MED6102 Week 2

Skills Audit

The following skills audit considers my current skills and skills that would be relevant for my future as a new media worker or graphic designer. 

When it comes to my technical skills, it seems apparent that I could improve my Illustrator, jQuery, responsive web design and CMS skills. Even though I can improve on these skills, I do have strong skill and knowledge in InDesign, Photoshop, HTML/CSS, visual design elements, MacOS, Windows and Photography. Although I my skill level is high in these, I can always keep improving them as I there is always room for improvement and to learn more. 

Having knowledge of Illustrator as well as InDesign and Photoshop is a frequent requirement in job advertisements for graphic designers. Improving my Illustrator skills would be useful for both the new media and graphic design aspects of my career, as Illustrator can be used to create SVGs in web designs. Being able to offer an employer skills in the top three Adobe programmes will be beneficial. There are of course other Adobe programmes that I could learn, such as Flash and Dreamweaver, and these are things that I would like to learn in the future. 

For my behavioural skills, it seems that I am better at responding to a set brief, rather than coming up with my own ideas and developing them. I think that this is because all through-out Sixth Form and University, I was given full briefs to work to, rather than an open brief. I can improve my ideas generation and development process by documenting the process to see what parts I find difficult and easy. From there I can identify what I should work on and do more of. I think that idea generation and development might be something that I get better at over time. 

I could also improve on my time management and initiative, which are things that I can work on in my upcoming mini project(s). I will plan out each week of learning and "doing" activities, so that I can stay on track with my work and manage my time better. I like to make to-do lists so each day when I start working I will write a list of objectives I want to complete by the end of the day. 

I could also improve on my people and team working skills, by discussing ideas with my peers and collaborating with them on work. Interpersonal skills are something that I have always struggled with, and I think that this comes down to my personality. However, it is something that I would like to improve on, so that I can have a better work-life and get on well with my co-workers. I usually like to keep my ideas and work to myself until the "project" is completed, and I think this is because I don't have much confidence in my ability and ideas. Even though I have rated my creativity highly on my skills audit, it is not something I would tell other people about. To overcome this I would like to discuss my ideas and work more and receive feedback.

I think that sometimes I pay too much attention to the details and this means that my work can take longer than I had planned or anticipated. I think that the reason I pay attention to detail is because details are something that I pick up on when I look at others work. Saying this, paying attention to detail is a good thing because it means my work can be consistent and look "finished".