WBL - Live Brief

The WBL module is an ongoing brief for most of the year and is a project is designed to give me the opportunity to generate evidence of my profession approach to employability. The work produced in this module will be generated via placement work and live briefs. For one of the live briefs I decided to a live brief for Durham fashion week and I thought I would post the time management plan that I used throughout the brief.

Portfolio - Evaluation

As part of the portfolio module hand-in I needed to write a thousand word evaluation. So I thought I'd post my evaluation here.

WBL - Placement - Skills Analysis

WBL - Work Related Presentation

As part of the WBL hand-in there must be a section called Work Related Presentation, this is using my experience on placement, I had to...

- Analyse the sector you have worked in and how it functions.
- Pointers to discuss; Roles in an agency, Costing Jobs, Dealing with Clients, Pitching, Keeping time sheets, Job bags.
- You will use your detailed notes to inform this presentation.

So here are my notes for the presentation.

WBL - Task

At the beginning of the WBL module there were some tasks to complete, so I thought I'd do a post with my task documents.

Weekly Reflection

In the last week I have managed to finalize all of the examples of work that I want to present in my portfolio and also included a new brief to fill the missing typography gap. I have been juggling this module with another at the same time my, Work Based Learning. I'n not that used to dong two big modules at the same time and it can get difficult, but I've learned that if I plan my days out with which brief I'll be doing it help keep me organised.

Portfolio Production - Re-working

I thought I'd do another update post on how my portfolio development is going. I've finished my last brief re-work and then after that I moved on to doing a new brief that will help fill a gap I had identified in my portfolio as I didn't have a good example of typography work.

Plan of the week

My plan for the next week is to really push on finalizing my portfolio pages as the deadline is coming to and end soon.

Portfolio Production - Re-working

I thought I'd do an update post on how my portfolio's going, and include some of my work based file pages with annotations and evaluations.

Plan of the week

The plan for this week is move on with this module and get some more pages finished for my portfolio. the tutors have mentioned that the best number of examples of work is between eight and twelve.

Weekly Reflection

Looking back on this week I have achieved my aims of having tutorials to help me develop my portfolio pages.

Portfolio Production - Tutorial 2

After the first tutorial I went back and made some adjustments that were suggested to my portfolio pages, after this I printed then out again to see if the layout worked better than before and to help me really make sure that they were as perfect as I could make them.

Portfolio Production - Tutorial

I had a tutorial with tutor Nick today, I prints out some portfolio pages in A3 to help get a sense of the layout. During the tutorial we discussed the type size and perhaps that it could be one point smaller. I took some photographs of the notes wrote on the pages during the tutorial and then put these into a design document with written up notes from me and Nick, this will go into my work based file showing evidence of how I out my portfolio together.

Plan of the week

My plan for this week is to really refine my portfolio pages and get some feedback from tutors.

Weekly Reflection

This week was all about looking back some examples of my work and deciding how best to present them in my portfolio. When creating a successful portfolio there are two processes that I will be going through, the first had been gathering the images for my portfolio pages and the second is making sure that my layout is perfect for displaying the images.

The only think looking back is that I haven't had any tutorials from tutors about my portfolio pages so far it would be good to get some feedback soon.

Portfolio Production - Re-working

My plan for this week is to re-work my old briefs final outcomes, here are some of my development pages that will go into my work based file for this module.

Plan of the week

LO2
The plan for this week to look through all my degree work so far and try and get a feeling of what work I should have in my portfolio and what doesn't make the grade. When I have chosen the work I want in my portfolio I will re-work the briefs final outcomes making sure that they are presented as best possible.

Weekly Reflection

LO5
My aims for this week were to complete all of the assigned tasks that the tutors set for the beginning of the new module, and then do a blog post showing the work I've done. I met all off of the aims for this week, the only thing I have left to do is print out all of the pages and start putting together my work based file that I need for hand in. It will read like a diary of how I'm putting my portfolio together.

Portfolio Production - Task One

Here is a post with what I've been doing this week. Along with my evaluations of the research.

Weekly Plan

LO2
The plan for this week is to get to grips with the new portfolio module. The tutors have set some tasks for this week to help ease us into the module and get the ball rolling.

So the plan for this week is to complete all of the parts of task one and then blog about it.

New Module - Portfolio Production

Now that the Digital Skills module is finished, its on to the next one. The next module is Portfolio Production, the module guide defines the module as...

'This module projects requires individual self-direction and motivation, you will be responsible
for the development of your own portfolio backed up by support in the form of tutorials. A tutor
will look at your portfolio to mutually assess work that needs to be done and then during the
course of the module at regular intervals you will have tutorials to monitor your progression.
You will be given written feedback at each tutorial to keep as part of your evidence of
development.'

When it comes to the hand in of this module it will be in three parts, my actual portfolio, a work based file detailing how I put the portfolio together, written up notes from tutorials and the last part is a thousand word evaluation of my final portfolio.

UCAS

As this year is drawing to a close everyone is looking to what they will be doing next. This is a two year course and at the end I'm awarded with a Foundation Degree in graphic design. I could continue to do another year of studying to top this up to a full honors degree. I've researched using UCAS to see which institution offers this one year top up course. I've found that the closes places are Newcastle College and Sunderland University. After looking further I found that Northumbria University also had this course but I would have to re-do the second year.

After looking into my options I'm going to have a tutorial soon to talk about my options after this course has finished and what my tutors suggest. 

C V

In the first year I created a CV (obviously) but looking back on it lately I have to admit it is bad, like embarrassed to post in online for everyone to see bad. This old CV sat ashamed in an untouched folder on my laptop for some time until enough I decided it was high time that I had a new one. The only problem is that the rubbishness of my old CV was seared into my brain and every time I would sit down and to try to think about creating a new CV I would have cringe worthy flashbacks.

'Okay CV time I know you've done bad in the past but I can get past this, its only a little CV, (remember old CV) oh Jesus, Christ why would you create that your, a graphic designer for god sake!'

So after some procrastination, dawdling and general avoidance I just sat myself down and worked on a new CV. I knew what it would look like style-wise, as I wanted it to be branded alongside my blog, so it would be simple, not many colors, if any and well spaced out. So here are some images of my CV journey.

As you can see I had some problems deciding the layout and then when I did, I would print it out and decide that nope it looked wrong. So I finally have a new CV and this is a skill for which I am now well versed, but I'm not going tot dwell on this for long because if I do I start to see all the things I can change on the final CV. I am predicting that when it comes to me and my CV I'll never be finished and nor should I be.

PPD

As part of the Personal & Professional Development module (this blog basically) I must demonstrate skills and personal qualities that will benefit me in future employment or progression to a higher level of study.

There are quite a few skills I must blog about, such as creating a CV, UCAS applications, interview skills and so forth. In developing these skills I am maximizing my opportunities to be successful on my chosen career path of graphic design.

Interview Tips

A great article on www.davidairey.com a fantastic website with some great posts for design students.

15 Graphic Design Interview Tips 

1. When you arrive in the interview give us your business card. It should be well designed, memorable, simple and hopefully have a great idea. It should be unique and you should be branded.
2. Have 8–12 pieces of work in your folio. Put the best pieces at the front and back.
3. Have at least six questions ready to ask (if you have less, you’ll find they will be answered in the course of the interview).
4. Take a pad and pen, take it out at the beginning of the interview. You don’t have to take notes, but it looks as if you are organized.
5. Talk about your work before you show it, but don’t talk too much. This should be one short sentence to engage the interviewer with you. We will be looking at you as you speak. Then show us your work.
6. Have samples and mock ups.
7. Bring sketches. We are as interested in how you got to the final solution as the solution itself. You can show other concepts.
8. Have a copy of your CV (resumé) at the back of the portfolio. Offer it even if we already have it.
9. On your CV don’t tell people about exam results or part-time jobs that have nothing to do with your chosen career. It pisses us off.
10. Don’t talk about holiday or money in a first interview.
11. Give a firm handshake.
12. Tell us you really want the job (believe it or not, hardly anyone does this).
13. Ask for our business card(s).
14. When you get back home, send an email thanking us for the interview.
15. Make sure your branding is consistent on your business card, CV and email signature.

www.davidairey.com/advice-for-design-students/

Weekly Reflection

LO5
Reflection on my progress this week I can say this I have accomplished everything that I set out to do at the beginning of the week in my 'plan of the week'. This week is the last of the digital skills lessons so the next week leading up to the deadline will be the only time I get to prepare for hand-in.

Digital Skills - Week 5/Day 1

This lesson is all about using Illustrator, the skills include...


1. Typography formatting / Tracking / Kerning
2. Create Outlines / direct selection tool / point manipulation
3. Warp options / Envelope distort / Type on a path
4. 3D options
5. Appearance palette options

After going through the skills I was given the task to use them to create a Thomas holiday press add and a Adidas press add. I've included my final outcomes below with my evaluations.