Getting things finished and tied up

As the forthcoming assignment deadline creeps nearer and nearer, I am more confident that I have ever been this close to handing in date. I suppose this is due to the weekly practise I have had with my time planning - which means I can now precisely plan things more accurately. External factors are no longer a problem for me which means I get my work done and on time.

Due to some hosting issues, my A5 website will be down for a few days while I swap over my nameservers/domain. Swapping domains should allow me to iron out the problems that I was having with my feedback form. For some reason on my old hosting, the emails containing my feedback information weren't being sent.

My 'Revert to Type' assignment is going good, each week I've been faced with a different timed task and each week I've managed to come up with a design that I'm pleased with. Each of the tasks has also been submitted at least 15 minutes before the deadline - which I hope I can manage on the final tasks next week.

This weeks task was to design a newspaper layout for some content we had been given about Jonathan Gee (You can see my design below). I found this task more challenging due to the previous ones due to the fact we had to fit things like gutter spacing and bleed areas. The text of all columns had to line up, so therefore my design had to be accurate in all areas.

With only being a week away from deadline, this week will be a 'getting things tied up and finished' week. This will mainly be focused at A5 as A6 won't be fully complete until my journal entry next week.

So for next week, I need to:

• Write an evaluation for A5, reflect on compromises and changes made to original web plan.
• Write up merit & distinction criteria for both assignments.
• Get my usability testing questionnaires and results ready.
• Ensure I have plenty of plastic wallets for my A6 assignment!

Thanks for reading,
Sue

Gasping Breath

I somehow feel that I always start my journal entry off with "This week..." or have the word 'week' in the first sentence. So here's a shot at something different:

Over the duration of the past seven days, I have gone through some mixed emotions regarding my work:

• Happiness - When I complete a part of my work to a standard that I want.
• Saddness - When my printer decides to not work or run out of ink.
• Frustration - When after numerous attempts to get my perl script working on my feedback form it just doesn't want to do it's job.
• Embarassment - When I realised the stupid mistake I'd made with my perl script. A silly little reason why it wasn't working.
• Elation - When with some help from Gary and Tom, it finally worked!

My website has developed immensely over the half term holiday, most of my pages are now complete - the design was slightly changed (and will slightly be changed again!). The testing session on Monday provided me with some very constructive feedback, some changes were suggested which I've taken on board. Some of them may be implemented over the coming week in time for a pre-submission check next Tuesday.

Another timed task was presented to us today - this time in the shape of a newspaper advertisement. Certain restrictions on the size of the newspaper space we were allowed to use were imposed, which provided us with a small design task before any sketches were even drawn. You can view my design below:

Bits and pieces of my work need tying up now, mainly my evidence log for my website build. Last week I took some time to get some browser shots for the operating systems and browsers I want my website to work in. Another set of these will need to be done this week so that I can get shots of the slightly changed design.

After a practise run of my presentation today, it was brought to my attention that I sound out of breath when I present - mainly due to nerves. This is something I need to try and overcome before the real thing on March 4th as it was the biggest drawback of my presentation - that and fiddling with the pockets on my trousers.

So, for next week I need to:

• Use the feedback received on my usability forms to ensure my site is the best it can be.
• Begin to stick all evidence in my sketchbook and annotate.
• Practise my presentation more, try not to get nerves get the better of me.
• Have all my work ready for a pre-submission check next week.

Thanks for reading,
Sue

Boost of confidence!

This week has taken some of the pressure off of me, after receiving some feedback on my referral work, I can now look forward to the hand in date knowing that I'm on the right track. My restoration is a lot better this time, the colours I had chosen previously made the image appear bland so they needed some work. I'm confident that I can hand my work in on time, as well as keeping on top of the current assignments.

My website is altering slightly, after some feedback I received yesterday, it was suggested that I horizontally flip the header so that I can make good use of the space and align things properly. The current layout seems a little harsh when it comes to alignment. This shouldn't take me much time to do, I have already done a template and validated it to XHTML 1.0 Strict so the next step is to begin entering my content.

During the course of this week and next week, I'll be considering the questions I should include on my usabililty testing questionnaire. Testing the website with people outside college will provide me valuable feedback from my target audience. For this I have already got 4 people lined up.

Today we had a 2 hour timed task in which we had to design the label for small tube of paint called Hokai. This timed task went a lot better than the previous one for FontBook, I planned my time a lot more efficiently which enabled me to hand my work in 20 minutes early - which is how I like things to work out. I really liked the finished idea that I produced and was pleased with the whole process from roughs to digital product.

My presentation/typography assignment is going well, I feel that I'm on top of everything. My presentation needs practising a lot more so that I am confident with the information that I have included - so that I can hopefully recite from memory.

During half term, I'd like to:

• Finish my website, upload it and begin my testing. Gain feedback on the forum too.
• Get as many of my target audience as I can to do my usability questionnaire.
• Practise, practise, practise my presentation. Know my content inside out.

Thanks for reading.
Sue