Outcome 3 - Personal Statment

Graphic Design is something that has intrigued me for years. After experimenting with various elements of it in high school to playing about with Photoshop and Dreamweaver for hours in the past, I have now found myself studying an HND in the subject and gaining more and more skills that I enjoy putting into creative practice. What I enjoy about Graphic design is the freedom to create and to develop ideas in to something that can be enjoyed (or critiqued) by all. When looking through magazines, watching animations and browsing websites I've always admired people's skills and work put in to creating these fantastic articles of design and this is something I've always wanted to do myself.

I have learned in the past year to use various programs such as Adobe Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, Flash and Premier. As well as advance 3D modelling programs such as 3DMax. I have also learned and taught myself a variety of different skills that link in with these areas of graphic design. Being able to incorporate Flash's Actionscrip into Dreamweaver and use a combination of CSS and Java in my web design. Creating videos and cutting music to fit with in Premier and creating advance images and effects in Photoshop and Illustrator.

My experience in working in a call centre as a team captain has given me valuable skills in managing and running a team of agents and dealing with customers and agent's alike, sorting problems and allowing my team to run as efficiently as possible. Although I work with people and my team a lot I do also have to work as an individual, allowing me to use my initiative and solve problems on my own.

I also have done a lot of volunteer work with my high school, Airdrie Academy. I helped create and design the screens for the schools pantomime every year and created posters and flyers for various school events such as school parties and sales. In my first year of collage I was also to work with my class as a team and create and design Promotional posters, tickets and menus for Motherwell College's end of year party before the college was demolished. This gave me valuable experience working with other people in a creative environment and working towards strict deadlines for an official event.

My hobbies also include using Photoshop and illustrator to edit and design pictures and images. I am also a great fan of music and enjoy playing electric and bass guitar. I play in an indie funk band every Tuesday night with my friends and enjoy playing gigs all around Glasgow. My favourite genres of music include Ambient, alternative, electro, IDM, funk and rock. I am also a big fan of online gaming and enjoy teaming up with friends and playing online together.

My skills and interest cover quite a diverse area and I feel that they will help me academically and socially in university. My goal in life is to become a graphic web designer and I believe that this course would bring me closer to achieving that goal.

Outcome 3 - Self Promotion

Front page of my A5 invitation

Back page of my A5 Invitation

A6 Business card

The grey border around these aren't actually part of the leaflets, it's just to separate the white from the white background.

Outcome 3 - C.V.

Curriculum vitae

Personal Information:

Cameron McDougall Telephone No: 01236755344

1 Etive Drive Mobile No: 07837732371

Airdrie Email: cammcd116@hotmail.com

North Lanarkshire

ML6 9QQ

Education and Qualifications:

2009 – Present = Studying at Central College.

2008 – 2009 = Studied at Motherwell College.

2002 – 2007 = Studied at Airdrie Academy High School.

Qualifications –

HNC Computer Arts and Design

Higher

Graphic Communication – Higher grade A

Art – Higher grade B

Computing – Higher grade B

English – Higher grade C

Work History:

2008 – Present – Working at BeCogent call centre as customer services rep for JD Williams Catalogue Company.

2009 – Worked as a seconded team manager for JD Williams Catalogue Company.

2007 – Worked at the distribution yard at FastPlas facia and PVC distribution.

2006 – Worked at Laurel House Inn as an assistant chef.

2005 – Work Experience with Boardwise snowboarding shop.

Skills:

Computer skills – My skills with computers include using various well known programs from Microsoft word to Adobe Photoshop. I have a good knowledge of Web Design and Image manipulation, as well as animation. I can also use programming languages such as HTML and Real Basic. I have a wide variety of skills when it comes to programming, building and modifying computers. I have also throughout my post as a team captain learned to use various administration tools such as Cascade, Avaya and Work Force Manager to help me manage and run teams.

Communication Skills – I am a confident speaker in front of groups and can comfortably work well in situations that require a larger degree of communication. I can also communicate calmly and efficiently when dealing with customers over the phone regardless of what the situation is.

Team working Skills – I am a confident and efficient worker when placed in a team. I can easily communicate with others and I feel I am a very approachable person. In my current job I am constantly working in a team against other teams in the company to see who can create the most revenue for the company.

Problem Solving Skills – Being a customer services representative I have to overcome various different difficulties on a regular basis, tracing what has happened to a customer’s missing parcels, why a customer has a miscellaneous charge on their account or why their account was closed abruptly etc. I use a logical and heuristically based approach to help me solving the problems I overcome.

Interests:

I have a variety of different interests and hobbies that I like to partake in. The one I enjoy the most is editing, modifying and optimising computers, taking older computers and saving up for new parts to upgrade, overclock (optimise) and sell on for a small profit. I also like to play instruments such as acoustic, electric and bass guitar. I’ve been playing for about 4 years now and I enjoy playing a variety of different styles including alternative, rock, ambient and funk. I also enjoy manipulating and editing images and photographs with programs like Adobe Photoshop. I also like creating small animations using packages such as Adobe Flash and Illustrator, creating characters and backgrounds.

References:

Lauren Stephen – Team manager, JD Williams, BeCogent

Peter Adams – Previous Lecturer at Motherwell College

William Mcnulty – Previous Overseer at FastPlas

Contact Details For all of the above references will be available on request.

Outcome 2 - Evaluation

Evaluation: The People of St. Enoch

Over the course of the project a variety of different things have changed a great deal from my original ideas. This has allowed me to rethink my ideas and see how they would fit with the constraints outlined in the project plan. Each new idea and decision takes an effect on everything else in the project With I will attempt to out line with in this evaluation.

Creative Objectives Including Methodology

As stated before in the project plan my original idea was to create an installation piece of art representing the history of the square. After some research and developments I found that this was to large an idea for the project considering the constraints that were pointed out. Money, time and labor were all huge factors that would cause difficulties.

Getting rid of this Idea I then went on to start thinking about ways to let the audience know and learn about the St. Enoch train crash. After some thinking and researching I Then decided to create a multimedia piece of work for my project, interviewing the public and finding how the public reacted to the crash. This worked well but one major flaw was that the public don’t particularly want to give up their time for nothing. After a few days out in the square I only managed to acquire three interviews with the public. I then went to interview family and friends with in and about the square, gathering more interviews until I got my target of nine (I wished for nine interviews mainly for layout issues.)

After this I then went about developing and thinking about what to do with these interviews to make them into a multimedia type project. Once again I wanted to dip back in to the realms of installation art but following more in the terms of Maurice Benayouns virtual art installation work. I wanted to create a 3D type wall that would display all the interviews and media and that could be clicked and dragged to move around and engage the audience. I though that this would be quite gimmicky and would be more aesthetics than substance so I decided to scrap that idea and see what other ideas could work.

I then began to start thinking about ways in which I could combine the interviews and media together creating a mash up style of work, making way to engage and allow the audience to play the interviews in interesting ways. One of my favorite idea that was created from this was to lay each of the interviews out in a 3x3 square and when ever an interview was moused over it would play for the length of time that the curser was on top of the video. Unfortunately though I felt as if this would be another gimmicky idea that was style over substance.

After some more developing and thought I then came to the idea of making use of the audio and mixing and creating an interesting effect with only the audio from the interviews. This then led me to recreating the audio from the crash using samples from trains and clips and words from the interviews. Though my favorite idea and the one I used for my final piece I felt as though it still had its down points. My main concern was that people wouldn’t understand clearly what I was trying to do or they wouldn’t be able to interoperate it easily. I managed to solve this problem though my making the audio clips much clearer and arranging them in such a way that it almost added a slight narrative to the piece.

Technical Constraints

Another problem that had to be tackled throughout the life of the project is that of technical constraints. Using things such as professional equipment and updated and newer versions of software were not accessible during the project so I just used my own equipment and a mixture of free and updated software to create my final piece.

Another technical difficulty I encountered when recording the interviews was that I didn’t have a dedicated microphone to record the audio so a resorted to using the cameras in built microphone. This resulted in some unbalance and interference with the audio but all in all it wasn’t too much of a problem.

Research

Research was a key player in the development in my project, especially for my developments for the installation ideas I had for the final piece. Majority research of the square and its history it has given me a much greater insight to how the square was and what it was like back in the times of the crash. Research in terms of multimedia projects and mixed media developments have also helped to shape my final outcome.

Resources

During the process of the project I’ve used a variety of different resources to produce my final outcome. I could have used more but I found myself more involved in the interviewing and designing of the web that I neglected my sketchbook some what. Still, the process and development within the sketchbook has been the most important part to my project. With this I could process and develop my ideas further allowing me to find, what I felt, would be the best solution to the brief.

My development board that accompanied my final outcome board shows a combination of images and developments from the start of the project right through to some final developments.

Timescale

The timescale for my project was slightly unrealistic as it was written and thought up before the main bulk of my work was started. During certain processes (such as the interviewing process) problems occurred such as not being able to interview as many people as I originally wished causing me to delay that section much more and throwing off all events after that. At the same time though certain parts like the web designing took far less than originally intended helping to balance out the time line more.

Looking back at the project and its progress as a whole, it never really lined up too well with the original outlined plan but still managed to work successfully. This will be something I will want to narrow in on and develop further to allow my future projects to stick more uniformly to the set timelines created.

Outcome 2 - Project Time line

Click to view larger

Outcome 2 - Checklist

Range of tasks required to complete my project -

• Buy materials and rent equipment

• Visit and analyse the square

• Research History -

• Research history of the square it's self

• Research buildings and architecture of square

• Research Technology

• Research people

• Research Changes through the ages

• Research New Media Elements –

• Research various web design elements

• Research Audio and sound

• Research Animation and Film

• Research Interactivity

• Research-

• Different artists

• Looking at different art styles

• Media –

• Experimenting with different media

• Develop ideas

• Gather media needed from square

• Planning-

• Own Brief

• Project Plan

• Sketchbook

• Resources

• Timescale

• Advertising

Outcome 2 - Timelines & Charts

Chronology Timeline

A chronology timeline is a horizontal timeline that represents the progression of time. The beginning of the line has the earliest date, with the end the most recent. This kind of timeline can cover any length of time, from intervals of a few minutes to hundreds of years or more.

Living Graph

A living graph is similar to a chronology timeline in that it shows the progression of time. However, its design is not solely horizontal. Living graphs illustrate the impact of each event by heightening the positive events and lowering the negative events, so the line is rather jagged in appearance.

Logarithmic Timeline

Logarithmic timelines were the results of trying to fit a lot of information into a chronological timeline. Logarithmic timelines were invented by Heinz von Foerster, who was trying to organize world history but realized that with this type of graphic the closer he got to the present, the more events he could add. This style timeline allows for the creator to show the sparse beginning of history to the detailed recent events.

Detailed Logarithmic Timeline

A detailed logarithmic timeline is arranged as a vertical table in which the earliest event is at the top and the most recent at the bottom. This kind of timeline works well in displays of the history of the universe, the development of life on Earth and the accomplishments and wars of mankind until the present.

Synchronoptic View

A synchronoptic view is a graphic display of entities as they progress through time. It is best used for historical events. With this type of display, a number of timelines can be drawn on one page to show events of lives or cultures that are not connected. Multiple life timelines or event timelines of different cultures can be displayed at once to show events that happened at the same time in different places.

Gantt Chart

A Gantt chart is a type of bar chart that illustrates a project schedule. Gantt charts illustrate the start and finish dates of the terminal elements and summary elements of a project. Terminal elements and summary elements comprise the work breakdown structure of the project. Some Gantt charts also show the dependency (i.e. precedence network) relationships between activities. Gantt charts can be used to show current schedule status using percent-complete shadings and a vertical "TODAY" line as shown here.

Although now regarded as a common charting technique, Gantt charts were considered revolutionary when they were introduced.