I guess that’s why all the celebrities are now on Twitter and Facebook now

To be honest because of the nature of the end of the program I am a feeling a little burnt out. But there is a little glimmer of sunshine if I look back at how far I’ve come and what I have achieved. There have been ups and downs with this program but I try to look on the more positive side because I believe if we keep focusing on what’s wrong and not right, then how are we supposed to move forward and become better at our craft?

I came to this program with a goal because I have somewhat achieved it I am satisfied at where I am currently. Coming previously from the Design Essentials Program last year (I graduated in March 2008), I wanted to learn more about the web and how design for it. I also wanted more opportunities to network with others and feel that school is a good arena for that.

3 more days to go and then 3 days later I go celebrate my accomplishment of completing school in Tokyo!

There is this new product I came across recently in a DannyChoo.com’s blog where he mentioned this new form of networking tool that may be replacing the traditional paper business card. It’s called Poken and it was launched in Lausanne, Switzerland. It’s use has now been spread throughout Europe, Australia and now Japan. Advertising itself as the user-friendly little “social business card”, Poken is the bridge between real world networking and online communication.

How it works is that when you meet someone with a Poken, you use your Poken to give a high-five to their Poken to exchange your information. Then when plugged into your PC or laptop’s USB port later on, the social network profiles of the people you have met are uploaded to the Poken web database giving you easy access to their social media pages.

Which of your social network profiles you’re into sharing with people are decided by you. When you meet them in the real world, and the info can be updated any time you like.

My opinion on this cool little tool is that I do believe it can be the new way people network each other. I think this because its more cost effective in the way where you don’t have to keep printing business cards to give out to people. Also when you change your contact information it can be done on the fly. It’s small and can be hooked onto your keychain so you will always have it with you handy because you never know when a new network might pass you by. And they are pretty cute!

More info about Poken can be found here: http://www.doyoupoken.com/

As the end draws near, I am becoming a little bit stressed but I guess it is normal with all my deadlines for projects and presentations coming up. I’ve tried to dedicate most of my time to my portfolio preparation and my practicum while still maintaining my deadlines for regular class assignments. I won’t say it is easy though. In my mind these few weeks will be my “real test” on how well I am with time management.

Portfolio preparation is hard work especially because we are both creating a web portfolio and a print portfolio. This is where my skills in both this program (New Media and Web Development) and my previous program (Design Essentials) come into play. Creating a portfolio takes a lot of time and dedication because it is marketing me as a designer. I guess that is why sometimes it seems so time consuming and at times tough. I feel I am more of a perfectionist when it comes to creating my portfolio because of this. Showing my skills and creativity visually without having to be there to talk about my work is tough. Being able to create a design that I am happy with can be difficult as well because a line must be drawn when you have to walk away from your design to make it for the deadline.

I believe though my time and dedication will pay off in the end. Work hard to play hard is my motto at the moment and what I am using to keep myself grounded until the end. 18 days until Tokyo!

Then what is to come? A long needed and well deserved 11 night vacation to… Tokyo, Japan!

Aside from absorbing the culture, eating the food and shopping until I drop, I will find it interesting to see how new media design and technologies have taken over in another country. Not only will my trip be a time to get away after one year of intensive new media studies, but also a great place to me to be inspired for future projects!

One of the buildings I’m interesting in seeing is the Chanel Building in Ginza, Tokyo.

At night the entire wall of the 56-meter high Chanel building lights up and becomes a large television screen advertising Chanel.

This was designed by Peter Marino, an American architect. The wall is made of glass with 700,000 embedded light-emitting diodes. This system consists of over 6 kilometers of control cables, 5 floors of industrial control closets, 3 master control computers, and 65,000 micro computers processing over 32 trillion instructions per second.

This does not affect the office workers inside because they have also created state-change electronic privacy glass that allows them to see outside during the day and provides a black background at night.

Also, Tokidoki has teamed up with Xbox Live and created Avatar clothing and accessories showcasing the Tokidoki brand.

I think it’s interesting how many brands now are using video games to advertise their brands. In my opinion I think it is effective if the target market of video games is the same as the target market of your brand. Creatively I think advertising for new media is great because there are so many avenues to showcase your brand. This is what inspires me the most about Simone Legno and his Tokidoki brand. His brand has reached out to so many different avenues of mediums. This includes the Tokidoki website, clothing, watches, bags, shoes, cosmetics, IPod skins, toys and now branding in video games.

Tokidoki is not the only brand doing this but many other brands. It would be interesting to see what is next for advertising in new media. I believe with enough creativity, the possiblities are endless.

I thought it was interesting the analogy he gave when a question was asked on charging a client who wants their site to be search engine optimized. His exact words were that when negotiating a client on the price of SEO, ask this “How much are you willing to pay to have your site viewed by thousands of people worldwide?”

As with meeting anyone for the first time, I was a little on the nervous side but after meeting Kyle the nervousness subsided. At the meeting, we introduced ourselves and then Kyle told us an overview of the project and showed us examples as well. A major assignment we would be doing is migrating the old content to the new template. Also formatting and editing the content so it would be more “web-friendly” as reading on the web differs from reading on paper. As well as using techniques such as metatags and descriptions to add to the website’s search engine optimization.

I am excited because now we have the opportunity to use skills we have learned in class on real world projects outside of school like this.

Kyle also gave us an overview of the CMS system they are using for the site and we will be having weekly meetings to check in with one another.

This will be indeed an interesting project to put into my portfolio.

For the past few weeks, I was having trouble getting a practicum secured. I plan to work in a firm after I graduate so ideally I wanted to be placed in a company for my internship placement. Although without much luck, my practicum advisor and I were not successful. Many companies were too busy at the moment to take on an intern while others did not take placements. Although I was a bit disappointed, I did understand where they were coming from. Taking on an intern is most likely a lot of work in itself and as well, finding a suitable project that will be a worthwhile learning enviroment is probably difficult. I was becoming nervous to find a practicum and having enough time to complete the required hours. I need to complete 100 hours of work to graduate.

Last week, a practicum opportunity was offered through BCIT. The role seemed exciting and a great learning experience so I took it. The role would have a direct impact on the implementation of the updated BCIT School of Business website. I would also be working with another student on this project in a team collaborative environment. The first meeting with the Operations Manager will be this week. I am excited.

In life I believe that when an opportunity comes at you that you are qualified for you should take it because you never know where it might lead you.

Also, recently I purchased a hosting account through GoDaddy.com and purchased domain names as well. I am still working on the design of my actual portfolio website. In the meantime, my domains will lead you to my blog. You can find me on the following domains:

www.tiffydesigns.ca
www.tiffanyleungcreative.ca
www.tiffanyleungcreative.com