Evaluation of course so far...

Eyeopening. Really. I've learnt so much over the past 6 months that I think I have enough confidence to push myself even further and to actually take pride in my work.

Tackling the first unit - Text & Image was extremely difficult for me as I still wasn't really sure of my strengths but I was well aware of my weakness and I think that was what held me back for the longest of time. It was intimidating being in a room full of people who had either completed a foundation course, or had done work for graphic design companies. In a way I felt like I wasn't up to par as I had only just completed my A-levels.

But fortunately, I somehow managed to actually pull myself together and do what was expected of me and, to be honest, I actually enjoyed the unit and ended up producing work that I didn't think I was capable of.

As each project progressed I would like to think that I progressed as a designer. I'm starting to branch out a bit and I'm trying to think more about the objectives of my work; what I want to achieve, who my target audience is, what style I'm going to use etc...Not at any point though have I thought myself to be perfect, there are times where I miss tiny details but that's why I find critiques helpful. Every designer has a vision of what they want their final piece to look like but there's always things that you tend to overlook and having a second, third or even tenth opinion progresses and pushes your work that much further.

I think the biggest challenge for me was the Screen Based Communication unit. Time management was essential for that unit and I couldn't have possibly sit back and relax. If I did that, I'd probably have shaved off years off my life because of the overwhelming stress of getting it done by the deadline.

But...

All was well because there was plenty of support and online tutorials were definitely a lifesaver. I'm proud of my animation because of several reasons:

• I overcame my fear of Flash because of it.
• I came to understand the program more and actually enjoyed experimenting with tweens and such.
• Compared to my A-Level animation this is such a vast improvement - quality wise.

So what else is left to say?

I want to say that, overall, this course has forced me to strive to constantly be better but I still get moments where I lack creativity and I've got to learn to find a way to motivate me when that happens. It's a love hate relationship I think. At times I don't feel like what I'm producing is good enough compared to everybody else's and on the other hand I wouldn't want to be doing anything else apart from what I'm doing now.