Super Saving Tips!

I’m trying to win an iPad 2 in the iSave, iWrite, iPad competition from PlayPennies.com!

Saving cash has never been so easy. Gone are the days of wearing your pants inside out to save some pennies on washing. With so many ways to save cash it’s sometimes hard to work out where to begin.

Your most useful source on saving is the internet. Before any shopping trip, no matter where you are going, a simple search using Google can turn up a voucher heaven. You can save money by printing out the vouchers before each shopping trip. If you don’t use them, keep a separate part in your wallet just for hoarding these vouchers, you never know when they might come in handy. You can end up saving a fortune using up vouchers you’ve gathered so they are worth collecting up and using.
Some of the best vouchers online are for restaurants. Fancy a nice meal out without having to leave behind organs to pay for it? Vouchers are your best friends. Some places offer half price meals and 2 for 1’s that are only available online. Some places don’t require you to print out the voucher at all and only ask you to keep hold of the number on it. This is a great way to treat yourself without having to miss an arm and a leg later on.

The internet isn’t just useful for giving you savings with vouchers though; sometimes it can be mighty helpful in getting you freebies and amazing deals. There are tons of websites that offer giveaways and competitions that don’t require a lot of effort or a lot of information to enter. If you feel uncomfortable about giving away too many details, only apply for the ones that ask for an email address and simply make a new email just for your competition entries to avoid spam. Remember to check it to see if you’ve won any prizes though! Buying second hand items off eBay is a great way to save on cash as well as lurking through websites that offers swapping items with other users.

Not all of the penny saving has to be online though. There are tons of things to do offline to help cut costs and save money.  If you’re fine with second hand items, charity stores can be a gold mine for great gifts, clothes, electrical items and books. Charity shops sometimes have clothes that have never been worn and books that are practically brand new. There are few that also stock furniture and sell it at a steal which is perfect for new home buyers and those who don’t wish to spend a fortune.

  A personal tip that I practice is having a change jar. It’s a great way to save money, especially if you decide that all change under a certain amount HAS to go into the jar (I put in any change less then 50p). You’ll be surprised how much money you can store from all your change which can be used on a rainy day or saved up and put in the bank. Having large amounts of coinage going in rather then just small coinage makes you feel more accomplished when emptying out the jar when its full as well as saving more this way.

The biggest tip I can give on saving money however is before you spend your money, stop and think twice! A lot of the money we spend is on things that we could either get cheaper or don’t really need. Before you buy something work out whether it’s important to buy and if it is, could you buy it cheaper elsewhere? Thinking twice before spending your money is very important as most people impulse buy without realising they are doing so! Make sure you take your time with your purchase, don’t allow staff to push you into purchasing something and make sure you answer the questions;
Do I need this?
Can I get it cheaper elsewhere?

I wish you all look on your super savvy saving ways!

14th Feb

This week has been very hectic. I have had four projects to work on over this week and two are only two weeks long. I have given these projects more priority over my other two projects to ensure they are completed on time to my fullest abilities. I have realised however that having this many projects and juggling them is quite stressful. I feel that I have not really produced my best over this week due to this fact of being stressed out over the four projects. I think that in the future I should sit and write a detailed time plan of when to work on what and what to complete for that particular day when I have a lot of projects to handle. This will help me with my designs and help me to not become stressed and tire myself out and not be put off about my work.

7th Feb

This week I have taken the final chose designs and have spent some time creating them into proper images on the computer to get a general idea of how they will look. I have played around with various designs of the ideas and have finally narrowed down the designs to the very final design. This design will be the one I will work on over the next couple of weeks. I am happy with this design but I feel it is quite poorly made let alone needing a lot of development work on it.
I feel that the reason why my work is slightly poor is because my photoshop skills are not very good. I need to look at doing some more detailed photoshop sessions and to look on photoshop tutorials online to work on to help improve my skills. This is something quite important to look at and carry out in my own time as it will be an investment on my behalf.

31st Jan

This week I have carried on with my designs. I have also evaluated each and every design. I feel that I have spent a little too long designing and evaluating these designs and feel that I need to really move on in the process of my work.

24th Jan

This week I have spent working on design ideas. I have come up with a few designs based on my idea of centering around the books theme of 'cats' and the bad luck they bring to the main character Frank. I feel that a lot of the designs are nice but none are designs I want to fully further on. I suppose none of my designs are 'the one'. I am disappointed that I have produced a few designs but am not satisfied with the ones I have produced. I will need to spend more time working on my designs and producing greater ones. This is quite time consuming but if this results in a really good design to further develop rather then a poor design to be developed then it would make my project far more interesting and final out come a lot better.

17th Jan

This week I have spent the week researching. I have looked at the Australian target market as well as researching a variety of book covers. I have compared UK best sellers to Aus best sellers, looked at the variety of covers the book already has as well as looking at crime novels and penguin design in general. I have evaluated and gone into particular detail over each of these points to ensure I understand what has already been produced for the markets. After all of this research I feel confident in progressing to the design stage. I do however feel that I have spent too long on the research process and feel slightly 'unfulfilled' because I have not begun the design process. I have however kept to the list I had created for this week which shows that this method does work for me. I will be creating lists for each week on things to 'complete' as I find this ensures I get things done and do not forget things to look at and work on.
In the future I feel that I need to stop forcing myself to research  everything at the very beginning of the project. I think that I should allow myself to relax a little more and allow myself to research through out the brief rather then trying to research the entire project at the very beginning of the project.

10th Jan

This week saw the start of my brand new brief. I have to design a book cover for the book "the postman always rings twice" as well as an essay. I have spent the week reading the book as well as starting initial research. I feel reading the book has made me feel prepared and well equip into making designs for the cover. I feel reading the book has helped me to understand the book as well as pick out key points and themes that I can work from for the front cover. However, reading the book was quite time consuming and ate a lot of time in my week. Reading the book was very helpful but I know in the future I may not be able to do this due to time constraints. I feel that for future briefs I will not really be able to read the books before I make designs for them. I think that I should look up summaries and short essays about the book in question rather then the book in the future to enable me to be prepared for designing but it will take half the time then I have taken.
Because of this I feel that I may be behind in the start of my project. I feel that my time management isnt up to scratch. I will sit and make a detailed list and time plan of what to do for the next week and try to keep strictly to it.

Blog Three

My last project was another typography project that took on a more 3D aspect. I had to make a letterofmr and place it in a box based upon an article.
The article I had chosen was based around the discovery of a cure for the common cold. I spent along time working on various compositions before settling on a mini lab and test tube idea. I spent a lot of time experimenting to get the right effect of my letter form and the test tube. I was happy with the final outcome of the test tube and letter but felt that the box itself was rather poorly made. It was not very well built and showed that my hands on skills in 3D building are quite poor. I feel my box should have been made from stronger or from more different materials to make it more appealing. I need to sit and work on my hand making skills sometimes as I am quite clumsy with my making (as seen in my box). I should look at seeing if there are some workshops available to help or even spend some of my own personal time practicing a more hands on approach to making.

Blog Two

The next project was a typography one. I was given a paragraph written in the style of hellenisms and had to manipulate the type to reflect this style. I spent a lot of time researching what hellenisms actually were and into the Hellenistic era itself. I came up with a few designs and settled on a pillar like layout for my text. Although I am quite happy with the final outcome I feel like my design is too safe. I feel that I should have pushed myself abit more into coming up with a few more exciting design. I also feel that I should have played with the type more such as experimenting with italics, bolds and spacing. In the future I need to give myself more time designing and evaluating and experimenting with my design. This leads back to my time management skills that clearly still needs developing.

Feedback Project One

1. Describe a recent experience where you have received some feedback about your creative work.
My photographs' id taken for my two projects that involved photography was looked at and was reviewed with me, gave me feedback on what photographs worked, what didnt and what suggestions could be taken on for new photos.

2. Underline the 'significant and critical moments'The fact that my photography is not brilliant and can be quite rushed is quite important. Its a negative comment but a valid done. I do need to look into improving my photography in general and work on my photograph taking. Its something to work on.

3. What are the important background factors? Have you or do you need to provide context to your description?Near the end of the coursework unfortunately. It was actually very relaxed and even friendly. Not spoken in a malicious way which actually made it easier to take on and understand rather then getting defensive over it.

4. Review and analyse the feedback you were given at this session. What were the key points raised?The key points were about my photography. The feedback was actually incredibly helpful in making me realise that I need to be more observant with my own work.

5. How did you feel about the feedback? Were you happy or did you have a negative response? Did you agree or disagree with what was said?I completely agree with what was said. At first I was a little defensive but after the points were explained to me I quickly realised the points were right. It was strangely inspiring and actually made me feel a renewed love for the project and to make me want to improve my work.

6. What did you do with the feedback and why? If you didnt do anything at the time, in retrospect, do you wish you had, and what could you do?I looked at my photographs and weeded out all of the images which were poor and simply didnt work. I then made a few notes of ideas for photograph shots and opportunities that were far more planned out then the previous photographs and set out to make these new photographs.

7. If you did anything with the feedback, what were the consequence of your actions on either yourself or others? Or what might you imagine will be the consequence of your actions?The consequences of my actions were that I ended up with photographs that were far better than my previous ones. These photo's make the other ones look quite honestly, like crap.

8. As a result of your actions and this thinking, how do your think about this now, and how might it affect your future work?I think its going to make me more observant and critical of my own work. If it looks rubbish then redo it not just accept the bad outcomes. If I dont like it then its not good enough and needs changing until I do like the final outcomes. I'll also consider planning my photoshoots in the future.

9. What are the wider consequences; so think about: your practice, aesthetics, methodology, personal development, professional development, political stance, social interaction, etc.
The wider consequences are that I feel I have developed as a person. I feel I dont need to be defensive over criticism nor do I need to pretty my own analysis of work. I also think I need to set myself a personal feedback sessions o that I can critic my own work to help improve.

Blog One

The first project was a series of weekly briefs to complete based around various aspects of graphics. I had to create a poster, logo's, packaging, a letter form and take photo's. I initially found this quite intense to try and complete as well as finding it frustrating. The reason for this is because I never completed each of the projects in their given week time sets. I was pushing myself to try make more of a week brief.
In the future I need to do quite a few things to stop this happening. I need to become far more time weary. I should create my own personal timetable for each project I have in the future. Having set times to complete things will stop frustration in the future that could end up affecting my work.
Time management is not one of my strong points and is something I need to work on. To improve this I plan to make sure I start writing out strict timetables  and making plans for my briefs and sticking to them.

The beginning

This blog will hold all of my posts that are linked with my PDP. All of the posts will look at my university work and various feedback and evaluations of it.