Unit 12 going forward

Unit 12

At the beginning of Unit 12, I instantly knew that I wanted to continue from one of my earlier projects for my FMP so I decided that I should do my research on my idea. My idea being a website that people can go to, to find out information and tutorials on everything about creating your own furniture.

My Unit 12 consisted of me finding out all of the information I could about my audience and how I could track them after I have put the website up. All of the information that I have found out will be very useful and I can apply most of it towards my FMP.  For example: the design of the site; the accessibility; the services I use and sorts of products I want to be focusing on more than others. These are all things that needed to be researched so that my website could be as successful and get as many visitors as possible.

Moving forward from Unit 12 I believe that I can do more research maybe focusing on web design as a whole. This will allow me to explore the possibilities I have when it comes to setting up my site and organising everything. Web design is something that I have done before but the website that I designed in the past was for quite a mature audience and it ended up looking rather dull. I also used Photoshop to make my site so I was very restricted to what I could do when it came to interaction, incorporating media and transitions. I will have to look into the best way to show / design my website for this project so that I am not as restricted and this might mean that I might have to learn new software or programs to be able to achieve the end result. This is a task that I am totally up to doing and I hope that it will be a challenge, so that I can learn a lot of things about the chosen software / program.

Reflecting on what I have done throughout the year

When it came to the Frankenstein project, that we started at the beginning of the year, I did not really know what was going on and I don't believe that I fully grasped the project properly.  It felt a bit rushed, I don’t really know why it did but it just felt a bit odd. This was at the beginning of the year and after this, I really got a feel for things and my time management got way better resulting in me making some great work later in the year.

I enjoyed the project where we had to make our own product. I liked that we had the freedom to come up with our own idea and actually plan everything for example: doing our own business plan and learning ways to market our chosen produce before actually making it. I think everything about that project will be beneficial to know for the future so I am very happy I know it now. Having the choice on what product we wanted to make, made me really want to do a little bit more research than I would usually do for other projects. I think this is the main reason why I want to actually carry on this project on for my FMP, it has a lot of potential and I have a real interest in the practical work that I have yet to do for my idea.

We also did a leaflet / flyer for one of the local museums in Bath. I thought that this was quite an interesting project as I got to explore Indesign more than I ever have plus, I got a really good understanding on how the program works. The work itself, I found a bit challenging as I couldn't really get any inspiration from what the museum had to offer. I feel that overall, this affected my work, meaning that it was not as good as I wanted it to be. I think if I had a better colour scheme to go off of, then I would have produced way better work. I also got to design my own map and I found this to be quite fun.

My paper engineering project was quite enjoyable as I liked exploring different book designs, along with looking at the complex designs that some people have made. The shadow book that I did was cool - I really think that I understood the project and if I was better at drawing, I could have made some really, really good work. Nevertheless, I am really happy with how it turned out and it is something that I will definitely put on my end of year show.

Peer Review

The research project I am looking at does include:

Title Page

Abstract

Lists of Content

Introduction

Research (Primary and Secondary)

Conclusion

Outcome/Decision

Word Count and Bibliography

Throughout the entire project Jules relates back to the question. In every section, and after every book or article, Jules talks about how the information he has found out has helped him find the answer to his question. He also talks about why he is looking at the books and articles and why they will help him find the answer to his question. I do believe that the project does answer the question perfectly, and relates back to it well in the conclusion. 

I think the presentation is fine for this peace of work, the text size is perfect. I could not find any grammar or spelling mistakes on the piece. The images were good and related to what was being talked about but I think more could've been used throughout the piece. At the end of topics instead of just moving onto the next topic Jules would occasionally start from the next page and in other places he would not I found this a bit confusing on why he would do this. In some places Jules uses italics for quotes and in other places he does not.

I like that Jules does not really cover the same thing twice and that he doesn't get information from sources that are too similar. I found it very interesting to learn about what others have done to create their own Animation Advertisement in the past. I also found it interesting how he related to Bath in a lot of cases, once again relation back to the initial goals for the project. 

I think that the audience could've been talked about a whole lot more in the project, especially at the end, I think Jules could have talked a bit more about how all the information he has gathered has changed who he thought his audience was. He could also state at the start of the project who he thinks is going to be his audience and things that would change his idea.

I think that I would give this project a merit to distinction. I would do this because throughout he answers the question while going into a lot of detail even with the limit of words that we were all given. He has also found some great sources that have provided him with a lot of information. Like I said before I think that it would've been great if Jules talked about what he though was going to happen at the start of the project and then talk about assumptions he got right and wrong.

How to Harvard Reference

Harvard Referencing is important, this means that it must be done properly and is made as easy to understand as possible. Making sure that you have covered everything you need to in your reference means that when examiners look at your work they can find out whether or not it is legitimate information. Every different type of source you use needs to be referenced in a different type of way to others.

When referencing books you need to include, the author, year of publication, title of publication, place of publication, publisher, edition.

E-Books need to be referenced using, the author, year of publication, title of publication, publisher, edition, URL, date access.

Journal articles need to be show, author, year of publication, title of article, title of publication, issue information (the volume), page numbers when referencing.

Referencing a Internet site needs to use, the author, year of publication, title of publication, URL and date accessed.

What I am basing my Research Project on

The idea I have chosen to do for my research project is a website that shows/ tell people how to build item from shops like Ikea. This area is something that no one has ever made before, even though there is potential to be a very big market. I have looked at this in the past with one of my other projects with Steve. I did not really achieve a lot when it came to the research and production sides and if I am going to be doing this for my FMP it would benefit me greatly if I have done some well done research.

I really enjoy making website and designing everything, doing this for my FMP would be great because I have a real passion to do well. I want to make sure that all the research that I do towards it is very well backed up and provides me with the right information. I love learning new skills and I haven't really learned anything new when it comes to making websites in a long time, the more research I do means that I can find out what I need to learn when creating my website. When doing research I have never really go out and actually ask people in real life, what their opinions are on things, doing it this time should be a very interesting experience.

Making this site means that I can have a bit more fun with the design, this is because I really want to aim for the target audience of young adults. Young adults are the sorts of people that really understand the internet and can really appreciate a good website design compared to other age groups. Making the website would also not cost a lot to do, however it would take a very long time to set up and create. This is why it is important to find the right information and gather the right types of information for the project.

3 Possible FMP Tasks

One thing that I want to do for my FMP is the extension of a task that we have done in the past. In the past task we had to come up with our own product that was totally unique, I came up with a website that allows people to find out how to build things from shops like Ikea. A lot of people struggle at building their and looking back at it, it is something that is actually a big problem for people. In the FMP I would actually create the website and a few animation to feature on it. Doing this would allow me to develop my skills in design, and website making, and these are two things that I would like to do after college.

I could make my own magazine on a topic that I am interested in. This magazine would be interactive and would extend my design skills and magazine making. I have not really made a lot of magazines but when I had done one I really enjoy it. If I could actually do one from start to finish that had lots of great content and looks great, then I reckon it would look pretty good. I could also develop a print version if I had enough time but I would decided this at a late date. 

I have made a board game in the past and I really enjoyed that whole process of that project. I think something a long the idea of actually making something and creating all the object while still designing them would be something great to do.

What is a Research Project?

A research Project is very important to have because it allows you and others to look back at where you have got the information, so that you can find out whether it is right. It also means that it is solid evidence that you have done research and shows the examiner that you have not just made up the the facts/ information by yourself. 

Harvard referencing is one of the best ways to reference your work, it shows the place where you got the information from, who wrote it, when it was written and when you researched the information. If information changes on a website having the date you got the information is a clear indication that the website may have changed since getting your source. Having the website in you Harvard reference means that the examiner can quickly find the information with no problem at all.

An example of a Harvard reference could be as followed, According to (Arden, 2003 p.50) “The person who doesn’t make mistakes is unlikely to make anything.”). 

Doing great research also means that you get a better understanding on what you are doing and this usually results in better results. If you are making something then finding out a lot about your audience means that you can do more things to attract them and keep there attention for longer. You can look at your competition and see what they are doing and look at their weaknesses and things that they might not be covering. Almost all big companies do a very large amount of research to make sure that they can do as good as possible against competition.  

S.W.O.T

Looking back at previous work, I have made many different things throughout last year. However these two pieces of work I am going to talk about now are probably the pieces of work I am the most proud of.

The first is a board game that I had to design from scratch, we had to design ever aspect of the board game so that it was an appealing game and at the same time looked very eye catching so that people would like to buy the product. I think I managed to achieve this in my work. It was made to be very simple so that almost anyone could pick up the game and get playing. The colours that I used all fit together very nicely and this ended up making the board and the box for the board game very appealing and modern. I think one of my weaknesses for this project was that I spent way too long on the design part while not really giving the rules of the game a whole lot of thought. Also my board and the box for my game both had flaws, the design on the box did no align in some places and the spacing for the board was a bit uneven. I could have created my own font for my game and could have used my logo in more places. Without the unique font it made the box look very stock and uninteresting. The logo could have been used on the box so that it could be easily identifiable for new users.

My other piece of work I am very proud of has to be my short film called, 'Cold Fusion' we were given the subject that we had to base our project on, but had to create everything else ourselves. One of my strengths was that my script was written very well and had a story that made you want to find out more. It also had a very nice plot twist at the end that made the film open to potential sequels. I think my weaknesses were quite apparent in the final piece, when recording my film I had forgot to set the resolution to the standard HD, this meant that the film did not show the full range that it could and the quality did not look as good. The audio was also quite bad at times due to loud vehicles or the wind. I think one of the hardest things at the time was getting use to filming, I had only done it a few times before and was quite rusty. However I thought that i didn't do that bad and I thought that some of the shots I had go for the film weren't half bad. If I were to do it again I would have actually gone to a home to get some shots for my film instead of using the tight space in college.