Presentation work and building a web site

This week I have been carrying on with my A5 and A6 work, which as been the presentation for a6 and building the web site for A5. The presentation work is going good, there isn’t loads of information about the typographer I am doing about but there is a bit about where he lived and few details about career. Roger Excoffon only designed about 11 fonts so I have chosen 3 of his most popular typefaces and I have gone into more detail about them. I have also found a web site that shows the typefaces used in everyday life, like on shop signs which will be good to add to the presentation or the handout as it will show an example of what the typefaces look like. The feedback I got on the last presentation is that I didn’t finish well, so I am going to try and improve this time by firstly adding a slide at the end of the presentation asking if there is any questions, so it will remind me to ask if there is any and also I need to remember to give my handouts out. My main improve thought is to try and keep it to 5 minutes and I would be happy if I could do that.

Last week for my A5 self study I started building the web site, I haven’t got that far with it but I am happy with what I have done so far. I have already had to make a few changes from the design, because when I have put the design in Dreamweaver it just didn’t look right, so I am going to screenshot changes I have made and stick them in my sketchbook and annotate the screenshots, so that when I come to write the evaluation, I can look back and see what changes I did.

Also for self study this week I collected inspiration, I found a couple of web site with some good inspiration, so I took a hour or so collecting some then I printed it out and stuck it in my sketchbook. I haven’t annotated all the inspiration yet but I am going to finish doing the rest this week and hopeful I will finds some more inspiration.

First timed task

On Monday morning we had a demonstration on basic CSS. When I first started this course I had no idea about CSS, but from the research I have done for web designing assignments and from the demonstration, I now know a bit about CSS. When I researched about CSS I thought it was all confusing, as I don’t understand programming languages. We were shown I few CSS tags and shown how to create CSS using Dreamweaver, I understood all the information we were given and showed, which made me think if I can understand the bit that we had been shown maybe I will be able to understand more about CSS.

The course I was on last year I had to create a web form, but I had to teach my self how to make the form. I did make a form but I had problems, so I was really happy when on Monday when we got shown how make forms in Dreamweaver. It was simpler that I thought to make a form properly, but I am just not sure how to link the form to the CGI bin. I should be able to find the information I need to link it up, so I might have a test before I have to do it for the assignment.

For A5 we made a checklist of things we need to do. The class came up with 30 things, some the points were obvious things like spell and grammar checking, but that is really important thing to do and it is something I need to do regularly when doing pieces of writing. The checklist is going to be useful and I will use it to check my work so I include all the things I need to pass this assignment, but I am also going to do my own checklists. When doing assignment I found it useful to have checklists. I have main checklists that have all the tasks I need to do, and then I break it down into smaller lists. I do this so I don’t feel over loaded with work and I know what needs to be done.

This morning we had our first timed task for assignment 6, I really liked going the task but I didn’t expect to. For A6 I didn’t really know what to expect, so I haven’t been looking forward to it or not wanting to do it but I have been a bit nervous of what the tasks were going to be like. When we were first given the brief, I panicked that I wouldn’t be able to think of ideas, but once I had started designing I got some idea. I did about 10 small designs then I choose 4 of the 10 designs that I thought looked the best. After I had done the 4 final designs, I choose and drew the final design that I was going to develop on the computer. For planning I estimated 45 minutes, for putting the design on the computer I estimated 30minutes and 15 minutes for checking my work. I completed and handed my work in on time which I was happy about, but I don’t think the work that was produce was excellent. This task as made me a bit more existed about doing the other tasks but I am still nervous about what the tasks might be.

Today we had a seminar meeting in our new groups. This week I learnt I have to collect more inspiration and read though unit 4 again. For next weeks meeting we have to have a draft the typographer presentation ready, the presentation I did last time about the colour yellow was too long so this time I am going to aim to get the presentation the right length.

Another week back

All holiday I wanted to know my results, I had to wait untill Monday afternoon to get them as we had a talk in the morning. I was already nervous about get the results for the assignment and then the talk in the morning didn’t make me feel any better. The talk was about the results not been good enough. I always try my hardest, So some of the things said I found a bit upsetting, and it came across to me as we hadn’t tried.

After the talk, we had a demonstration on how to use Dream weaver. I have used Dream weaver before so I know some basics, but I learnt easier ways to do things, which will make the web sites easier to make. We got to have a play about with Dream weaver. After the demonstration I went over all the things that we had been shown and then I went on the internet and look at some tutorials, and looked up solutions for problems I had, had before.

While we were experimenting with Dream weaver, people went to get their results individually. When I found out I had passed A3 and failed A4, I was more bothered about failing A4. I am glad I have passed A3 it’s just doesn’t seem like I have.

Today we went over what the new assignments include. For assignment 6 we have to do a presentation, which at the moment I am not that bothered about presenting it but I am sure I’ll get nervous when I have to. The presentation as to be on a typographer and the person I am aiming it on is Roger Excoffon. I have researched for hours today but I can’t find a lot of information today, all I could find was a bit of information about him and some information about some of his typeface. So I am going to do more research at home because a lot of web sites wouldn’t open at college.