OUGD602: PPP3 - Ben Casey

Laura and I went along to an evening with Ben Casey who is the creative director at The Chase, a very successful design agency in based in Manchester and many other cities. This talk was part of the Design Manchester event. Going along to this talk I had not had much time to research into who Ben was as the Chase was a studio I was not familiar with. I loved hearing some of his ideas about design and also listening to him describe how The Chase work on briefs. I most impressed when he told us about his work on the Preston North End football stadium. Ben told us that he had worked with a group of architects and builders and came up with the design of the stadium. I found this so inspiring as I had always had an idea about graphic design and felt there were many restrictions within it. Hearing of a designer with no architectural experience working on a brief life this was one of the most inspiring stories ever. I hope that once my career has set off I am able to carry out briefs like this, I plan to try out other skills over the next few months on the course.

OUGD602: PPP3 - Media City

Whilst at my placement at Numiko I was introduced to a lady named Lowri, she was the UX researcher and told me about many different User Experience events and we both went along to NUX (Northern User Experience) at her old place of work, Simple Usability in Leeds. After this event we kept in touch every now and again until I e-mailed her about some primary research for my dissertation. Lowri had left Numiko and gotten a job as the Senior UX Researcher at RentalCars.com, she told me about some user testing she was doing at Media City in Salford and asked me if I would be able to help her out in taking notes. I was very pleased with the offer and managed to sort out the time off uni to go along.

The experience has been amazing and will really help me within my disseration. I was note-taker for the majority of the time and also got to try out a test due to a user not turning up. I did 2.5 days on Desktop site and another 2.5 days on mobile, this in itself was eye-opening as I assumed that user testing would be the same across all devices. I would be happy to return to Space Labs at Media City and take notes again as it was very beneficial to my studies and also a great experience to add to my CV.


Unfortunately due to Rental Cars policy I am unable to share any of the results or imagery from the user testings. 

PPP3 Presentation

PPP3 Presentation 

OUGD502: PPP2 - Presentation

OUGD502: PPP2 - Module Evaluation

OUGD502: PPP2- Plans for Third Year

After second years PPP I have put a lof of thought into how I plan to work with third year. I have learnt alot about business and conducting myself as a professional and I am very proud of the work that I have produced this year. My plans for the third year are to make lots of contacts, go on plenty of studio visits and become more confident with talking to people. I plan to fill my summer with placements to improve on my skills that I have acquired this year, I particularly want to improve on my web design skills. I hope that this time next year I can look back on this evaluation and will be able to say that I have achieved all of these things. I am really looking forward to third year and becoming a better designer.

OUGD502: PPP - Personal Branding (Business Cards)

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One of the most important aspects of the personal branding is a business card. Having already decided on a logo putting together a business card is going to be quite simple. I have to decide whether I want my card to be portrait or landscape and what colour background they will be.

Portrait card:

Landscape:

Left align:

Centre:

final card in InDesign:

When I got the cards printed I asked for them to matt laminated to ensure that they would not be damaged. 

I am very happy with my business cards and feel that they represent me perfectly. 

OUGD502: PPP2 - Working with Printers

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One of the main things I have improved this year is my communication skills. I have figured out how important it is to be able to work with external printers as this is something that I will have to do extensively when I graduate. For the print module I visited a commercial printers in Leeds, Leeds Graphic Press. I was given a tour around the building and introduced to some of the print methods. I found this very interesting and continued to work with them for a few other projects. I also used Hobs in Leeds to print a 100 page publication, this was quite a stressful experience as Hobs have a different way of working with clients, I found them quite hard to work with and rude at times. I also worked with another small print company from my home, The Print Bureau in Hebden Bridge, I used these printers for a film poster in the 505 module. I have found that by working with printers I have gained alot more experience than last year as I thought that designers would print their own work. I hope to continue to work with printers throughout the third year to get professional results.

OUGD502: PPP2 - Personal Branding Final Photographs

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Final work:

OUGD502: PPP2 - Personal Branding (LinkedIn)

John has always said that using LinkedIn is the best way to network and meet new people, I did not have a profile so I decided to make one. I hope that I can make good use of LinkedIn in the future.

OUGD502: PPP2 - Creative Spark E-mail

I previously looked into Creative Spark, a studio based in Leeds and Manchester, I now plan to write to them to ask for a studio visit with the hope of being asked to do a placement.

e-mail:

I sent Tom my CV and work samples portfolio that I have designed for the PPP hand in and also a link to my Behance. I hope to hear back from him very soon. 

OUGD502: PPP2 - Northern User Experience Research

After speaking to Kimberley from Aviva I decided to take her advice and look into the Northern User Experience event that she spoke about in her e-mail.

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NUX is an informal community for people interested in usability, HCI, information design and all aspects of the user experience in the North of England. Our membership is as diverse as the field itself, with developers, designers, academics, usability specialists, accessibility experts, copywriters and technical authors.

We have informal meet ups once a month, alternating between between Manchester andLeeds. Typically our meet ups involve a presentation or workshop, followed by a q+a session and maybe even a visit to the pub, but the group drives the agenda so keep an eye on the website for details of upcoming events.

Our events are free and open to all.

We are unfunded, and rely on the goodwill and energy of our members to contribute and make the events work. If you have something interesting to share with the group, and are willing to put together a short presentation, please get in touch via twitter: @NUXUK

Events are organised by the steering group, through our @NUXUK twitter account and the nux-discuss google group.

The steering group members are currently:

• Chris Bush, Barry Briggs, Louis Georgiou, Chris Collingridge and Rachel Johnston in the Manchester.
• Rozanne Driver, Kimberley Bottomley and Lucy Buykx in Leeds.

If you’d like to talk at one of our events, or even help the Manchester or Leeds steering groups, drop us a tweet via @NUXUK.

Northern User Experience thanks sponsors of its events. These are currently:

• Code Computerlove provide the Manchester venue
• Simple Usability provide the Leeds venue
• zed1.com provide the web hosting

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I have booked 2 tickets to go to the next NUX event in Leeds with the hope that I will meet some people and be able to network and get my name out there. 

OUGD502: PPP2 - Personal Branding (Wireframes and Website)

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Wireframes and ideas for my website

Using Axure Pro:

On my visit to Numiko I was introduced to a piece of software called Axure Pro which is used specifically for wireframes. I downloaded the software and had a play around with my wireframe for my website, I am by no means a master at the software but I plan to continue to use it throughout the third year. 

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Mocking up the website:

The naviagtion:

I wanted the navigation of my site to be simple and to the point, like myself. I had to decide what pages needed to be on the site. In order to do this I had a brainstorm in my notebook which allowed to look at the things I wanted my website to do.

Digital Wireframes:

Final Mock ups:

I wanted to keep some consistency throughout my branding and this included the format and information of my CV on my about page. 

Mocked up onto a mac:

After mocking up this homepage I am not 100% happy with the size of the website, the images are very large and overpowering and it is not pleasing to the eye. I decided to re-size the homepage and was much happier with the results:

As a web designer I am not 100% sure that this design will be the one that I use for my personal website, I want to spend a substantial amount of time working on a website for myself and be sure that it works for me as a designer and also a person. I want to work with a developer to ensure that my design meets the agile styles that are being introduced in studios nationwide. I hope that my placement and Numiko will allow me to gain some experience within the web design and development sector and I will hoepfully be able to have a professional looking website for third year. 

OUGD502: PPP - Personal Branding (Invoice)

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Invoice:

In order to be a professional graphic design I need to have an invoice to send to clients in order to get paid. I have not had much experience with invoices in the past so it is going to require research into the layout of an invoice and what an invoice needs to have on it. 

1. Overview

If you sell a customer a product or a service, you need to give them an invoice (bill) by law if both you and the customer are registered for VAT (a business to business transaction). An invoice is not the same as a receipt, which is an acknowledgement of payment.

The invoice must include certain information such as:

• how much the customer needs to pay you
• when the customer must pay you

You and the customer also have certain obligations on payment.

2. Invoices - what they must include

You must clearly display the word ‘invoice’ on the document. You must also include:

• a unique identification number
• your company name, address and contact information
• the company name and address of the customer you’re invoicing
• a clear description of what you are charging for
• the date the goods or service were provided (supply date)
• the date of the invoice
• the amount(s) being charged
• VAT amount if applicable
• the total amount owed

If your company is a registered limited company, you must also include:

• your company registration number
• the address of your company’s registered office

VAT invoices

You’ll need to include additional information for VAT invoices.

You must use these invoices if you and your customer are VAT registered.

Limited company invoices

If you’re a limited company, the invoice must also include:

• the full company name as it appears on the certificate of incorporation
• any business name used in your business
• an address where any legal documents can be delivered to you if you’re using a business name

If you decide to put the names of the directors on your invoices, you must include the names of all directors.

Sole trader invoices

If you’re a sole trader, the invoice must also include:

• your name and any business name being used
• an address where any legal documents can be delivered to you if you are using a business name

Source

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Visual research:

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My invoice:

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Printed:

OUGD502: PPP - Personal Branding (CV)

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I have always had a CV designed since before I started my A-Levels for any jobs that I wanted to apply for summer jobs. I wanted to create something that is a little more creative and represents me as a designer.  I did this in the first year when I designed my promotional pack. I used information graphics to represent my skills and interests which I still think is effective for my cv this year. One thing that I did not have was a creative cv that linked in with my written cv. I know that this year this is something that I need to do.

Last years promo pack:

Written CV:

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Making my new CV:

I know the basic information that needs to be on my CV I just need to organise the hierarchy of the information.

Information that needs to be on my CV:

• Name
• Education
• Grades
• Software Skills
• Achievements
• Principles
• Experience
• Creative Interests
• References
• Hobbies
• Contact Details

Applying the grid to my CV.

The final cv:

I am very happy with my final CV because it uses a professional layout and also incorporates the information graphics from my original CV from first year. I now feel more confident to send out my CV to studios and clients.