Sunday 25 January 2009

Time For Change

For me the first semester has been a huge change to education. The whole concept of having assignments briefs that alter as your going is very difficult, and I have struggled with the lack of structure. I'm used to having a list of things to do, that don't change and doing them in the week. Also finding threads on the forum is a weak point of mine, and I know Iv'e missed deadlines because of this. I really need to pick up on the forum activity because I'm still unsure of where to find things, and this is vital for the course.

I think this first semester has gone smoothly in other respects however. The group has gelled well, and most people seem possitive about the way the course is going. I have found that people are most than willing to help out and explain things, which has been really helpful in throughout the assignments.

The assignment that we have done so far have been very different to what I had expected. I thought we would be jumping straight in at the deep end and getting down to designing. It has only been in the last half that any design work has really taken place. At times I have thought we were going the long way round learning aspects of design, but for the most part I have found this helpful to study all the fundamentals first. It's been more a case of learning to get things right first time, rather than learning practically from your mistakes.

Sketchbook work has been one of my favourite aspects of the course so far. I find the inspiration gathering and annotating one of the most enjoyable pieces to look back on. As I scan through it's a clear indication of how far I have come from the begining to now. I am starting to naturally use words that I hadn't heard of before this course, and in some cases I am running out of space to describe images because all the different aspects I now notice.

I have struggled in the sketchbook because the sketches are supposed to be quick and in draft form. I have always drawn things very precisily and that is the way I design best. This has meant that I am not able to get as many sketches done in the allocated times, which needs to be worked on in later assignments.

For the second semester I know there has to be a lot of personal change. I've been struggling to keep on top of the work, so I must find out exactly what needs to be done and get it done in advance. This is the best way to cut out the last minute stress that occurs around submission dates. I know I need to ask more question because even at the minute I am unsure of what we are doing this next semester, and it just causes more undue stress.

Tuesday 6 January 2009

The Return

Coming back after Christmas, it was obvious that my knowledge was a bit rusty. The A3 assignment had been put to one side over Christmas and I found it fairly difficult to get back into the swing of things on the first day. This gave me a certain level of anxiety.

However, the group still had a good atmosphere and I could tell that my head was fresh to start learning again. If I was to change my approach to the holidays, it would be to keep all the work fresh in my head by looking over notes and catching up on more work.

Both of our current assignments have to be completed by next week. With the A4 I feel fairly relaxed as most of the work has been done during our college time. This assignment was the most enjoyable so far and in a design aspect I learnt the most. There is a test next week which we are currently revising for, and with this I also feel comfortable. All my marks on the practice test lately have been well above the 50% marker and in all honesty my revision has been minimal. So with plenty of revision this week I hope to get a good result in the test.

The A3 is the more demanding of the two assignments. Despite being behind with just a week to go I don’t feel stressed in any way. I think this is because I have a firm understanding of the tasks that need to be done, due to listening and note taking. If I was to do this again I would have still preferred to stay on top of the schedule to allow the last week to be simple tinkering.