Workshops at Billy Blue College of Design

On 20th September, I participated two design workshops at Billy Blue College of Design.

The morning session was about Graphic design. I learnt careers and the process which graphic designer takes to submit works to the client. After the presentation, I was given the task. The task was to create the tote bag with original design using the medium of stencil. The time given for designing and creating process was about 1hour and half, so I had to concentrate on my work well to get it done. I explored the simple and meaningful icons and characters which look unique and different. Eventually I decided to use the design which developed from outlines of cube. I connected it with the idea of ‘perspectives’ because it could be seen as a cube in different positions even though the image is the same.

Using a spray was a something I hadn’t got used to. The stenciled picture was a little bit blurred, but I was happy with the colour and design I chose.

After lunchtime, I attended the interaction design workshop. The presentation was about different jobs that relate to interaction design, and expectations of their knowledge and skills (such as use of Adobe softwares, coding skills, etc.). The task was to create an app icon (for Smartphones)on Illustrator. I learnt the new functions on Illustrator which I didn’t know. Then we discussed the good and bad designs of websites and applications, to explore what makes the design good and bad. One example I really liked, was the interaction design on web browse. When a user pulls down or up at the top/end of a page, the page bounces back. It is such a tiny design which most of people would not care when they see it, but it makes users to understand that is the end of page without getting stressed.

Then I was introduced ‘Augmented Reality’. Junaio is an application which allows users to experience augmented reality by scanning the image on paper, screen or anywhere. It amazed me as I didn’t know about it well. The ability of this medium is just started being explored, and there would be more effective uses. It is one of the most interesting way to advertise products for companies. IKEA has introduced augmented reality into their magazines. When a user opens a certain page and puts the magazine on the floor where they want to place the product, and then scans the image, the three-dimensional product comes up in the screen of a phone. The 3D model is made in the same scale as an actual product therefore it reduces the time for measuring the size of space before going to IKEA. I found this idea really useful and interactive in terms of convenience and allowing users to have fun at the same time advertising products.

Through those two workshops, I gained the new information including the reality of working as a designer in different fields, what applications they use, and what is actually going on around the world where I never have known before.