The module has been very interesting and really opened my eyes as to how useful a blog would be in presenting design work.
I think the skills learnt whilst making the post and page entries, has been very valuable, as I can now make animations, use Movie Maker and add sound, images and narration to videos. The process of filming places that were inspirational and the design process can be useful to fully describe to the viewer, just how your mind works, any challenges that have occurred and how to get round them.
I enjoyed the research stages for both modules and I hope the viewer will get a sense of my enthusiasm for the subject matter.
Unfortunately I did not receive any comments on my site, so cannot evaluate that data, but I look forward to receiving some feedback.
I am sure that any comments in the future could be used to change designs during the development stages, getting feedback from clients for example, to make a design more fitting to their requirements.
The animation process, although still quite basic, really does show the designs to the client in a much more realistic way. This would also be beneficial in practice.
There are some negatives however. To give as much information as I have done here would need either a blog site for each design, or a very large blog site, which could become difficult to maintain.
Updating blogs to keep them current can take a significant length of time, that in practice you might not have. You also have to have hardware that can cope with publishing videos etc, and my laptop struggled with this, taking many hours to upload videos to the site. Also, as this module was given to us after the Expo Pavilion design project had finished, it was difficult to remember all of the processes, or even compile work for the blog, as I know I did not keep everything from the Expo Pavilion design process. I think if the two modules had run side by side, it would have made an interesting video diary, showing the highs and lows of the design process, and getting comments along the way that could affect the outcome and final presentation.
Links to other designers could be made through the site, which is something anyone, like myself, studying or working alone, would benefit from, as we have no outlet for collaborative learning and skill sharing.
All in all, it is a great way to get your voice heard, show your designs to a wider audience, receive feedback that can be acted upon and also develop new skills and inspiration.
I will be making my own blog, when I get time!
The Wave Pavilion 