Here’s a little info from the site.

How do we approach web design?
We’ve created a course that specifically addresses the need to ‘design’ — as well as build — websites. The web design industry values graduates who can use the software — and be creative with it too. The course combines creative modules in Design Methodology, Image Manipulation and Typography with technical modules in XHTML, CSS and other relevant mark-up/scripting languages. Work related learning also features extensively.

The creative and technical skills you learn are also repurposed for a print design module, further increasing your employability.

We work closely with professionals to ensure there’s a high degree of industrial relevance to the course, so that you’re ready to make an immediate impact in the web design/graphic design industries.

Who’s the course suitable for?
We recruit students from many different backgrounds: those who are studying — or have studied — on creative courses [for example Graphics or Art and Design]; or those from more technically oriented courses such as ICT or Computing. We welcome industry professionals wishing to gain a formal qualification, or adults wanting to re-skill so they can take up a new career.

After shooting all my pictures on my trusty Canon 400D, I finally decided to upgrade to the all new Canon 550D. The draw of shooting full HD video on an SLR was simply too much ! The £700 price tag was difficult to swallow, but a quick search on ebay showed that the 400D would fetch around £300, so the upgrade was on.

I bought the camera from amazon, which was great as I took out their credit card when I purchased the camera, which gave me £15 discount. There was also a promotion that Canon were running for £50 cash back, so I was looking good to get a great deal. When the camera arrived, it promptly died and refused to switch on. Not good. I went through the very simple amazon returns policy, and a new camera was dispatched straight away. A very good customer experience considering that it was all done on-line.

With my new (working camera) I began to get to grips with all the new features. The most enticing of which is the Full HD video capability of the camera. The quality of video is terrific and the camera will shoot at 720 at 50fps or at 1080 at 25fps. The image quality with the canon lenses is very good and it’s easy to achieve a nice depth of field effect to give your footage a very cinematic feel.

Still shots are a whopping 18 million pixels, enough for anyone really ! The shots do look really nice, although i’ve not pushed things on the stills front yet and need to play around with the Raw settings and such like. The other ting of note is that the kit lens is now an image stabilised version, so shooting in low light should be much easier. Battery life looks good, and overall i’m very happy with the camera in these early days.

I’m posting this from my shiny new iPad, which is testament to just how great a product the iPad really is.

I have always said that the best piece of technology I have bought in recent years is my trusty iPod touch (I couldn’t justify the expense of the iPhone). My only gripe with it, was it’s size. I wanted a bigger iPod touch from day one.

Well now apple have finally delivered, and was it worth the wait ? Well you can only judge for yourself after actually using an iPad for a few hours. I’m still in the ‘honeymoon’ period where I’m finding new and exciting things and apps each day. So far I’d unreservedly say it’s a winner.

All the apps are redesigned for the bigger screen, and are so much better for it. The screen is beautiful and the web user experience is sublime. I’m sure that the iPad will just keep getting better as the apps grow for this remarkable device, it really does plug the gap between laptop and smart phone nicely. Who needs a nasty net book, when the iPad does everything you need and want so beautifully.

I now have word press running on the iPad as well as air video which allows me to wirelessly stream all my tv and movies to the pad. Like I said each day it just gets better….

1_A series of designs for a huge billboard in bahrain, produced with ripe design.
2_A really nice 3d illustration for the National Friendly report and accounts cover, produced for huetaminto.
3_Some website designs for Hasbro with a cool 3d environment produced for Digital Welly.
4_Promotional pack design for NJ printers, produced for Fast Floor Multimedia.
5_A video presentation for ‘Mubu‘ Museum Buddies, produced with Digital Welly
6_A nice little 3d fish animation for a website.
7_Some promotional packs for Bahrain Bay marketing.
8_Promotional packs for Nurai island, an island for the super rich !

So, that’s just from memory, still lots to do and lots happening. I’ve also done a few days teaching at Wakefiled college just recently to find my feet and see if it’s something I want to pursue longer term. So far so good, really enjoying the little bits i’ve done.

I’m still a very infrequent user of facebook, although I do understand the fascination of looking up old friends and school mates etc. I still frimly believe it’s one for people with too much time on their hands.

I used illustrator to supply the required layered PDF, and designed myself a nice A4 sheet of custom cut, clear vinyl stickers, with white printed areas too, nice.

If you are in need of short run, custom stickers, it’s well worth paying Diginate a visit to see what they have to offer. My custom stickers are currently in the post, so fingers crossed they should be with me anytime soon… exciting indeed !

I must say, I did find the search talk to be very interesting. Search is touted to be the next bug thing as far as user interaction is concerned as a search has very targeted outcomes for the user, and is the most direct form of understanding the users needs. The concept of pages being built on the fly (using shadow pages to rank in google) is becoming more widespread, especially in the media and newspaper sectors. The whole idea of having the option to be directed to a targeted page, based on you as a user and specifically tour search data is very exciting. AKQU were also showing some interesting work at the conference, the work they did for Fiat ‘eco-drive’ and work they did recently with nike. It must nice to work with big budget clients !

I have finally managed to put together my first book using Blurb Books, and I have to say i’m very impressed. The software to put your book together is really nice and when the actual book arrived I was very happy with it.

If you are thinking of creating a book, do check them out, it’s well worth a look.

I decided that i’d sit the exam at then end of day 3, and I passed ! So i’m now an apple certified Final Cut editor, so if Yorkshire Telly was still going strong, I could possibly have a small change in career !