Here is a log of each and every day which passes within the project. Each task is noted and every problem we faced is mentioned, including how we over came them.
DAY 1- 19/11/2012
Today we started to get into the project by thinking about a meeting with our client. We need to meet with our client to get a better understanding on what is asked of us in terms of the digital graphics. It is important to keep close contact with Mr. Hutchinson (our client) as we need to demonstrate any problems or ideas which accures within the project.
An easy accessible way to communicate with our client would be via e-mail. So before we send an e-mail we have to write up a draft so we can be sure that it is not full of any spelling mistakes or is too informal. We need to be professional throughout and not see out client as a friend or a teacher, but see him as a business partner.
The e-mail it's self should explain and mention every piece of information he or we may need to know. This is a group task and therefore my partner (Samuel Turner) and I, shared ideas and points which we believe should be mentioned in the e-mail. Unfortunately there was a misunderstanding in terms of what was asked during this task and instead of creating one e-mail between us both, we made two separate e-mails. The problem with this is that it doesn't show the client that me and Sam are a team, and also suggests un-professionalism, as we will be sending inconvenient e-mails to the client. To over come this problem I suggested that it would be best to merge the two e-mails together, this way both of ideas are placed in one e-mail, however after some debating we agreed that it would take time to create another whole new e-mail. Therefore we decided to use Sam's e-mail as a template, and I tweaked and changed a few things. We eventually had sent a completed e-mail which covered everything that needed to be covered.
Below is the final e-mail we sent to Mr. Hutchinson, which is still waiting a reply.
Dear Mr Hutchinson,
We are writing to inform you about the first stages of our project and what they email.
As
you may know, we have been assigned to your PE
department project with the intention of re-branding the department
through the medium of an interactive media platform. With the news of
this exciting development, we are both eager to schedule a meeting with
you to discuss the following elements of our digital graphics and
digital video sections:
- Project time frame
- The End products required by yourself
In
more detail, our meeting will be to discuss deadlines and release dates
as well as specific content that you would like to appear within the
final product. As a result of this meeting, we will take forward your
ideas in order to create sketch ideas, design ideas and initial designs
for the first instance of the project relating to the digital graphics
for the department.
In addition, we would like to discuss our
digital video production unit; we feel that some sort of digital video
would be an excellent way to demonstrate your ethos and to promote your
ideas. Therefore, our designs and ideas can also be discussed at this
time as well as the digital graphics.
We will mainly aspects of
digital graphics such as backgrounds, logos, colour schemes, images and
animations. In addition, we will be carrying out market research to
further enhance our choice of ideas so that the final product will be of
the highest possible quality to suit your needs. Similarly, when
discussing our digital video, we will also talk about the key content of
the video as well as any legal or ethical considerations which are
necessary.
Therefore, we would like to ask when would be a good time
to schedule this meeting in order to ensure that the entire process is
as easy and convenient as possible for you.
Since this is our
first contact with yourself, we would both like to take the opportunity
to invite you to contact us at any time if you require further
discussion on any aspect of the platform. More specifically, you can
find both of us on the following email addresses:
Sam: a07sturner@bluecoat.uk.com
Josh: w07jwing@bluecoat.uk.com
We are both very enthusiastic about the prospect of this project and are looking forward to hearing from you in the near future.
Yours Faithfully,
Samuel Turner & Josh Wing – Giga X Studios
We also thought it would be best to create a logo which will represent me and Sam as a company. We both made a logo each and wanted to see who can make the best one. unfortunately we liked each others logo and we wasn't sure who's we should use. To compromise and so we don't use too much time deciding on this extra feature we decided that we should combine both logos to together.
Day 2- 20/11/2012
At this stage all we all have is an e-mail sent to Mr Hutchinson, which mainly asks of him to possibly meet with us so we can get a clear and better understanding on what it is he is looking for. We expect our client to agree to a date which me and Sam can be satisfied with, so with this in mind we need to think about what it is we want to ask him or what information we require from him.
It is unprofessional to ask a client to meet with us, for us to not plan and prepare for this meeting. With this in minded both me and Sam started to note down any important information and questions we could ask. This meeting we have with our client will be a contrast between questions for the Unit 62 project and this project (unit 19). Therefore, as well as thinking of points to state and ask about, it is also important that we consider how much time we spend discussing about the two projects. Both of these units are just as important to each other, and it will not be practical to spend 15 minutes discussing unit 62 and 5 minutes discussing unit 19.
We created a document in word which some-what is structured like a script. For us to be able to consider what we should say and how long the meeting should last, we structured our notes in order, of what is going to be said first to what is going to be said last. This allowed us to have a fluent and clear structure of questions to ask our client which will not only benefit us in terms of time, but will also present a professional manner to our client.
Some of the key points we want to mention in the meeting about the digital graphics is; what colour schemes he wants for his roll-over buttons, what them he wants for his digital graphics, who he believe the digital graphics should be aimed at, ect.
Day 3- 22/11/2012
Today we started to think about our market research. We needed a way of finding out what people think on what should be included in our digital graphics. For example, what colour schemes do they think we should use for our roll-over buttons. To do this effectively we created a questionnaire. Most groups decided to use Microsoft Word to create theirs, however me and Sam decided to go and use SurveyMonkey. We used this website as we have used it before and we know this website allows you to create simple, effective and easy questionnaires.
We looked at visual aspects for a questionnaire as well as the questions. For example when we asked about the colour scheme we should use we gave visual colours to help the audience decide on what they think is best.
It was also important that we thought about the questions we actually ask. We are to later gather the date from the questionnaires and translate them into tables and charts. Because of this, we used closed questions as open questions will give us too much of a range in terms of answers. This will make it impossible to create data charts successfully.
This wasn't too difficult as we have time to complete the questionnaire, send it out, receive the feedback, translate this into charts and then present the results to our client. The deadline day for all these tasks to be completed will be next Tuesday.
Whilst there was no major hold backs or problems, I think the task will get more and more challenging as the project goes forth.
Day 4- 23/11/2012
Today's task was all about arranging out time effectively. We began to think about using Microsoft Project to create a gannt chart for this assignment. Similarly to Unit 64, we are to create a gantt chart which tells us which tasks to complete at which specific date we start and end. With little experience using this software we knew it wasn't going to be easy. Nevertheless me and Sam decided that we should split the work load today. We decided that Sam should finish of the questionnaire and then later send it out to the audience. We thought it would be best for him to do this as the questionnaire is saved in his SurveyMonkley account and therefore he can only open and send the questionnaire out. Whilst Sam worked on this task I started to work on designing and creating the gannt chart. Whilst we both had separate tasks and areas to work on we were sure to look over each others shoulders, offering advice, help and support to one another.
I was getting used to this software when sudden fault started to arouse. Some of the information/ tasks I had put in were not showing on the chart. Another problem was that the task were not hidden when the the summary was minimized. This was an unfamiliar problem, and therefore we had to make some important decisions. At this stage, Sam had sent out the questionnaire and was full prepared to help me on the gannt chart. We decided to use his computer and work together on this task. Eventually we managed to complete the gantt chart, presenting every task that needs to be completed.
These tasks only took us one lesson, and we were happy that they were not too time consuming. The questionnaires were successfully sent and now we need to wait on people to reply.
27/11/2012
Unfortunately I was to unwell with illnesses to make it into to college to continue this project. Therefore I was falling slightly behind on work. Thankfully however, my partner Sam, was on hand to carry on with the work on his own, and managed to create fantastic work on our research market.
Sam had gathered the results from the questionnaire, and placed the data into tables and charts. He then did a summary on each piece of date, explaining which each one demonstrates and which data we are more likely going to reflect in our project. Whilst this was a hard task for Sam, he managed to get this task completed. I may of been away, but I was sure to keep a fluent contact with Sam asking what he had done during the lesson via chat sites. This reflects the clear and high demanding communication we need to include in this project, for us to get a top grade.
Here are some notable points made by the questionnaire feedback and data; the feedback suggest that we shall name our company "BA Sports", we should use a font called "Apple Boy BTN" within the digital graphics and text, our theme should be based mainly on fitness and similar themes and also we should aim our web site at a group age of 11-15 years old (young children).
DAY 6- 29/11/2012
I was finally better today, and I was eager and ready to get along side Sam in this project. We read through the feedback from the questionnaires and we were ready to start creating moodbaords on the colour scheme the target audience suggested within the questionnaire. The target audience said that they would like a blue theme, with a variety of different shades of blue. With this in mind, we started to look through different images containing different shades of blue. We then took these images and applied them to a moodboard, which once completed, will provide us with helpful and resourceful inspiration when is comes to choosing the colour schemes for our roll over buttons and similar aspects in digital graphics.
This seemed like a simple task however, the school's internet connection let us down. It was very slow and very insufficient. This stopped us from working at a fast and pace full rate, and what seemed to be an hours long task may now lead into another session. On the other hand, we got a lot of inspiring images onto our moodboard, and we are more than happy to show this to our client in our agreed meeting.
This brings me onto the agreed meeting scheduled for tomorrow (Friday 30th November 2012). The initial E-mail we sent out last week has now been read and replied to by our client. Mr. Hutchinson has now agreed to see us on this date. I see this as a fortunate circumstances as any other day such as Monday or Tuesday would be a disappointment for the client and me and Sam, as I was not in on those days.
DAY 7- 30/11/2012
Today was the day we met with our client and prepared to sit down and discuss this project further. We gathered our notes and questions and headed top the PE Department for our first formal meeting with Mr Hutchinson.
We waited for Mr Hutchinson for when he was ready, as we did not want to rush him into this meeting. Once he was ready we began to ask him some questions about this project. We decided we would be more organised if we took it in turns to ask and reply to certain questions. Below are the questions we scripted:
-Well clearly, it is important that we establish which target audience you have in mind so that we can target the project at an individual age group or party. What are your thoughts on this?
-You mentioned that you want to establish sports within the school and to promote you ethos and to continue with the Olympic legacy. Could you at all expand on this , or do you require this to be the sole purpose?
-Specifically talking about the video, what content are you expecting to be included within the video itself and, similarly, within the digital graphics?
-We know that Blue coat is a very active school, so with this in mind would it possible that we could attend any events or lessons in order for us to catch any sports in action for the shoot?
-In addition, getting the right balance between content and length is important. What do you consider to be a sensible length for the digital video?
-Within the media industry it is important to avoid indecency and any other ethical issues such as balancing the races and genders that appear within the video. In order for us to avoid any of these issues, are there any precautions or steps you advise us to take?
-In your brief, you included a small range of recommended websites. Are there any of these websites that you would specifically like us to base all or some of our ideas?
-The video needs some sort of theme. Do you have any particular input on the sort of slant we should take with this? For example, comic, cinematic, documentary, action or commercial styles?
-We understand that the school loves sports, so we were thinking of using any footage or images which are free from copyright and royalties that we could/ should include? For example you may have a video which you want people to see and would like to include this in out video?
-Finally, do you have any suggestions as to what we should include in the video with regards to audio? E.G. music, narration, dialogue or sfx?
-Is there anything else you feel you could add with regards to our digital video, or are you happy to move on to discussing the digital graphics element?
The answers he gave were very detailed and gave us a much better in-depth of what he want and what he is looking for in particular. It gave us some important information on what he was looking for from us in this project. This was complimented with some comments and input from Mrs. Jackson (P.E teacher), who gave us some of her valued opinions.Whilst this meeting with our client helped, Mr Hutchinson has given quite a lot of freedom in terms of what we include in our digital graphics and promotional video. He gave us a lot of what he wants to be put in, whilst allowing us to be creative and put in a mixture of our own ideas.
We may have felt slightly uncomfortable with the formality of the meeting, however we got everything we needed and I believe we shown that we are confidence when speaking and presenting our ideas and questions.
Day 8- 03/12/2012
In this lesson we started to create and design our initial designs. We started to sketch our ideas for the digital graphics. We used pencils, paint, knives and crayons to present our ideas for graphics such as, logos, banners, animated gifs. and navigation menus and buttons. Me and Sam literally but all of our ideas down to paper, and whilst some ideas may not be used, we will use some aspects and design ideas to inspire new ideas!
We used a mixture of computer and paper work to get some ideas. For example we used SerifDrawPlus to design some banners and logos. We then copied these onto paper. Other ideas we simply designed by hand drawing without any inspiration.
One problem we encountered was when Serif crashed and "stopped responding" this deleted some work and ideas, however we overcame this problem with dedication, to recreate the designs. Other than this, we did not encounter other hold-backs or problems today!
Day 9 & 10- 04/12/2012 & 06/12/2012
On these days we looked at the sketches and ideas we designed on Day 8. We basically worked on what we was working on day 8. This task needs a lot of concentration and thinking, which is why it has taken this amount of time. We not only thought about what we liked but we also thought about the feedback from both the questionnaire and Mr Hutchinson in the meeting we had last week. We had to stick to the theme of sport and keep everything related to the feedback and comments, as well as including some of our ideas for more creativity. The most important aspect we kept to from out feedback... it the colour schemes. Not only do we agree that the digital graphics should have a blue colour scheme, Mr Hutchinson and the questionnaire feedback also think we should go with this scheme. Therefore is was important that we stuck to this colour scheme.
We did not encounter any major setbacks and we were successful with coming up with more ideas.
Day 11- 07/12/2012
Today we worked on our sketches and designs once more. We concentrated on the roll over buttons and the designs of the roll over buttons. Like the logo, we thought we could get inspiration and ideas on what we can achieve on making on the computer, then we put these onto paper, highlighting the colours and details that need to be known and used.
Once we finished these designs me and Sam looked over at what we have drawn and the way we have presented our ideas, and in all honestly we were slightly dissapointed with the quality of the drawings. I think we may have spent too much time designing on the computer which took too much time away from the design time on paper. We decided that it would be best to re-draw some of the designs in a much neater and presentable manor. For example the text and annotations were difficult to read. Therefore we written them up again.
By the end of today's lesson we were happy with the outcome and are more than confident ot move onto to the next task on Monday. We got all the designs we thought were necessary, completed so we were quite successful.
Day 12- 10/12/2012
Today we were still working on our sketches and designs. It is safe to say that we have had plenty of time on this task so it is important that me and Sam show the very best sketches we can produce, whilst keeping in time the amount of time we do actually have. Overall our sketches are looking clear and successful as me and Sam are not art students and do not specialise in sketching our ideas onto paper.
Sam was looking more at finishing the designs, in particular he was finishing of the web banners. I was working on sending an e-mail to our client, informing him about the work we have created and requesting for a 2nd meeting. In this meeting, we would like to discuss the potential in each of the designs we have created. To present these ideas, Sam and I headed of to the scanner and scanned in our work onto the computer. Once we did this, Sam opened them one-by-one, and started to make them more professional using Serif. He has made our designs and annotations more clearer to read, this enhances the way our ideas are presented. This task can only be done on one computer, therefore Sam has decided to do it on his, whilst I give ideas and opinions to guide him throughout this task.
Within the last few days we have managed to create a few ideas. These ideas include roll-over buttons, banners, backgrounds and texture graphics. We put down any ideas we individually had, and we discussed these together as a team. For example, we created a background which suites the sporty and blue theme we have decided to go with. We thought we should go with a grass texture effect for a background, however Sam soon pointed out that a a green background will not match our blue colour scheme and even though it goes with the theme of sport, it horribly contrasts with the colour scheme we have in mind. Therefore we thought we shall use this idea for a background but edit the picture to change the colour to a bluish style Whilst this may not be the natural colour of the image, it compliments the colour scheme whilst staying along side with the theme of sports.
I believe that this would work as a background despite us going with the classic grass texture on a sports web site. The change in colour will make our texture unique to other web sites, despite the colour being unnatural for this image. Nevertheless we are confident with this background, and to add a little more detail we have decided to add mini images of sports balls (e.g. football, cricket balls, tennis balls ECT.).
We have made similar decisions with other digital elements We have taken care and many considerations to ensure that we get only the best digital graphics on the interactive web site that is to be.
With our ideas, we will present these to Mr Hutchinson, and we will hopefully get some feedback on these designs. He will give us guidance and improvements so we then can go away and make these changes for our final designs.
Below is the e-mail we sent, as you can see we have kept a frequent formality throughout. It is important that we are respectful and polite to our client, as this shows we care and have passion for this project, whilst also keeping a positive face between GigaX (Our production company) and Mr Hutchinson (our client).
Hello Mr Hutchinson,
Since our first meeting with you, the GigaX team have started to create and come up with some potential ideas for the digital graphics for your interactive web site for the PE Department.
We have designed some possible ideas for the logo, roll-over buttons, texture graphics, animated Gifs. and backgrounds ect. We have considered and noted the points you made in the first meeting we had, including the target audience, colour schemes and themes you mentioned throughout.
Whilst we have included the ideas the GigaX team and yourself have thought about, we beleive it would be best to have another meeting with you to discuss these ideas and sketches. We would appreciate it, if you could take time out of your busy schedule to have a talk about these with ideas with us. If this is possible, could you please contact the GigaX team via e-mail to arrange a suitable date for this meeting.
Thank you, Your sincerly- The GigaX team.
Day 13- 13/12/2012 & Day 14 17/12/2012
During these sessions, we started to create our second designs for our digital graphics. After viewing our first designs we believe that we should create a second design and create more ideas before we decide on our final designs.
We again split the work. Sam worked on the backgrounds and the roll-over buttons whilst I worked on the Animated Gifs and logos. We then scanned these designs so we were able to edit and add to our designs on the computer, as this gives us a more professional look.
Unfortunately we are still waiting for a reply from our client. We understand that he has a busy schedule, however we strongly hope that he gets back to us soon as this will lead to an important meeting and discussion about our ideas. Without his feedback on our initial ideas, we are unable to create the final product.
Day 13- 18/12/2012
Today we worked on our second designs once more. We are still waiting for a reply from Mr Hutchinson, this is quite worrying as we have little time to waste. Nevertheless our team will get our opportunity in the near future. We worked hard on these designs so it is important that Mr Hutchinson replies soon.
NOTE:
Unfortunately due to our teacher taking time off for a recovery, we have to put this Unit on hold. Within the time our teacher is off, we shall be working on other units during these lessons. This gives us more time for the work in Unit 62, thus we are still making all our lesson and sessions in media production, practical and useful.
Of course we wish the very best for our teacher, and once he is well again, we shall continue where we left of in regards to Unit 19.
This mean that this Reflective Log on unit 19 will not be updated with any more work or progress into the project until further notice.
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GUESS WHO'S BACK! That's right, after a long and waited recovery, out Unit 19 teacher is BACK once more! It has been 4-5 months since we last worked on this unit, so it feels great to getting back into something once more. Now we have finished our radio project (see other posts) we are ready to spend our media lessons on digital graphics.
Day 147- 30/04/2013
So today was the first day back on this project. Our old teacher is back. Of course it's been a while since we last worked on this project, so in all honestly, no one had a clue where we last left off. We decided the best idea was to go and track down the work we had completed and see what we needed to still complete. We worked out who we were with during this unit, so we we had to get back into our original pairs (I was with Sam). We looked over the check-list in the back of our folders, and to mine and Sam's delight, we figured we pretty much had our pre-production work complete. All our plans and sketches of our roll-over buttons, banners, logos ect were completed fully with colour and annotations. They were even scanned too! This means, once we have fully looked over and re-capped on what exactly our intentions were with our designs, we are now ready to start designing our ideas professionally on Adobe Fireworks.
Our teacher has set us a task as homework, which is to view and take in the information from some tutorial videos Adobe Fireworks to get a better understanding on how to use such software This will prepare us for our next lesson.
The videos were very helpful (although the guys voice was slightly annoying). He showed us the basics of the software and went in fair detail about each element and aspect on Adobe. I may need a bit of practice before I start my designing, as it is important I know my tools before I start to use them. Hopefully, I will pick up he skills needed to be successful on this software quite quickly!
Day 148- 1/05/2013
So after yesterday's lesson, we were ready to start experimenting on Fireworks. I was still having trouble remembering some of the tricks and techniques from the on-line tutorials so I had to refresh my mind by watching them once more. Whilst I didn't create any digital elements for my project yet, I was able to create a navigation bar, which wasn't perfect but demonstrated that I was picking up the basics on Adobe Fireworks.
Day 149- 2/05/2013
Today was one of the most hard working days in this project to date! It may seem like we had picked up this project again, and got the ball rolling once more, but when our teacher asked us questions about what the project/ client brief is expecting of us, we were a bit stumped. We couldn't give a full detailed answer, so it seems we were making digital graphics without remembering exactly what we needed to include/ show.
We then got back in our pairs and worked on our powerpoint. We looked through what we already had, and we pretty much had all our work scanned into a powerpoint already. All me and Sam had to do is put our original powerpoint into a new one, which contained information on the Olympic legacy and the briefs. We also had to turn our sketches on paper into detailed images on the computer. We had to design our ideas onto software such as Adobe Fireworks (for example the logo design) as this shows a development in our ideas.
Eventually we had a completed powerpoint by the end of the day. Me and Sam took it in turns between design work and putting together the powerpoint. We occasionally switched seats and kept good communication between us...bouncing ideas of one another. This was a very successful day all-in-all.
Day 150- 3/05/2013
With a completed powerpoint (which we will use in the near future) we are now ready to start our designs on elements such as roll-over buttons using fireworks. Me and Sam decided it would be much more ea sire if we worked on the designs we concentrated on most as individuals. For example in the planning stages (sketching) I was mostly in charge of the log design whilst Sam was in charge of the web-banner. Thus it would make much more sense if he made the web-banner on fireworks whilst I worked on the logo. We did this ensuring we both knew what we doing, and sharing ideas with each other too.
Again, we had a successful day, and we managed to create the background, logo and scree icon. We still have more elements to work on, but Im sure we will be done with this task this time next week!
Day 151- 6/05/2013
So at this stage we have now many elements completed to a satisfactory standard. We are currently working on the texture graphics and the animated gif. It seems as if we are on a roll and we are really getting into the swing of things! We have the web-banner, the logo, the background and the screen icon. This is great, and with the remaining time we do have left, we can finish all the elements and ensure they are all at a professional and creative manner. However, to our surprise, I also found out earlier that we are to make our versions of our initial ideas. For example me and Sam are a team and have come up with the designs together but we are expected to make our own version to it. This is to ensure that everyone can show all their skills in every area. This will mean that I have less time to design each element and had made this task that little more difficult.
Day 152- 7/05/2013
Today I continued to work on the animated gif. Despite receiving the news that we had to create two of each element, we knew it was best to continue creating what we were working on last of. Yesterday, the animated gif I created was not to the best standard it could be. Both myself and Sam agreed that the image looked too childish and wouldn't suite the older audience. Thus, today I decided that I should start again an ensure the presentation of the character is as best as it could be.
I now have a character, with an animated arm and bouncing basketball (as planned in the pre-production stages). It looks great, but I may need to work on the arm as it doesn't animate as smooth as I would like it to. Overall this design is simple and basic, but it covers the plans for the animated gif we had.
Day 153- 8/05/2013
It's that time of year. It's where all the subjects you take, cram in al you exams in one month! This means that today I missed not one lesson, but ALL FOUR! My graphic product exam is a pratical one and lasted the whole day. This meant I had no time to go and complete any of my digital graphics in media today. It also meant Sam would be working on his own, and wouldn't of been able to interact and communicate with his production partner. Nevertheless, this couldn't of been helped and from what Sam said, he manged fine and got a lot of work done.
A whole Wednesday of media gone is a big loss to me, and means that I would have to work even harder to ensure I finish on time. This could mean that I have to spend more of my own time working on this project.
Day 154- 9/05/2013
(AWAITING ANIMATED GIF.)
Today I was back in action. I still had a few more tweaks to make on my animated gif. However, due to a room change I was not able to get my animated gif of the desktop in the other room, which meant I was not able to finish this today. I would of put it on my USB device yesterday, but of course my exam got in the way. I plan to work on other designs and digital graphics to ensure that I am not wasting any valuable time.
I was now ready to start working on some more of my
elements.
I started to use
this software I was beginning to see some cracks in it. At times it would
freeze and to me it seemed Adobe had made a complicated way around for the
simplest of things. To move a shape you couldn’t just click and drag, you had
to highlight that particular “layer” in the right-hand side bar, and then use
the arrow tool to move. This became very confusing as some of the images had
similar file names.
I decided that it would be best if I took my time using this
software as it was important that I got to knew it properly and all its
functions.
It took me a while to start my design as I was trying to
experiment with the different tools. This means I will need to work on my
background more tomorrow.
Day 155- 10/05/2013
Continuing where I left of yesterday, I opened my background and began to add detail to it. So far I have the blue grass as planned in the pre-production stage. Our initial design also shows a various amount of sports balls floating about on the background. I added these too. The footballs and the basketballs were not a problem. They were easy to cut out (using Fireworks) and were easy to import into my Photoshop project. On the other hand, when it came down to the tennis ball, it became trickier.
To remove the background of
and image in Fireworks, you have to use the “magic wand” tool. This tool allows
you to click on the area you wish to delete, and after pressing deleted that
section of an image will be gone. With the tennis ball it became a challenge.
As well as deleting the background it would also delete the white strip that
run along a tennis ball. This was annoying and no matter how much I tried it
wasn’t giving in. With some help from my teacher I was given the idea to make
the white strip and the tennis ball on separate. This was taking a lot of time
and with the deadline day set for the 24th, I wasn’t confident with
this idea. So with this in mind, I completely scrapped the tennis ball and
swapped it with a cricket ball. Whilst this is going against our initial idea,
it was best as this looked just as effective and saved me a lot of time.
This took most of today’s lesson, and I am slightly cautious
of time. I may need to use more of my free time to ensure I meet this deadline
day in two weeks time.
Day 156- 13/05/2013
Day 156- 13/05/2013
I was determined to get a lot done today. My concentration was at the highest it's ever been and I got so much done too!
It was a very productive day as now I have most of my elements completed to a satisfactory standard. Therefore I think I am at a stage where I can begin to reflect on the project so far. Starting with my current designs, here are some of them below;
As you can see I have managed to create a we-banner (using Fireworks) very similar to what the team's initial design looked like. The font used suites the blue theme we wanted to carry through and there is a clear understanding of high quality editing skills presented in the glow effect and techniques used to change the shape of the text (the word kick has been put onto a slant then rotated). It actually does look a little basic, however, I am happy as it does look very similar to the initial design.
This is my texture graphics. By using the different shapes provide in the pan on Fireworks, I was able to create a basketball and football texture graphic. This will be likely used as a background for text on our website. We originally wanted to have textures of different sport balls. It was difficult at first to sort out the curved lines on the basketball, but I soon realised that I was able to make a circle with no fill and with a black-outline. I was then able to cut the shape using the cut tool to fit the basketball.
The pattern on the football was also difficult, but I overcame this complex design as I was able to use an image on the internet for inspiration.
This is my screen icon. Now, this is very similar to the secondary design we created in the powepoint earlier in the project. This is because it was me who created that particular icon. Therefore I was able to remember the design and apply to my personal version.
The navigation bar took the longest to make. I wanted to make my design unique, creative and suitable for the ideas put down for BA SPORTS. The blue scheme has been carried through, and when the cursor hovers over the individual buttons the text enlarges and becomes white. In addition to this, a basketball will appear like so;
The further you go towards the right the more you are able to see the ball. For example on the home button you can only see part of the ball, however, the interactive button allows you to see the whole ball. This was intended as this gives the effect of a bouncing ball and makes the web site more user interactive. One thing you may have noticed is that the "contact" button is in a darker tone of blue in contrast to the other buttons. This isn't because I have added an effect, it is constantly like that. This is somethign Im no too sure on how to solve but is something I will have to investigate as it does look odd.
So this is a summary of what I have completed so far. I still may need to work on some of them still to get them to a higher quality, and I still have my animated gif (work in progress) and my rollover buttons. The rollover buttons are actually confusing and I still don't quite understand on how to make them. I may need to refer back to the tutorials recommended by the teacher to get a better understanding and if that doesn't help at all, I will have to seek help elsewhere.
I am happy with the work quality so far, although I do admit I find this the most challenging unit so far. Whilst I am making good progress, I believe my work isn't as good as it was in previous tasks. I will work hard to ensure that this is just because of the lack of experience in this area and not down to any slacking at all.On the other hand, I am confident that I will meet this weeks deadline day set, for all the aspects to be completed by the start of this Thursday. With only two elements to complete, and with tweaks to make to the ones already completed I am sure this deadline will be met so we can move on to see how we put all the digital graphics into one web site.
So now we are getting closer to the day where we have to decide who's design should we go ahead with. Before we do this, it is a good idea to look at other websites and view their features and elements to gain some inspiration and an idea on how a professional web site looks like in therms of themes, schemes and layout.
Website deign 1
For this website (http://www.altestore.com/store/) I noticed how easy it was to navigate around the site. At the top there is a search bar, which allows you to simply search the whole site for what you're looking for with a few clicks on the keyboard. The navigation bar, is clear and simple. With the colour green used to suite the nature feel to the site, it certainly is a simple yet effective design. However, when you scroll over the buttons, it simply glows. This is really basic and doesn't add a modern and unique feel to a site with electrical equipment. I believe it would be best to have a modern looking site for a company specialising in fairly modern products. In addition to this there are also some rollover buttons sticking out at the side of the screen. This makes the site feel easier to navigate around ans with they layout of the site in general it adds an organised feel to it.
Digital graphics quality and usage: 6/10
Theme/schemes: 6/10
Fonts and images: 5/10
Overall; An average looking site, but easy to navigate around.
Website design 2
This next site stood out to me with the use of background images. I think that it looks basic but very modern. With a simple pattern running towards the top, and with the use of the colour green, it suites the website and carries through with the theme of trees and nature. One comment I must make, is that the background is great but the window in which the all the text is contained isn't spreaded across the whole page. In fact, this makes it more difficult to navigate around ans makes it look like there is more text then there actually is. This is something I should think about, and something I will mention to Sam when we meet to discuss our own layout and final design.
Digital graphics quality and usage: 4/10
Theme/schemes: 7/10
Fonts and images: 5/10
Overall: The background is great and I can get an idea of what a background can do for a website. However, the use of other digital graphic elements such as a navigation bar are not used or clearly visible.
Website design 3
Who said the navigation bar has to be at the top of the webpage? Well, certainly not this site as they have positioned theirs' towards the middle of the page. There is a big colourful web-banner, and towards the bottm is the navigation bar. The web-banner looks very creative and artistic without hardly any mixture of colour. The audience of this website could possibly be girls, and therefore the use of the colour purple and similar colours, it stand out and attracts this auidence.
There isn't hardly any text either, and this makes the web site more user friendly. This is something I should consider as I myself is creative. I also may consider just how much text we use in the final design.
Digital graphics quality and usage: 8/10
Theme/schemes: 8/10
Fonts and images: 7/10
Overall: I personally like this site. It looks so artistic and creative yet very simple with little text. i really like the idea of a large web-banner as this is one of the first things the audience will see. I also like the idea of having the navigation bar further down the page. This make your site more unique and that little bit different.
Website design 4
This is actually one of the best site I've seen! There is a unique theme used which gives of a retro feel. The colours and the images used reminds me of an old fashion and retro feel. This has been used as this theme is very popular now, and anything retro, people just seem to love it.
Again, it has a brilliant and well thought-out layout . There is a colour scheme of greys and whites, which sometimes can go against you as there not the most attractive colours. However, in this case it works well as it suites the style and genre of the site. Therefore, it is important that you don't rule of a colour scheme straight away. Look back at you theme, is it retro? is it sporty? Then you can start to rule out certain schemes. In my case, we have already decided that the scheme will be blue as we believe that this is a sport colour. It also suites the colour coordination of the Academy's blue uniform so it will be suitable for the audience in question.
Digital graphics quality and usage: 9/10
Theme/schemes: 9/10
Fonts and images: 8/10
Overall: Great layout, great theme, unique and good use of digital graphics. The rollover buttons are easy to use and have a basic design. I really like this site and I am sure it will have an impact on my inspirations when I feedback to Sam.
Website design 5
For the final website, I have mixed feelings and thoughts about it. I like the fact that there is little text and the background has been blurred slightly. This effect mean that the background isn't the main focal point of the site. It makes the site look compact and professional just like any other background, but doesn't take center stage. This is something I will mention to Sam, as we could do a similar idea and make a slight change to one of our backgrounds.
However, one thing that has dissapointed me is some of the elements. For example, where is the company logo? This is the main feature that gives a company/business an identity and I believe it should be made clear on the site. Nevertheless, I will ensure the "BA SPORTS" logo is clear on our site. In addition to this, I didn't like the navigation bar and rollover buttons. When your cursor scrolls over the button, nothing happens except the arrow turns into a hand. This is below a basic standard in my opinion. It is important that elements such as the navigation bar is attractive and interactive. This makes the whole web site more animated and lively. This thought will be taken forward and considered when I start to place in my own digital graphics.
Theme/schemes: 7/10
Fonts and images: 6/10
Overall: The background edit has inspired me and has highlighted some hey points to consider. The website looks pretty attractive with little text used which is great. However, it isn't very interactive and lacks creativity in terms of digital elements.
Day 157- 14/05/2013
Today I continued working on this project of course. Only this time we were back in the other room, which menat I was once more able to work on my animation. I opened the gif and in all honestly I really wasn't happy with it at all. Part from the fact that the basketball moves, it was a very basic animation. The design and the colurs used were bright and suited the web site, however, I now have time to re-do this element as I have completed the others (although if time allows I may add finishing touches and improvements to some of the deisgns).
I have changed the chracter into someone conmpletely different. In fact I have a used a free and un-protected image from the internet and I have used a technique I found on YouTube which allows me to make the image into seperate layers. For example using the "create line tool" I can draw around the arm of the character which will allow me to move and edit the arm seperate to the rest of the image. I also added a basketball to the animation and after editing and moving the ball and arm in each seperate frame, I had a new and much better animation. The grpahics loooke dbetter, the arm movement seemd more natural and it just looked a lot more professional. In addition to this, I edited the foot so it looks like it is tapping. This isn't a necessary feature, however, it just gives the animation a more human feel and a lot more fun to watch!
Here is my old animation design;
They both have a similar animations, but there is a clear difference in these two designs and I personally believe my latest design is far better and professional, although you could argue that the 1st design shows my drawing and innovative artistic skills using Adobe Flash.
Day 158- 15/04/2013
Another day has arrived and once more we had a full day of media work. Today, I was ready to start making slight tweaks to the elements I had created. The only ones what stood out to me for the wrong reasons was the navigation bar. The other digital grpahics I feel were basic yet affective. They were vey similar to the intial designs and therfroe I didn't feel the need to change them. The navigation bar had a dark blue box around one of the roll-over buttons which was put there by default. I forgot to move this box, so it looks random. Unfortunatley an unporfessioanl side over came me and when I exported the navigation bar, I did not save it, so I couldn't just delete it. So I had to start again, which wasnt so bad as I had time to do so. I manged to get a very similar look just without that annoying blue box.
Day 159- 16/05/2013
We have learnt so much about many different softwares used to create digital graphics, from some of the most annoying to some of the most useful, and we are far from done with our learning. Today, we learnt the basics on Adobe Dreamweaver. Now we have finished our final designs and have evaluated a various amount of websites for inspiration, it is time to start learning how to put them together in one site. To do this our teacher gave us a demonstration, but I couldn't help notice just how complex it is to do the simplest of things. For example, it seemed to take a lot of clicks and buttons pressing before you are able to insert an image, I knew that this was going to be difficult to learn.
After the demonstration we were told to have a little go and put in our digital graphics. It was vey difficult in all honestly. I really struggled as I had no idea how to inset my navigation bar or my animated gif. I tried and guessed nut nothing worked, it kept displaying messages that i wasn't able to do a certain action. I managed to insert image based digital graphics such as the logo, background and web-banner, but this itself became another challenge. I was unable to move and position each element which meant I had little control as to where to put my digital graphics.I knew that I was not going to get it straight away so I did a little research and sifted through the internet to find, help and tutorials. Along the way, I stumbled across many forums and blogs that suggests dreamweaver is one of the worst softwares to use for designing websites. Apparently i should expect many glitches, setbacks and much more!
Of course it sounds like this software is going to push me to my limits and really put up a challenge, however, that is what media does, and in the professional industry, you come across these sort of challenges daily.
I hope to pick up this software with ease in the near future. Currently I have little knowledge on this software and I have already witnessed it being very very slow. This maybe due the image size of my background, as soon as I put this in my project it seemed to respond much slower. Thus, I plan to change this and also gain help on this software via the teacher and the internet.
Day 160- 17/05/2013
Once more I was using Dreamweaver. Interestingly, another studnet found a much easier way of moving objects and shapes on this software. This made it much easier and I have to say I was very grateful that she found this as it allows me to work much faster now I can freely move objects.
So far I have my web-banner in place, along with my logo. Even though I learnt a new technique today, my progress was still running slow, and with just a week to go before the official deadline, I really need to get the ball rolling faster. Again, I watched yet more totorials. It may seem like I still have little knowledge, however, these tutorials are very helpful, and I am confident that I will still be able to produce fine work.
Day 161- 20/05/2013
With just under a week to go now, it's impstnat that I work hard. Today, I came in early to ensure I an get started immideiatley. After watching the tutorials I now know how to insert my navigation bar. This was a complicated process at first as I kept pressing the wrong buttins, and at times the software was running slow. Nevertheless, I managed to import my final navigation bar into my dreamweaver project, and when I went to preview it in Safari, it worked fine. One problem though, was that there was a white background for my navigation bar. I struggled to remove this, and my teacher also struggled to come up with a sloution. He suggested that I open the origonal fireworks project where I saved my navigation bar, but this was not possible as I couldn't find it. He also suggested that I clean up my files and that the names to my files are too random. This has cropped up in many of my assigments now, so my organisation seriously needs to be sorted. I agree, my files are all over the place. Whilst quick-naming files is good in the short term, in the long run (like now) it will come back round on me. Thus, I aim to sort this out and in the mean time, my web-banner will have to have a white box around it.
I also got help with my background. Myteacher showed me how to import it and like magic it worked straight away! It was the way I did it a few days ago, but I guess Adobe was having an off day at that time.
After previewing my site so far in Safari, I noiced that the background is too much colur and imagery. Backgrounds shouldn't take centre stage of your site, so this was a concern of mine. It looked too much and with the colurs of the web-banner and logo, it doens't look very professional. It isn't bad, but it could be better. I also noticed that a plain and simple white background looked quite decent. It makes the site look clean and professioanl so this could be a better option for this site. It may be going agaisnt the inital idea, however, it emasn my site looks better and it also means that the white blocks don't stand out on my navigation bar. Maybe this is a better idea?
If we take this site for example. It has a nice simple white background but with little colour in the digitial graphics. I believe colour adds life, animation, character and attractiveness to a site. So, if I was to use a white background, I would need to ensure it stands out more than this. Of course, my digital graphics do have colour and have followed a blue-green scheme so far, so this shouldn't be a problem!
Day 162- 21/05/2013
So far, I have my web-banner in place, my logo, and my screen icon. Today, I concentrated on importing my texture graphics. I had worked on this previously, however, time didn't allow me to even import them, so using the time today, i managed to size them down using the scale tool on Fireworks, i then added text, which according to my teacher is used by professional web designers as example text. This was easily copy and pasted from the internet as recommended and has saved me time writing random texts. I have forgot the specific name of this text used, but I plan to remember as I could share and communicate this idea with others.
All was running smoothly, I had my basketball texture in place, but when it came down to my football texture, it became much more difficult. This texture consist of the colours- black and white. This made it incredibly difficult to find a font colour for the text that allowed the text to stand out and to be readable. I managed to find a blue font colour, which seemed to be my best option, as the text was readable and suited the colour scheme carried out so far.
So now I had my texture graphics in too, I believe my home page will be much better with imagery. I managed to find sports related images of google (which are taken in and around the Bluecoat Academy building). I also included logos of sponsors of the school and the Bluecoat Academy logo too. After all, our client is part of the Academy, and we have got to remember, that we are not just making a sports site, we are making one which reflects and promotes the PE department at bluecoat. Thus, these images, I feel are needed on my site.
I was particularly happy with this image:
Don't be fooled! This wasn't taken from google, in fact it was created by myself in fireworks. After finding a grass texture which was free to use by the public (a vector). I simply added an effect and edited my very own text (by finding famous sporting quotes from legends such as Mohammed Ali, and used this as an image on my site. I think this looks really professional. it's neat, tidy, crisp, and the colours and creativity put in, i think is quite impressive. I wouldn't be surprised if a similar image was created on a professional web site!
I wanted to think more about my background during this session too. As mentioned, the blue background meant that the white blocks behind the navigation bar would be visible, yet when the background is white itself, the blocks blend in and are not visible. I really need to make a BIG choice here, do I include my background image...or not?
As it stands I am going with a white background. If my digital graphics are to a high quality standard and 'near professional standard' as the top band in the project brief requested, this should be a great choice to make. On the other hand, my teacher has notified me that she has figured out a way with another student how to remove the white blocks. Due to the lack of time remaining, this will not be shown to me until tomorrow. If this works, I may have to make my decision again....with or without the initial background?
After another hard day's work....here is my site at this stage;
Here, you can see two images...the top and bottom of my site. As you can see, the first image shows the navigation bar, and how it fits in with the site. The white background allows the web site to look simple yet professional. I have put my log and screen icon symmetrically at either side of the navigation bar, which makes it look neat and compact. In addition to this, I have also ensured my images are in line with one another. Today, I noticed a tool called 'create grid', which puts a template grid behind your work so you can make sure everything is straight and even. This is something many web sites do and once I completed this task I noticed a massive difference.
To me this looks very professional, as everything looks right in it's place. There isn't anything around the edges, every element is in a central and compact alignment, which can be noticed in professional web sites like so:
Let's take the APPLE store site for example. As you can see, there is plenty of room around the edges, and this is a great example showing how professional and tidy a simple white background do for a site.
Many sites including the well-known 'YAHOO' site has made there digital graphics and positioned them in a central position. Again, is there a noticeable background (in terms of images and colours used)? There isn't, and again, this is a classic and fine example of a site that does not need a complex and bright background. Sometimes the simple things are most effective!
Day 163- 22/05/2013
With just THREE days left before the deadline day, it was important to ensure I start to get everything put together. Now, i have time to start finding ways to import my animated gif. I have tried this on a number of occasions but due to system issues, I was unable to insert it into my dreamweaver project. I have left it until now, as I didn't want to waste time on this, and then not have enough time on my other digital graphics. With some guidance from my partner-Sam, he showed me that it was best to save it as a 'animated gif' and not a 'SWF' file. So, in dreamweaver I don't insert a 'SWF' file, I insert a image instead. It seemed odd to do this before, but it actually worked. Again, this also had a white background, so again, my background for the site itself will be better to stay white.
At this stage I have all my digital graphics in my project. I am currently working on my positioning of this animated gif. I am not sure if it should be at the side or more central on my site. I decided that it would be best to put it more central idea has been carried throughout my site so far.
This is what my site now looks like. I believe that this looks professional as the effects and the layout of the images look stylish, modern and suite out initial ideas. I believe I may have altered the layout slightly compared to the initial ideas, but only slightly (some elements may have been more to the side, but my alternative layout is used in most sites today).
I have maged to size my images so that they are not pixilated or stretched as this effects how professional a site is.
The animated gif works, but goes slightly odd a times.
This is what the animation looks like in action on my site. It goes somewhat distorted, which isn't great and take away the great look and presentation. However, I haven't been able to find a solution to this, and even the experenced Sam couldn't find one either. This isn't a major issue, but I ask and search around for help on this matter for tomorrow's lesson.
Day 164- 23/05/2013
Unfortunately the problem I intended to solve regarding my animated gif cannot be solved. It is just the way it is imported into Dreamweaver, and so it isn't down to any technique or exporting method that I did myself. Thus, it is something that I have no power to change. Nevertheless, today I had time to arrange my images and text so that they were neat and compact even more. In addition to this, we also got together as a class to discuss the project brief further. It is important that we always remember what exactly the brief demands of us, so it is tasks like today's that will be very beneficial. After reading the brief together we then set off to view each other's work. I viewed Sam's and I believe that it was to a high standard. One thing I noticed is that his logo and web-banner say 'Ba Sports' which is not correct. In actual fact it should be 'BA SPORTS'. Meanwhile Sam believed that my designs looked neat and had an element of retro.
Here is what I have grade myself on so far;
GRADE: Merit
WHY: Follows the theme of sport throughout. Stuck to a particular colour scheme. Some creativity carried through my designs. My blog is in detail, evaluates on task completed and specifies what task needed to be completed in the near-future.
WHY NOT DISTINCTION: Images are not quiet reaching 'near-pro' standards-some are pixilated and the animated gif is having issues working when viewed in Safari. My background comes across as a bit of an eye-sore due to the bright colours used-more editing and control over images will get me closer this grade. I plan to work on this to ensure I get the top marks I aspire to reach.
This is the text I submitted to my teacher via e-mail so they can get an idea of where and what I believe I am working at so far.
Day 165-24/05/2013
So it's the final day! Today I made these slight changes and it went very well. I have finished on time, which is a great achievement if i as working in the professional industry. I ensured that the images were aligned and I ensured all my elements were viable, clear, neat and crisp.
Viewing my final design, I believe that my web site suites the target audience. The layout of the site and the images used will suite the clients demands. They wanted an interactive, modern and sporty site that attracted students, teachers, parents and adults in general. The colours used for the digital elements are bright but are not an eye-sore. Thus the colour schemes suite a young and older audience.
I have used effects (using fireworks) to edit my images to give them a glow effect. I have used this as it individualises each image and also makes my site look more friendly, interesting and animated. It was important that I did not go somewhat over-board with the effects as this could damage the looks instead of enhancing them (which would inevitably knock my grade down).
Whilst you could argue that my web site contains copyrighted images (such as the 'gilbert' logo on the ball), these are only exemplar images and will not be necessarily used in the final site. Thus this shouldn't be an issue to consider at this moment in time.
Excellent, Well done, Josh. Some really good entries here. Just make sure you check your spelling and grammar throughout your work. The title reads 'Leaning log' and it should read 'Learning log'.
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