Some key points she made were:

• Be prepared: find out as much as you can about the company you have applied to work with. This is really important, because if you look hard enough you might find some reports or blog posts on what the company is like to work for.
• Know your CV, and tell the truth. I also find that have information on your CV that is really easy to expand on and be able to link your experience to skills and where you have used them before.
• Be positive: don’t speak negatively about anything, especially about previous jobs and experience.
• Listen to questions your asked and answer questions with detail, such as how you dealt with situations before. I also found going into an interview if you have a glass of water with you (and I get a dry mouth all the time in interviews) taking a sip gives you a second to form answers clearly and accurately.
• Talk sense and don’t use jargon, use plain english to explain different things.
• Ask questions that make sense, this is where your research into a company can really pay off, it shows you are genuine about your interest in the job and if you ask interesting questions a potential employer will be impressed with your knowledge.
• Don’t ask about money/ holidays or benefits, this can be worked out if you get offered the job. Through your research you should have a fair idea of what a job pays.
• Dress to impress, if you think you look over dressed = good

I’ve always been really good at interviews and have always got offered a job from any that I’ve done. I think as a man one of the most important things for a good interview is to look your best, not for the employer but for yourself. If you think you look good enough to get the job, it will boost your confidence and carry you through the interview.

Also be aware through the interview that you are to be interviewing the company as well. This may be the first time you have met people who work directly for the company and see if these are people you could see yourself working with in the long-term.

He opened by stating that “content is king”, he then went on to say that actually this is false, only relavent content is king. This means that depending on who the auidence is you have to be very careful to make sure that what is been shown will appeal to those viewing it. The main service that BPM offer is creating digital signage in different locations such as bars, resturants and hotels for companies to advertise different products and services that they offer.

He used the example of a busy bar that sold 300 carvery dinners in a weekend, but only 5 desserts. He then developed a advertising campaign, where the screens set up would display lots of pictures of desserts during dinner time. Within two weeks sales of desserts had increased to ten times the amount. This shows the amount of visual information a person will take in while sitting somewhere and effect that information has on their decision making process.

He also talked about call to action ads that can encourage customers to make extra purchases with advertising shown at point of sale.

When designing a system for a client Robbie discussed the importance of knowing your audience:

• who visits the venue, how often and when?
• how they must try influence them
• and they must use the customer data to create a profile.

He also talked about discovering the attention spans for different audiences. For television people have about a 30 second span where they will pay attention to something happing on a screen, Robbie discovered with digital advertising displays this is shortened to about 7 seconds. To counter this you have to have exciting images and have a relavent music selection. The volume of the audio is also very important, loud enough to attract attention, but not to loud to be a distraction and cause complaints.

This level of advertising is very current now, nearly every large store operates it in some way with mobile phone retailers such as o2 and meteor using them to display offers and new devices. You can see the reason why, when they are very vibrant and it’s easy to make changes whenever you feel like it. This keeps your advertising very current.

This week Ronan organized a tour of the houses of the Oireachtas for us, Which I looked really forward to, It was very interesting to see the actual chambers of the Dáil and the Seanad and to get to walk through the same corridors as the people who are elected to represent the people of the country. I found it surprisingly small (although we won’t have seen a huge amount of the building), the Dáil is only down a corridor from the Seanad.

One of the porters gave us a tour of the building and while he was very knowledgeable you could tell that this wasn’t his full day job. He was the most interesting when talking about his own experiences of working in the Dáil, such as during sessions and Dáil when he controls the mics for the different representatives (he also said they don’t really need them sometimes) and you could see the amount of respect he had for the building and the people who hold office there.

To see the Seanad chamber was very interesting, but again confirms in my mind that it isunnecessary, a provides only a debating chamber that should be conducted in the Dáil. Also the members of the Seanad are not elected by the people of the country, but by special selected groups (Sorry Ronan, but university students should not be able to elect two representatives to the Seanad) and the Taoiseach appointing some of his own.

After Lunch we went to the Science Gallery on Pearse Street, I have to say I love the idea of this building, bringing science and art together to deliver something beautiful but relevent. I meant the orignal curator of the Science Galley a few years ago while working on another project, and he had just moved over from the states and was totally dazed but was great and very interesting to talk to and had great plans for the building. (I can’t remember his name to save my life) One of my favorite exhibitions that was held there (although I had seen it in London before) which was byPharmacopoeia which was a whole exhibition about the pills we take in our lives and to get people to stop and think about the amount of medicines we consume.

The exhibition that was on was HYPERBOLIC CROCHET CORAL REEF:
A WOOLLY WONDER. Which was created and curated by Margaret and Christine Wertheim. It is a great idea of trying to bring attention to the damage been done to the great barrier reef in Australia by using crochet to rebuild different parts but I wasn’t a fan of it

She was great about talking how business is now, and how difficult it is getting paid and having to sort out payment plans with clients who owe you money. She also said that every time your out try to plug what you do and always have a business card handy. Even though she admitted that times are much tougher she seemed really positive about the future of the industry, and openly talked about the difficulty she has had with some clients and that you don’t have to take any job if you think that the client is going to drive you mad.

Work wise she told us to collect and steal anything, but put your own style on it. She suggested a few different places where she gets ideas from, one of which is smashing magazine which I find brillant, and anyone with the ability to put twitter on their phone should sign up for their feed because everyday they have fantastic articles and tutorials.

Fiona showed us some of her web design jobs like scooter island and The Dublin Gay Theatre Festival and talked about how she used wordpress themes to speed up development time on scooter island and how the Dublin Gay Theatre Festival had loads of previous themes and logos that they demanded to stick to. Fiona encouraged us to find as many shortcuts as we can, such as using wordpress themes that mean you don’t have to spend loads of time doing mark up and get something that is slick and works, and the client will never need to know who little time it takes to do but are really happy with there site.

We also talked about coming up with ideas for flash ads and there is no point in doing a one page re-design as it is the same amount of work as building a whole new site.

The most important point I thing Fiona made was collect anything you find interesting and have your bookmarks folders organized to pop things in as you find them, you never know when you have a project to do and you try to remember where you saw a really good idea for that somewhere.

redspace

Emma then talked out some of her pieces of work. The Human Utopian Generation System (H.U.G.S.) seemed like a good idea when she explained it. That people would be able to feel hugged, consoled, and a human connection but the finished product did not end up the way I thought it would. She explained that the orignal idea would have lights and that operated in different ways and the jacket (which a designer helped her build) would be much more complete. The finished object just looked like a big yellow bin bag with a hoover attached to the side.

Another piece was the Rexotrek which was supposed to give a dogs eye view of the world, which again is a really good idea, but the cameras that record the images are shot from the collar of the dog so you just get a downward view looking onto the ground. So you really see the world from a dogs neck view.

The piece I enjoyed the most was “The Cheerup” which was such a simple brillant and wonderfully executed piece. The harder/longer you stand on a mat the louder the cheers of people coming from two speakers on each side of the mat sound, which I just think is so great.

It was interesting to hear a person from the very creative end of the spectrum talking, but it shows how much work can polarise people into loving and hating different things. I would consider myself a fan of different art forms especially those that mix technology with art, like Emma did with her H.U.G.S. piece and the “Rexotrek”, but I think it shows that if you don’t really have a great handle on technology and are able to build and design pieces of hardware yourself it can be really difficult to bring your concept fully to life.

Ian originally studied industrial design in NCAD and then went on to complete his masters in Trinity doing their Digital Media masters course. He got started in working in film while and after he completed this course. Through friends he started doing promo PR videos for different musicians such as Lisa Hannigan and James Yorkston.

His main source of work comes from been a freelance editor and he talked a lot about working with RTE and how you go about getting jobs. The definite sense I got from this is that it’s all about who you know. Ian is friends with Maeve O’Higgins which got him a job editing her television series for RTE, and through the director of that he moved onto the series “The School”.

I think the most important thing Ian talked about was been organized. He was saying how many files he has to work with while editing and how important it is to have a correct filing system so you always know exactly where to find something. The other aspect of the work he talked about was how as a freelancer you can be doing nothing for a few weeks and then tonnes of jobs come in together and you have to be able to balance them out and try to plan as best you can. He talked about one of the biggest freelance editors he knows been booked nearly two years in advance!

Ian also encouraged us to try out as many things as possible to get exposure to different areas of media, and to enter any competitions or events that we have ideas for, as this is how you get your name known and meet people who work in similar fields. He showed us some of his shorts for RTE’s storyland series “We own the streets”, which he had made with some friends of his to try and win a commission on RTE.

http://weownthestreets.ie/

Ian was really interesting and it looked like he is just starting out on his career so it gave me a really good impression of what is required when you work for yourself and the amount of dedication it takes.

He talked about what ican does and how it helps clients to define what exactly they want through a clear strategy and vision. Then they deliver through multiple channels and services including, web, advertising campaigns, search marketing, online PR, Search engine optimisation, project and campaign management and multimedia design. Ican focuses on first engaging with people and then converting them (i.e. getting them excited/interested in the clients products/services)

The question of why people choose to work with Ican is that there are clear metrics showing return on investment, audiences are moving online where there is more flexablity and higher chances of engagement.

Edward then talked about the steps involved in getting a campaign/project going. From the intal meetings, developing strategy, getting a brief, brainstorming ideas, pitching your proposal and developing your full concept. The brief is one of the most important things to get right. It is what the client expects to to be delivered and everyone should know exactly what is expected. It should have clear objectives and metrics, definitions of who is involved, a defined audience, mandatory inclusions and constraints and assumptions. If a brief is unclear it might be because the client isn’t sure what they actually want. Ican try to guide the client the best they can to get a service they are really happy with.

Edward then talked about online campaigns and the steps involved in getting a web project done. The most important part of this is planning. Plan for the worst and hope for the best. He also talked about the different members of a web development team who get these projects done.

He talked about the main role he fills as a project manager which is to deliver a profitable project for the agency on time, within budget and to client expectations. To get a successful project you have do realistic estimating, detailed planning, get the client involved, good management, effective communication and identify the risks (any delays that could occur) and assumptions (someone will deliver a part of the project exactly on time)

We also saw what life at an agency is like with the work load been fast-paced and hectic, but the work is rewarding exciting and fun.

The main styles of learning break down into:

• Audio learners
• Visual Learners
• Kinaesthetic learners.

Audio learners absorb information best through hearing the information, either through lectures, working in groups with others, talking aloud to themselves and through having music in the background which they work. Audio learners are good at speaking on their feet , working with different languages and remembering names of people they meet.

Visual learners learn best from seeing information written down in front of them. I find this works the best for me while studying. I read lecture notes and then write them down in my own style. This helps me absorb the information (it is also part of kinaesthetic learning which i’ll move onto). Visual learners break down into two other groups.

Visual linguistic: They learn best from the written word

Visual Spatial: Learn best from diagrams, charts, demonstration and videos.

Visual learners are good at remembering details and colours and remembering faces.

The last Learning style is Kinaesthetic, which is basically learning by doing. I also find this style suits me. Typically this involves practical work going on field trips and working in small groups. Though we tend to loose interest when there is little to happening around us. (ho many times do I check my email while i’m trying to do something, or make tea.)

We also looked at the emotional types most people show. We used the Myers Briggs test to explore this. There are 4 different scales that make up a individuals personality.

Extraversion – Introversion

Sensing – Intuition

Judging – Perceptive

Thinking – Feeling

There are 16 different types of personality based on the Briggs Myers test. I found out that I fall into the INTP side which makes me more Introspective, intuitive, thinking and perceiving.

We also looked at Kolbs four step learning cycle, which is the plan that lectures should follow when planning. These are the 4 steps they should follow:

• A new experience for Students
• Reviewing the experience
• Concluding the experience
• Planning the next steps

]]> http://b00035366.wordpress.com/2010/05/04/working-in-digital-media-learning-styles-lecture/feed/ 0 Ian http://b00035366.wordpress.com/2009/12/11/typography-exercise/ http://b00035366.wordpress.com/2009/12/11/typography-exercise/#comments Fri, 11 Dec 2009 10:45:20 +0000 Ian http://b00035366.wordpress.com/?p=81 ]]> This is my self portrait and my typography exercise:

Self Portrait

Typography Self Portrait

The Greek alphabet was the source for all scripts generating in Europe. We looked at the development of different typefaces such as: Venetian Antiqua, Uncial, Humanist and Gothic.

There are 2 main groups of typeface.

1. Serif – has decorative elements.

2. Sans-Serif – no decorative elements (such as Arial, usually a more modern typeface.)

The most important thing to consider when choosing a typeface is it’s readability. This is made up of:

• line-spacing
• column setup
• scrolling
• word spacing
• character spacing