New Site

My new site is live!

I have been so busy with Uni / Surface that I am yet to complete the page containing my work / case studies with new bits and bobs. But it will do for now!

Check it out @ http://www.annalouiseyoungs.co.uk

🙂

The worst part of being a Student?

STUDYING.

The last few weeks have been pretty fun considering the pressure is on in my final year of Uni. I have taken part in some exciting projects with Surface, finished a couple of print projects for clients as a freelancer, re-started this blog, and planned out the next couple of months for more projects.

However, my study is divided into to two sections: Practical and Theory.

As much as I love to write, dissertation writing does not excite me. The thought of writing around 10,000 words in the next 6 months is pretty scary, so to help me get through that I want to write about something that I can set my mind on while also working as a designer.

I will be writing about WEB TRENDS.

My title, is subject to change, as I am not entirely happy with it yet. But for now it will be: Digital Media Design Trends: Are they influenced by the designer’s style and creativity or the end users requirements?

Now I strongly believe that Trends are a combination of both, but I guess the reason why I want to present an argument is to help me discuss each side, and to write an analytical thesis. This makes is easier to write, and a little bit more interesting to read I feel.

I will be writing about ‘digital media trends’ as appose to ‘web trends’ as I believe the development of technology, tablets, smart phones ect is leading on to the ‘app-ification’ of the web. (I may have just made that word up.)

I also want to write about how Social Media has influenced digital design and where we will be leading in the next couple of years.

So, it looks like I have set myself quite a broad thesis to write! I better be getting on with ever more research.

Comments and suggestions are greatly welcome, I want as much input into this piece I possibly can.

Current Projects

This morning’s journey to work was interesting. There were not any seats left, or even a place to stand. So I took a comfy seat in the luggage section of the train.

No one knew I was there, and I am pretty sure I may have given an elderly lady a heart attack. She had a shock when she attempted to put her bag on top of me, so I politely held it until she needed it again. When she reached down I passed it to her, I couldn’t tell if she was shocked or furious.

Either way, it was HILARIOUS.

When I got to the studio I met Tom, who is doing an apprenticeship at Surface. He has finished school and wants to see what the web design industry is like, from what I could gather in the short time we have known each other, he seems to have some great ideas and is keen to get involved.

I spent the first hour blogging and writing my journal before we had a team meeting to discuss the projects we will both be working on.

Yesterday, I left Jason with some basic sketches of my ideas for the process page on the studio website. He has decided to go forward with one of my ideas, which is extremely exciting.  I am very pleased.

As previously mentioned before we will be creating an android / iOS app to be downloaded from Christmas cards the clients will receive.

We discussed the basic idea and left plenty of room for development and more ideas. We then produced mood boards to share our ideas. I researched similar apps and games and then took inspiration from the well reviewed games and accessed what didn’t work in some of the less popular downloads.

I also looked at character development, and the different styles of illustration as Surface are keen to make the game personal to the studio, therefore avatars of the staff will be featured within the game.

I spent half of the day bringing together visual ideas with the mechanics that Nate is able to implement into the app.

We then had a second meeting where we made great progress in the site map, GUI, theme and mechanics. I look forward to working on assets for the game. It will be great to see my graphics in motion once the application is completed.

For the remainder of the day I focused on the Process page on Surface’s site, Jason and I have agreed to continue with the theme of  Robots.

After Jason saw my initial sketches he then provided me with a printed page if icons that he thought was appropriate and matched the style he imagined the Process page on the site should have.

I then provided him with another page of sketches, a little bit more refined than before, and in a similar style as the examples he gave me.

Next week I will be moving my work into Illustrator and then creating a few colour swatches to help decide on colour theme.

Another great day at Surface 🙂

First Day at Surface

Today was the first day as a design intern at Surface.

I was extremely nervous, probably because it was fear of the unknown. I had no idea what to expect as I have only ever worked in the Studio at Uni.

I had previously been to the studio last month for a meeting with Jason Coe, the Creative Director. I briefly met some of the staff and chatted about what I wanted out of my time at the studio.

We agreed that we would have an open ended contract with a 1 month travel expenses paid trial period. This way I could see how the studio runs and Jason could decide if I am suitable to work with him alongside his clients.

This morning I dragged myself out of bed at 6am to give me time to get to Winchester station at 7:30 for my train to reading, and then on to Wokingham. I am working 2 days a week 9-5, and Jason seems very relaxed with the hours I come in, which is great. If I am late then I would stay a bit later, as long as I produce great work, then everyone is happy! I really enjoy the relaxed atmosphere as I work much more productively when I am comfortable.

When I arrived at the studio, I was shown around the building and met Nate who also works for Surface.
For the first part of the morning we discussed the projects currently going on and how I can get involved.

As it is coming up to Christmas, Surface are producing a Christmas themed app game which will provide a network of high scores through his current client list. They will be mailed an invitation to download the game and then the high scores will be published on Surface’s website where there the person with the highest score can win an iPad (Or something similar).
I will be given a chance to work on some scenes and assets featured in the game in a few weeks.

For my first project I will be helping re design Surface’s own website. Which is a massive responsibly, but I am very happy with being given such a big task. The site is currently under development, so I was given access to the test site to see the style and difference between the current / new site.

One of the pages documents the design process Surface go through with the clients. This page features icons and text. Jason feels that the process page is an opportunity for a future client to interact or watch an animation to make the process seem more engaging and interesting.

We discussed the ways we could achieve the outcome and Jason mentioned that he had been looking at Adobe Edge but had little experience with the software as it is quite new. I too have never used Adobe Edge, so this project would be challenging and help me achieve gaining experience in new software.

During the rest of the afternoon Jason showed me examples of their ‘house style’ and how it has changed and developed, this allowed me to adapt my design ideas to meet the criteria and design standards of Surface.

To present my ideas I created a mood board of icons, colours and competitors process page on their website. I used photoshop to do this, however next time I am going to try using inDesign as this is software I am less proficient in and would like to develop my knowledge of it.

As I have never been to Wokingham before, Jason showed me the town centre during our lunch break. We went to a sandwich shop where I had a lovely brie, cranberry and rocket sandwich. It was yum.

Once I had completed the mood board I then discussed with Jason the different animation and motion styles I found online. We then created a story board with different themes and ideas relating back to the design process.
Previously I noticed a trend of rocket and space imagery in other studios work due to the ‘launch’ process at the end of the design.
We presented ideas such as the life cycle of a wheel, the progression flight of a bird, a travelling bike, the building of a robot. These ideas I sketched out as a basic story board to help Jason visualise the animation.

By this point it had reached 5pm, and the day was over. I survived my first day of my internship!

Looking forward to tomorrow morning 🙂

Is it that time of year already?

Well, summer disappeared in a flash.

The UK is currently expecting a storm that will ‘break records’. Couldn’t think of a better time to refresh my blog, for my final year of study.

For those who haven’t read my posts before, here is a quick summary of what to expect over the next 6 months:

I am a Digital Media Designer, I use this space to post my work and thoughts throughout my study to help me submit a ‘process report’  each semester.

Now that all seems pretty boring.
…Granted, it is. But lucky for you, I use this space as a way to discuss current trends, gain feedback from my creative work and basically chat about my progression as a designer. The boring bits get put in later.

My hope is that one day, a young creative full to the brim with fresh ideas will stumble across this blog and see how I managed to build up my creative portfolio from… Well… Nothing. Just a bunch of those ‘fresh ideas’ I suppose!

I feel I have come quite a long way in the 3 years at uni, and with the help of this blog I am able to see my progression.

Over summer I spent most of the time working my socks off as a waitress to save up money for rent, when I had the time I focused myself on building networks with other designers and developers to help kick-start myself as a freelance designer. Oh, and I received some funky business cards in the post thanks to Moo.com

I was presented with a few projects which helped me build up my portfolio, this lead on to amazing opportunities with internships within a design studio.

I got in contact with the creative director of Surface, had a chat about what I am aiming for in the future and how they could help me out with some of my projects and Uni. I visited their creative studio in Wokingham and managed to get myself a cheeky internship with them starting in November.

I AM SO EXCITED!

All the hard work really seems worth it.
Give them a follow at @wearesurface

Who knew second year would be harder than the first?

“Pass me that glass of wine!” – Pretty much sums it up really.

So regrettably I have entirely disowned my blog in the last few months, along with my graphics tablet. Trying to make time for blogging and drawing in between the theory work is harder than I anticipated!
I have decided I am going to make time for the things I enjoy, because if I don’t do that, well then… What is the point!

I will give a little summary of 2013 as a design year so far. I finally finished my website. Proud of it. Discovered that you can really learn a lot in a week if you push yourself. At the time I didn’t really enjoy the development process as I swam though a sea of div tags, but looking back on it now, all those epic mistakes I made and the multiple times I completely broke my site really was actually worth it! It is a great feeling achieving something you felt was impossible by yourself, even if half way through the week I fantasised about throwing my laptop out the window.

I have completed a Design for the Penguin Book Award. There is a 3D model on my website, I will be submitting that into the Penguin Competition. The 6 weeks of in depth research about ‘The Big Sleep’ was awesome. Such a great book!

What else, ah yes, the theory!
I have been working on a Case Study about Social Impact Games.
The wonderful Emily Treat from Games For Change took an hour out of her day to tell me about all the wonderfully exciting developments of the new Facebook Game ‘Half The Sky’.

If you have the chance, check it out. Not only is it visually gorgeous, but also narratively brilliant. Half the Sky movement is truely touching, and to see it spread across a variety of countries via a Social Game is extremely inspiring.  I am excited to share my Case Study once it is all done, it will contain lots of interesting details about our conversation and using Facebook as a platform for Social Impact Games.
Emily was absolutely great, she took an hour out of her busy schedule to talk to me and it is greatly appreciated.  Not only has she helped with one of my uni modules but she gave me plenty of valuable advice about starting my career as a Digital Designer. I won’t forget the time she gave me, and will put all her advise to good use.

We had our end of year show on the 16th of March,which required a lot of preparation over the last few weeks.  I feel it was a success.  There was a large amount of  incredible work by all the years groups involved. I am proud to be part of such an awesome cohort.

It may have been raining for the majority of the day but it didn’t dampen our spirits. Andrea brought along Guitar Hero which was extremely popular, we had a fun day! I can’t wait till next year, I have so many ideas for the show!

During my business module I have been discussing the opportunities of a work placement through my third year. In the next week I will be contacting a few companies to persuade them to let me snoop around and do a bit of work for them. I have one studio in mind that I would LOVE to be a part of. So fingers crossed. I need to boost my portfolio once all my theory is out the way, but I know I have the drive of passion behind me.

So that is pretty much me. The last couple months have been hectic but wonderful. Bring on the next few months, I hope they have exciting projects in store!

Over and Out,
Aly 🙂

My website!

Blood, sweat and tears… BUT it is finally live! Woooo! Click on the screen shot of it to be directed there. I would love feedback, comment on here or tweet me @AnnaYoungs

I will be updating the portfolio in the next month or so.

CSS and HTML Development Task

For our next Technology task, we had to create a website using a template from ‘Zen Garden‘
I found it challenging creating a website purely through CSS from a template instead of from the start. But I learnt a range of skills about how websites can be put together and technical term that will help me develop further into web design.

This is a screen shot of my webpage design.

I kept the design simple, and didn’t want to over-power the idea of ‘Zen Garden’. The concept works around the idea of the beauty of CSS, so I wanted this to be the main focus.