timothy stringer portfolio

So far this assignment has been the most like what I expected the course to be. All of the work being produced digitally to create a group of related items.

This assignment has flown by. It only feels a couple of days since I was handing in my last two assignments.

During this assignment my stress levels did rise. I couldn’t source the relevant images to create my ideal visualisation of the artwork. I am now pleased with the design I have and cannot believe how many different iterations have lead me here.

I’m in the build phase of the website for this project and pleased I’m finding it easier second time round. This time I also intend to include some Javascript to add interactivity.

In this assignment I focused when needed to. I am also pleased that although I had not included it within my original schedule I have managed factor in a two week break at Easter.

The only part I was disappointed with was the fact I had a different image in my head to that which I have now produced. I still think my skills are a little lacking to implement this at this stage. In the future I hope I will be able to produce work as I see it.

Moving into my final few weeks of the first year I have only minor adjustments to make to my assignment before I will be completely happy with the end product.

I have handed in another two assignments since my last reflective post and obtained solid grades for both of these.

I found the website build exercise to be extremely interesting and this showed in the amount of knowledge I gained from the start to the finish of this period. The results of this can be seen here.

The next assignment helped develop my Photoshop skills, as this was the primary piece of software we used. One of the deliverable items within this brief was to create a group presentation on a particular Photoshop technique. Working in groups helped me to see others attitudes toward attaining goals we had been set. The presentation I have benefited from most was the batch and actions as I now use actions to increase my productivity on my assignments.

Successful time management within these assignments saw a decrease in my stress levels throughout and things felt a lot more under control. This is something I aim to replicate in all my future assignments.

My current assignment A7:Rasterised. The approach we have taken on this assignment in listening to music to influence our designs has been something new to me. I have a number of ideas to be working on. I think the hardest part of this is going to be visualising these with my current limited knowledge.

Another part of this assignment has been to create a number of logos for a record label. This exercise has increased my knowledge in Illustrator exponentionally. It has also provided a change from designing websites. An example of the logos I have produced can be seen below.

For my remaining assignments of the year I definitely need to try and achieve my highest possible grade and do myself justice.

The album begins with the short but rhythmical opening Konstruktiv. You can almost hear the foundations being laid within this track. The title track Automne Fold uses these building blocks starting quietly. The song then rises to a resonating symphony of what sounds like electrical interference.

For me the album really starts with the third track, the upbeat Downshifters. Here a robotic funk bass line is merged with what sounds like a radar ping. The journey of this album is now truly under way.

The Distance continues the journey and takes you through an electronic woodland, encountering electrical snakes and mechanical bees. The deep sounds of the reverberating bass keep you on the path that leads to a different kind of A Protest Song. This track well and truly solidifies the feeling of being outside. It almost feels like the journey has now taken a turn onto the autobahn at night. The warning given by the seraphic voice leads you to think there is something more to this track but you’re not sure what.

The pace of the album slows again with the track Apnée where you are almost brought to a halt. Although the pulse of the chimes keeps you moving forward. The next track Idle is anything but. With it’s higher paced busy beats, it almost touches on the funk of Downshifters but not quite. It helps you discover the edge just before it bringing you back.

The album again changes pace with Quarante. The melodic beats are back with an almost angelic voice providing a beacon for the continuation of the journey. Altiz starts immediately with a hypnotic hum. This grows into a near religious repetition before taking you to a deep submarine radar-like finish.

Parallel, although short, brings you back out of the darkness into a much lighter place. The piano noise leads you to an almost morse code in nature message.

The album takes on a more edgy feel with the track World Within Words. With the cautionary monologue from an anonymous male voice. Époque has many levels of sound laid over a repetitive bass line. The ping of the radar is also returns bringing familiarity to this track.

Apnée. Part II begins quite sleepily with a consistent clicking beat in the background. A third of the way into this track you are jolted out of this slumber by a voice. Very descriptively the voice uses abstract imagery to describe usually mundane everyday items.

The album closes with Palisades fusing together elements from some of the other tracks. The clicks and the blips are back again. The feel of this track is much more subdued and nicely brings the journey to a calm close.

Word Count: 459

First things first I’ve had the results from my latest assignment submissions and added a pass and merit to my portfolio. To be told some of my sketch book work was very good surprised me as I felt my work wasn’t that substantial at all. I’ve set myself pretty high standards in relation to my sketch book and it seems to be paying off. I need to keep up to these standards to achieve my full potential.

One of the things I mentioned to work on previously is my time management. I am already in a better position than the previous three assignments as I have created a substantial production schedule for each of the new ones.

I’m already seeing the benefit of this. Only this weekend I was finding it difficult to concentrate on one thing. I took a quick look at the weekly tasks I had set myself and this brought things immediately into focus.

With A5 I’m really looking forward to producing a full working site. This would be because previously I have developed ideas for different elements for pages but never put them all together as one.

Currently I’m feeling a little concern with regards to my creative brief for my A6 assignment as other already appear to have chosen their topic and I’m still researching. I am kind of reassured however that on my schedule I haven’t decided to make a decision until the end of this week so hopefully my decision is just around the corner.

In summary I was overjoyed with my results and need to use them as a mark in the sand from where I need to kick on from. I need to take my momentum from the first semester and maintain it so I can hit the final assignment of the year A7 at full pace.

Looking back at page one of my sketchbook I was asked to note down my fears for the coming months. I can see one of my biggest fears was that I wouldn’t be able to produce the work on time to meet deadlines. I have already dispelled this fear as I have now handed in numerous pieces of work with varying deadlines. This provides me with confidence and reassures me I’m doing okay.

I’ve had a few personal highs in this semester including A4 and the colour theory lectures. I’m pleased I’ve managed to keep on top of the workload I’ve had. I’m also quite happy with most of the work I’ve produced so far.

There have been areas where I need to improve though. The biggest one of these as previously discussed would be my time management. Another topic I need to improve is the quality of my sketchbook work. I currently find it easier to develop ideas within the screen after little amounts of development on paper. I need to keep sketching until I’m completely happy.

I’m very glad A1:Sketchblog is ongoing in the background throughout the year. This is because so far the generation phase of my ideas isn’t my strongest area. The next four months will give me time to develop this up to the high standards I have set myself.

With A2:A Journey of 1000 Miles passed and a grade in the bank I’m glad this was the first assignment. It helped me to bring myself into the correct way of presenting work whilst reaffirming knowledge gained on a previous course.

A3: Sounds Like a Plan helped to show me there is a lot more to designing a website than just drawing some boxes on a bit of paper. The amount of knowledge gained whilst completing this exercise will hopefully stand me in good stead for the upcoming assignments. At times during this assignment I felt truly focused and need to learn to replicate this state of mind throughout the rest of the course.

By far and away my favourite to date has been A4:Type Cast. Coming in each week knowing that by the end of the day I will have another piece of work for my college portfolio completed is very reassuring. Also having new concepts to go away and learn along with the weekly tests to revise for has really made me take the information on board. It shows I set myself high standards for this assignment as I was disappointed with my typography test results even though I was 32% above a pass grade.

Looking forward to the upcoming assignments I’m eager to get started with the building of my A3 webpage. I’m also looking forward to developing more creativity as part of the image manipulation assignment whilst enforcing my existing photoshop knowledge. Like always I need to keep developing my weaker areas and continue to perform in my stronger ones.

Nearly a month has passed since my last journal entry and I’m happy with my progress but I can still see room for improvement.

My time management is one of the main issues at the moment. During my self study time I sit down with no clue what I want to produce. I can change this by bringing more structure to my self study. Splitting the time into blocks, similar to a college day should make this easier to manage.

One of the good points about the the last month is that I’m pleasantly surprised with the enthusiasm I have for the tasks I’ve been undertaking.

In particular an A4 task to create a number of Type Trumps. With the restriction of size, limited palette and spot colour I thought this would be quite a tough exercise. Below you can see the results of the type trumps I’ve produced.

I’m also extremely please with the progress I have made within the typography tests we have been undertaking in class. After the initial test and not a great score I have managed to lift my performance through careful revision and I am now consistently achieving in the high 90%’s with my results.

In A3 I hit a bit of a creative block when it came to producing my full screen thumbnails. I overcame this by breaking down the elements of the screen and designing each one individually. This has helped me create a suitable screen design. Hopefully I should be able to start building it in the next couple of weeks as part of one of my next assignments A5: Builder.

I’m confident in meeting the submission deadline for A3 and A4 and hopefully strengthening my college portfolio with the work produced.