PPP: Study Task 1 - Why am I Here?

I chose this course because it has a great reputation and the work that the students are producing was the work that I wanted to be able to do. It is hard work but it gets good results.
To be in and around like minded people that are dedicated to design, the small course size helps with tis because it makes it easy to speak to and get to know everybody.
This programme has the right people and recourses to give me a chance at making a career in graphic design.
LCA stood out from the rest as it is a dedicated art college and being around other people in the creative industries in the first year has been helpful and interesting and will hopefully throw up some collaborative opportunities this year.
The programme also offers great recourses which are available due to its small size, improving my digital and screen printing skills has been very good and I'm looking forward to learning more and pushing them further

This year I am looking forward to learning more about web based design and the basics of making a website as I think that this will improve my chances of employability as it is something that every aspiring business/ client will be interested in.
Motion graphics and animation is something I need to get stuck into because at the moment I have little/ no idea how to go about making my graphics move and I am interested in finding out more.
I would also like to learn what makes a successful brand and if a logo that has no relation to the company ever works and if it does, then how does it work.
I want to further my knowledge of all Creative Suite software to speed up my design process and to know straight away what programme would best work for the desired outcome etc.
I think an encyclopaedic knowledge of typefaces is an essential tool for a designer, I would like to be able to know just by looking at a font: what other fonts would compliment it; what context would that font work best in and to have some idea of the name of it.

My illustrator skills are getting much better (but still have a long way to go) mainly due to using it more or less all the time, I am beginning to get unfamiliar with photoshop and find it difficult to use which is something I am going to have to learn more about.
I manage to keep, somewhat, on top of the workload. This year I am going to put more time and effort into each task and focus on keeping my blog organised and neat which is something that got a bit messy towards to end of last year.
Mind maps and design sheets have always served me well, they help to make sense of a subject and force me to think of more ideas and possibilities before settling on one.
I am getting better at using colours in my work, the first year has taught me to keep it simple and to use a small colour palette, this has helped to make my work look more professional and clear.
I enjoy doing the work and find it interesting which helps a lot with keeping up with the course and maintaining commitment and drive.

My choice of appropriate and effective typeface to improve the standard of my work.
The finish of my product is something I want to improve because at the moment I don't have any work that I feel is 'finished' to an amazing standard, it's always on average stock and doesn't look the best it can.
I am comfortable in group crits and small presentations but I want to improve my verbal communication with anyone that I don't know very well and presentation skills in front of 10+ people.
Asking for help from available tutors is something I would like to do more of, especially the help that's available in the Mac Suite as I am often struggling to find the way of doing something or an other on an Adobe programme.
The organisation and 'flow' of my blog could do with being improved to a more understandable standard with clear labels and navigation tabs, this will help anyone that is unfamiliar with the work on there and will also help me locate any work that I am struggling to find by scrolling through.

Test it on somebody that is unfamiliar with the brief and context of the products and see if it communicates the correct message to them well.
Refer back to initial research that is on your blog and see if it works as well or better than any existing products of a similar nature.
Refer back to the start of your blog to these questions and see if any of the questions in this study task have been fulfilled!
Get together with some peers and have a small group crit to gain some constructive criticism to improve the work.
Maintain a growing understanding of what it is about the design that I like and ask myself if my work shares the same points.

How do you remove multiple objects from a photo, using photoshop, without leaving any blurring or obvious editing marks?
What typefaces are best suited/ most commonly used for which purposes?
How many people are involved in projects undertaken by design companies?
If there is work done by a team of designers what roles does each person have?
Is it worth while learning any basic coding skills for web based design?