Ben Waller

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Waller) — Tue, 13 May 2008 16:53:00 +0000

Summative Blog Entry – As one door closes…

Looking back to the first week of the course in September 2006 I wrote a post entitled “Formative Statement”. In this post I discussed where I was at the time but more importantly where I saw myself in 2 years time. As the 2 years is now up I feel it is now an appropriate time to evaluate just how far I have come over the duration of the course.

In the “Formative Statement” I wrote:

"My aims are to complete the course to the best of my ability and gain a good grade. After completion of the course I would ideally like to go to a local University for one year and hopefully achieve a degree"

Going to University was always something that I was determined to pursue as I felt that having a degree would allow me to obtain a good job. I felt this way for the majority of the course but towards the end of the second year I began to have second thoughts. The first thing that changed my thinking was when I visited an open day for a local university. I spent the day there to see what they did, how the courses were taught and how much support students were given. After the open day I couldn’t help but feel that it just wasn’t for me and I began thinking do I really need to top my qualification up to a degree?

After mulling things over I was happy to hear that we were being visited by recruitment agency Orchard Suits to give us advice on gaining employment. I found this to be a really interesting visit and helped to clarify certain issues that I had. One thing that stuck in my mind was that the majority of potential employers see little difference between a degree and a HND. My mind was made up and I immediately started looking to find a job and amending my CV to give me the best chance possible.

Another important blog post I wrote was at the end of the first year of the course. This post was entitled “First Year Review” where I set myself several targets for the coming year and beyond.

In the “First Year Review” post I wrote several goals including:

“Gain merit grades for 3 assignments. It may be difficult to achieve merit grades right away as the criteria will change making it harder to achieve these grades, hopefully though I will be able to achieve these later on in the second year.”

I am delighted at the fact that I have been able to achieve Merit grades in every assignment that I have done so far in the second year. I have pushed to achieve Distinction grades in all these assignments and I don’t think that I am too far away. I am optimistic that I will be able to sign off in style and achieve a Distinction for my last assignment “A14 So Limitless and Free”.

Another goal I set myself in the “First Year Review” was to:

“Build a site completely using CSS as this is a vital skill to have judging by the reports that we have had from previous students who are now in employment”

As CSS was something I had very limited experience with I am pleased that I am now comfortable and confident using it. Learning different technologies is something that I have really enjoyed during the second year and I never imagined that I would be able to learn as much as I have. Throughout the second year I have experienced PHP, JavaScript and XHMTL along with CSS. As these are all industry standard technologies I think that this illustrates perfectly just how effective this course is at preparing you for employment in the trade.

This past year has been by far the most challenging period of my life so far but I think that the experience I have gained is invaluable. I am now looking forward to my future in the industry and this is due to the numerous things I have learnt over the two years of the course. I would urge anybody with an interest in making a career for themselves in web design to seriously consider taking this course.

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Waller) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 16:02:00 +0000

Portfolio Design - Final Design with sizes

Following on from my last post here is my final portfolio design. I have decided to keep the reflective text in the banner but have made it much more subtle by altering the opacity on the reflection.

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Waller) — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 17:10:00 +0000

Porfolio Screen Design - Second Iteration

Following on from my last post here is the updated version of my portfolio screen design. I have taken into consideration the previous feedback received and made various changes. I would however welcome any additional feedback you wish to give.

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Waller) — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 15:31:00 +0000

First Draft Portfolio Screen Design

Below is the first iteration of my screen design for the portfolio assignment. I would welcome any feedback you wish to give.

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Waller) — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 11:43:00 +0000

Competitive Analysis

Site One – Freelance Professional (http://www.mark-till-online.co.uk/)

The first site that I will analyse is Mark Till Online. I chose this website as he is a freelance web designer based in Castleford, West Yorkshire which is fairly local to me.

The first thing that strikes me about the site is that it has a clean and simple layout which helps to make it look more professional. The site contains three pages (Home, Portfolio and Contact) which only contain the most vital pieces of information that Mark needs to provide. This is an effective way of structuring the site as users would primarily want to know what he can do and how to contact him. This would be a big advantage to the end users as they would be able to locate all the information they require quickly and easily.

The site also makes excellent use of visual cues to help the user to click on the most important information. To the right hand side of the homepage there are two large buttons which stand out straight away as they are in a different colour to the rest of the page. By giving these buttons more emphasis the aim is to attract the user’s attention which will hopefully lead to them clicking on the link. This is a really effective method of getting a user to visit something which you feel is important and is something I will definitely take into consideration when I am designing my site.

Another benefit to the site is that the “Portfolio” section of the website only contains a brief collection of Mark’s work. By only showing a small selection of work he is able show only his best work and not simply every piece of work he has ever produced. This would be advantageous because if he included some of his earlier work it may not be as professional looking as his more recent work which may lead to potential clients going elsewhere.

One disadvantage I did find with the site is that it only includes one method of contact which is via on online form. Some users may not be comfortable with this and may prefer contact via telephone or email. I think that the main reason for this is because Mark only performs freelance work on the side and is currently employed elsewhere. If this were to be his primary focus I would expect at least one more method of communication whether this was simply an email address or telephone number.

Overall I think that the site has a clean and fresh feel which makes navigating around the site relatively easy. The structure of the website is also effective with only the most important pieces of information included. I think that the site could be improved by simply including more methods of contact but as this is not his full time occupation it is understandable that he has chosen not to do so.

Site Two – Interactive Media Student (http://www.katpalmer.co.uk/)

The second site that I am going to analyse is Kat Palmer’s online portfolio. I decided to analyse this portfolio as Kat is currently at the same stage as me as she is studying web design at the University of Teeside in Middlesbrough.

The first thing I noticed about the site is that all of the text uses a centred layout. This is quite a negative aspect because centering text makes readability much more difficult which may put off some users. This could easily be corrected by simply using a more standard left aligned layout. The site also does not use a consistent layout with some pages having text to the left of the page and some having text to the right of the page. This may be quite confusing to some users so I would certainly try to use the same layout for each page of the site for my portfolio.

This site is quite similar to the Mark Till portfolio as they both contain very few links which makes navigation around the site relatively easy. The major difference however is that the Kat Palmer portfolio does not have a contact page. She does include a reference to her email address on the homepage but I feel that the portfolio would be much more effective if she included a page with all of her contact information on. The major aspect that impressed me with Mark Till’s portfolio was his use of visual cues to influence the users to click on the most important information. Kat Palmer’s portfolio however doesn’t really make good use of this and I feel that she should give much more emphasis on things such as contact details and accessing her CV. She does mention that if somebody needed a CV they would have to email her. I think it would be much more appropriate to upload this to her site and simply provide a link to it.

The portfolio section of the site contains quite a lot of work ranging from websites through to photographs. This is a real benefit to as it shows that Kat has a wide range of skills and is not simply focused on one area. I do feel however that there is too much work on the page and a few examples of her best work would be far more appropriate. The about me section of the site does contain quite a lot of information such as her interests and skills. Sections such as this would be included in a CV so I think that this page would be much more appropriate if it simply contained an online CV.

Overall I feel that the site is effective at displaying all of the skills and experience that Kat has developed in web design. However there are quite a few problems with the site making it look quite unprofessional such as centering and text and inconsistent layout.

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Waller) — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 15:57:00 +0000

Portfolio Delivery Requirements

XHTML 1.0 Strict
This will be used to write the markup of the page. This will also be validated to make sure that the language is correct.

CSS 2.1
This will be used to give a style to the different elements on the page and create the layout for the page. This will also be validated to make sure the language is correct.

FTP
This will be used via Marcromedia Dreamweaver 8 to upload the website to my hosting account.

PHP 4 and MySQL 5.0.22
These will be used to create a simple contact form on the site and also to create the restricted area of the portfolio that will require a password to gain entry.

SMTP
Along with the contact form I will also provide an email address so I will need SMTP for this.

Image Optimization Software
This will be via Adobe Photoshop CS2 where I will optimize any images used to ensure a fair balance between image quality and file size.

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Waller) — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 17:12:00 +0000

Portfolio Target Audience

Target Audience #1 - Educationalists
Paula is a 59 year old female working as an External Examiner for Edexcel. She works part time earning approximately £7,000 per year. She is an intermediate web user who goes online every other day and accesses the internet from home. Paula enjoys spending time with her grandchildren and going to the gym to keep fit. She uses Internet Explorer 6 as a web browser and has a 2MB broadband connection. Her monitor is 15inch and has an 800 x 600 screen resolution. She mainly goes online to check her emails and to do online clothes shopping. Her favourite websites are Monsoon and Next where she spends roughly £60 per month on new clothes.

Target Audience #2 - Industry Professionals
Patrick is a 42 year old male who works as a Technical Operations Manager for a Web Design company based in Doncaster. He earns £40,000 per year and has a company car. He is an advanced web user who accesses the internet every day except weekends for approximately 8 hours. He enjoys keeping up to date with the latest technologies in the interactive media industry and regularly attends courses to further his knowledge. He is a keen sports fan and has been a season ticket holder at Doncaster Rovers F.C. for over 20 years. He enjoys spending time with his wife and children and regularly takes them on days out. Patrick mainly accesses the internet from work and uses Firefox 2.0 as a web browser. He has an 8mb wireless connection and uses a 17inch widescreen monitor with screen resolution set at 1024 x 768. Patrick accesses the internet to catch up with the news headlines on BBC, sport headlines on Sky Sports and to order books and DVDs online at HMV. He regularly spends around £100 per month shopping online.

Target Audience #3 - Potential Clients
Julie is a 32 year old female who is a self employed mobile Beauty Therapist. She has just started up her business and requires a website to market the services and prices of her company. As her business is in its infancy she does not have a set wage and simply takes home whatever profit is left after paying her overheads. She is a novice web user who has recently bought a PC and is beginning to learn the basics to enable her to go online and check her emails. Once she has gained more experience she will go online once a week. Julie enjoys going shopping on a weekend and meeting her friends for a drink on a Saturday night. She will access the internet from home using Internet Explorer 7 as a web browser and will have a 2MB broadband connection. She will use a 17inch monitor set to a 1024 x 768 screen resolution. She currently doesn’t shop online but when she becomes confident in using the internet she will spend around £50 per month on cosmetics at Boots.

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Waller) — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 19:31:00 +0000

Website Goals - Portfolio Site

To validate the website using XHTML 1.0 Strict and CSS 2.1
I will validate the site because if the coding is not valid the browser that the site is being viewed in will correct any errors itself. The correction of the errors varies quite a lot between browsers so to achieve better consistency between browsers I will ensure that they are validated.

This could be measured by using the HTML and CSS validators on the W3C website.

To meet priority 1 of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
I want to meet priority 1 of the checklist because this enables a wider range of users to access the information. Features such as “providing a text equivalent for every non-text element” and “organising documents so they may be read without style sheets” make the site much more accessible.

I would be able to measure this goal by simply checking if I had managed to meet each checkpoint.

To have the site usability tested by 5 of my peers and 5 people outside of college
This will enable me to gather vital information on the functionality and the overall impression of the site. I feel that it is important to have it tested to have it tested by both groups of people to reach as wide range of people as possible.

This will be measured by collecting the results from each person tested.

To display my technical expertise by using a variety of technologies
I would like to use XHTML, CSS and PHP in the creation of the website. In addition to the work on the portfolio site this should also help to showcase the skills that I have learnt over the duration of the course. This will also provide a chance to gather further experience with PHP which will be advantageous for the future.

This will be measured by effectively using XHTML, CSS and PHP in the portfolio.

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Waller) — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 15:52:00 +0000

Evaluation of second half semester

The second half semester has been quite hectic, we have been continuing with our A11 On the Job assignment along with working on our other assignment A12 Culture Vulture.

For the first part of the Culture Vulture assignment we had the task of performing a five minute presentation on a 20th/21st century design icon, I chose the London Underground Map. I was quite looking forward to this because I felt that it would be a good experience in preparation for our final presentation at the end of the course. After making sure that I had rehearsed and prepared for the presentation I made sure that I arrived 10 minutes early so that I didn’t miss my slot. Unfortunately instead of knocking on the door I waited outside the room for 20 minutes thinking that somebody was still inside. This resulted in me missing my slot and having to come back at the end. I did eventually perform the presentation and I was quite pleased that this ran pretty smoothly and I managed to get all of my main points across. If I were to do this exercise again I would definitely knock on the door straight away as missing my slot highlighted to me just how important punctuality is.

The remainder of the Culture Vulture assignment specified that we had to undertake the design process in reverse. I was quite nervous about this as it was the most creative task we have done so far on the course. Due to the fact that the design process was in reverse we did not know what we were designing for so our ideas were not influenced in any way. I found this quite difficult to get my head round at first and I struggled to come up with a variety of “diverse” ideas. In order to achieve more variety in my designs I decided to look at graphic design books and magazines for some inspiration. I feel that this was really beneficial because I ended up exploring ideas and themes that I would not have considered otherwise.

After I had created a sufficient number of designs we were given our product to apply a design to, this was the M5 Coca Cola bottle. I was quite eager to get started with this as there was very little time left before the deadline. I wanted to choose an appropriate design as soon as possible as I felt that creating the digital artwork was going to be the hardest part of the assignment. After spending quite a lot of time on this in my self study I began to feel much more confident that I had made the right choice with my rock star idea. I feel that creating the digital artwork has been a really beneficial exercise for me because I now feel much more capable in vector drawing applications such as Freehand. If I were to do this task again however I would definitely try to use another application such as Adobe Illustrator as it is an application I have never used before.

The other assignment we have been working on is On the Job which has been going since the beginning of the second year. This has proved to be quite a frustrating assignment at times in terms of communicating with clients, arranging meetings, getting content etc. I do feel that it has been a great experience though because this is the sort of thing we are going to have to do after the course so being able to deal with clients effectively is a key skill to have. I also feel that the two clients we have dealt with have been completely different. I feel this was advantageous because we learnt that you cannot expect every client to be the same and they all have separate demands and expectations.

I think that we have worked quite well as a team for the On the Job assignment and both clients seem to be happy with the end product. The assignment has seemed to drag on quite a bit over the last few months but I feel that the experience gained in dealing with clients will be invaluable for the future.

Overall I feel that this has been a really productive half semester. I have been forced to move out of my comfort zone by undertaking a design process in reverse and worked on two professional projects. I am looking forward to seeing what awaits after Christmas in what I find hard to believe will be the final quarter of the course!

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Waller) — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 17:24:00 +0000

BTEC/Skillset or both?

BTEC are an examination board who fall under the Edexcel brand. Edexcel are a learning organisation who offer many vocational and general qualifications. The BTEC syllabus for Interactive Media is quite a vast document containing the required outcomes and content for each unit of study. They also provide advice on how to deliver each skill and give further guidance such as helpful websites and further reading exercises.

Skillset on the other hand are a Skills Council for the Audio Visual Industry. They are jointly funded by both the industry and the government and aim to make sure the industry has the right people with the right skills. From my point of view as a student they provide a helpful set of National Occupational Standards which state what skills you will need to work in the industry. This is quite wide ranging from Core Skills that are needed in each sector of the industry through to more specific areas such as “Manage Intellectual Property Rights” and “Design Electronic Games”.

The obvious difference between the two is that BTEC is an educational authority whereas Skillset is directly linked to the industry. This means that they both have quite different aims which both need to be taken into consideration by students leaning Interactive Media. The main aim of BTEC is to educate and train students to enable them to pass the course by meeting a selection of learning outcomes. The main aim for Skillset however as stated previously is to make sure the industry contains the right people with the right skills.

The BTEC syllabus contains learning outcomes for each unit with the aim of providing students with certain skills. The outcomes are quite broad however so can be interpreted in a number of ways. A good example of this is in Unit 22: New Technologies in Interactive Media. One of the learning outcomes for this unit was “Using new technology, produce a proposal for an interactive media product”.

The Skillset Standards are much more focused however. A good example of this is on Unit IM7: Code Scripts To Provide Functionality For Interactive Media Products. This section states “Some industry-standard languages you might use are Flash ActionScript, JavaScript, VBScript, Lingo for Director, Perl and PHP”. BTEC do attempt to do this by stating “At the time of publication, the following programming languages would be suggested for use CH, JAVA, Visual Basic, JAVA Script”. This is not a must however and the new technology learnt depends on the discretion of the course leader.

Another main difference between the two is that unlike BTEC the Skillset Standards do not state how you would learn skills or provide additional support. The BTEC syllabus provides instructions on how each unit would be passed and provides support materials such as helpful books. One problem with this however is that the BTEC syllabus has not been updated since March 2005. This may mean that the support materials given are no longer appropriate. Due to the fast moving nature of the Interactive Media industry I feel that more regular updates are essential in order to maintain relevance with the industry.

I feel that relevance with the industry is a key concept when comparing BTEC with Skillset. The main aim of BTEC is to give students the appropriate qualifications to gain employment. The main aim of Skillset however is to make sure the industry remains competitive by containing people with the right skills. I think that they both compliment each other very well and both need to be taken into consideration by Interactive Media Students.

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Waller) — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 18:56:00 +0000

CD Playlist

1. Graffiti - Maximo Park
2. Paint It Black - Rolling Stones
3. We Are Your Friends - Justice Vs Simian
4. Whiskey In The Jar - Thin Lizzy
5. Welcome to Jamrock - Damian Marley
6. Boys Dont Cry - The Cure
7. Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger - Daft Punk
8. Thirteen - Forward Russia
9. Buffalo Soldier - Bob Marley
10. Town Called Malice - The Jam
11. Happy Alone - Kings Of Leon
12. Thou Shalt Always Kill - Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobious Pip
13. Can't Stand Me Now - The Libertines
14. Fix Up Look Sharp - Dizzy Rascal
15. Sally Cinnamon - The Stone Roses
16. Put You In Your Place - The Sunshine Underground

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Waller) — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 19:52:00 +0000

How about a purple and yellow colour combination?

The best colour combination is purple and yellow. Due to the fact that the colours are opposite to each other in the colour wheel it creates maximum contrast when they are used together. (see image below Copyright © http://www.marlborough.oxon.sch.uk/)

When the two colours are used effectively the results can be quite impressive. One of the most extraordinary uses of this colour combination is in purple and yellow tulips (see image below Copyright © 2003 Katinka Matson). The contrast between the two colours makes the flowers really stand out.

Purple combined with yellow can also create some really eye-catching designs. There are several commercial uses of this colour scheme one of which is Galaxy FM (see image below Copyright © http://www.galaxyyorkshire.co.uk)

The two colours also have a more practical benefit which is shown with the Nike Total 90 Premier League Football (see image below Copyright © http://www.kitbag.com). This ball is used in games where there are low visibility conditions. The purple combined with they yellow makes the ball much easier to see compared to a white ball.

So purple and yellow are the best combination of colours. The colours are used to create some really striking commercial designs. Along with this they are also present in nature with the purple and yellow tulips.

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Waller) — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 18:58:00 +0000

Yorkshire Sculpture Park Visit

Today we visited the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in West Bretton, Wakefield. I was not entirely sure of what to expect before the trip as I have never been to a sculpture park before. I felt that this was a really beneficial exercise however as there were many different exhibitions and projects to see.

When we arrived at the park we all split up into little groups and made our own way around. I was with Drew and Rich and after looking at a map we decided to take the long route around the park as we wanted to see the Winter/Hörbelt “Basket #7.Oxley Bank” and the Longside Gallery. After walking for quite a while we eventually reached “Basket #7.Oxley Bank”. I felt really inspired by this piece and I felt that it was helpful to be able to interact and explore it which was not possible with some of the other pieces. I did like some of the pieces in the Longside gallery but I without doubt preferred the “Basket #7.Oxley Bank” (see image below).

After visiting the Longside Gallery I was thinking that there was not a very large selection of pieces to look at. I soon realised however when looking at the map I had collected that the majority of the sculptures were in fact on the other side of the park. I liked many of the pieces that we came across on the other side (see image below) but I particularly enjoyed the Leaf Stalk Room in the Underground Gallery by Andy Goldsworthy. After talking to the guide in the gallery I was amazed to find out that this consisted of more than 10,000 twigs. You could tell looking at this piece that the artist had put a huge amount of time and effort into it and I was staggered at how the whole thing stayed together.

I also enjoyed the pieces by Henry Moore in the Country Park. I think that he created some really fascinating sculptures (see image below) and I enjoyed looking around his work. I was surprised to see that he was born in Castleford which is local to me and that he states that the West Yorkshire landscape really influenced him as a young artist. His work is also on display in The Henry Moore Institute in Leeds and this is certainly somewhere I would consider visiting in the future.

Overall I am really glad that we made the trip to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. I felt that there was quite a lot of inspiring pieces on display and I would definitely recommend it to everybody.

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Waller) — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 16:54:00 +0000

Design Feedback - Crazy Firehouse

For part of the A11 On the Job assignment I have recently created 3 rough digitised designs. We will shortly be presenting these to the client so that she can choose the most appropriate one. Before we do this however I would like to get as much feedback as possible. I would appreciate any comments you wish to make. Thank you.

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Waller) — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 16:50:00 +0000

3 Personal Tracks

Piccadilly Palare – Morrissey
In the summer I went on holiday to Bulgaria, before I went I bought the book “Morrissey: Scandal and Passion”. I usually buy new books before a holiday but hardly ever actually read them! This was different though because I picked up the book on the first day of the holiday and hardly ever put it down until I finished it. Now whenever I hear a Morrissey or Smiths song I immediately think back to being sat on the beach back in Bulgaria.

I Wanna Be Adored – Stone Roses
This summer me and my friends finally went on a lad’s holiday after planning to do so for the last few years. As this was our first time we were recommended to go to Magaluf. Magaluf is dominated by quite a lot of dance clubs and there are only a few places that offer something different. Because of this we spent quite a lot of time in Mulligan’s Indie Club. When we were in here it seemed that this song was played all the time so brings back some good memories!

Milk – Kings Of Leon
This is one of my favourites because it is by a band that I have been listening to quite a lot recently. When I went to Leeds Festival in the summer they were definitely the best band I saw over the weekend. I wasn’t really a big fan of them before but thought that they were really good live. When I got back from Leeds one of the first things I did was to buy their album and I have since bought all of their albums. As with the other two song selections this song also brings back good memories. This reminds me of being at Leeds Festival with all my friends in the middle of summer.

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Waller) — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 15:17:00 +0000

Evaluation of first half semester

The assignments that we have been working on in the first half semester have been A9 Box Clever and A11 On the Job. Along with this we have also been working on our Personal Development Profile’s (PDP) for assignment A10 iMe.

The assignment A9 Box Clever involved creating a standards-compliant CSS webpage (CSS Beauty). I really enjoyed creating the webpage as I felt that it allowed me to experiment with different methods and techniques using CSS. I was then able to build the page using the method that I preferred the most. This also helped as I was able to find solutions to problems that I was facing much easier as I had a better understanding of where I was going wrong.

The project also proved to be incredibly frustrating at times especially when it came to make the page render in all specified browsers. When I had completed the website and began to test it even though it was standards compliant it only rendered properly in IE7 and Firefox 2. This was quite worrying at first but after researching further into this and consulting the book Web Standards Solutions I decided to use a hack. This was something that I had never heard of before but I found it to be an extremely important tool. After using the hack in my page I was quite happy that the page now rendered well in the majority of browsers. If I were to do the project again I would definitely use a hack again. I would however try to use an alternative hack so that it doesn’t have to be applied to a large amount of the code which would make it much more efficient.

The other assignment that we have been working on is A11 On the Job. This has involved working as a team on a professional project. We didn’t get off to the best start in this assignment as we failed to win any of the 2 projects that were on offer. After discussing this in our team we decided that restructuring the team may be beneficial. Shortly after doing this we were able to find 2 suitable clients who needed a website doing so things started to move forward. I took on the role of Designer in the team but although we have our set roles everybody is helping each other with their tasks. I feel has brought the team much closer and everything seems to be going well so far.

Along with the other two assignments we have also been writing our PDP’s as part of assignment A10 iMe. The online journals have changed quite a lot from the reflective entries of last year because now we are given more direction on what we should be writing. This has been beneficial however as we have been doing activities such as locating and applying for an Interactive Media position. By doing entries such as this we are able to have more of an insight onto what to expect after leaving the course. One area that I have definitely let slip so far is commenting on other peoples entries. This is something that I am determined to improve on however and I plan to dedicate myself an hour each week to reading my peers entries and posting suitable comments.

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Waller) — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 19:38:00 +0000

Email notification on comments

Following on from today’s talk about receiving an email when somebody posts a comment on your blog, I have just found out how to do this if anybody would find this useful. On the Blogger “Dashboard” which appears when you sign in click “Settings”, then click the “Comments” tab at the top of the screen. When on this section the last option is “Comment Notification Address”, if you enter your email address in here and then click the “Save Settings” button at the bottom of the page this should allow for emails to be sent whenever a comment is made on your blog. I have just tested this now and it seemed to work.

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Waller) — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 18:13:00 +0000

Interview: Part 2

Describe yourself in three words.
Friendly, Organised, Perfectionist

How would you measure the effectiveness of your interactive media product?
I would use two ways of measuring the effectiveness of an interactive media product which would depend on who I was doing it for. If I was doing a project for a client I would measure the success on if they were happy with it and if they had any complaints. I would also take into account how effective the site has been e.g. have they been receiving more custom since having the website.

If I was doing an interactive media product as part of a college assignment I would make sure that I have met all of the pass criteria. I would also make sure that the site is standards complaint and that I have met any goals that I may have set myself.

How do you handle criticism?
I think that I can handle criticism pretty well and this is something that I have definitely improved on over the last 18 months. I now know that whatever feedback I receive whether it is good or bad is with the intention of helping me to improve what I have done.

Describe a difficult problem you’ve had and how you’ve solved it.
One difficult problem I faced was learning CSS and creating a single page standards compliant website over the summer with minimal reference to staff and peers. I feel that this was a great exercise as it forced me to improve on my problem solving skills. As I was unable to simply ask other people for help I had to perform tutorials and research into books which gave me a much better understanding of where I was going wrong compared to simply asking somebody else for the answer.

Describe how you fit into a team.
I feel that I am quite comfortable with working in a team as I am easy to get along with and enjoy meeting new people. I also like to have the opportunity of bouncing ideas of different people and getting their opinion on things instead of doing everything by myself.

I have had quite a lot of experience of team working as I worked in a team of Claims Handlers for a firm of solicitors. Being able to work effectively in a team was vital as there were quite strict deadlines to meet so everybody had to pull together.

Do you have any questions?
What are your working hours?
Is there the opportunity to progress within your company?

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Waller) — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 17:04:00 +0000

Job Hunter: Revisited

I really enjoyed the exercise of having to answer a series of interview questions. Even though face-to-face interviews would be extremely different I still feel that this was a great experience for when the course is over.

I was quite unsure on what approach to take for the section “Why I want the job”, I eventually decided to show that I really want to work for that company and have thoroughly researched into them. I feel that this was beneficial as it shows commitment and desire for the job. I think that I could have taken another approach by matching up what they require in an employee with the skills that I feel I have. This is an approach that I may take if I were to do this task again.

One area that I had to put quite a lot of thought into was “Greatest weakness”. I didn’t want to put a totally negative answer to this as although it shows honesty I felt it could hinder my chances of getting the job. Because of this I decided to put a positive spin onto my weakness which I think was much more suitable.

One area of the exercise that I was not entirely happy with was my answer to the
“Hero” section. I didn’t really know how to answer this and was torn on whether to state an actual hero which would give a better insight into my personality or state somebody in the industry. I felt that if I chose the latter it would again show my commitment to work in the industry. I originally stated that my hero was Benito Carbone (ex Bradford City player) but later amended this to Dan Cederholm. I think this was partly due to the fact that I have recently been reading his book and partly down to the lack of time. Looking back I feel that it would have been much more appropriate to have stuck with my actual hero. I would certainly do this if I were to perform the task again.

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Waller) — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 16:32:00 +0000

Job Hunter

Interactive Media position
Junior to mid-level web designer
Digital/creative qualification
http://www.graduatesyorkshire.co.uk/job/32285/vacancy/?_ts=27344
Harrogate, North Yorkshire

Why I want the job
I see this as an excellent opportunity to join an exciting company working on some really important accounts. Looking on your website it is encouraging to see that your company has done projects for some huge companies such as Bella Italia and Twinings. I have also been extremely impressed with the approach that you take towards web design with “customer needs at the centre of things”.

Greatest strength
I feel that my biggest strength is being able to work under pressure and meet strict deadlines. From the experience that I have had from my previous job and also the last few years in education I have been faced with many deadlines and have not missed one. I feel that I strive under pressure and find that it is easy to motivate yourself for the task in hand if you have got something to aim for.

Greatest weakness
I feel that my greatest weakness is that I tend to spend quite a lot of time trying to improve work that I have done when it is already to a suitable standard. I have often found myself spending several hours on something that should only really take an hour or so. I feel however that this is due to being in a college environment for the last few years and having the opportunity to experiment with different ideas. I fully understand however that moving into the workplace I will not have this time to experiment with ideas so will need to be prepared to work to much stricter timescales.

Doing in 5 years time
In 5 years time I see myself working in a successful design company working on large projects. I would ideally have been working with the same company for several years and gained at least one promotion. I will have gained quite a large portfolio of work and worked on some really exciting projects along the way.

Current innovation that excites me most
The innovation of CSS level 3 excites me the most as this would give designers greater creativity in their designs. Having originally worked with tables and cells I feel that working with CSS gives designers much more flexibility in their designs and can lead to some really effective designs.

Hero/heroin and why
My hero is Dan Cederholm. I have been a huge fan of his since I read the book Web Standards Solutions. I feel that he was a huge help when starting to learn CSS and he helped make quite complex features seem more understandable.

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Waller) — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 10:00:00 +0000

On The Job - Rough Designs

This week we are intending to display 2 digitised designs for our client for approval. The client owns a haidressers in Pontefract. I would welcome any feedback that you wish to give!

This was our first design. The general consensus with this design was a bit to structured and didn't quite flow...

The design was then amended to this...

The second design was where the curve to the right originated. I originally planned for links at the top...

However following feedback from Steve and Rich we decided to put the links below the image...

So at present the ideas we plan to show the client are the second and fourth design.

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Waller) — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 16:46:00 +0000

Design Mechanics Presentation

Dave Pannell sees the Design Mechanics as a finishing school. Employees have opportunity to gain experience in industry staying for around 12 months before moving on to larger companies.

Research should be undertaken and CV’s chased underlining commitment, if not chased applicants won’t be contacted. Portfolio must look professional showing skills in web and print design, emphasis on commercial standard work. Impressive portfolios precede qualifications. Interviews focus on personality and ability to integrate. Need to detach from work and design for client not yourself. Employees should not think they know everything. They must have willingness to learn.

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Waller) — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 16:58:00 +0000

Time to reflect

After having such a long break over summer coupled with the summer assignment “A8 Monkey Business” I was quite looking forward to returning to college and working in the college environment again. I do feel however that it was a beneficial task to complete a whole assignment with hardly any reference to both tutors and my peers as it taught me to be much more independent and work through problems myself.

During the first week back we were handed out the new assignments “A9 Box Clever”, “A10 iMe” and “A11 On the Job”. My first thought as we started looking through the assignments was how much the standard of the work has increased now we have moved into the second year. Even though we had been told previously that the work was going to get much harder and that we were going to need much more stamina this year I feel that it really hit home during the first week. This is something that I am relishing however as I feel that you need to be constantly challenging yourself if you want to improve.

The sessions that we are having with John throughout the first semester are working on assignment “A9 Box Clever”. I was quite eager to start with this assignment as it involves creating a CSS page which I feel is going to be one of the most useful skills to have when it comes to gaining employment. Over the last 3 weeks we have been going through several tutorials to supplement the lectures that we have had. I feel has been really advantageous as I am already starting to feel much more comfortable using CSS than I was before the assignment started.

Along with the tutorials we have also been working on the first essay of the assignment which was to “Evaluate the impact that CSS has had on web design to date”. I have been quite happy with the progress that I have made on this essay as I have completed several drafts to the point where it is now almost complete. I feel that I have really benefited from John being able to look through the essay and suggest ways in which I could improve as I have been looking much closer at what I’m doing. I now feel quite confident that after a few alterations in my self study this week the essay will be finished to the correct standard.

I have also learnt that I have passed assignment “A8 Monkey Business” since I returning back to college. I had mixed emotions about this because on the one hand I was quite relieved that I had passed but on the other was disappointed that I couldn’t achieve a Merit. I think that this was a good experience for me as it has stopped any complacency which may have been creeping in and I am now focused on achieving higher grades for the present assignments. If I were to do the assignment again I would spend much more time evidencing my research as I feel that this was the major factor on missing out on the higher grades this time around. Evidencing my research is something that I am going to be much more aware of for future assignments.

The assignment that we have been focusing on with Steve since we returned is “A11 On the Job”. This assignment involves undertaking a live project as a member of a team. One of the first tasks that we had to do was to decide which member of the team would be the most appropriate for the roles of Project Manager, Designer and Developer. After a brief meeting we decided that I would take the role of Project Manager, Marc would take the role of Designer and Rich would take the role of Developer. One of our first tasks was to give a presentation including designs for a generic Nursery and Sports team. This was an extremely challenging task as we were only given a minimal amount of lesson time accompanied by our self study to get prepared for this. However I do feel that we communicated well for this and were quite prepared for presentation given the circumstances.

After actually giving the presentation I was not confident that we would be given any of the projects and felt that the dynamics of the team weren’t quite right. A short time later we were told that we would not be doing any of the projects and that we would need to find our own clients which I felt proved that something needed to change. I decided to hold a team meeting to discuss how we felt everything went and how we were going to progress as a team from here. After quite a constructive meeting we decided that the team would benefit from a restructuring of our roles and it was decided that Rich would take the role of Project Manager, I would take the role of Designer and Marc would take the role of Developer.

In the last week we have advanced quite a lot with the assignment and we have now got one client with the possibility of another also. It is not really possible to judge how the team has changed since deciding to swap roles but it is very encouraging that we have been able to find a client so quickly and get the ball rolling.

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Waller) — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 17:48:00 +0000

Skills gained and usefulness to employment

Personal Development Planning
I feel that my evaluative skills have vastly improved as a result of my personal development planning throughout the course along with my organisation and planning skills. This would benefit me for going into employment as I feel that I would be much more capable of writing an effective CV along with showing any potential employers how I have improved over the last couple of years.

Attending lectures, seminars, tutorials etc
I think that I have become much more prepared for lectures as the course has progressed by making sure that I always have the right equipment ready. I have also improved by undertaking further research to supplement lectures and improve my knowledge. I feel that I can now concentrate for much longer periods of time compared to when I started the course which would be a huge benefit for when I aim to gain employment, this is because I will be much more focused on the job in hand and be much less likely to lose concentration.

Seminars, group work, team projects
Working in groups and obtaining and supplying feedback has given me several vital skills in terms of employability. I can now show designs to my peers and be much more prepared to respond to either positive or negative feedback which is a huge bonus. I can also give feedback to other people in a much more constructive manner. I feel that this would be beneficial for employment as I will know not to take any negative feedback to any of my designs to heart and also give productive feedback to other people’s designs. I think that this will be very common in the industry so is a key skill to have.

Oral presentation
I feel that this is the area that I have improved on the most since the start of the course. I had very limited experience with presentations before the course so the fact that we have undertaken several presentations has given me good communication skills and also more confidence. The interactive media industry involves presenting your ideas and designs so being able to give an effective presentation is a vital skill to have looking forward to employment.

Writing essays and other forms of academic writing
I feel that my evaluative skills have certainly improved from having to write essays throughout the course. I also feel that my referencing skills have improved greatly with each essay that I have written. I feel that this will be beneficial for gaining employment as I will be able to accurately evaluate each design that I do which would be effective when having to present ideas to either work colleagues or clients. I would also be much more capable of referencing where I have gathered material which would make me much less susceptible to breaking copyright law.

Maths and statistics
I have used maths and statistics several times throughout the course which have definitely improved my skills. The majority of the time that I spend using this is when I am creating screen designs and implementing the designs. Due to the fact that everything has to be 100% correct and measured accurately it is key that I can calculate everything properly. I have also used maths and statistics when having to undertake research throughout the course and summarising it in the form of a graph or table. I feel that this will be beneficial for when I move into employment as I will be able to evidence any quantitative research that I have undertaken for any project much easier than I would have been able to before the course.

Observation
I have used my observation skills several times throughout the course but mainly when I am undertaking a competitive analysis. By doing this task I have had to research into how many competitors are in the local area and the strengths and weaknesses of each competitor. This could be useful when I gain employment as if I decided to go into freelance web design I would be able to monitor who I would be competing with and how it would be possible to gain an advantage over them in any way.

My observational skills have also been tested when it comes to making sure that all my work is accurate and that my work is of a suitable standard before I hand any assignment in. If my observational skills were not to a good standard I would be making silly mistakes, this is something that I have managed to eradicate from my work compared to the early part of the course. This would be vital for going into employment because if I was constantly handing in work with errors it would look extremely unprofessional.

Research
This is a key element of the course and I am often spending many hours a week researching into different areas before I start any given task or project. I think that research skills are essential as they enable to you to gain a much more in-depth understanding of what you are doing which should allow you to create much more effective work. This would be beneficial when gaining employment as I am undoubtedly going to encounter many problems when I enter the workplace and may not have sufficient knowledge in certain areas, being able to effectively research and gain that knowledge would be extremely advantageous.

Exams and revision
The only way that the grades are handed out on this course is by creating portfolio work. This is different to sitting an essay but I feel that it is much more accurate reflection of your ability. The skills that I have learnt from having to create assignments are working to deadlines and being able to create time plans organising how I am going to complete each part of the project. I feel that with the industry being based heavily on time management it is extremely beneficial to be able to plan and complete work to a set deadline.

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Waller) — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 08:04:00 +0000

Being a Project Manager

Last Thursday we were working on our new assignment “A11 on the Job”, we needed to decide which team member would be suitable for each role in the project. After discussing the different roles that would go into a three person team and what would be the main responsibilities of each role it was decided that I would take up the role of Project Manager. I was quite pleased to be given this role as I think one of my key skills is that I am very organised, this is one of the main aspects of the role as it is the Project Manager’s responsibility to make sure that everybody knows what they are doing and how long they have to do it at any given date.

I am sure that the role is going to be very challenging but I feel that the experience of managing a team will be extremely advantageous for the future. As it is my role to liaise with the client along with the rest of the team my communication skills will improve as the project progresses and this would certainly benefit me when I try to gain employment after the course.

Even though it is early days I feel that we have the makings of an effective team where each member is suited to their role. I feel that this is because we decided who should be given each role from the personal skills profiles which we all created. Another promising aspect to the team is that we have been communicating effectively and everybody has been meeting the deadlines we have set ourselves. A good example of this was that Marc was able to get his screen designs for the Nursery and Sports Team online before Sunday night as we had all agreed, this then allowed the team to give relevant feedback and kept everybody on course to give the presentation on Thursday.