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Year 2 IMG
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Media CV
SWOT ANALYSIS
Strengths: I believe my strongest attributes to be the following: game design, communication, writing skills e.g. Research, Planning and level design. I believe these to be my strongest attributes because I have effectively and efficiently evidenced these areas consistently, I believe that these will help me in the future as communication and effective writing will help me to provide a good impression and ensure clear communication when at work or University. Furthermore, I also have more attributes that I class to be my strengths such as the ability to effectively work towards a timeframe and always submitting work on time, exceeding expectations, as well as being able to work and communicate clearly within a team providing support and leadership at times. These will help greatly in the future of my development because I will be able to successfully complete tasks to a high standard and meet deadlines set out by employers with ease.
Weaknesses: I believe that my weakest attributes would be software skills, I still feel that I lack knowledge in Maya and Blender and this may hinder my future progression because I may be required to complete 3D modelling tasks by Universities or employers, however, I plan on progressing to be a Game Designer so little to no modelling will be required in this role. In addition, I feel that public speaking is one of my weaknesses because I do not feel confident speaking to a very large audience something that may be required moving into a workplace setting.
Opportunities: Because of my strengths, in particular my good game design knowledge and practices I may be presented with many opportunities to succeed one day as a game designer in a multi million pound studio leading a team on a creative outcome. Furthermore, my clear communication skills and team work skills will help me later in life when I want to apply for job roles or university positions because I will be able to showcase my ability to work effectively in a team and working collaboratively with peers, this will help me to build on my weakness and will help me to become more confident with public speaking. In addition, my strength of excellent time management will help me when moving into a later job role because the employer will see that I am always timely and I will be more open for promotion and also I will be seen as reliable possibly leading to a greater reputation as a creative individual. Because of my performance and targeted high grade outcome for this course I will be able to secure a place at University or an Internship, this will also help out when applying for a work role as I will have the basis of the knowledge that I will have to apply in that job role.
Threats: Because of my weaknesses, in particular my lack of knowledge in 3D modelling software I may be unable to complete tasks linked to 3D modelling to the highest of my ability, this may lead to me not being able to secure a university place or job role because I lack the 3D modelling knowledge to be able to fulfil the requirements. In addition, my lack in confidence in public speaking may hinder my later work life as I will be unable to pitch ideas to potential investors or work peers resulting in me becoming unheard and my ideas will not be expressed clearly, leading to loss of partnership or investment deals.
5-Year Plan
2025:
Personal Goal: Develop my Unreal Engine skills further, I will do this by experimenting with Unreal more in my spare time and looking at tutorials on YouTube and online, I aim to do this to expand my skills and better myself for future career.
Career Goal: Look at future Internship / Apprenticeship opportunities, I will look at the UCAS website and employer websites for opportunities, I aim to complete this as I feel I will be able to progress more in a workplace role instead of University
Personal Goal: Develop my Maya / Blender skills further, I will do this by experimenting with Blender / Maya more in my spare time and looking at tutorials on YouTube and online, I aim to do this to expand my skills and better myself for future career.
Career Goal: Apply for a job role in a business not linked to industry, I will do this to build up my money and prepare for apprenticeship / internship, I will do this by looking on Indeed and applying for job roles.
2026:
Personal Goal: Work on my public speaking, I will do this by carrying out example pitches to an audience and increasing the size of the audience until I am confident, I aim to complete this as it will help when it comes to pitching ideas to investors in a future job role.
Career Goal: Start an apprenticeship / internship role, I will apply through either UCAS or Employers, I aim to complete this to get into a workplace role.
Personal Goal: Look at housing options, I will consider renting or buying with a mortgage, I will look at Rightmove and estate agents to prepare for moving into own house, I aim to complete this so I can move into my own home and start an independent life.
Career Goal: Network with people in industry either at events or over Linkedin in order to grow connections with industry in order to show reputation and build potential job roles.
Personal Goal: Look at starting a relationship, I will do this either through internship or going out and socialising.
Personal Goal: Develop my Unreal Engine skills further, I will do this by experimenting with Unreal more in my spare time and looking at tutorials on YouTube and online, I aim to do this to expand my skills and better myself for future career.
Personal Goal: Develop my Game Design skills further, I will do this by experimenting with different theories and carryout research in my free time, I aim to do this to expand my skills and better myself for future career.
2027:
Personal Goal: Maintain a relationship
Personal Goal: Develop my Unreal Engine skills further, I will do this by experimenting with Unreal more in my spare time and looking at tutorials on YouTube and online, I aim to do this to expand my skills and better myself for future career.
Personal Goal: Develop my Game Design skills further, I will do this by experimenting with different theories and carryout research in my free time, I aim to do this to expand my skills and better myself for future career.
Career Goal: Start looking for potential job roles accessing my skills and choosing a suitable pathway, I will look on Indeed, Network in person and on Linkedin and will look at employers careers sections on their websites. I aim to complete this in order to secure a long term job role in industry
2028:
Personal Goal: Maintain a relationship
Career Goal: Secure a job role in a game studio in a base level entry role, I will look on Indeed, Network in person and on Linkedin and will look at employers careers sections on their websites. I aim to complete this in order to secure a long term job role in industry
Personal Goal: Continue to develop my Unreal Engine skills further, I will do this by experimenting with Unreal more in my spare time and looking at tutorials on YouTube and online, I aim to do this to expand my skills and better myself for future career.
Personal Goal: Continue to develop my Game Design skills further, I will do this by experimenting with different theories and carryout research in my free time, I aim to do this to expand my skills and better myself for future career.
2029:
Personal Goal: Maintain a relationship
Career Goal: Continue to work to a high standard in my job role and possibly move up the ranks, I will do this by focusing on work and balancing my personal life for a more productive workflow. I aim to do this in order to improve my reputation in industry.
Life Research
As a part of Unit 11 criteria I must look at and consider future housing options, this will be based on the average income that I am expected to receive after leaving University and working a job at either a retail level or games industry level. I compared the income between a retail worker and an industry worker in order to see the difference in living costs and also how much the bank would allow me to borrow in order to pay for a mortgage.
The first task I had was looking for a suitable living accommodation, I looked at flats, studios and also 2 bedroom houses on Zoopla, I found a 1 bedroom flat in Chelmsford that was on market for £200,000, it had 1 bathroom and also a reception or lounge, I believed this to be a reasonable price for a starter house.
The next task in this session saw me researching the average salary for a Games Programmer at entry level and also an Assistant manager in retail, this was carried out in order to give an estimate on living costs and how much money the bank would lend in order to apply for a mortgage and build a deposit.
After some research in several places such as indeed I found the average salary for an Assistant Manager in retail is £22,000 per year, now this to me seems a very low salary to live on, when compared to an Entry Level games programmer at £36,000 per year, this is a huge jump in income and I feel that just from this I would like to get into the games industry.
On indeed the average salary is displayed as £28,903 - https://uk.indeed.com/career/assistant-manager/salaries
On UK Talent.com the average salary is £28,986, however the entry level is £24,000 so this would be more realistic for a University leaver - https://uk.talent.com/salary?job=assistant+manager
When looking at the average salary of an entry level games programmer the class found that to be £36,000.
After this, I calculated the income for both job roles after deductions from Tax to calculate the amount left before spending on essentials.
Salary for an Assistant Manager after Tax
Salary for an Entry Level Games Programmer after Tax
Using the house price found at the start of the task I then used a mortgage calculator to see how much the bank would lend over a 25 year period on a mortgage and whether this would be feasible with the incomes from both job roles. The monthly repayments on a mortgage would be £1,112 monthly.
After this the whole class calculated the average spending on a monthly basis and calculated how much money we would have left over to spend freely each month or save.
We only calculated the monthly payments and spending for a games programmer, this was due to the fact that the majority of the class would move into a games industry role following University. For reference the monthly mortgage for the class task was £898 so my mortgage rates would be inaccurate.
The income after tax would be: £2453
Minus the mortgage payment of £868 the money left over for bills and essentials would be: £1555
Adding up all bills and essential purchases of £529, minus the money left over, the money left for saving or extra activities would be: £1026
After this I found that it would be liveable on a salary of £36,000 with a mortgage repayment of £868 monthly.
Portfolio
As a part of Unit 11 we must create a Portfolio, I have created a portfolio on Wix showcasing my work and also showing a show reel video showcasing all of my strongest work pieces to any visitor on the site. I have also created this portfolio to help with my UCAS application and interview process as some of my choices require either an interview or access to a portfolio.
The Portfolio can be accessed here: https://jakew8907.wixsite.com/vortex-interactive-e
UCAS Application
As a requirement in Unit 11 I must evidence that I am looking to the future and carrying out applications, so I decided to write an application for UCAS in preparation for University and higher education.
Branding
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When it comes to my branding and brand image I have decided to adopt a combination mark, I have decided to adopt this type of logo design as I feel that this best represents my brand because the combination of both the studio name and the vector graphics make the logo instantly recognisable as a game studio. I decided to step away from other logo designs such as abstract and emblem because I feel that an abstract logo would not work for a start-up brand like mine because the name of my brand is not instantly recognisable just from a simple graphic. In addition, I decided to not adopt an emblem logo design because I want to promote my brand as modern and forward thinking so an emblem design would not fit this, as they normally connote the idea of heritage and tradition.
Out of all of the logo designs that I experimented with, in the end I decided to settle with the following design.
I have decided to choose this logo design because I feel that it gives of a connotation of creativeness, ambition, confidence and also knowledge. In addition, I have decided to choose two font types for my logo design, the first being a script font, the script font be seen displaying the words Vortex, I have chosen this font for my brand name because I believe that it stands out more against the sans-serif fonts I was experimenting with. Furthermore, I have chosen a sans-serif font for my less main body text of the logo because I feel that the brand type needs to be easily readable. I have decided to use sans-serif fonts because it tells my clients that my brand is modern, innovative and cutting-edge. Furthermore, my script font tells my clients that my brand is creative, personal and also connotes the idea that a lot of care has gone into my brand design. This logo here has only been designed as a PNG so is not currently scalable, however I can fix this by opening the logo in Photoshop and redesigning the logo as an SVG, this is something that I will be looking at a later date.
In terms of a branding package, I have decided to adopt a range of triadic colours that all work and fit within each other. For my primary colour I have chosen Free Speech Blue #3D55C2. I have chosen this as my main primary colour because I feel that a blue hue fits perfectly with my Vortex branding as often blue is associated with outer space and vortexes. In addition to this, I have chosen blue because of the connotations that the colour presents, often blue connotes the ideas of knowledge, confidence and wisdom, something that I want my brand to be associated with, so therefore I have chosen this blue as well as its many hues below as my main colour for titles and also brand imagery such as logos and page headers. Throughout my website I may choose to adopt a hue of the main colour but I will be consistent with my branding and colour design throughout.
For my secondary colour, I have decided to adopt a dark red / pink colour called Cherry Lolly, #C23D55. I have chosen this as my secondary colour because I feel that a dark pink / red fits perfectly with my primary colour and compliments it very well, in addition in my logo design I often leaned towards a red colour as I am instantly drawn towards the brand as the colour stands out. In addition, I have chosen this as my secondary colour because the many connotations that can be taken from the colour such as: Bold, passionate and courageous. Furthermore, when I decide to use one of the many darker hues of my secondary colour I will give off the connotations of confidence and ambition, which is something that I want to connote about my brand image. I will be using the secondary only for sub-headings and also in combination with my primary colour for my house style, so backgrounds and also my general web page design.
For my main body text I will be aiming to use simple black and white hues of my primary and secondary colours because I feel that my headings, sub-headings, backgrounds and also brand design will stand out and pop more against simple and easily readable coloured text. Below I have attached my brand package that showcases my main two colours as well as the readability of text of both a white and black hue.
For my main body text I will be aiming to use a Sans-Serif, in particular Avenir Light in an 18px font size. I have chosen this as my main body text font because I feel that sans-serif fonts connote the idea of modernism and innovation and I want to portray this across my website, in addition having a consistent font and font size will help unify my website and make for better presentation. I will be using a combination of black and white font colour for my main body text based upon the colour of the background image that contains the text.
My header text font will stick to a script font just like my logo design to ensure consistency and also make my headers stand out against the main body text. I will be using a font called Trend in a 70px font size with the main colour of my headers being that of a hue of my primary colour #475EC5. I will use this design consistently across all of my headers to ensure that my website design remains tailored for my brand. I decided to use a script font design because it connotes creativeness.
My sub-header font will be yet again another sans-serif font, because these fonts often connote the idea of forward thinking and modernism. The font will be Roboto Bold in a 46px font size in the secondary colour #C23D55. I will keep this design consistent throughout the entire website design.