The Return, Changes and Project Groups

After 10 long weeks away from the saddle college finally started again, the first week was just a welcome back with a 3 hour presentation about changes and what will be the next steps for the returning students after this academic year. We was given information about the new changes, introduction to our new learning coach and given UCAS information for students interested in HE. In the afternoon we was given a brief from our course coordinator to do a research paper about the Saltaire village as this would be linked to the final major project. We was advised to do a site visit and to decide with caution on what direction we wanted to take this final project on as the group would be split into smaller groups in the near future.

The very next day me and two other students did a site visit to Saltaire and collected a large amount of evidence for the research paper. The paper was completed and updated on September the 12th, more updates may follow.

Week 2 was more of the same, we had the last ever Aimhigher event take please in Victoria Hall which give pretty much the same information about UCAS and access to HE. We was given our IDs (my second of the week), introduced to recover our gmail accounts (did work before this week and now doesn't) and given small tasks to complete before the 3rd week. 
In addition to this I had a rather interesting Thursday of that week; experiencing the pointless placement of being in the study centre with slow computers when a course like this require high end machines. The slot is usually 3 hours but due to my duties at the college that was reduced to 2 as I was asked to make a stall for the Freshers Fair. The stall was set up to promote the student voice at Shipley, ask opinions of the students, advertise the council & the proposed union and give out information about NUS extra cards. The event went well and I'm extremely pleased about it.

The afternoon wasn't so brilliant though, level 3 students were asked to meet in Victoria Hall to select what qualification they individually wanted to study to get what they need to progress in education or employment after college. The options were GCSE Maths of English, Functional Skills Maths or English or Functional project for the year. I'd submitted my decision last year and in the first week this year. My details wasn't put on the GCSE list and I had to wait an 1 hour to sign you for GCSE Maths. Hopefully this will get sorted in due course.

Week 3; The week started by the dreaded group selection, I say dreaded due to past year groups complaining by the selections made but to be honest I'm satisfied with the selection. I like my group and I'm sure all students in their specific groups our happy with the selection process. Each group member were given reasons for their selection and reasons for positions in their groups. I'm happy and comfortable with the selection, positioning and thought the reasoning behind it was well thought threw.

After the selections we was given our first group task of coming up with our group name for the academic year. We all had to come up with 3 names minimum and then design 5 different and unique logos for the chosen name. My names were; Lazy Gamers, Horsing About, Reckless Makers and What is Physics!

After everyone voted I was asked to design logos for the name Reckless Makers. The vote process was done by tally chart throughout the process. My 5 designs had different meanings to them and I'll list them below.

1st design. Abstract text, it's less design but it can work some times, hence Sucker Punch and Blizzard who both use abstract text for their logos.

2nd design. The initials over lapping each other. the R resting in front of M with the name sitting underneath the initials.

3rd design. Initials again but having the M with pointing ends and having the left end stabbing through the R.

4th design. Same as the 3rd but having something in place representing something reckless. Having the initials breakthrough a wall with bricks sitting on the floor and on the initials as well with the text at the base like graffiti on a wall.

5th design. Train push cart, tag line "correct vehicle, wrong parts". The push cart has 3 train wheels and one car wheel plus instead of the levers to move the push cart it has a seesaw.
Again a vote decided the outcome and after the vote I was asked to develop idea 5 further. I was given advice on how to improve it by adding the initials on the seesaw at either end and keeping the colour selection of the initials (R being red and M being black).

I began to develop the push cart after the vote, printing and sourcing reference images to support my design. After a more detailed hand drawn sketch was made and opened up Photoshop to start work on a digital copy. I set the print size to A6, made it landscape and set the dpi to 300. I used basic shapes and lines to get the cart looking just right then I merged sections of the cart for additional modifications. During the process of adding colour I had some issues due to me adding strokes to the lines, the strokes helped me see the formation of the parts. The fix was simple as I used the magic eraser to deleted the added colour in the strokes. Once all the mistakes were fixed I used the magic wand tool to highlight set individual parts to add gradients, mixing grays to add a metal look to most of the components. I also included drop shadows for additional detail. Slight modifications were made towards the end with nuts added in replacement of standard circles, the nuts connected the wheels with the new industrial style axel.

Original Hand Drawn Image

Final Design

Source Images

The final vote happened once all of our individual logos were complete, the winning design came from team member Joe Connell and we was advised to mix the logo Joe did with my style. 

Joe Connell's Red Hawk Studio Design

I followed the same process as my own logo; A6, landscape and 300dpi. I used a grid this time to get the opposite sides symmetrical, again lines were used with added weight to stop patches appearing between the lines. Then I added a gradient onto the hawk with two tones of red, purest red with a darker red which went across the hawk. The text was done the same way with lines and I added a more metallic gradient with tones of gray. In addition I was shadows on both the hawk and text to give them more definition. I wasn't 100% pleased with the final product so I also added bevel and emboss to both of them which improved the text by no end.

This is the final product.

Other team images.