Peer Assessment

Rory made a modern day short drama film. One of the things he like the most about the whole project was editing the film because he found it reassuring to see it all come together and he enjoyed getting all the shots for the 'nightmare scene'. Being a director is also something that he enjoyed a lot because he liked having control and liked bossing everyone around. Working with the actors also made Rory's shooting a lot more enjoyable and he felt like work got done and they still had times to have a joke around.

Rory would have gave himself a bit more time in the pre production so that he could make more shot decisions, making the film better as a whole. Scheduling was also a part that Rory would do better if he had another chance to, this is because someone hod dropped out on him last minute making the whole shooting process a bit more stressful on his part. 

Rory believes that he has still not discovered the full potential of filming and wants to get better with it in the future, this includes using a camera, he wants to be able to make better quality shots and a wider range of different angles. He also wants to get better with audio, this is and area he believes he has never really been good and wants to get better that it so that his projects are better quality.

Evaluation

Did I accomplish what I had originally set out to do?

Looking back over my finished project I can now see that I have achieved most of the targets I set myself before I set out to make the website. It was very important that I reached these goals because if I did not, then some of my target audience might not like my website and may want to go somewhere else.

One of my targets was to create a simple and easy to use website - I believe that my website is very simple and easy to use. It is very clear to the audience what they are going to click on and with the use of pictures, people can easily relate that picture to the information they require.  In addition, if they were to find that image on another part of the site, they would instantly know what subject that touches upon. The desktop and phone versions of the site both feature links that show the audience their last one or two pages viewed - this means that the audience can just refer back to the links if they want to find out where they are on the site. The desktop version also allows the audience to click on the links and go back to the previous pages, while the phone version has a simple and easy to use hamburger menu that they can use to operate the site with only a few touches. 

Another goal I set myself was to create a brand to go along with my website. This was one of the first things I did when starting to create everything and this is because I believe that it is easier to make a website when you have the colour scheme and type face already laid out for yourself. If you are going for a bright and colourful colour scheme like I did, then you want to layout your website in a way that reflects this. I think that I managed to accomplish this.  With the site being very text heavy due to it being more of an information site, I wanted to try and make things a little more exciting for the audience so I created a more colourful colour scheme and used a more exciting font for the logo, titles and subtitles.

Giving the audience a mixture of detailed and simplified information was another goal I set out to achieve however I don't really think I managed to meet this goal as some pages were full with tons of information and others did not have a lot of information at all. This means that some parts of the audience may find the information appealing while others might not. This is quite a big problem because people may only want to go to the site for one bit of information and if they find it too detailed for example, they may move to a different site. I also mentioned that I wanted to give the audience tips on living with the diabetes and give them some first hand and professional advice - I think that I managed to do this when making my site. I included a page where it was all about someones first hand experience with the disease and almost every page had some information from the professionals.

What did I struggle with?

I think one of the hardest things throughout the whole project was coming up with the brand for my whole site. Making a logo is something that needs a lot of thought because it is something that the audience is going to see 99% of the time when on the site. I needed to make it look attractive and memorable. However, I feel like I did achieve this and many people in my group did say that the logo looked very good and fit with everything else on the page. Finding a font that was clear to read but gave a bit more life to the page was also something that took a long time to find.  The font needed to be perfect because if it was not then people could find the text hard to read, especially if there waa lot of it on one page. I think I managed to find a good font that's a bit more lively than the regular 'Arial' font and almost as clear to read. 

Recording and taking the photos was also a part that I found extremely challenging because I have never really been that good with a camera and I think that reflects when looking at some of my images on the site and the certain angles in the video. This was one of the first times I had used a camera so I had to get used to it and make sure that I understood what I was doing with it. I did get the hang of it after a while and I was quite pleased with how the video came out. I just believe that if I had a little more time to use it, I could have made something even better!

Coding was also something that I found quite challenging. I did give it a go, however I couldn't get my head around it. It was a real shame because it was something that I wanted to learn but I just felt like I didn't have enough time. I think if I had more time to learn everything I needed to know then I could have produced something even better than I have done.

What did I enjoy?

What I enjoyed the most had to be the making of the actual site. Like I have said many times throughout this project, having the freedom to create a website with almost no limitations is something that I enjoy doing a lot. I got a chance to improve my skills with the Photoshop software and look at other website makers to see if they were up to par. I also enjoyed creating the brand for my site because I felt like I was actually making my own product. Learning a bit more about audiences and what they like and dislike was something that I found very interesting and I liked seeing the feedback they gave me because I knew that this would alter how I was going to make my website. I also enjoyed the challenge of the whole project it was something that I have never really done before, having so much independence was something that I was never quite confident with before but after doing all of this I can now say that I can be a more independent person.

What would I do differently?

I think one of the biggest things I would do differently is to create a website but using code to make it instead of Invision. Having used the software twice now I really want to branch off into a different way of web design, something a bit more different and challenging would be exciting and I would learn more skills. It would also allow me to do more like, embed a video or link to a different site through the touch of a button.

I would also make a website that I less focused on write and information. I found this to be quite boring at times and I really wanted to do something that involved a bit more skill. I would also include a lot more pictures to go along with the information if I had to make another information focused site, I felt like the images that I used were replicated a lot and some of them were a bit dull. If I had taken more photos for almost every single page and added a better light to all of them I could have made an even better website.

Am I happy with the final product?

I am very happy with my final product I enjoyed making it and I like how everything looks around the site. I like how easy it is to navigate on the phone and desktop versions and I love the colour scheme. If I had a chance to do it again I would definitely do it because I learnt a lot while doing this project and I'm sure I would learn a lot more if I were to do things a little bit differently. I think that I chose the right choice when it came to how we were going to make our product, I have never really been fond of cameras and I am not a fan of animations. I think what I had chosen was a perfect combination of; Moving Image, Publishing and Theory.

Reflective Blog

Desktop Creation

Over the past week I have been creating my own brand for my website. You can see what I have been doing for that here. I also started working on the look and content that would go onto my site, for the first few days I had my mind set on making a website using 'WordPress' however after looking at their many templates, I quickly decided to make my own website using Photoshop and Invision. This allowed me to be more creative and have almost no limitations when it came to the actual look of the site. 

I have not taken my photos yet for my site but I have plans to shoot them as soon as possible. I think that the colour scheme for the site works well and all of the colours are not too overpowering over the other. The site works well and the content for each section of the site is very short but descriptive just like I wanted to achieve when I was doing my research. I am still adding more pages to the site and should hopefully be done with the desktop version in the next few days. I looked into the website diabetes.org.uk to see if I could redirect people to that sight when the click on the 'Donate' button, however when looking at the sites term and conditions I found out that they would prefer if you did not link to their donate system. This means that I will have to find an alternate way for people to send money to diabetes research. 

Phone Creation

This week I have been creating the phone version of my website, this has proved to be quite a challenge, due to it being very hard to find the correct leading and tracking so that it is clear to read for people using a phone. This is very important and I spent quite a while on perfecting this. If your phone version of your site does not work well or is hard to use then people tend to more else where. With more people using there phones more than ever, the phone version of my site needs to have the same if not more attention the desktop version did. 

I am still adding bits and pieces to my desktop and phone versions and have created a well working hamburger menu. This should allow people to go to whatever part of the website they like with a few simple touches. I am still yet to take the photos for my website, however working on both of the versions has given me a good idea on how I want my pictures to look and fit with the site. I will be taking these photos in the next day or two. I have also come to the decision that I will be defiantly using Invision it is a platform that I know how to use effectively and quickly, in case I have to make any sudden changes a few days before the deadline. The only problem with using the site is that it is missing a few things that are very vital to my site, one of the being that I cannot integrate my own video on 'How to use a insulin pump' that I will be shooting tomorrow on the site and I cannot send people to other websites by them clicking on my 'Donate' button for example. I phone version is still not completely finish due to it being a very hard process, I might have to move some things about to make it more user friendly. 

Finishing Touches

I am now at the time where I am adding the finishing touches to my website, I have decided to put it on Invision to see how everything works are operates. 

Everything seems to be working fine, it flows very well and everything looks in order. Now I have to make sure that it all makes sense and that there are not spelling errors on the pages. I am very proud of how it looks and hopefully I will be done with the making of the site in the next day or two. I have added the photos and have shot the video I have to say I am pretty proud of them as well, my photography skills haven't always been the best but here on the site I feel like I have shown how much I have improved.

My Website Branding Guidlines

When creating a website and a organisation in general, you have to make your own guidelines this allows you to make something unique that no one else can use unless they're given the rights. 

When using the logo it must be in the font, 'Pacifico' and the kerning must be set on 'optical' the fill colour being, 'R 250, G 182, B 58' the size of the font should be 60 pt this is unique to the brand and must be followed.

The colour scheme for the website will be R 250, G 182, B 58; R 84, G 187, B 171; R 232, G 68, B 50 colours that are used for anything that isn't type and photos must stick to this guideline because this is how the user is going to easily understand what website they are browsing and to easy recognise the brand itself.

Subtitles and Titles throughout the website have to be in the font type 'Patua One' the text always has to be slightly larger than the base text so it is clear to the user what is the isn't the base text. The base text has to always be in the font type 'Cabin' this is because it fits with Patua One and is clear to understand, it also can't be any smaller than 10 pt. Text should not touch anything else on the page, like the edges of the page or pictures, this make everything look more ordered and more professional.

Photos on the website must not breach any copyright laws meaning that if there is a photo on the website we have either reached out to the owner to gain access or we have taken the photo/s ourselves.

The colours for my colour scheme were discovered by working with 'Adobe Kuler' I looked at some of the some of the many colour harmonies to see what sort of colours would fit well with my website. Triad stuck out to me as something that was quite vibrant and would fit well with my websites concept. As you can probably see these colours I have picked out are not 100% triad, this is because I didn't want to use colours that were too unoriginal. 

Changes I need to add

I have not stated where I am going to get the pictures for my website, I am going to take pictures of medical equipment that is used by the people who I know. I can get as many pictures as I need this way and can use these all around my website. I might not have access to some equipment that I may need so I will have to find some stock photos if need be. 

I have not stated how I am going to upload my website to, I will probably use Indesign because I am have had past experience with this site and it also works very well when it comes to setting up interactions. However I might first look at other websites and see if I can create my website through there because that means I will be able to try a whole different experience. I might want to learn what they provide and what I will and will not be able to do through the site.

Doing more audience research is a must, it will allow me to have a better understanding on the types of people who would go to my website and would overall increase their satisfaction. The users satisfaction is the most important thing whenever you are providing a service and the more you satisfy them the more likely the are to come back or recommend the site to a friend.

Reflection on my Presentation

I thought that my presentation went well, I covered everything that I have done so far and made it clear what I wanted to do with the information that I have gathered. I think I could have talked a little more about why I chose my specific topic instead of picking both type 1 and 2 diabetes because everyone that I was presenting to seemed to be quite unsure why I had only chosen type 1. 

Looking back at all of the research I have done so far I feel like I can still do a bit more secondary research on websites and design, just so I can get a clearer view on how I want it to look and how it's going to interact with the user. I think my primary research has gone quite well and I don't feel like I need to go back and add to it because I have got all the information I need from it already. I also might want to do a bit more research on my audience and make sure that I am designing a website to appeal to them the most, they are one of the most important factors of when it comes to designing a website so I need to make sure I hit the nail on the head.

If I was to do another presentation I would try and learn what to say beforehand, just so I can express myself more and make more eye contact with the audience. I used cards just so I could make sure that I would get every bit of information that I needed to the audience. However I feel like I paced myself well and didn't rush my presentation so that the audience could take in everything I was saying. 

How has my research effected what I want to do for my FMP

When I first began my research I was still not quite sure on what I wanted to do, I was sure that I wanted to do something that related to web design or design in general because I have such a passion for that area of Media, so I had a look around a lot of different websites thinking of idea on what I could base my project on. I then came up with the idea of a charity website, at first I thought that this was a great idea but after I looked deeper into it I decided that I wanted to go one step further and make a website that gives people a whole lot more detail about a specific disease than the a website that just spreads awareness.

Diabetes is something that I have always understood, because I know a few people who have the disease themselves . I thought that this would be a great disease to cover because it meant that I could learn even more about it and go to the people that I know so I can find out their view and opinion on it.

The questionnaire was also a big part of my decision, peoples answers have greatly effected everything about my project. The results that they gave me were very important I am now making my website a whole lot more simple to appease the audience and I am going to go into quite a lot of detail when it comes to the actual content on the website, originally I was not going to do this however that is not what a lot of people want. I am also making the whole design of the website very basic so it can be focused more on the actual content on the site, on my questionnaire that is what people seemed to vote for the most. When designing something for a certain set of people their opinion is more useful and valuable from your own because own they know what they want. If I want my website to be a successful I need to appeal to my audience as much as I can.