Final Year!

Hey Readers!

Apologies for the lack of posts recently, I have been stretched thin for time these past couple of months worrying about a whole tonne of things! I figured I should blog to fill in the blanks from these past couple months.

I haven't had much time to look at the update I've been working on for my website, I hope to work in small increments when I get the time! Everything right now is revolving around TIME

I've got my old job back which is great! Working with the same people and some new faces too! It's awesome being back with people I got along with, and making my work that bit more fun. On the topic of work, I have also resumed my third and final year at university! I've got to come up with a final year project but when I try to conjure up some material I either pull a mind blank or I just can't up with a storyboard that has enough mileage! It's incredibly annoying when you can't figure out what you want or decide which direction you want to go! Forcing myself to come up with a few ideas has caused me a few headaches, maybe my brain is still conditioning itself to deal with the ideas cogs tunning at maximum rev LOL!

I'm keeping ontop of things barely but I can go the extra mile to get me bacck on my feet, I just need to get my bearings (lord knows how long that'll take me)

Just have to keep my eyes on the prize which is a 1st Class Honours Degree and keep winning the small fights!

Stay tuned for future updates,
Ren

Cool Flyers, Posters, Leaflets - Great Flyer Design Inspiration

Hey Guys,

I've been working on some flyer designs recently, which I will be posting up soon and just recently got some feedback on them. I will have to make a few amendments/ changes, and will have to touch up on a few things.

One of the things that I have to change is to make the flyer more simple! I have been experimenting on how to achieve this look and feeel and I'm yet to find the answer. During my search for this outcome I came across a useful site as the blog title suggests: Cool Flyers, Posters, Leaflets - Great Flyer Design Inspiration.

Take a look at it and I hope you find it useful.

You can also follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/jusren

All the best,
Ren

What's New Ren?

Well, really I should be in bed! I just got back from Wales a few hours ago and I am completely shattered! I've chosen to stay up a bit longer to work on a flyer as I've now been employed and can now make it official that I am an (amateur) freelance graphics and webdesigner.

I am driving myself crazy with Illustrator as I'm trying to familiarise myself with the damn software! Luckily I have my cousin on hand to help me out as he's much more familiar with the package than I am and helped me get this job in the first place.

My threshold for tolerance is at it's limit and I'm becoming exhausted!

Just thought I'd let you know how I'm getting on in my life, and I will post up the flyer concepts once I've sent them to my boss and get some sort of feedback.

As for my web site layout for jusren.com this will be put on hold for the timebeing as I've got to work to do and will need to see where I can fit this in.

Will keep you all posted with what's going on.

All the best,
Ren

Second Concept Complete

Hey All,

Behold...my second layout concept.

I want to come up with one more before I make a decision.

The template I feel has depth with the use of shadows, there isn't much on the homepage because I tried to keep it as minimal as possible. I took this approach because if I tried to put a bit more content in there I'd somehow end up repeating myself and the link/ content on one of my other pages.

What do y'all think?

Ren

New Layout Concept

Hello Readers,

Here is another layout concept, I don't feel it's exactly complete but I wanted to show you all what I've come up with so far.

What do you think?

What's happened to jusRen?

*Listening to Keri Hilson - Knock You Down*

Hey Guys,

As always, I leave it awhile before I make an update blog and just pour it all out in one go. What's new with me I hear you ask...? Well my dear blog reader, I've completed my years work experience at The Royal College of General Practitioners working as a Content Support Officer. I loved working there and I hope to have the opportunity to work there again in the future.

I'm now looking for another day job to keep my balance happy, so back to the world of retail I go and I'll try and get some freelance or collaboration work done. With all this free time, I'm either playing Assassins Creed and looking at some Flash tutorials for creating a flash website, I figured since I can do (X)HTML and CSS, I figured it would be very useful to brush up on my flash and take it that step further and create a site.

What's also been playing on my mind recently is the decision about whether I should buy an SLR or not, I want to get into photography so I can have my own mini-collection of stock photo's.

Any recommendations on what SLR's are good for newbies?

Let me know,
Ren

Song on Loop

Hey Guys,

I know I post some pretty random things, so I gueesss it's better than me blabbering about my site and what I'm trying to do to it.

This is the song that I just can't get enough of at the moment!

Enjoy!


Everything Everyday Everywhere Video

OVERDUE UPDATE

Hey All,

Oh my goodness! It has been a very long time since I last blogged! I'm embarrassed to even check the date of when I last done so. Nonetheless, better late than never I guess..right?!

I've just returned from a family trip in Scotland and we stayed at a few locations that I won't attempt at spelling but the one I love the most was Dundee. I enjoyed my time there so much I made a little I LOVE NY imitation below;


The buildings and scenery in Dundee is wonderful. You can see the place has retained it's classic look and but they have somehow transformed with time to emit a modern look at the same time as well. Architecture and the people there were very warm and welcoming! Thank you Dundee for making my family trip a great one :)

First update, starting tomorrow will commence the last week of my student working gap year at The Royal College of General Practitioners. After a year working here, I've grown very attached to the people there and I enjoyed the growth I've gone through that has helped me improve over the past twelve months.

I've got my sights set on finishing university with a bang! Pulling out all the stops and taking no prisoners! Third Year Here I Come

With all that's been happening with me, I haven't had much time to work on my personal site. But here is a screenshot to show you what I've come up with so far for my homepage.



What do you think? This is all still subject to change depending on what type of feedback I get.

That's about as much as I can pour out now.

Blog soon,

Ren

Been a While...

Hey Guys,

It sure has been a long time since I last posted, and a lot has happened in my life since then. Like what I hear you ask? I've bought a car, I am now a proud owner of a Volkswagen Polo and proud! I am also nearning towards the end of my gap year and work placement. I feel that as time draws closer towards the final day, the more I will feel prepared to move on and complete my third and final year. I want to congratulate my classmates who graduated without me, I know I was there with you guys but your thoughts and friendship kept the connection alive.

My website re-design is still near the top of my to-do list. Probably work on it between my last day at work and before I go back to university (Note to self* Find out next years timetable).

I am pretty anxious to get back to the student life and finding out what the new subjects are like, especially the two options I picked which were Internet security and some sort of web design course (can't really remember the name but I think that's the jist of things).

Stay posted and enjoy the Summer =)
Ren

Bring on Third Year!

Hey Guys,

Just got home from my Signal Processing Electronics exam (re-take) and I must say I feel pretty good about how I done in the exam. There were a few questions on the multiple choice that had me puzzled, a few of them were numbers and if you knew the formula, all you'd have to do is just use the formula with the given figures and see if the answer was in either A, B, C or D. Cheap I know but hey! What ever gets me the marks, as long as it's not rule-breaking then I'm not complaining.

Exams are over, and all I have to focus on is completing my placement year, getting my car and I'm all set for third year. I really don't want to be using public transport for third year, especially for filming assignments! I can recall the aches and pains my body was put through dragging filming equipment with me, wherever I went!

The weather's great, I feel great (besides the severe hayfever sneezes).

I can concentrate on looking at rebuilding my website as well (refer to my previous blog).

I'm going to make the most of this moment and play a quick NBA 2K9 match on the XBOX 360 haha.

All the best,
Ren

JusRen. v3.0

Hey Guys,

I've been thinking about this for quite awhile now and I'm slowly leaning towards the idea of re-desigining my website. I keep on making changes to the site and what-not, although it looks how I want it too, the way it has been constructed and assembled feels unstable and something that has just been cobbled together.

I will be looking first for a wallpaper and work from there (wallpaper is where i always start from) I'll either make one or get permission from DeviantArt members for their permission. That's also another collaboration I admire, if you use another persons' material (with a persons' permission, I cannot stress that enough!) but then you can also link to them and vice versa, thus creating your first link in a forum of networks.

The changes won't be made anytime soon, I'll be working locally before making the changes all go live at once.

You heard it here first guys!

JusRen v3.0

Stay Tuned!
-Ren

Loves So Real Cru

Hey Readers,

Ren Jr here, Just thought I'd make a quick blog before I get back to revision! *SIGH* I've been watching America's Best Dance Cru recently and from Season 2 I just knew from episode 1 who I'd love..it's that EXPLOSION..SO REAL CRU!. I think I'll have to shake off the Photoshop rust and make a banner for this group (I don't care if it sounds sad, I'M A FAN) lol. Look at one of their talented videos.



Once my exam tomorrow is done and out of the way I hope to get into fixing my website some more. Still have some content to add and some bits of media that I want to sort out and categorise on overall.

Better get back to revising *SIGH!*

Wish me luck..

Ren

Swine Flu Skank

Hey All,

It's been all over the news in media and now it's making an impact on the music scene.

Take a look at this catchy song on how to use precaution against being infected with swine-flu.



Also, I've given up reading The Book Thief. You can see from Amazon that this book has been highly rated, and I'm afraid that I must be a part of another crowd that cannot share the same sentiment regarding this book. I've tried to pick up on it and hope that the chapters get better, but the story is just testing my patience, storyline is just not moving to the pace I like, that or the author is just poor at storytelling.

I need to read a new book, guess I still have The Kite Runner to read. I have high expectations of this book! People have been saying positive things about this book, I've been saving it for after I completed The Book Thief, but after that disaster, I'll just move onto desert :)

Thoughts anyone?
Ren

Day After Ren's Birthday

Hey All,

Yet another blog from yours truly. I've got to give a big THANK YOU to everyone who messaged me on Facebook and sent me texts wishing me a Happy 22nd Birthday :). I feel the love people!

Yesterday was just a great day, spent with the one I love and family and friends! Perfect recipe for a perfect birthday! Not to mention the gifts haha =) That's always a cool bonus!

I've taken quite a strong interest recently in photography, I see such great scenery, and colour surrounding me on a daily basis! It's just a shame all I have on me is my 3.2mp Nokia E71 LOL! So I'm doing a bit of research on camera terminology like ISO's, apertures, depth of field (that's all I've picked up so far), if anyone can shed some more light on other things and make some newbie camera suggestions I'd be most thankful.

Everytime I post a blog I really do enjoy logging my thoughts, and looking back at the past, I am in search for a forum that allows bloggers to gather and talk about anything/ everything! A good chance to really push the boat out in the bloggers world.

Friday May 8th 2009 was the last day of university lectures and workshops for me, and all I have left waiting for me is an Electronics exam which I've been preparing for since last week. I don't feel too nervous about it, I had a class test on that day and discovered what I really need to work on (figures that it's material in the second semester that I'm not digesting too well. Optimism at the moment is at all time high! I've started revision much more earlier than I usually would and so it's a great pat-on-the-bacck for me as well as being very satisfying, which means that the result can only be rewarding (right!?)

Better get back to fixing the navigation part of my website for the Internet Explorer! Wish me luck.

Ren

jusRen Update

Hello Friends,

Jeez! It's been well over a month since I last post! I'm so sorry about that guys, I've definately had a lot on my plate recently, which is why when I first checked my blog and noticed how overdue I was on a blog, I almost choked on a pretzel!

After a lot of friendly nudges/ elbowing and a lot of support, help and enthusiasm I am finally pleased to report that I have finally added the Media section to my website. You will also notice that I have replaced replaced this page over the Skills page that I use to have. I done this because I felt that the information there was a bit C.V-ish and didn't really tell a lot about myself, and from what I listed on that page had already been covered and explained on the About me page. Please check out my new page and let me know what you all think, don't know who will actually check it but a lot of feedback will be very much appreciated. Yes, I know I only have one video up there at the moment. I am scrambling through my PC to find my second year projects that I would like to share with you all. So, please stay tuned for more media updates with jusRen.com :)

All the best,
Ren

Another Update

Good Afternoon Everyone,

Today is the last day before Study Week/ Spring Break begins and I ended it with an Electronics test that counts for 10% of my final grade! So this meant quite a bit to me as I have no intentions of going through this re-take lightheartedly! This time round Ren is taking no prisoners! Thoughts on how this test went are positive and confident ones. I know I got a questions wrong but those questions I got right..I KNOW I GOT RIGHT! =) Thank goodness for work-experience (it has definately shaped my attitude) questions looked a bit more recognizable, as I remember coming across this class test on my first attempt and each question making me sweat more than the other. I'm glad that that was an experience I did not re-enact and have no intention of ever repeating again. All-in-all I feel that the test went well.

Right now I'm still in university waiting for my workshop to start so I have a good three hours to go before attending my hour long workshop. Yep, I know! I will have waiting three hours for an hour lecture! These we're never being held the first time I took them so I figured I should make full use of the assistance that is being provided, plus I'm scared that what if one of the workshop questions pop-up in one of the exams?! I don't want to be kicking myself thinking "..If only I attended this lecture, or that workshop and done this question.."

It's been on my mind for awhile now that I start storyboarding my final year projects, and start refreshing my memory with some applications that I'll be using or investigating in the use of other applications. Fortunately, I've been blessed with good friends who are willing to help me out with casting and camera work..these friends of mine are the people who have helped me ddevelop my working attitude that I can always do better and havve helped me map out my limitations. Most of all, they havve always been there for me =) So a MASSIVE THANK YOU/ SHOUT OUT TO TEAM RASCO.

When the work scheduele begins to take effect with my final year project, I will be uploading my development work both good and bad so we can all see how things are going. Plus it will showcase my working diary for my lecturers to see the work that I've produced and gone through to give them my final pieces.

Gotta restart my machine now as Norton 360 has picked up a trojan.

Have a great Easter everyone.

Much love,
Ren

What do I do?

..What do I have to do to make my site a lot more appealing? Surely the design and look of a site can only do so much for traffic. I really need to start thinking about what I look for in websites that keeps me visiting their site and always leaving feeling a lot more content. The effect I am looking for here to decrease bite rate. When I manage to free some time for my website, I think I might have to evaluate the content on my pages and lang pages as well.

Recently at work there have been a few colleagues who have shown interest in the websites that I generate for a website (www.rcgp.org.uk) asking me about what certain terms mean in the stats generated for their viewings. This has given me the chance to actually learn answers to their questions and on the positive I LEARN SOMETHING NEW. As I've had to visit websites and find out what these termilogies mean and find out how they affect a website and it's traffic/ viewing.

Why am I talking about statistics? I hear you asking me..Well my dear reader..it'ss because from these statistics I can find out which pages are showing to be rather popular andthose that aren't. I can then look at the pages that are and aren't popular and try and implement some good changes onto the boring (less viewed) pages. This is a term I hope I managed to use in the correct term is called "Optimization". If I'm wrong please correct me and I will be glad to change this.

Stay tuned for probable changes on my website viewers. I now have a practical to attend to.

Keep well and have a great weekend.
Ren

Before I Forget..

I should do this blog right now before I get lumbered with another job or before I get carried away with Street Fighter IV. I've been meaning to post a blog ever since the month started and make a few more adjustments to my site although work has been taking up my time and keeping me busy, and by the time I get home all I want to do is just rest!

I've been learning more about Google Analytics (well more like what some of their terminology means like Bounce Rate and %Exit) I haven't had much time to work on my website. I really need to think of a way to have returning visitors, my first idea was a blog to let students and placement students alike know what a placement student like me does, learns and gets up to.

With work I've been working with ASP.net and CSS, I know for all you pro's out there this is nothing difficult, but for a total newbie and hard to sink-things-in type learner, it's keeping me on my toes. I've learnt about data-strings and data sources, so this is giving me a good insight into how Visual Studio works and what it does. I must say however, that I really enjoy this type of web-development. What I mean by this is the coding, the testing and the satisfaction of what you accomplish at the finish line. Be it javascript validation or classic asp form or creating an email form these are just a few things to draw from my experience with web development so far. I'm sure there are a lot more things that web development has to offer as well, so whether I come across it now during my work experience, uni, or when I'm working on random things for my own purpose. I look forward to learning more about development.

My placement is almost over, and I really want to start blogging as much as possible now so that I have something to look back on besides my notepad that keeps track of my daily jottings of things to do and other notes. Before I started my placement I really had no clue what I wanted to do with myself in the future, no sense of direction in terms of career plan and or how to achieve it. I had a few pre-concepts of what my calling was such as beat making/ sampling, post-editing with Adobe Premiere Pro and wanting to learn more about Adobe After Effects. I always knew that I had a thing for web-design and developing it, and so with my placement year, I was very fortunate to find a job that contributes to my web-interests and has nonetheless increased my desire to become a web-designer/ developer.

I cannot stress enough about how valuable I have found my work placement to be, which is why I've chosen to dedicate my third year final project to this iteration. It will be a short commercial that will be storyboarded, edited and filmed by myself (although I do have plans to have a few hands to help from a few talented minds of mine).

Once my placement is over and I get university out of the way, I have plans to do a masters. I don't really know what kind of masters yet, so I guess I'll have some homework to do when that time comes. I was thinking something more to do with web design/ development and delve deeper into this world and finding out more about what endless things are possible. Another course would be Visual Communications, for me I think this would be a very good way for me to achieve/ communicate better with the world through images, text and layout of a website. This would help me gain a better scope with what I want to achieve and how to go about it.

If you are a placement student, I would love to hear from you and how your experience is so far. If you were a placement student and have (or haven't yet) graduated from uni, I would like to hear from you and tell me how it has affected you, your work and your employment credibility.

I better stop now before I start babbling.

All the best,
Ren

Time Flies by..

It really does, and it always surprises me! Before my work placement I was stuck in lecture wishing for the clock to fast forward, but nowadays I find it hard to just get a hold of things and get a grip on my bearings! Time really is whizzing on by.

What I wanted to say in this blog was that I finally gave up with my self-struggle in waiting for the N97 to be released at the end of March, and so I have now upgraded onto the Nokia E71! I've always had my eye set on it but then the 5800 came in and that went away, then came the N97..but then that craving expired and so I unveil the news of my great upgrade! (Now I have no excuse of forgetting anyone's birthday as this phone keeps me organised)

Time's flying by and I really don't know what I do when I get home..clearly it's hasn't been blogging..Look at the last time I blogged, it was at the beginning of this month, and now we're half-way through. AHA! More news, I NOW WEAR GLASSES!! haha! that should add the extra 5% in my nerdiness to boost it up to a healthy 90% on my friendster account lol.

With the little time I managed to get I updated my Links page on my website with two new links before I got dragged away into something.

That's all I have to say for now, drop me a line and visit my site at www.jusren.com.

All the best,
Ren

What I've Been up to...?

Hi Guys,

Just thought since it's a new month, I should make a new post just to let you all know what I've been getting up to when I'm not working on my website. Well guys, the thing that's been taking up most of my time is work-work-work. Which is not a bad thing (it never was!) I've been working with some new languages and build a novice/ independant understanding of Javascript, (Classic) ASP, and ASP.NET. Another language that I would like to work with would have to be Apache.

I hope by mid-February, I can resume my website update as I'm still yet to update my site with a Portfolio page.

Was meant to get my upgrade awhile ago to get the Nokia 5800 but when I checked it out in the store it was pretty crap and would've been more like a downgrade than upgrade if I we're to get it. I've figured that I should perhaps just wait until March to get the highly anticipated Nokia N97! another great n97 link here for you.

Just to wrap things up here, and let you know that I'm completely engrossed in my book "World Without End" the book is still and keeps on getting better! If you guys haven't read it I suggest you do!

All the best,
Ren

Still Active

Hello All,

Just thought that I should make a quick blog to re-assure and let you all know that I'm still here. I've been busy with work recently and I haven't had much time to blog or make any changes to my website.

In addition, besides reading webdesign books and other web-related books, I've been reading a fantastic book from Ken Follett called World Without End. This book is absolutely captivating! A definate page turner! So much so, that I'm going to get another book of his named A Dangerous Fortune, and if this book turns out to be just as good as World Without End, then I may have to read another Follett novel! LOL.

I'm also getting my upgrade for my pay monthly phone tommorrow. What phone am I going to get? I hear you ask. Very good question, I've opted to go for the Nokia 5800. What do you guys think? Was thinking of the N97 at first but it' going to take awhile (2 months till it's out!)

There you have it guys! My latest post to keep you all up-to-date with what I'm doing and getting up to.

All the best,
Ren

Un-Decided

Hey There World,

If you can recall my debating over replacing the Skills page with a Portfolio one, if you take a look at my site you'll still find that my site's navigation still displays "Skills".

I really can't decide which one to pick. Skills is something that I reckon I can have on my About page and just have a bookmark placed with a link at the top of the page. (Just came up with that plan...Note to self..DO NOT FORGET!!!)

I don't think I'll be coming up with a solid decision just yet since I've got work that constantly needs taking care of. It's strange how once I get my sight up and running (well near enough running..ok ok jogging more like LOL). I'll try and get onto this as soon as possible and put my mind and site at rest and have it set.

Stay Tuned, and watch this space.

All the Best,
Ren

Good Reading

Hello Again,

For Christmas, I received a great book titled "Guidelines for Online Successs". I started reading this on Christmas, which was around the same time I wanted to put into action the new layout of my website (as it is now).

The book provides a very strong and simple foundation for web-designers alike no matter the experience. It takes a look at various aspects of web-design, navigation, content, e-commerce, layout and so much more.

I strongly recommend you either purchase this book or borrow it from your local library. I gurantee you won't regret it! Whether you're looking for ideas, inspiration or information about different topics regarding the many elements of web-design, this book will break the ice and arm you with a good insight to the good/ user-friendly web design.

What I liked most about the book was the way the information was presented. The contributor of the chapter would write the intro then the next few pages would contain screen-shots of web-sites that best portray the authors point(s). With each introduction to a new chapter, there would be good five point list of Do's and Don'ts related to the chapter, which I found pretty easy to grasp, instead of ploughing through pages and paragraphs of do's and don'ts. This book breaks information down into bitesize chunks!

A book that I'm sure to return to in the future when I want to find inspiration and information for my next layout or project.

Let me know what you all think.

Good Night,
Ren

Blogs Best Friend

Hi Readers,

As you know I'm trying to establish a good fluidity with you guys through this good ol' blog of mine!

I've come to realise that to assist the creation of a blog, you can improve it a lot with the help of a very useful website which is feedburner.com. The site enables you to add many functions to and from your blog like a counter of your readers and subscribers, live feed/ update from your blog to your website (take a look at my "About" page and look for "Recent Posts", and you'll understand what I'm talking about. Another function that Feedburner provides is RSS for your blog which I find to be very useful. With the web evolving a lot more and communication over the web increasing RSS makes things much easier for people to stay updated with site content.

I strongly recommend you visit Feedburner and find out for yourself what they can do for you.

All the best and happy blogging,
Ren

New Years Resolution of a Web Designer

Hello Readers,

This is a list of New Years Resolutions that I've come up with for myself as a web-designer/ developer.

1. Don't sleep past 2am in the morning.
2. Know who I want to pitch my website to i.e. recognising my audience.
3. Improving my content skills.
4. Find a better webhost.
5. Learn some PHP.
6. Improve CSS, HTML & XHTML skills.
7. Learn about flash sites.
8. Actually develop a flash site.
9. Build up a portfolio.
10. Have atleast 5 jobs to display in my portfolio by the end of 2009.
11. Learn more about SEO.
12. Utilize Adobe Illustrator.
13. Make my website more interactive.

That's about all I can think of for the time being, hopefully I've named all that I can/ or the more important ones atleast.

What are your New Year Resolutions?

All the Best,

Ren

New Site Online

Hey Readers,

I decided that it was time that I finally get my website online as it was long overdue and show you how I'm getting along with the new layout. You can now finally view what I've come out with so far by clicking here.

Pages that still require content are; Skills and Links. As mentioned in my previous blog both of these pages/ titles will be under review in both content and title.

Back to the subject, IT'S OFFICIAL! jusren.com has begun it's process of updating it's layout.

Stay tuned for further updates.

All the Best,

Ren Q

First '09 Post

Hello Readers,

Finally, I'm back here blogging for you all. I've been busy with a few things at home and have not found the right time to blog until now. I've now just completed my About and index page.

The other pages I have left to do are Skills, Links and Contacts. However, recently I've been looking at other web designers websites/ portfolios and discovered that their Contact page is contained in the About page along with useful links. With the Useful Links, they no longer come in a long list, instead you can have them stored on web sites such as Digg Stumble Upon and Delicious.

For those readers who were already aware of these sites, I apologize for the repition, but you guys should've told me sooner! haha.

What does this all mean for my site I hear you ask? Well, what this means is that if my contact and links page will merge with the About page, I will replace any one of them with "Portfolio" where I aim to showcase my work and projects.

I guess my navigation is yet still working out its kinks. I will let you all know of any other ideas/ decisions that I come up with.