1.4 - That's Numberwang!

Never before in almost a year of the course have numbers ever being so prominent. Although the learning outcomes have always been majorly important, this week Steve really pushed them home.

The main reason for this is, as has been said in quite a few of my blog entries as of late, the sketchblog assignment is somewhat lacking, and learning outcomes are being 'ignored'. Although I may have disagreed with some of Steve's views (or should that be punishments) this past week regarding the learning outcomes, I have come to realise just how important they really are.

Where as before I used to look at the learning outcomes for the assignments on a weekly basis, I have now started looking at them on a daily basis, and I think it is beginning to help. I am more aware of what I have to do to gain a pass in the assignments, as well as the higher grades, and am already thinking of different ways to evidence this.

Time planning was another point at the forefront of the work this week. Again linked to the learning outcomes, proposed time plans must now be submitted a week ahead, and changes shown in the following weeks finished time plans. This is not anything I am particularly worried about, as I tried to keep on top of my time plans as much as possible throughout the year as it is..

With learning out comes out of the way, it was time to focus on the assignments work. The week started with a session for us to show off our chosen logo designs, and to get mass feedback from both the group and Steve. Although I had a few major mishaps (forgetting my font wouldn't be accessible on the college computers) my 'presentation' went rather well, and I got a lot of useful feedback on my logo, of which I have now chosen a favourite, and now have just a few minor changes to make to it before it is finished.

With this in mind, it was then time for me to crack on with the rest of my work. With my site structure completed, I polished off my screen designs and started work on my website. My reasons for creating the website at this stage was to get the technical side of things out of the way this week. With Easter fast approaching and a holiday looming, accessing a computer (never mind one with Dreamweaver on) could be quite a difficult task. Therefore sketchbook work seemed a much easier option over the Easter break.

I started making my website using CSS, which didn't go too bad, but decided that tables and cells would be a more efficient use of my time at present. Although I have used some CSS for my navigation bar, the majority of my website will be created using tables and cells.

Over Easter, designing the Co-ID is priority number one, as well as trying to collect images/ideas for the CD booklet/label itself so that I can crack on (no Easter egg pun intended) with it as soon as we return back from the Easter break.

To finish off the week, the good news that I have passed both the Builder assignment and Revert To Type assignment was greatly received, and although I was hoping for at least one merit this time, it has not knocked my confidence. It just means I shall have to try harder next time.

Have a good Easter everyone. And for anyone who wants to see my 'Ambient World' website in it's current state, it can be found at: www.craig-allington.co.uk/fax

Logos With Beat

Logo design was once again the main agenda of the week this week and with a large discussion on Wednesday afternoon messing up every ones time plans it was soon decided that finished ideas would have to be created for next week for formal presentations to the rest of the group.

This may seem like one of the biggest events of the week, however this was the week in which we received our CD's for our listening 'pleasure'. I didn't do a bad job of picking my CD listening to others in the group, my CD is quite electro/techno with most songs having a beat behind them. The main advantage being, it doesn't make me drift of to sleep as some of the more relaxing music may have done.

So far the assignment is coming along relatively well. I already have my four logo ideas, it is just a case of playing about with them, developing them a bit more, etc. in Freehand and then showing them to the group next week. I also have created my site structure for the website, and also designed screen designs for it which I have received much feedback on. A very productive week if I do say so myself.

Next week however, we finish for the holidays and so I still have a lot of work to be done before hand. The more work that I can get done before the holidays means the less I have to do in the holidays themselves. Although I am planning for a week to do a good 32 hours, I would like to use the holidays as just that, a holiday.

Another major factor affecting me this week is the Sketchblog assignment. After last weeks first blog entry primarily dominated by worries over my sketchbook work, I am now glad to say I have started filling it up a lot more. A FULL development process has been undertaken in many areas of the Fax assignment already, as well as researching into vector art, album artwork and corporate ID's. The major thing I am glad of is that, after ringing Atlantic Records one dinner time, I was sent a business card, letterhead and compliments slip. I found these very useful as it showed me further examples of how logos can be used at various sizes and in various places on documents. Hopefully I shall soon have similar items from Warner Records also.

For the next few days my main goal is to concentrate on my logo design. I recently bought a book from the 'Index' series called 'Type Index' of which I should have received today, and if not tomorrow. I am hoping I will be able to use this book to help me with my logo designs, as my knowledge of fonts isn't particularly amazing.

The Classic 'Feedback Blog'

3 blogs in less than a week. Surely some kind of record.

Anyway, due to switching broadband providers, I will have limited access to the internet over the next few days (at least). For this reason, I am uploading my logo ideas so far to my blog (along with some fonts) and would appreciated if people could take a look at them and give me some feedback on them so that I can make a good start on them hopefully this week.

There is alot of them so they're saved as a PDF file for your downloading pleasure. Sadly they're not numbered, although this will be a test of a 'good logo' if it is simple enough to be described.

Logos
Fonts

Apologies for the large file sizes. I realise its not very 'user friendly' but I haven't got the time tonight to sort it out and will have no net as of tomorrow. I will sort it out ASAP however.

Phi (Phee)- "It's a magic number"

2 blogs in one day. Lucky lucky people.

For all of those that missed the conversation earlier today, there is a magic number called 'Phi' pronounced 'phee' () and is actually 1.618 (to 3DP). The actual formula to work out Phi is (5 + 1)/2 apparently, but basically it is a ratio of 1:1.618, well inside the 1:1 - 1:2 ratio that we were given in yesterdays lecture. There is also another version of Phi called Phi-1 or phi (small P) which is 0.618, but this doesn't fall into the ratio scale.

According to the 'Design Basics Index' book by Jim Krause (ISBN 0-7153-2053-X):

"A measurement, divided by Phi, produces the larger of its two Golden Sections - an aesthetically pleasing relationship that has long been favored by artists, architects and the forces of nature itself, i.e the spiral within a nautilus shell."

Phi is also closely linked to the Fibonacci Sequence (adding the previous 2 numbers together) because as you rise up the Fibonacci Sequence, the ratio between the numbers gets closer to Phi.
The book itself navigation (splitting the pages into sections and then sub sections) also uses this Golden Ratio. Also in the book is an exercise, which will allow you to create your own vector based 'golden ruler' which can be scaled up and down and will always show you the Golden Sections, and could well come in handy for the new assignment.

More information about Phi can be found in the above book on pages 34-35 although there are also a few links below explaining a little more about it, and in more detail about it's connections with the Fibonacci Sequence. Do be careful however, some parts do get a bit technical and mathematical.

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/GoldenRatio.html
http://www.mcs.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/R.Knott/Fibonacci/phi.html
http://www.championtrees.org/yarrow/phi/phi1.htm

It really does seem as if Phi will be a huge help in the new assignment, and I hope this information has helped everyone in some way and that you can then further my information with some further research of your own.

See you all next week.

Too Far Gone?

What a week. Just where to start? I suppose the logical answer would be Wednesday, the start of the new assignment, but it all began much sooner than that.

With a 'week off' from work I decided to use the time to reflect on the year as a whole so far. I came up with many thoughts and feelings that I have associated with the year but will save them for a later blog. The main thought that did occur in my head happened to be on Sunday night when I found my sketch book had fallen out of my bag.

The sketch book.

I picked it up and put it back in my bag not thinking anything of it. But something kept going round and round in my head.

The sketch book.

Just what exactly was nagging me so much that I couldn't just have a relaxing week preparing for the new assignment? It soon dawned on me that the sketch book IS still an ongoing assignment and has been that way for the past 20 odd weeks. Sketchblog.

I am quite proud of my blogging skills, I am sure this is primarily down to my love of writing that I enjoy sitting down on a Thursday afternoon and evaluating the week gone by, and reading others experiences at the same time I feel is a good insight into my place within the group at the current time. My sketchbook on the other hand has being....somewhat neglected.

This is not to say I have thrown it to the side and not used it, no way. Despite my earlier feelings, I have accepted the sketchbook as a valuable piece of equipment that without I don't think I would have managed to get this far on the course. I have just, as was said today despite my obvious attempts to convince myself not, ignored the collection of images for the A1 assignment.

I have collected a few, primarily Muse, a few Banksy, and the odd page from a clothing catalogue, but without reading the assignment sheet, these are all useless. So far I have simply collected half a dozen images I like, explained why, and left it at that. Not only am I a good 14 images short (at least) but also I have not really gone into much detail about the cultural aspects of the images. Why did they choose such and such a colour? Why did they decide to use such and such a font?

It is not simply about liking an image; it is about explaining the reasoning behind the image itself.

With only 7 working weeks left of the course, I find myself asking - "Am I too far gone?" Hopefully the answer will be a no, and I can pull it back on target with the new assignment, but I really need to get my head down and get collecting some images over the next few weeks.

Wednesday was completely different to how I imagined. Marc Bowers came in to talk to us about working at Real Radio, and I was surprised to hear that his work was a lot more similar to The Design Mechanics in the 'Stack em high' or 'In and out' sort of working. I can't say I was overly impressed with how the company worked, though by the sounds of it, it does sound like the company is shifting it's views a lot more in the right direction, starting with expanding the web design studio from a mere 2 people.

Wednesday was also the day we were given the new assignment. With an initial presentation about logo design and corporate identities it was obvious what the assignment was going to be about. But the sheer volume of work we were to be given came as a complete shock to me, and I am sure many others.

Even until this morning, I don't think that the amount of work had hit home, and it was only when Steve showed us some style guides for various companies that I realised just how much had to be done just to pass the assignment.

Saying this, there is now 9 weeks until the deadline hand in date, although 3 of those weeks are holidays. I really need to get my head down over the next few weeks and make a big start on the assignment. I already have nearly 40 logo designs created, and I still have more to do. To top it off choosing the best one will be hard, not because of the sheer volume of designs, but because it will be the way in which people recognise the company, it needs to be right.

For my CD I chose Hearts in Space (or hearts of space, not entirely sure at this moment in time) and already have many ideas of ways to do this. As was discussed in feedback groups, I don't really want to go for the obvious 'some hearts....in space' approach, and would rather make something a little more different (to reflect the music). I thought perhaps of using a deck of cards (the hearts obviously) and using them someway connected with space, but I have yet to decide. And finally, dare I say it? I am 'eagerly' awaiting my CD to listen to so that I can gain further ideas about my CD cover. Though my logo is still my number one task at the moment in time.

Time and Time Again

A6 has been probably one of the strangest assignments we have had to do. In fact, it has been probably one of the strangest assignments I have ever had to do, ever.

Because of the nature of the assignment (to test and prepare) it has been extremely difficult to prepare for a lot of things. Although this is what the industry will be like, experiencing it for the first time has been a huge step.

6 months ago when starting the course, my knowledge of typography was, shall we say, limited. Today however has shown me just how much I have learnt in such a short space of time. From knowing Pi only in the mathematical sense, to know knowing it is a type of font too (Dingbats - a.k.a web dings/symbols) I have received a great sense of achievement in the past few months.

As a 'part time' journalist I thought that I knew quite a lot of the different elements that made up a newspaper or magazine, after all, I've been part of making one once before. However, if I could go back and make the same newspaper again now, it would be so much better as I actually know what I am doing. Mastheads, gutters, decks and more, once pure gibberish to me, now firmly set in my mind as important information that I must not forget.

To start the assignment off I was primarily worrying about the timed tasks aspect of the assignment. I had no idea what was being planned and what would be expected of me, but it turned out that I produced (in my opinion) some of my best work to date. Admittedly I may also say I have produced some of my worst work to date (Jonathon Gee re-design), but I think that was mainly down to panic of the first timed task.

With the rechristening of the timed tasks as 'task bombs' the mood soon lightened, and perspective shifted to the presentation. For a while I left the presentation, and didn't really give it my full attention, worrying more about getting the website up to scratch for A5 than researching about my font. "It's only one font, and there will be loads about it" I kept telling myself. I needed a kick start to get me going. Luckily (or perhaps unluckily) this came a couple of weeks ago when it suddenly hit me that our practice presentations would be in a couple of weeks.

Once sufficiently motivated, and hyped up on coffee, I began working on the presentation. I wish I had done it sooner as immediately I was faced with a problem. Max Miedinger... My-ding-er? Myde-in-ger? Just how do you pronounce his name?

My-ding-er I think was the option I chose, and so I continued with the presentation preparation.

My first real problem I faced was what to put on the presentation. Finding information wasn't as easy as I first thought, and with no real examples of my font available to me, panic soon set in. Eventually however, I got my presentation finished, well I thought so anyway, and in usual style set about making my cue cards the night before the practice presentation was due.

This was definitely a bad choice as it gave me no time to really practice my presentation, so I had no idea about timings or even what to say. I just knew that my script would be purely read from the cue cards. And it was...

After getting some feedback from Steve and other members of my group, it soon became apparent that parts of my presentation were lacking. I was quite shocked to hear that I was the first person to actually get there sketchbook to write down the feedback we were given, as I believe that it is vital to keep a note of it. If it wasn't for the feedback I had written down from my last presentation I don't think I would have been anywhere near as prepared.

With the practice presentation completed, I had just over a week to tweak and perfect it. Plenty of time I thought.

There is never - Plenty of time.

Once more I believed my presentation was completed. That is of course until the day before I was due to give the presentation, when I was talking to Steve. He may as well have said 'Do it again'.

I still had lots to do.

That night I stayed up quite late preparing for my presentation, adding slides, taking slides away, practicing, practicing, practicing, and revising for the next days test. Oh how I wish I hadn't. I arrived at college tired, it was only a matter of time before something went wrong. Adding together a mix of tiredness and nerves, my presentation started off wrongly with me forgetting to change the PDF file to full screen, and then by me accidentally knocking the board and changing slides. Hopefully the afternoon would bring more luck.

With a few hours spare we set about revising for the afternoons test. We had no idea what to expect and I think that is what caused the most unease for me, not nerves, just unease. The task we were given was a simple one. Very simple in fact. With so much time spent dwelling on the subject, a lot of ideas came up, but creating a fact sheet about different type elements seemed relatively easy.

I wasn't that happy with my final product however. I think I spent too much time trying to remember all the different elements for the test and writing them down, instead of designing my fact sheet. Looking back now I can think of many things I have missed from my designs, including important information such as font types and sizes.

In the end I think I managed to write about 28 of the 57 which is quite a lot, but I keep wondering "is it enough?". With Steve's typical cryptic style, I don't think I'll find out until we get the results back from the assignment.

Next time we get a similar assignment I will be much more prepared. For a start I will use my time much more wisely. I will also take the time it takes to prepare something so small as a 5 minute presentation much more seriously, as the time I spent on it doesn't accurately reflect the time that should have been spent on it. Although I think I got quite lucky with the presentation and the information I could find, this will not always be the case, and therefore leaving things until the last minute is possibly a rather stupid way to go about it.

Word Count: 1117

Keeping My Options Open...

For anyone who watched Life on Mars (BBC3) last week or for anyone who watches it this coming Tuesday (BBC1), you will understand what I mean when I say it inspired this weeks blog entry. I do apologise for it's length.

Options are something we are all given in life, chances are on a every day basis.

What do I have to drink? What do I get for my dinner? When do I go to bed? Choices are everywhere. One of the most important choices we have made so far is 'Do I attend university and if so which course do I attend'.

But choices have outcomes. After all, it is because of the above choice that I am writing this blog. But how do we decide on a choice? Think long and hard about it? Gut reactions? Listening to other people?

With the end of the first year of the course in sight, it's time to start thinking ahead. Not only ahead to the second year, but also alot further than that. It's time to start thinking about our careers.

With Jonny Haynes visiting us this week, it was time to get a much needed view of another design agency as apposed to the Design Mechnaics. As I mentioned last week, it is much like gathering information from more than one source for research. Jonny gave us a very informative presentation about Technophobia and about the sort of work he does. It was all very impressive and was a mile away from the sort of thing that happened at TDM.

Also this week was presentations, I was quite pleased with my presentation. I missed a few things out thinking I was going to go over time, but was actually under by around 30 seconds (before asking for any questions). An extra slide needs to be added and I think I will all be finished.

These two events this week further sparked my thoughts on my career. More so than others when after practicing our presentations and we were talking about random questions that Steve asked us when he said 'you prepare for questions such as "where do you see yourself in 5 years time?" or...'

It's at that point that it hit me. I am still unsure about my future career plans. Freelance? Design agency? Back to my journalism roots? I then had to ask myself how I would decide. I thought back to why I decided to join this course. Gut instinct. And it has not proved me wrong so far.

For this reason today I took on a whole new career path option, something which I have been contemplating since starting the course but have never really mentioned it to many people. Teaching. I visited my old school and have asked if I can sit in on a few ICT lessons one week to get a feel for it (much like visiting TDM, and Jonny Haynes visit). I'm not closing the door on web design or for that matter journalism, and no matter what I decide upon I will complete the course.