Monday 19 January 2009

Time Flies

With the second semester approaching already, I can honestly say time does fly. Steve assured us a the beginning that the course would would be over before we knew it, but I never thought it would go by at this fast. It only seems like yesterday when we were dropping eggs in the induction period.

At the beginning of the course I mentioned to Steve that I would like to consider transferring
on to the the full-time HND course at some point, or maybe in the second year. He advised me at the time to play it by ear and see how the course progresses, and that we would discuss the option again at a later date. Maybe at the time I didn’t realise what I would be taking on board if I was to join the HND. I think I underestimated how hard the course was, and the workload involved. In retrospect, I know now that I would really struggle studying the full-time course and working a full-time job outside of college. The HNC is demanding enough, and several occasions this last semester I have been hard pushed at times to get the work done.

If I had the opportunity, or if I could afford to leave my job and study on the HND, I would do tomorrow, however, my current situation dictates that I will have to stay on the HNC. I am just a bit disappointed that I have missed out the typography brief, which looked so interesting, and that I will miss out on the interactive module, but that is how the course is.
I just need to make sure that I try and get as much out of the course as possible.

Last Monday it was a relief to hand in the A3 assignment. The proofing of the work took longer expected, and I didn’t leave myself as much tinker time as I wanted. Because of that, combined the with hours at work, I had very little sleep the last weekend before submission, and the fear of sleeping in on Monday meant I didn’t sleep much Sunday night either. To make things worse certain software on my computer wouldn’t work properly, at first I thought it was some type of virus, and in the end I had to re-install CS3. That again added to the stress levels. Why would my machine work fine all semester, then error just few days before submission? I have been less nervous in about job interviews than I was about submission last Monday.


So far in one semester I learned more about graphic design than I did in my first two years on my BA, and I have enjoyed every minute of it. of course at times it has stressful, but no one said it was going to be easy. If I knew now what I knew then I would of bothered enrolling on a BA, I would of studied a HND, or HNC instead, but in hindsight I guess we all would change things.

My aim for semester two is to have more time to dedicate to the course, to find a better paid job, with more consistent hours, that isn’t so tiring. Unlike my previous jobs I now work different shifts every week, and this does make my time time management harder to handle, as I don’t know what I am working one week to the next. Hopefully something more suitable will come up in the near future.

Sunday 11 January 2009

Panic-stricken

Since my last post, life has been very busy. There was no time to celebrate Christmas this year, it got cancelled. For a while I was panic-stricken about the work load, as I do fear falling behind on the course. Balancing my work hours with my college work over the festive period has been both physically and mentally demanding, and I am quite relieved that it is over. Hopefully I will not be in the same position next Christmas.

With the A3 project deadline approaching, this last week has been stressful. Since last Monday there has been quite a lot of refining to do. As well as the Assets list to finish, and evaluation to complete, my web page needed re-designing, which took longer than I expected, however, I am much more satisfied with it now than the previous version.

The A3 brief has been harder than I anticipated. Certain aspects were quite hard to digest at first, for example, measurable goals, and delivery requirements, but after a while things began to fall in to place, and make sense. The competitive analysis was the most challenging part of the write up, having to break down and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of a website, with a limited amount of words to use. The main test of this project has been managing my time, as I mentioned earlier balancing my work hours with college seems to be an ongoing struggle.
Fortunately, the next several week wont be so busy, and I will have a lot more free time to dedicate my self to the course.