Evaluation of the Last Semester

This past semester has been somewhat...different.

To begin the semester was our CSS beauty assignment. This required us to not only learn CSS but also learn about the history of it too. I found this one of the most difficult assignments to date mainly down to the fact that I had never used CSS before, only once previously for our summer assignment. Although I found the assignment very difficult I also found it to be very enjoyable as CSS is a very valuable tool to use in making websites.

At the same time as this assignment was going on we were also given our team project assignment. This is perhaps one of the strangest assignments we have had as we were not really given a brief. This is because we were expected to go out and find our own client and build a commercial website for them. Although the assignment is a huge task, and one that we couldn't afford to do wrong it has been the best assignment to date. Along with Craig and Mirhad I think we had a fantastic group and all gelled well together to get the tasks done. Throughout this assignment I have also learnt a lot more than I first thought I would have. Before starting this assignment I had never used PHP before or a content management system but I now feel relatively confident with both and hope to use them both again soon in future projects.

This assignment has also given us the chance to work in a more 'industry standard' way. We set ourselves the task of building a website in a day which, although ended up being planned quite late (for reasons outside our control) went exceptionally well and I was very pleased as to how it turned out. In the end we completed the site (or as much as we could have done at the time) in the allotted time and I'm exceptionally proud of what we did. If anyone get's the chance to do this sort of thing (1st years spring to mind straight away) then do take it, it will be one of the closest experiences you will get to 'the real world' in an educational enviroment you can get.

Our latest assignment (A12 - Culture Vulture) has got to be the strangest assignment to date though as it has involved a backwards design process. This basically meant that we had to design for a product which was unknown to us at the time. I really struggled with this assignment right from the word go as not only did I completely mess up my presentation but also I struggled to 'let myself go' and be diverse in the creation of my ideas. As the weeks progressed I felt that I managed to be a bit more creative but I still feel like I could have done more.

One of the highlights of the A12 assignment has being the creation of our own compilation CD's, though trying to make them as diverse as possible was quite a challenge. It made a change to listen to music that we would not normally have listened to, and although I didn't like all of it, I think it served it's purpose of inspiring me and influencing me in ways I perhaps would not have been otherwise.

At present I am in the process of making my trexi designs digital which is a huge task in it's self and I am feeling quite nervous towards the looming deadline as I still have a lot of work left to do (for both assignments). I still have to complete the digitisation of my designs, complete my website to upload them to, create a collectors card and write an evaluation - plus everything else for A11.

Once the deadline is over I will be happy to have a few weeks off and enjoy the Christmas break, clear my mind and be ready to come back to work ready for the final semester.

The new semester will definitely be the hardest yet, with 3 huge projects to undertake including learning a new piece of software, creating my own portfolio and partaking in the dreaded presentations. But the end is almost in sight and it's no time to let my standards slip, as Steve has said many a time now, do we want to go out with a whimper or a bang, and I definitely want to go out with a bang.