The first half a semester is over and I’ve had a number of different challenges. By far the prominent one to overcome has been my ability to decide on inspirational pieces for A1: SketchBlog. When I do decide on a piece I don’t have issues explaining them it’s purely the selection which causes the problem.

The way I will attempt to nullify this issue is by providing myself with themes. I’ve recently discovered that themes allow me to concentrate my efforts in one specific area whilst also keeping my eyes open for other items to supplement the theme. Eventually there should come a time when I no longer need to set myself themes for inspiration as this will become a more natural decision making process.

I am enormously satisfied with myself that I have managed to set and achieve personal goals since my last entry, one of which was to have my first assignment finished by submission eve. I feel this was achieved by using my college contact time well suitably to familiarise myself with Adobe InDesign quickly.

After completing the final draft of A2: A Journey of 1000 Miles a week before hand in I can honestly say it felt great. To have a period of time where I knew everything was finished bar the formalities, was new to me and extremely welcome. One thing I did learn however is to ensure I burn my CD before proof reading the work to avoid any unnecessary wasting of my resources.

I was shocked to learn today six weeks have passed since the course began. Although the technologies and principles I have used so far are not dissimilar to ones I have used before I still anticipate my learning curve to kick in soon.

From dropping eggs out of the window and racing round a 500m track at 40 mph to editing some basic XML it’s been an eventful month on the Interactive Media course.

Having been set our first two assignments I’m delighted I haven’t yet missed a deadline (in class). On the other side of the coin I ‘m disappointed I have failed to meet some personal targets.

Namely, not leaving things to the last minute.

I know from previous experience that this is one of my major downfalls. I need to make some stronger decisions when it comes to my self study time and ensure I don’t just turn to web surfing.

In order to meet my own targets I need to break things down and give myself realistic goals achievable in reasonable timescales.

Another concern I have with not coming from a design background is that I am finding it hard to quantify my inspiration. I’m sure this will come with time but right now it just doesn’t feel natural.

It’s not all bad though from the friends I’ve made and the positive feedback I’m receiving I really am feeling part of the group. The course is truly underway now and I love it. I’m starting to think this was one of the best decisions I ever made. I am however completely aware that I’m going to be pushed to my limits both academically and creatively, but do you know what?

I am ready for it!