Branding

Over the Easter holidays, we were given a small task to carry out on the topic branding, which we had learnt about previously. Our task was to arrange ourselves into small groups and to create a new object, drink, food package etc.. Gender, age and what audience we wanted our product to attract was just a few things we had to consider. We chose to create an energy drink that would be suitable for university students. The name of the drink was "Push Up" as we though energy drinks gives you that push to go and feel energized. We then created a poster advertising our product which we will later present to the class, and give a small  presentation including  our ideas and why we chose to do this?

Brainstorming

Before making a start on my project, i thought it would be a good idea to mind map all of my ideas. Firstly, i created i mind map which i drew, including all of the ideas i thought would tie in well with the given theme. However, i later used an online program called Bubbl.us to create another mind map. I used this to only brainstorm my ideas about my chosen topic, so i could see clearly what to include.

Artist Research

I have been researching a number of artists who use beds or bedrooms in their work. I found two artists that i was very interested in and thought would fit in well with what i am doing for my design. The first artist i chose to research and study was previously introduced to us in one of our Visual Communication lessons, who is Tracey Emin. I was very interested in one particular piece of work she has produced, which is called "My Bed". The emotions she tries to get across to her audience, i felt i could almost relate to them at this time period. Another artist i researched was Tamar Stone. Again, she uses beds in her work, but in a very different way. Her belief that her bed or her bedroom was the most important feature of the home, was the same as my thought so i could relate to this very much. Also what interested me about her work was the writing on the bed sheets. The words printed on the bed sheets indicate she has secrets and she hides them in her bedroom. Similarly, at this point in my life i often found myself hiding away in my bedroom, and my bed was my place to relax and to express all my emotions. Therefore, this is why i decided to include these two artists in my project.

Chosen Idea

After a lot of decision making, i finally thought of an idea which i think links in best with the theme "sense of place". So my final idea i have chosen to do is about how my family and the family household has been split up due to divorce, depression and alcohol abuse. However, as this was too broad of a topic, i decide to focus on a room within my house that i thought was my sense of place, and this was my bedroom. Throughout my project, i will be describing all the different emotions i felt and experienced at this time and how my bedroom was a place for me to escape from the madness. I am going to portray this firstly through a scrapbook, which will include sub-headings, pictures, text and many more. Meanwhile, i am also going to produce a movie including photographs and memories, by using windows movie maker as the ICT element of the assignment.

First ideas for ICT project

I have thought of and mind mapped a few ideas out for my project. My first idea was to base my project on something i really enjoy and is now a part time job for myself. This idea was dance, however once thinking this through thou-ally, i thought it would be quite difficult to link this into the theme of "sense of place". Once discussing this first idea with Suzzie, we came to the conclusion that how dance can take you to another place and what emotions you feel through your dancing. However, i thought this topic was not as close to my heart as something else and i would not be able to expand greatly on this.
My second idea was to focus on family and upbringing. A vast number of family members were born and still live in Birmingham. For example, my grandparents, mother and uncle are all from Birmingham but later moved down to Wales after my uncle was born. On the other hand, remaining family members such as aunties, cousins, great nan etc stayed there. We often visit them during holiday times, so i thought this could of been a good idea as it would link into again the theme "sense of place" On the other hand, as i was not born and brought up in Birmingham, i thought i would have little to relate to apart from family.

Guest Speaker 7- Jane Davidson

Today's what is education module? was taken by Jane Davidson who was the Education Minister in Wales for 7years, dealing with skills for life-long learning. To begin with she told us all about the background to education starting with the year of 1983 when the National Curriculum was introduced. She later when on to describe the year of 1997 where labor came into Government and the Weslh Assembly Government was established in 1999. For the remains of the lecture she talked to us about the books "the learning country" which was published in 2001 and "the learning country-vision into action" which was later published in 2006. We looked at things like the goals, policies and principles these documents were setting out.

Guest Speaker 7- Alice Davies

Today Alice Davies took our lecture for what is education? module. She gave us a overview on what widening access in Wales. She then went on to explain what her work is which is a "reaching wider" and what they encourage to do for young children. She then gave us a brief outline about what they do to help those preparing for further or higher education. An progressive program  is put into place starting at a primary are, leading up to year 13 pupils. However, the activities, support/advice they offer are different for each age group. For example, pupils in year 11 have gcse revision classes set up for them. Study skills classes are essential and also each pupil has a mentor to talk to if they have any problems or concerns. Whereas, year 13 pupils learn more about UCAS support and how to write personal statements etc.