So I come to reflect on the first semester after jumping in the proverbial deep end of FdA Web Design. Upon receiving the results for my first assignment I was pleased with my grade. I am enjoying the course, I am learning everyday and moving forwards towards my goal of becoming a Web Designer.
Throughout the first semester I have been learning about the principles of design and typography. I have gained a lot of knowledge and understanding of the value of good typography and design principles. I have put the skills into practice and designed a string of typographical design solutions to precise briefs we have been given.
Overall I have been pleased with the resulting designs I have produced this semester, but I have noticed a negative trend. I take a lot longer to work through research and design ideas than some of my contemporaries on the course. I know from talking to Industry Professionals that I will have to speed up my processes to become commercially employable. This is not of major concern to me as I know this speed will come with time and experience.
I feel a need to gain more inspiration following the first semester; I have started creating vectors in my own time and playing with textures on various software packages. I look at typefaces on adverts, art and even small things like how menus are designed in restaurants. I’m feeling a lot more creative than when I started the course, my designer eye might be coming out, without sounding too pretentious. I need to continue collecting physical and mental images to draw inspiration from.
From all the classroom and self taught learning I have done in the first semester, I think I am more of a reflector than I first thought. When I first looked at the Honey and Mumford test I felt that I was a bit of everything, which was reflected in the results of the questionnaire. I still think I don’t solely fit into one style of learning but I think the bulk of my learning is best described by the reflector style of learning. Which I think plays a part in why I may take longer to research and design briefs as I like to think on topics over a longer period of time.
The group as a whole has bonded really well I this semester. It’s very easy to get on with everyone in the group and throughout the first semester I think we have all got to know each other’s personalities. It definitely makes learning easier if we are all on the same page so to speak, but also it’s a good base for when we begin to do group work.
Moving on to the second semester I think I need to put everything I have learnt up to now into practice, keep using the skills and knowledge I have learnt and use them in conjunction with what I am going to learn in the future. In the past I found this easy but as I have got older it actually is harder to learn new skills and acquire knowledge so I’m looking forward to the challenge.
Moving forward, I have made 4 targets to help me achieve my goals.
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I wish to cover all the relevant points I first read about in the skilset.org document. This comprehensive list of skills and knowledge is a very useful tool to measure myself against, with hopes that I can cover all the points covered in the document by the end of the course.
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I want to be comfortable with the idea of being employed as a professional, at the moment I do not have the skills or knowledge and so would not feel comfortable in the role at the moment. I would have to measure this by simply how confident and comfortable I feel about myself, my skills and my knowledge at the end of the course.
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I was happy with receiving a Merit for my first grade. I hope to match the grade and hopefully improve on it if at all possible.
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I want to gain some commercial experience before leaving the course. Obviously a commercial placement would be ideal, but if this is not possible I would hope to at least shadow an industry professional at work. At the moment I have an idea of what it takes to be employable, but seeing it first hand is a very important experience I hope to achieve.
