Well, Im done for the year. Last day today before Christmas and I would like to say this week has been fine and dandy. It hasn't been, it's been a very expensive week, both in terms of cash and lessons learnt. I'm not going to go into details for fear of getting incredibly angry again but I will focus on the more positive aspects of the week. First, I actually got an interview/meeting with Funnel Creative! I was beginning to feel more like a stalker every time I rang and had to chuckle when I was put on hold, again. I could just imagine the guy I wanted to talk to saying "Not her again!!" I got a 66% for Room 101 and I had an idea on how to deliver the widgets. To the left is a docking station, for the want of a better description. When you click on the button it opens up. I also think I have nailed the icon for food (below).

QR and Pepsi

So Im looking in the fridge which is something I do at least a couple times a day and I noticed this...

Do you see the QR square?

I would love to try it out only my phone is that out of date it isnt able to make use of the polymorphic ring tones... This is just showing my age!

Just in case you have no idea what Im on about here is the linkie...

Previous blog entry

Widgets

OK I have changed my mind again about the competition brief and am now going with BBC Widgets one. Time has now made the decision for me and I have a couple ideas which was more than I could say for Brand Union or the Science Museum ones. On Wednesday morning we had a tutorial on how to use the animation table and the other equipment used to take photos of the drawings etc. Also told that, at some point in the future, the college will get an iMac to retrieve the images etc. Industry practice now-a-days. Fantastic! but absolutely no use to me what so ever seeing as I have months left on the course and really, honestly we should have had this equipment last year! (/rant)

Moving on...

Here is some artwork for the widget :)

Finally!

Finally the website is up and works. After alot of technical "How do I...?" and "But why isn't it...?" questions the only bit to add is a little animation on the front. Im about a week behind on my original timeframe and so even though the little animation hasn't been added I have sent an enquiry email to Funnel Creative for an opportunity to meet up and discuss placements.

Linky

Business cards have been created and A2 portfolio pieces finalised and await printing out.

Monday 10am is when our marks for these briefs will be pinned to the wall for all to see. I am curious to see what I get given that I didn't seek direction on any of the briefs. From the presentation on Wednesday afternoon I'm guessing a pass for all three.

Wednesday morning was a Final Cut Pro revisit and Thursday was Dreamweaver introduction, although apparently we were suppose to have been introduced to it last year. I'm not going to say it. The concept of CSS finally makes sense.

I have had yet another rethink and have now decided to change my competition brief to The Science Museum as this ties in with my idea for the self directed brief, that might lead to another live brief.

I have yet to write my self directed idea up but it runs along the lines of introducing technology into Manchester Art Gallery in a sympathetic manner. Money of course isn't an issue :)

To judge a book by its cover

This week has been non-eventful in so much as I have just been getting on with it. I have to briefs and have been working on my self promotion tools, ie website, portfolio and business cards.

I have nothing worth showing at the moment so I decided to show you the sketchbooks I use and the covers I made for them out of wallpaper samples from Focus.

Behind the times..

I just watched a CSI NY episode and was wondering if this QR technology really exists. So I wiki-ed it and it does and has existed since 1994, comes from Japan and was initially used to track manufactured parts. It has since widened its application and is now used as a hardlink or physical world hyperlinks. QR is short for Quick Response it was used as artwork for The Pet Shop Boys' first download-only single called Integral in 2007. I wonder where it will end up? Other news, I have decided to work on a couple of briefs which include a complete branding of a loyalty card scheme and book cover for a re-release.

Here is Room 101:


Pure Screen
Here is the intro:

and here is a screen shot the general layout of the menu:














And finally The Space:

I would love to know how I came across this site but I could not retrace my steps even if I tried. On this site I found an entry which caught my eye. What initially caught my eye was the mouse looking blob on the right which turns out to be what looks like paint being dropped onto glass, which I thought was a very cool effect. Any I love this type of animation, use of typography and motion. The other aspects I love about this is the use of black and white and the seamless transition between "scenes" and an element is taken though to the next scene and helps set it up.

"Mathieu Foucher made a motion graphic clip WE BE which got him a second place rank. It will be shown on stage during the tour of Wax Tailor, a French hip-hop/trip-hop artist that organized the contest for his new single. Mostly typography following the lyrics it is simple, and yet underlines a powerful message."

Killers album cover

OK, don't particularly like their music but thanks to the annoyingly regular iTunes newsletter (I'm sure I did stopped my subscription) I happen to see this and I quite liked it.

Why do I like it? As a question I don't really like it, but I will endeavour to explain why I do.

Firstly, I like the combination of photo (even the scary looking guy second on the left) and illustration. I also like the dot effect font used for the word Killers. Finally, I have always liked black and white illustration and so the lack of colour compared to the colour within the photo and background works to highlight the members of the band.

It's all in the technology...

This week has been very trying from a technology point of view. Swapping between a mac and pc under a tight deadline just frustrated me and I could have done without the software going all querky on me. DVD Studio Pro decided it would be fun to put random artwork on different menus and could I remove it, could I heck! I estimate I re-did various menus about three/four times in order to get it right. On the bright side Im more proficient with DVD Studio Pro and I know it takes two days to get it right and checked etc but I could have done without the hassle. I was relieved yesterday thinking I had completed all three projects almost within the deadline only to realise today that Room 101 has a audio/visual issue that I will have to fix on Monday. I also want to check Purescreen for quality on the big screen. Again this is down to my decision to redo Room 101 from my initial idea. I still think its much better but it threw all my organisation out the window and as a result I dont think I have done any justice to any of the pieces.

So I have a five minute presentation on Tuesday. For some reason I had it in my head until yesterday that it was Wednesday that we were to present. Im finding it difficult to get the right practitioner. At the moment Duffy is in the lead but I have just found zumm-creative who might pip Duffy at the post. The plan is to have the presentation done for Monday to hand to Mike and ask him to check it and gives me enough time to fix any problems etc.

Wooden chair

I found this article in Shortlist, Issue 55, 30 October 2008, page 5

I also read that the Urbis has an exhibition of Emory Douglas entitles Emory Douglas and The Art Of Revolution. Might have to go have a look see on Tuesday.

On the weekend I was in a second hand furniture shop looking around and saw a lamp. I did a double take and then realised it was exactly like the example Mike showed us of an Art Nouveau inspired design. I got excited and explained all this to the person who was with me at the time. He just looked at me as if I were odd. So I took a long time deciding on which piece of furniture to get as payback :) Moving on....

I had plans this weekend to get a riggle on with all my briefs, including Contextual Studies. It didnt happen and now I have just finished the animation for Room 101 and have to set about the task of sorting the audio out and then tweaking the animation to match. I am not looking forward to listening through 1.5 hours of recorded bus sounds trying to find the right bit of audio.

I did some further work on The Space sign on Thursday and I think I have resolved the design. I costed up some material to actually make it and have sent off an email asking various questions but as yet, not had a reply. It has been two working days after all. I want to use metal, something shiny like Aluminium and have the logo in the bottom right corner of the sheet, cut out with lights installed behind it.

I have thought of a potential problem with the Pure Screen work and that is if I can not install the fonts on this pc. I might have to go to college this week and use the macs. Another reason to buy a mac!

Hit play...

I have no idea if this will make it to the final version of the animation for Room 101 but I kinda like the animation, simple though it is. I still find working with moving image difficult and setting out a narrative seems to completely escape me. I was right in thinking my original idea wasnt strong enough, but the next version wasnt either and so I have taken on board all the comments in the production meeting and set about putting them into action. I really do wonder why Im on this course... just give me a static website!!

Anyways, without much more waiting, here is my small piece of animation. In my opinion its too pretty to make it in...

This made me giggle...

After doing an random search for New Media Design I came across Hot Girls Guide to Graphic Design and this image, which I thought was funny enough to share.

Its like a joke I dont get...

Even though I enjoy Contextual Studies it does feel like its a joke everyone gets except me. I understand what Mike talks about in class but it seems that the minute I walk through the door I dont. So, in an attempt to get my head around all this stuff I have pulled out all the stuff I have so far from Contextual Studies, put some music on and will attempt to make sense of it all. The results, successful or otherwise are below.

I have already blogged about DVD Studio Pro lesson earlier this week, still feel a little buzz about it. On Monday we have a production meeting ... this concept has been floated around quite a bit from last year but has only been successful a couple of times and not many people did the show and tell. I have had a rethink on my original idea for Room 101. It still revolves around the bus but the narrative is different. I have yet to storyboard it and I have played around with the graphic look and feel but since then I have had another rethink on the graphic look. If things go well I will have a mood board by the end of the day :)

The Bauhaus (1919 to 1932)

The Bauhaus was based in Germany and attempted to bring art and design together in a time when design was kept lower in the canon. Although artists could design they didnt advertise it because design was considered not as important as Art. The Bauhaus took the ideas of Morris and the Arts and Crafts Society further and allowed women into the school. All the student were given the opportunity to experience every aspect of design and then, given their strengths, allowed to specialise. The design emerging from the Bauhaus were primarily dominated by machines, could the design be made by machines.

The Bauhaus design emerged after the first World War and all prototypes were designed primarily for function and believed that design should be used to improve society. Using the concept of mass production and machines to provide objects that were cheap and functional. The results were straight, almost clinical without decoration. It was said the reason for the success of the Bauhaus design was as a result of those who survived the war were attracted to the clean feel after living so long in dirty trenches etc.

Although the Bauhaus was closed in 1933 by Hitler and the staff and students dispersed to America the impact and influence of the Bauhaus design can be seen in what is now called the International Style.

Key features of Bauhaus

• cheap industrial materials
• machine mass produced
• standardised parts
• prefrabricated construction
• functional above all else
• linearity (sharp edges)
• geometric, abstract shapes
• minimal, white/pure colours
• undecorated ("honest")
• assymetic composition
  

Art Deco

At the same time as the Bauhaus style was popular, Art Deco was its rival and also began in the 1920's. It captured the desire for a new/fresh start after the war and optimistic view of the future. A symbol of hope and was all about looking modern - the Space Age look (futeristic modernism).

Key features of Art Deco

• the sunburst
• go-faster stripes
• science fiction
• lightning bolts (zig zag)
• streaming
• jazzy geometry
• mondern art/cubist effects
• industrial materials
• exotic sources
• stepping
  

In the beginning it Art Deco style could be categorised as Art Inspired Geometry (adapting art styles to look modern) and Exotic Historicism (modern-looking, exciting strange styles). With the new inventions, developments and international travel Art Deco can be summed up as "optimisism". Towards the end of the Art Deco period the styles could be described as Streamlining (inspired by the fast trains and planes) and Moderne which was the growing influence of a practical Bauhaus style.

Art Nouveau (1890 - 1914)

Art Nouveau is often discribes as an International Style and nature-inspired design, was short lived before the first World War.
Key features of Art Nouveau

• organic
• anitHistoricist (no copying the past)
• whiplash
• flatness (turn it 90 degrees and the design has gone)
• coordination
• stylised
• novelty
• assymetry
• themes
• total look

There is a Japanese influence in Art Nouveau - asymmetry, flatness, cropping and odd views. C R Mackintosh based in Scotland is the only UK artist using this style. Britian didnt like this style considering it as the last phase of old style, yet today it is considered a forrunner of modernism and an ally of science and a source of non-Bauhaus styles.

The New Look

The New Look, often referred to as the tulip look, appeared after the second World War and as a result of a desire for a softer, non-geometric form of design. With the new technology and materials as a result of the war, plastics such as acrylic, perspex, nylon and polyethelyne were used with the new moulding processes to produce the tulip shaped style. Introducing experiemental shapes, colours, textures, patterns and themes.

Dior was the first fashion designer to take this tulip to the catwalk and although the initial response was controversial, with many women feeling it was a step backwards after the efforts of the women during the war, it obviously took off.

Tis a rare thing...

It is a rare thing that I find myself actually wanting to write a blog, rare still that I find myself wanting to write something entirely positive about college.

For the first time since I started this course I felt I have actually had a proper lesson on some software, DVD Studio Pro to be exact and although there was some technical difficulty towards the end, it was a thoroughly enjoyable class and I left college with a sense of achievement. I accomplished something and it was worth me dragging my sorry arse out of bed this morning. Thank you Dave, you made my week!

Im a duck

Bare with me...

I have been doing alot of thinking about what to do with both brief, Room 101 and the DVD Studio but when I look at my sketchbook there isnt alot in there. I have felt that alot of this last week has been alot of behind the scenes work - thinking. See where I was going with the duck comment?

We did get a chance to see DVD Studio Pro and what it can do and I still have the feeling that we have been kept away from the software side of things. We are new media designers and as such I was under the impression we would not only be able to design something but take it through to completion and use the appropriate software, in an appropriate manner and with some level of competance.

Our lesson with Mike was great as usual. Of course it was great, I got a distinction for my last assignment in Contextual Studies when I was only expecting a pass.

The presentation to the first years wasnt too bad. Im never comfortable presenting to a large audience and thankfully here wasnt too many questions.

I have decided on my narrative for Room 101 which revolves around my absolute love for travelling on the bus to and from college. That was a sarcastic sentence by the way. I get to see a wide range of people and not many of them I would choose to actually meet. I have designed a series of sterotypical characters which are seen on my bus and with my trusty zapper I will send all offensive items to Room 101 and the bus turns into a happy, chillied bus :)

First blog as a second year NMD student!!!

Well, this is the first blog of my second year at the new and improved (?) Manchester College. Glad to see things havent changed that much over the summer break, well except maybe me. I didnt do a right lot over the break but was able to get a "do you want to design a website for me" job which can be seen here. Im happy with this site for a couple of reasons and they are mainly from a technical point of view. I created it in Flash and used alot of actionscript 3.0 coding to get it all working. It still has a menu which I dont like and no preloaders, both of which I want to fix. I love the fact it is all created in one timeline with about 6 frames (not including the actual photo content) and it refers to xml files and the images are completely manageable by the client. It has inspired me to relook at my own and the terry pratchett site I did last year. Using actionscript makes the files smaller and makes more sense to me - but that's me I guess. As a result of this website someone else might be interested in having me do a website for them. Probably the biggest compliment I can think of.

We have to present one of our briefs to the first years and I had to do mine today. I still hate and will probably always hate having to get up infront of alot of people and talk. I usually turn bright red and this is never a good response as it is very obvious to everyone you are nervous. But I have done it and it seemed to go down OK.

Contextual studies was fun and we learnt about the Bauhaus and Art Deco, we also got our marks back for the piece of work we did last year and to my total surprise I got a distinction. I only expected a pass but there you go. There were a few bad points but its a distinction never the less. We have alot of writing to do this year and I dont want to find myself in the same position as I did last year. Got to bite the bullet as they say. I wish the whole course was as well planned as Contextual Studies.

We have been working on our personal logos and yearly plan which doesnt seem to fit in with what Mike is planning in Contextual Studies but I will wait and see what happens. We have our first warm up brief "Room 101" which I am currently playing around with some ideas. With any luck tomorrow we will get the "DVD menu" brief.

This weeks reflections - w/e 15 June 2008

Almost done!
Im in holiday mode already, which has made this week more difficult than usual from a motivation point of view. I handed in my "What I'm doing on my Summer holiday" project last Monday along with my sketchbooks and have spent this week looking at my PDP. Feels a little weird having the crit tomorrow and having not worked on the project all week. Not much else to report...Really looking forward to some time off.

Review - 5th Avenue flyers

These 5th Avenue flyers were handed out late last year. Unlike most flyers for clubs these caught my eye. Both are so different from each other, respecting the different purposes.

The flyer below uses the very popular silhouette effect on the people dancing and on the shapes representing speakers. The organic feel of the graphics below the people is very popular and is linked with fun and enjoyment. The other popular effect is the Ben Day Dot and "splatter" effect used in the top left hand corner, which frames the 5th Avenue logo. The text uses a san serif font with a distinctive line through all the letters, both upper case and lower case. The use of the black shilhouete on a red background is striking and the purple splatter surrounding the logo suggests 5th Avenue is a classy venue.




















This flyer has a 50's feel to it. The use of the black and white image of a woman in the bottom left corner of the flyer has her lips highlighted with a pink colour suggesting lipstick. The over exaggerated expression is typical of advertising in the 50's. The white san serif text with purple back colour is used to provide a quote, written in the same 50's style. "...my Johnny's jeans looking whiter than white!" - a proud housewife. This links nicely in with the purpose of this flyer, which is a foam party. The choice of typography for the foam party is in direct contrast to the play on design with the mother figure. The typography is messy, chipped, smudged - all in need of a good cleaning. The 5th Avenue logo is again surrounded by a purple shape, consistent with the previous flyer. The contrasting colour of the orange background, with sunbeam styled graphics (again, typically 50's advertising feel) work well and isnt too over powering. The use of the bubbles to provide further information about date and time continues the theme of washing.

Website review - davehum.com

http://www.davehum.com/

Dave Hum is a freelance flash and web designer based in Hampshire. His entire site is flash based and is continually growing with examples of his games, portfolio, artwork and photos etc. It is a very good example of an online portfolio of work.
His overall design feels alittle confused. He has a fantastic background image of weathered wood but then has overlaid it with some very stylish, very flash looking, graphics. I wonder if the interface could be better matched to the background, alternatively choose a more appropriate background.
Navigation is easy though the use of buttons along the top and destination windows leaving the main window available, making it easy to get back to the main index page. The website uses pre-loaders and all text on the website is easy to read.
My favourite game is Bricks which can be found under the Flash Experiments and the most annoying part is the music resets its self every time you go back to the page. Im not a fan of music or other sounds on websites in general unless they are promoting a band's music.

Film Review - Renaissance

Paris, 2042: a dark Rotoscope world of shadows and right angles. Ilona Tasuiev (Romola Garai), a brilliant young scientist, is kidnapped, and her employer, Avalon, a major health and beauty corporation, wants her found. Karas (Daniel Craig), a jaded police captain, is assigned to find her, fast. He seeks help from her sister, Bislane (Catherine McCormack), and they are soon uncovering identify theft, missing files, and hints that something back in 2006 may explain what's going on. Ilona's mentor, Avalon's vice president, a Japanese researcher, an underworld boss, and Bislane's drug connection all figure in the mix. So does an attraction between Karas and Bislane.

This has won two awards and was released in July 2006 and is the second film by director Christian Volckman. The strength of the visual style is reminiscent of comic book adaptations and takes a little getting use to, but then the audience is drawn into the plot.

Although I like the unusual style and recognise the work and effort going into the making of this film, the story wasn't particularly strong and some of the facial expressions were lost in the rotoscoping process.

Review - Damages' title sequence

Damages is an American legal thriller series. The initial season's plotline revolved around a brilliant yet ruthless lawyer (Glenn Close) attempting to win a class-action lawsuit against the former CEO of a corporation (Ted Danson) on behalf of his former workers, by any means necessary. The show ran for 13 episodes.

The title sequence runs after an initial recap of the previous episode and, except for one part towards the end, is highly stylised using a black or dark blue tint. Occassionally using an excentuated colour, for example the gold statue, where the gold contrasts with the blue tint. The editing is fast and uses both a speeded up frame rate and normal panning shots. This works well with the music overlay and together with the visuals gives a good feel for what the series is about.

The chose of typography works well with the legal contents and the no nonsense storyline. Everything feels minimal and not confusing even though the editing can be very fast.

The one area where it falls down is towards the end where the use of black or the blue tint has been dropped and the images use real colour. It is noticable and does stand out of the rest of the sequence.

This weeks reflections - w/e 8 June 2008

Well, it's done, complete, finished. The final project of the year is, well, was due tomorrow and so I have met that deadline. We have been given a weeks extension due to other activities at the college. I did think about taking that week and using it to "muck" about with what I have been able to do so far, thanks to Stuart of course. I have decided not to, in an attempt to learn to control myself and my fantastically lacking design ability.

It will be interesting to see what is made of this at the crit. I have only had one meeting with Alex and she liked what she saw with no revisions etc. Stuart has made a couple of suggestions, trying to break me away from my fall back position of a corporate feel. This raises an interesting point. I have shown this project to a number of people and on a whole people like it. They like different aspects. One of my friends said it was good but it didnt come over as very professional or corporate. And he is right, it isnt very professional. If there really was a Lambshire they wouldnt go for this look or feel. When I did have more corporate feel to it I was encouraged by Stuart to change those elements. This project was meant as some fun, which it was despite Flash's attempts to confuse me. I have lost count the number of times I have said to myself "it was working last time!!" This makes me wonder if I could do a commercial site, do I have the design ability? If I'm totally honest with myself I don't think I have created anything this year that is anywhere near professional. I have been assured that 3/4 weeks into the second year it suddenly happens, if I make it to second year.

Next week I am going to concentrate on finishing off the PDP elements and look at sorting out my online portfolio with an idea of then approaching companies asking for placements/work experience. Now that it's written down I had better do it and not be tempted to go into holiday mode.

The final piece can be found at
http://www.sharyne.co.uk/test_site/sharynetromanslambshirefinal.html

This weeks reflections - w/e 1 June 2008

Yet another week gone, and by my calculations only one more week to go...9 days til this last project is to be handed in. I think its coming along nicely thanks to Stuart and his powers and patience with me and AS 2.0.
What's to be done apart from the tweaking? Videoing Lamby, creating and printing the little booklet, revise the text. Im sure it can be done in a week :) wish me luck cos I'm going to need it working with Flash. Don't tell this to Stuart but I actually enjoy working with flash, especially the coding.

These are my drawings that have been put into the CD-ROM. Obviously was in the "zone" when I set about drawing these.

This weeks reflections - w/e 25 May 2008

OK, OK it's a day late. The long weekend has thrown me somewhat. Feeling the down hill run for the first year of the course. Last brief "What I did on my holidays". My first reaction was...nothing! I'm not going to do anything. But then reality kicked in and a smallish list of things started to grow.

Anyways, here is a scan of a page from my sketchbook. It's an idea for a background that blends from one place to another. Top right is a countryside which then blends to an image of the pyramids which is top left. Not sure why, but I can see this as a water colour. Once again aspirations outway ability.

I don't have an idea yet. Lots of little mini ideas but nothing settled on. I like the idea of creating this mythical place that I could then create a "visit[insert place name]" and have it as a CD ROM with little booklet. I also like the idea of creating a 3D world with oversized attractions. Also, I like the idea of strapping a camera to a remote control car and have it drive through cardboard standups. I wonder what will happen tomorrow.

This weeks reflections - w/e 18 May 2008

As weeks go it has been non eventful. I have handed in the Contextual Studies assignment and Doritos has been uploaded. One more assignment and that has the first year completed. I've said this before, I can't believe that the first year is almost finished. I wish I felt more confident with my design ability but I have many misgivings both with my ability and the course. I have been told that it all comes together next year and I am finding that statement a little difficult to believe at the moment. I know politics and numbers play a huge roll in this and it wouldn't look good for the course if it started to loose students. I need a proper break!

Doritos Advert

This weeks reflections - w/e 11 May 2008

DONE!

Contextual Studies is done, completed, spell checked, printed and binded!! :) as is my doritos advert. Tomorrow I have to export it again to get the file size down to something more managable and then I can uploaded it to a website or two. This week I will be putting together the paperwork and A3 stuff for the paperbased portfolio.

I have spent the weekend looking at ideas for an online portfolio of my work. I remember mentioning it in a previous entry that I was to create one as alot of what I do is new media that doesnt really relate to the printed page.

I am very glad there is only one more project to do. I need a break, which is very very odd to say considering the student life is pretty easy compared to working.

This weeks reflections (including review on Hemisphere) - w/e 4 May 2008

Any ideas where April went? How can it be May already?? This means the year is almost over - first year over. I would like to say that I feel I have learnt alot and am making big strides with my design work. I can't. I feel like I'm glossing over every aspect and not getting to know anything in any real depth.

This week I have been splitting my time between the contextual studies project and the Doritos advert. I have to admit I am struggling with Doritos. I think I'm doing OK with the artwork but the sound is proving very difficult. I have looked at alot of adverts on TV and they all have music with sound effects. None of them are just sound effects without talking. So I need music - but which music piece...It will have to be original....but how am I suppose to produce something that is original when I know nothing about music other than listening to it? Seriously. How am I suppose to be a New Media Designer which encompasses video, sound, art and bringing them together when we are not taught any of the specifics? I know the answer if I ask, "this is a design course". What use is good ideas and great design if you can't produce the final piece???

Anyways, getting back to my reflections. It's all coming together and although I am trying my absolute best both contextual studies and the doritos advert will result in a not polished piece. At most I will get a merit, luck to get a merit I think.

HEMISPHERE
The last speaker we had for Contextual Studies was Grant and Sue from Hemisphere, a design and marketing consultancy company based in Manchester. Grant started the company 20 years ago have found themselves in the brand discipline of design. Sue started with the company 10 years later and the company has been going from strength to strength with now 99% of their work coming from recomendations and referrals. Designers from London have even been approaching Hemisphere. Hemisphere have a unique breakdown of staff, having a larger than usual number of designers. The company put alot of emphasis on the design process and went through three case studies, explaining how they came to the design they did. They break their design process down to Analyse, Investigate, Explore and evaluate, Identify and agree and finally, implement.

Out of all the speakers that we have had speak to us, these guys were the most relevant and useful. Although they don't do new media as such, mainly design for print.

For further information here is their website. http://www.hemispheredmc.com/

This weeks reflections - w/e 27 April 2008

Have been working quite a bit on the Manchester brief for Contextual Studies and its coming together nicely. I have alittle more research to do on the company I have chosen, which is Corporation Pop (did you know thats a Lancashire expression for tap water? - no, neither did I but my excuse is that I'm Australian :P)

The Doritos advert artwork has gone into Motion and the rough animation is set. My storyline is lasting a little longer than 29 seconds but I know where I'm going to re-edit to meet the time criteria.

I have started working on an electronic version of the Studio Diary. Alot of the stuff I look at are websites or Youtube content and am finding that difficult to put onto paper so...hence the electronic version of it. So far...its pink hehe.

This weeks reflections - w/e 20 April 2008

Ok it's been a while since I last wrote in here, so long infact I had to go back and re-read what I wrote last time! Yes, yes, bad me! Since the last entry I have handed in my website YAY! and got a merit for it. Have to admit I was disappointed at getting a merit as, as usual, I was aiming for a distinction (two...two chineses!). Normally I can take the criticisms of my work and see the value, take it on board etc but this time not really. Anyways, moving on! I'm glad it's handed in and I have learnt a number of lessons from it. Now currently working on two assignments and due to fantastic timing both are due within four days of each other. It seems that no matter how much planning goes into this course nothing seems to work out. The doritos advert project is for a competition. Its 29 seconds exactly. I have worked out my storyline and am currently working on the artwork for it. I am going for a anime/manga feel this time. I have decided to ignore the fact its going for a competition, what hope do I have when design agencies are pulling their designers off paid work to go in for this one? Contextual Studies has been interesting with a number of speakers. The speakers have been very interesting but I am finding it a little difficult incorporating what they say into the writing I have to do. I have been doing some writing and according to my gantt chart I'm on time with stuff.

I can't really believe that the year is almost over. It's gone too fast and I dont feel like I have learnt anything. I would like to say I am looking forward to next year but, honestly, I'm looking forward to a break!

I suppose you should see some artwork now huh!

This weeks reflections (including Dave Haslem) - w/e 23 March 2008

It's Easter weekend and the chocolate bilby has almost been eaten. I haven't eaten chocolate in a number of weeks and the chocolate buzz went straight to my brain. I would like to say that as a result I came up with a number of cool ideas for the website and worked super fast but I'm afraid it didn't happen. Thanks to a friend who took the time to test my website I now have another idea to implement and that is a secret brick. :)

This weeks version of the website. Looking at it compared to last weeks, there is little change but I have been working on it pretty much consistantly. The only way I can describe it is that its like a duck, alot of work happening under the water.

http://www.sharyne.co.uk/test_site/websitev11.html

On Wednesday we had our last Contextual Studies lesson before the two weeks off. This weeks speaker was Dave Haslem. A very interesting man, even if he does wear some gold thing on his shoes. Dave spoke alot about the "consumer of culture to producer of culture" attitude that Mancunians have. This trend in DIY attitude has been traced back by Dave to the birth of Manchester in the 1800 during the Industrial Revolution and detailed in his book Manchester England. His idea of consumer to producer of culture has been proven in the success of bands like Sonic Youth, Stone Roses and Oasis. It is not just in the music industry that has produced talent but also writing and television. At first I felt that he was just a lucky guy, being at the right place at the right time to become a well known DJ and associated with the Hacienda. But I take his point that it was his drive, determination and skill that got him to the right place. Dave started his journey with a fanzine and had the opportunity to interview Morrissy before he became well known, started promoting bands until he was told that some of the bands were terrible and that was the catalyst for his DJing career. I very much appreciated Dave coming to speak to us. Thank you Dave.

Still can't get into the Headstart website....Grrrrr!!!

This weeks reflections - w/e 16 March 2008

This week in contextual studies we had a speaker, Graham Jones, who is a freelance graphic artist based in Manchester. His amazing work can be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/g-man77/
He definately has a style, metallic/bright colour on board, coster, packaging, thus introducing the texture to the final product. Something that new media doesnt really allow. After his talk I did entertain the idea of swapping to print design.

He had some interesting stories to tell about how he got to where he is today. I believe the single thing I took away from his talk was the amount of work required, the commitment and believe in your own ability. He also explained why he decided to stay in Manchester and not take the trip to New York or London. His decision to stay wasnt so much about the work but the place itself.

Have been working pretty steadily on the website, up to version 9 now.

http://www.sharyne.co.uk/test_site/websitev9.html

There are bugs everywhere on the site and I have yet another list of questions for Stuart on Monday. We only have three more days with Stuart and then its into the Easter holidays. I'm pretty confident that by Wednesday I will have the structure up and only have some tweaking to do. This plan will of course give me time to do the work for Contextual Studies, catch up with a few reviews and maybe (just maybe) rest a day or two! Well that's the plan anyways - maybe take a day and go see the Manga exhibition at the Urbis.

This weeks reflections w/e 9 March 2008

Pretty happy with my results for the Contextual Studies assessment I completed before half term. I got a merit and was very surprised when one of my essays scored higher than the other. The one that sored higher I considered to be my weakest one, Semotics. Really looking forward to the next topic, about the NW and how it fairs against the big boys. Its nick name is the Manchester brief and so far we have looked at the history of Manchester. This coming week will include a speaker from industry, really looking forward to that.

The website is driving me nuts! The buttons seem to work whenever they feel like it.

www.sharyne.co.uk/test_site/websitev5.html

I'm getting more comfortable using scripting and, when thinking straight, can workout where the scripting should go. I'm concerned that the website is running too slowly and I can't decide if its because of my system or the files. I have included a preloader. It's very basic and needs designing but to be honest this was an after thought and was never considered in the original design process. Once I get the first button working reliably, hopefully, the other four will come together quickly enough. I am aiming to have the basic structure set up before the Easter break, leaving those two weeks to tweak the design.

To be honest, I can not decide if I like the design. Some times I absolutely hate it and other times only hate it a little bit. I look at it and am really not sure what I don't like about it, possibly its the clunky artwork. I was very tempted today to scrap what I have done so far and start again but looking at the timeframe for this project I would be pushing it to meet the deadline. Maybe it's the orange colour.

I'm not sure but I'm not liking this project as much as I expected to, certainly don't like this project as much as the video work we did before. This is part of the reason why I'm interested in the Doritos competition - it's video.

Thank you Stuart for your help with the scripting :)

This weeks reflections - w/e 2 March 2008

We had our first Contextual Studies lesson back after half term. This term has the potential to prove very interesting. There will be a number of talks given by industry professionals and they will be giving us an insight into this business. We have already been given our new brief and it's about the North West and the creative/design industry...is this the place to be?

I have been spending alot of time thinking about the new design brief. This has resulted in a change of artist. Although Dave Grohl is an interesting person I felt from design point of view Terry Pratchett would be more exciting. With this in mind I have decided to go with a single piece of artwork with buttons/links embedded into the artwork and so the visitor would "minesweep" the page. According to Dan this is the natural reaction of the viewer when they come across a page like this. As part of the artwork I wanted a working clock and so, below, is my attempt. Im happy with it and will be the first to own up to copying and pasting the code. The code makes sense when I look at it but I feel that I wouldnt be able to write this from scratch and so feel that I will want to explore ActionScripting further, possibly outside the course. I will chat to Stuart next week regarding this and see what he advises.

http://www.sharyne.co.uk/clock.html

I have been working on the wireframes for the brief and have been using Visio to lay it out. I can not imagine working on these wireframes without it. To do it by hand would be such a time wasting exercise. Althought I have completed the initial sketch with pen and paper, Visio is able to use a spreadsheet to import the information and set the wireframe up from that, leaving the tweaking to me. Fantastic! Below is my first of three wireframes on Jean Michel Jarre. I have to complete the analysis.

http://www.sharyne.co.uk/wireframe%20jmj.htm

This weeks reflections - w/e 24 February 2008

OK this week has gone fast, little too fast!

On Monday we were given our new brief. Essentially a flash website about an artist of our choice. As with all of our briefs there is a challenge and this time its time management. Our brief due in 4 days after a two week Easter break - prime "get the website working" time! and yes it will be interesting to see how people deal with it.

I have some knowledge of Flash going into this brief and although it's self taught (ie learning from mistakes) I think it holds me in good stead to get at least a reasonable website up and running. The concern I have is that I just don't want a reasonable website, I want a very good one and I suspect that my ideas are out of my ability range at the moment (hence the comment on the challenge - those two weeks are ideal harrass the tutors time). Upshot is that I will have to have a back up design but have every intension of going for the very good one. I bet you're asking, what does the very good one look like and my answer is...no idea yet, I have bits and pieces of ideas but they havent merged together yet to form any coherant design.

I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to put all the information in and having looked at other websites on Dave Grohl/Foo Fighters there is alot of information out there. So my plan is this - recent information so as to keep it small and managable but have it built so that it can be expanded on by setting up the infrastructure correctly.

For the first time in a long time we had a tutor lead session on the basics of Flash and Actionscript 2.0. It felt good being taught something. I can see the benefits of tutor lead and self instructed time but feel there is too much self instructed time at the moment. This course is the first time in my entire life that I have had to work with the design process and although I understand what that process is and how it is reflected in any design I can't help but feel that it was down to me to "feel" my way through the process. That's it, there isn't enough examples given. For someone like me, saying create a portfolio means very little. I don't know what a portfolio is - so I research and find out that what I initially thought was a portfolio isn't correct.

Time to get back to Dave ;)

Research - Flash movie

Thanks to the guru that is Amir, this is part of my research on wireframing.

http://usability.about.com/od/usabilitymethods/ss/wireframing.htm

More to follow.

This weeks reflections - w/e 3 February 2008

The final piece!!!

This weeks reflections - w/e 27 Jan 2008

The title sequence is in its final stage of production (YAY). After several reshoots the piece has the Motion artwork overlaid onto the video. This has been fun to do but also tiring, every aspect of this brief has been new to me and this includes creating the original video and Motion work. Prior to this brief I had never worked with video before and it took some getting use to as I always seem to think in "stills" rather than motion. The editing between some scenes has resulted in using the action to move to the next title rather than using a cut or fade. I never thought of using transitions like that and so the final piece will have been modified from the original storyboard, but I think it looks better for it.
The use of a soundboard is a fantastic idea, really forces you to think of what is happening in the scene as I am not using any music. This weekend I have collected together the sounds and this included terrorising the cat (in a nice way) to make him hiss and growl, which he did on queue and without much provication. He did get some special cat food afterwards as a reward for being so obliguing.
I do believe this is the longest I have ever worked on one project. Gone are the days at EY of getting it done as soon as possible as it was required "yesterday".

Contextual studies is coming along and I think I have tracked down some reasonable images/websites for the VRF and will have the Issues and Headstart completed on time.

This weeks reflections - w/e 20 January 2008

First week back after Christmas and have hit the ground running after a bit of a lull over the break. The deadlines are looming!

I have spent quite a bit of time working on the title sequence brief and am happy with what I have created so far. I have all the pieces and now have to put them all together. Motion proved a little tricky to remember how to use but am happy with what I have done so far. I have no idea how to export it into FCP or so that its an independant clip. I finalised the graphics background and feel that it looks a little more finished.
Working with Motion is fun, alittle like Flash and I think that has helped me, otherwise I am not sure I would be able to do what I have done. I am happy with the blood dripping down the screen, revealing the background text.

Contextual Studies is still proving difficult to get motivated for. I have completed the first drafts for all pieces of work that needs to be handed in in February.

Wedding Photography

In November 2007 I was asked to be the offical photographer for a friends wedding. Here are the some of the results. For the most part I am happy with these and have learnt alot from the experience. As a result, I am not sure I would ever wish to become a Wedding Photographer and take my hat off to those who do.