get it completed on time without any major emotional breakdown.

I was pleased with the final result that I brought together. After receiving feedback from classmates (first and second year), I designed a layout that was suitable for my chosen target audience and was aesthetically accessible. My biggest learning curve was accepting that the design that I was planning wasn’t intended for me, but for the audience that I was creating it for so therefore it didn’t matter whether or not I liked the design.

Seminar groups with Tom and James helped me immensely; they filled me with confidence in my work and encouraged me in places where I felt a little apprehensive. The small group talks lifted a little bit of the pressure placed on our shoulders, providing me with little hints and tasks I could do to improve my work.

Over the course of the assignment, I’ve learnt many things including how to productively manage my time with the use of weekly time plans. These were a major flaw for me to start with, as I didn’t manage my time effectively enough, but these were refined with practise over the weeks. My production schedule was adhered to which was very pleasing and it has filled me with confidence that I can perfect this for future assignments and therefore stick to future deadlines.

So for next term and another two assignments ready and waiting for our return on the 5^th November. A new set of delivery requirements, target audiences and competitive analysis’ to get thinking about and preparing for, with the additional task of juggling both assignments at once. The biggest task for me here will be to not allow myself to concentrate more on one assignment more than the other; this is where my time planning will be extremely crucial for me.

And now it’s half term, time to relax and reflect on the first part of our course wondering what our result will be when we return. Will we refer or will we pass first time?

Thanks for reading
Sue

Do I pass or do I fail?

This week was the 'mock' deadline and I’m happy to say that I did get things completed in time. After our seminar meeting with Steve, a few amendments need to be made to my assignment ready for hand in next week.

• Project Goals
  Add referencing for my goals to show reasoning behind my decisions.
• Target Audience
  Include a link for Adobe’s website or the Web ReDesign book.
• Screen Designs
  Add typography used to designs, indicate if JavaScript is being used to validate feedback form.
• Language Versions
  Re-research language versions as previous research was incorrect.
• Delivery Requirements
  Arrange content into order, move hosting table to right place in document.
• Hand in on time for deadline!
  Make sure that document is in plastic wallets, bound together and in a folder at the reception desk for no later than 12 midday on the 16^th October 2007!!

I’m ahead of where I thought I would be at this stage of the assignment, due to starting the course two weeks late I thought that I would be behind. My Production Schedule has helped here; due to the planning I’ve done I’ve managed to get the tasks done in time. My weekly planning has improved a lot and I’m finding my self study time a lot easier to manage than I did in the first week of the assignment.

For those of you who are interested, this is my final screen design…

As you can see, a lot of development has been done since I last posted my ideas. Due to accessibility and usability issues, some things had to be edited. Contrast of text and location of navigation were my main two faults.

So for next week, I've got a fair bit of proof-reading and amending to do. A few things that I'd done but not in the right order need to be changed and handed in next week.

Thanks for reading
Sue

Running out of time

As the ever approaching deadline stares me in the eyes, I feel confident that I'll finish things on time. The seminar today increased my confidence and I'm more positive about things. After receiving feedback from my classmates and Steve, I've chosen a final design (screen design 5), which needs developing in my sketchbook and then drawn up in pagemaker.

A good 'chuck' of my work is now completed and ready to be 'placed' into the pagemaker template, just a few finishing touches need applying first. Making sure I've got the correct wordcount is vital, as we have a limit on the assignment and going under/over this mark will result in a referall.

My time planning has gone a lot better this week. I found that writing the tasks individually in first, then assigning a time and day to them afterwards was easier, than allocating the time first. This is important as this week is the week where I've got the most work to complete.
With one week to go for finishing, I need to finish:

• Assets List
  Drawn up a table of assets used, including copyright status and license.
  
• Budget Statement
  Research current prices of software, implement in statement and total up.
  
• Final Screen Design
  In Pagemaker, draw up my final design not forgetting to mark up sizes and colours.
  
• Merit & Distinction List
  Write a list of references to my work, relevant to the merit & distinction criteria.
  
• Transfer assignment into Pagemaker
  Transfer the assignment across adding pages for tables and screenshots.
  
• Sort references into assignment
  Make sure all my references are accounted for properly and are aligned.
  

Thanks for reading.
Sue

Screen Designs

After doing my initial thumbnail designs, I've narrowed my choices down to 5. So that my group can see more detail about these five designs, I've drawn up a basic screen of each one in Photoshop. I have created a poll to see which one people like best. Please feel free to leave feedback as to which one is your favourite and why, this will help me to develop my final one.

(click on image to see larger version)

^Screen Design 1

^Screen Design 2

^Screen Design 3

^Screen Design 4

^ Screen Design 5

Thanks for reading.

Sue

Design Mechanics

The presentation, by The Design Mechanics (Dave, Jemma and Oliver), at college today was certainly an eye opener. The standard of the work that they brought in was amazing and hearing about how the designers working environment is, is completely different to how I first imagined. The deadline that I have for this current assignment seems very tight to me, but in any design job, I would be given less time to produce the work and would have more than one job on a time (most likely).

I'm really pleased that I put myself forward for this opportunity and it has made me aware of the extra work I need to put into this assignment. This week I have assigned myself an extra slot to go over the work I've already done and add some content to it.

Thanks for reading.
Sue

Late Start/Time Planning & Pagemaker!

After a shaky start to this week (due to being late for class), I feel I've been more productive during my college time than last week. After completing my first draft of my competitve analysis yesterday, I've moved onto researching what makes a good screen design. This is proving to be more difficult than I originally thought. Thinking of six designs is easy, but thinking of six designs that comply with at least 12 of the W3C Web Standards is hard.

My time planning could be improved, I'm still finding it hard to break down my day into sessions rather than blocks. But my time planning for this week has gone better than last week, which shows improvement.

My biggest learning curve of the week has to be the Pagemaker lecture which Steve did on Tuesday morning. Pagemaker is a program that I've never used before so it opened my eyes to the functionality and usability of this particular piece of software, which will aid me when I come to put my assignment into it.

With three weeks left on this assignment to go, my aims for next week are:

• Emails
  Read through emails properly that I receive from Steve, by scanning them I miss important information needed for class!
  
• Screen Designs
  Complete at least 6 inital screen designs in my sketchbook, annotated.
• Classmate Interaction
  Last week I showed that I'm good at interacting with my classmates, but I need to make my comments more relevant to helping and supporting, rather than commenting for the sake of it.
  
• Proof Read Assignment
  Proof read my assignment so far and amend any mistakes.
• Design Mechanics Presentation
  Think of some questions to ask in the Design Mechanics presentation on Wednesday (if the opportunity arises).
• Accessibility Requirements
  Research accessibility and W3C Validations, make notes in sketchbook.

Last week I found that I'm able to achieve my weekly goals with my time plan. It taught me to discipline myself to get the work done and therefore has kept me on track for the assignment deadline. With the biggest part of my assignment coming up, (Assets List & Budget Statement), I'll certainly need to be disciplined!

Thanks for reading.
Sue

The clock is ticking!

One week down, another four to go on this assignment [That's the plan!] and the ongoing [Sketchblog]. I have to admit, when I first saw the assignment sheets at the weekend I was scared. Even more scared when I came to college Monday morning and realised just how much work the rest of the class had already started on. But I can safely say, on my second day of college, I'm feeling more confident about it. I’ve got a fair amount of work done, considering my computer access wasn’t available all day Monday. I am pleased with the goals I chose and hope I can stick to them.

[That's the Plan!]
This assignment requires me to plan and design a website for a chosen briton from a list conducted. After narrowing down my list to six, I researched the individuals on the Internet and concluded that Henry VIII would be an interesting briton to base my assignment around. I've managed to chose some goals that I am satisfied with and complete my target audience.

This week I need to complete my competitive analysis, I've found two sites to compare: Tudor History and Kings and Queens of England. From viewing these sites, I need to compare and contrast them, using the SWOT analysis, against how my site is going to be.

[Sketchblog]
Up to press my sketchbook only contains notes taken from my first two lessons, therefore before next week I need to set some time aside for looking through magazines, papers and on the Internet for inspirational images to stick in my book. This could involve me going out and buying some magazines.

So for next week I need to complete:

• Production Schedule
  Initially I was nervous about filling this in, but Steve’s pointed me in the right direction and I managed to write something in each week.
• Sketchbook
  I've got to grasps with the sketchbook, but I could do with finding some images that inspire me to include in it. At the minute I’ve just got pages of notes.
• Research Web Hosting/Domain Name
  Find an appropriate host that suits the website plan, including features for safety e.g. virus scanner, file backup. Comparing about 3 or 4 should give me good statistics to compare and contrast and then make a recommendation based on this.
• Update Blog
  Evaluate my first week on HND Interactive Media. [Done!]
• Complete my competitive analysis
  First draft. After finding one site I can use the SWOT analysis on, I need to find another one to evaluate and compare with how my website is going to be.
• Prepare time plan for next week
  Ask Steve what he's got planned! Try to break down tasks into smaller tasks so that I'm not doing a big block of work without a break. I can do this with the aid of my time plan.

If I stick to my time plan and dedicate myself to my self-study. I will get these tasks completed for Monday. My confidence has grown in just 24 hours and I feel like I've learnt a lot so I'm more dedicated to the work load. The group seminar with Thomas and James, really helped me with my confidence issues and helped me to realise I can do this, it also cleared up the problem I was having with the Production Schedule.

Thanks for taking the time to read.
Sue

How I got here

Where I've come from:
From an early age, i've always had an interest in computers and the Internet, this interest has grown more and more as i've got older and older. When I left high school, I enroled myself onto an IT course at Wakefield College which I found interesting but I wasn't interested in the programming side of IT and prefer the units where I got to design things like spreadsheets and databases.

While I was on the course, I made my first ever website using html which i taught myself by reading instructions on the Internet. Although this website wasn't very good, it ignited an interest in design that I never knew I had before. Since then i've wanted to become some form of graphic or web designer. Using blogs and online journals carried this passion on further, as I was able to edit layouts using HTML (Hyper-Text Markup Language) and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

In 2006, after a year out from college, I decided to apply for HND Interactive Media, which was a course at Wakefield College but due to personal reasons I had to pull out and try again the year after. Which brings us to now. At the end of July 2007, I decided once again that i'd apply to be on the HND course, I had my interview and was accepted onto the course.

Where I want to go from here:
Once I've completed the two years on HND Interactive Media, I'd like to continue into a third year to take it to degree level. I want to be able to get the best grades that I possibly can so that after I've completed my degree I can begin a career in Web Design/Graphic Design/Multimedia.

How I'm going to do that:
Over the two/three years of the course, I'm going to work to the best of my ability so that I can develop my skills and perfect them for employment. Understanding the different language codes involved would be a big advantage to me so I need to ensure that I fully understand these concepts. Using my time plans will prepare me for working to deadlines in my career, they will help me to fully organise my time productively.

Thanks for reading
Sue

First Post

Right then.. First Post!

So this is going to be my college blog, it's where I will write about my thoughts and feelings over the work I will be given during my two years on the course. It will be a way of venting my stress/frustration/happiness, whilst agonising over whether my work is up to the standard that i'm wanting it to be.

My goals of this blog are:

• To create a weekly, error-free, evaluation of my learning.
• To conform to the following Web Accessibility Guidelines: 1.1, 2.2, 4.2, 12.3 and 14.1

So, wish me luck!
Sue