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!
Sue
11 comments:
First of all, well done for passing the assignment. A great achievement considering you entered the course after the start date. As always, there will probably be parts of your assignment which could have been better, as with every assignment (even distinction grade ones) and you’ll no doubt find out from Steve what these are.
It may help to set a target grade for these assignments and challenge yourself to meet it. Just a suggestion.
I personally think anyone who creates or constructs something from their own ideas is a designer – I think design radiates through into many things. Whether you are doing a painting, building a bridge or producing a website there are design considerations in each one, effectively making a lot of people ‘designers’ of sorts. I don’t think design can be put into its own separate box.
For the banner adverts you may want to take some screenshots of banner adverts you see on the net while surfing. This will inform you about the design decisions you make when creating your own.
Yes a very well done for passing the 1st assignment. A small miner problem I knoticed on your blog though, were creating a discussion for the Design Republic, not Mechanics.....
And thanks for the mention of the gorilla suit. Although that is plainy stuck in my head and an opportunity I can not miss, as the look on steves face as I enter the door will be just enough to satisfy my needs, on the other hand I will enjoy making a fool of my self as the class clown and I will be hoping for another race with shaun up the monkey ropes in Thornes Park....
Firstly, you said you were glad you weren't first on the presentations... I can assure you, last was worse! Only joking, somebody had to be last and I didn't mind the wait.
I agree that Steve's acknowledgment and apparent interest in the subjects we were discussing was very helpful. Much better than a static, bored audience.
Check out Jonny B's blog for a comment I made on the Design Vs Art thing, here.
Well done for passing.
I felt the same when I found out we were only just presenting the presentation in front of Steve, when he was choosing the first person I was hoping it wasn’t me. I was glad I wasn’t first mainly because getting to sit in the canteen and talk to the group help calm me down and it was good to see people supporting each other.
Yes I was the same gald that the presentation was just in front of Steve. I think that made every one not as nervous.
I agree that is was better to know that we went perfoming the presentaion infront of the entire class, that personally was my biggest fear. I vaigly remember Steve telling us this.
Should have listened because of the 17 printed handouts i made. must remember to save the trees.
I hope your partner did well on his test. Congratulations to you for passing the assignment in less time than anyone else. I know you were very apprehensive about the results, but your good work paid off.
Are we designers or artists, I would say it is important to be both:
Part designer - to interpret a brief and create an objective visual solution.
Part artist - to use your natural ability to generate pieces of work that evokes subjective opinions.
hey,
thanks for the comments, and well done on the grade! I have made a good start on the essay, did you get any further than your first line? As you were in the same place as me last time I spoke to you - STUCK! I seem to have been able to bring The designers Republic into it slightly.
The only trouble I am having at the moment is finding examples of their work I can relate to in my written work. And how I can bring it in. I also want the images I include to be inspiring to me as I feel it will put me more at ease with the whole thing.
Let me know how your getting on.
Comment deadline.
Is that image from the Wipeout series? I did the front cover as my Vector image last year.
I think that image is design personally.
Well done on your first pass. I remember how I felt when I heard I had passed on that assignment.
I eventually liked the A4 assignment as I was really unsure how to use Photoshop. Creating the banners was interesting as we did mini design elements to that, Steve gave us a short amount of time to create thumbnails and we then worked from them.
Well done on passing the first assignment! This was definitely one of the most difficult things for me to do last year because I didn't really know what to expect first time around. The experience of completing and passing your first assignment will be very beneficial for all your upcoming assignments.
Presentations are quite similar too and the more experience you can get in these the better.
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