Last update of 2011, probably

I’ve been busy over the last day or two changing my main site from a MS frontpage built html monstrosity into a slightly better WordPress based collection of stuff.

Making up some image galleries made me realise that, apart from course work, I’ve produced very little jewellery in the last 3 years and how I’ve produced even less drawings and paintings.

Anyway, the result is that I’ve got a little corner of the web that links to all my other blogs, has a little bit of information about me and shows some images from the past 8 years.

All the best for 2012

Dougie

So lately…

…I’ve been ignoring this blog. I’ve been really busy over on the Masters blog because that’s all I’ve been doing recently. The MDes is keeping me really busy, I expected it to be intense but I’m still a bit shocked at the level of intensity.

To be honest it’s all very new and a bit of a culture shock to me as a jeweller, even though I have moved across the design spectrum quite a bit since writing the undergraduate dissertation. In the last couple of weeks I’ve written more notes than I did in the whole of 2nd and 3rd year. That might seem a little shocking but considering I didn’t see the relevance of the 2nd year lectures and most of the 3rd year one’s ’til it was too late it’s a little easier to see why I didn’t take many notes then.

If I’m not here too often you’ll find me on the other blog

Laser Sintering

A blog post from Honey Build, everything you wanted to know about Selective Laser Sintering but were afraid to ask. SLS is, I think, the favoured technology for 3D printing in metals and glass. This Honey Build post describes the process and subsequent processes depending on the material.

image credit Vladmir Bulatov

The year ahead

Monday the 12th of September sees the beginning of the Master of Design course at Duncan of Jordanstone. To document the coursework and my progress I’m starting another blog There will also be a link to it from my homepage. In other news I’ve also been given another contract by The Adam Smith College, Fife and am teaching 3 non-vocational jewellery design classes a week until June 2012. It’s going to be a busy year!

Dissertation tips

4th years will be starting serious dissertation writing by now, here are some tips from me.

1 Use loads of notes, keep track of them using post-its or cue cards

2 Save files often, keep back-ups (On a pen drive or even 2!)

3 Keep a (digital) rolling bibliography, don’t leave it ’til last.

4 Keep track of images and tables.

5 Learn how to use the ‘track changes’ function in Word, it’s great for editing drafts.

6 Don’t get hung up on word counts, but keep track.

7 Re-read your work often.

8 Set realistic targets for getting writing done, planning is everything.

9 Get it proof read by at least 4 people

10 Aim to finish at least 10 days before your deadline, relax, get some final proof reading done and get it printed.

11 If you’re doing questionnaires to get research data, do them on-line, that more than tripled my response rate.

Good luck – final tip – don’t stress in silence about it if it isn’t going well, talk to someone about it.

Some CAD

I’ve been messing around with Rhino for a few days, some images from the results, a couple of rings and a QRoffee table!

An update

I’ve all but completed the site pages re-shuffle and now operate from a ‘homepage’ rather than use this blog as a front. I’ve removed some blog pages and replaced them with site pages (CAD, About, Contact). I’ve also added a new ‘Services’ page. Not sure it will get me any work but it’s time to start getting a web presence related to an income. I also think that trying to get CAD work is the best way to get CAD experience. As things develop I may add a library of CAD ‘products’ in an on-line shop environment but I’m expecting the M.Des to keep me busy so that might take a while. You can visit the new front page by clicking the red link in the sidebar.

The M.Des begins in September and I’m I’m really looking forward to it, even though there is also a feeling of trepidation at the prospect! I had a letter last week telling me I’ve been awarded a William Sangster Phillips award which, apart from a fee waiver, helps me out with finances over the year. This is a huge thing for me, I doubt I’d have managed a full time course without it.

Site goings on

I’ve started to make changes to my site, including this blog and the one I did for final year. I’m going to start operating from a single Homepage and use that to link to various places. At the moment the links on the new Homepage just go to the pages that already exist on the blog but over the summer I’ll make new site pages/image galleries for CAD work etc. The final year blog link will remain on the Homepage.

I’ve pointed all of my various domains to the new Homepage so scanning a QR that took you to the interactivewearables.co.uk or .com domains will now take you to the new page. QR’s that pointed at the blog will continue to work.

The end of the B.Des

Yesterday was graduation day and signalled the formal end of my life as an undergraduate, roll on September when I start the Master of Design program at Dundee University where I hope to develop the work I did on the B.Des. In the last couple of weeks I’ve had some contact with a couple of organisations who are interested in the work I’ve done and I hope that good things will come from that.

Me crossing the stage at graduation

So a wee opportunity now to say well done and good luck to everyone I’ve shared a studio with over the last 3 years. I couldn’t have asked for a better, diverse and more talented bunch of people to share the journey with and I’m sure that great things lie ahead for you all. Next (for most) is New Designers in London, where I hope DoJJaM will win, once again, the top honours. So good luck folks, I’ll miss you all.

PS, I think a summer diet and exercise regime is in order!!!

Meet the new interactive wearables logo

Pictured below is the new logo for my interactive wearables site/brand. It’s simple and blue(ish). Below that is the logo embedded in a QR code which contains the iW url. Thanks to Jon Gill for the tip on doing that.

During the summer I’ll be re-organising the site/blogs and changing everything so they all point at a new front-page at interactivewearables.com – All the current content will remain but they might be in different places. I’ll also be sticking with WordPress, it’s too easy to use to give up.