What were my limitations within the digital technology available?
Thankfully there weren't many limitations as the digital technology I needed were available. I always had a computer available to me when I needed it. If these computers were not available I would have found myself going to an internet cafe or library in order to get it done.
The limitations I have encountered are the ability to scan in pre production work. The centre I am studying at do have a scanner although I'm only there once a week and can’t waste time waiting to go there and scan it in therefore I could either use a camera to take a picture of it or make a trip to a print shop to get it scanned. I used the free and most efficient option at the time; which was to take a photograph of the pre production documents and send it into the computer.
If I did not have access to the internet to create my mood board, it would be a massive hassle as I would have to collect newspapers and magazines, research which images I would like to use from them and then cut it out and have a place to display it such as sticking it onto an A3 sheet of paper or putting it on a board with pins or magnets. This way of creating a mood board is great but it doesn't give me as much freedom as the internet will give me. I can resize the images on a computer and it'll be easier to rearrange on the page; the good thing about using magazines to create the mood board because it gives it a more personal touch and looks more creative.
If I did not have access to the internet to create my mood board, it would be a massive hassle as I would have to collect newspapers and magazines, research which images I would like to use from them and then cut it out and have a place to display it such as sticking it onto an A3 sheet of paper or putting it on a board with pins or magnets. This way of creating a mood board is great but it doesn't give me as much freedom as the internet will give me. I can resize the images on a computer and it'll be easier to rearrange on the page; the good thing about using magazines to create the mood board because it gives it a more personal touch and looks more creative.
What were my constraints in the client brief given?
The client brief was very vague and didn't contain much specific information about what they wanted. So it was up to me to decide and make the important decisions of how the web portfolio and promotional advert will look like.
I knew who were my target audience and I had to build around that. My only constraints were disappointing the clients otherwise I was free to do it however I like as long as it appeals to my target audience.
I knew who were my target audience and I had to build around that. My only constraints were disappointing the clients otherwise I was free to do it however I like as long as it appeals to my target audience.
How have I met met the client brief?
The client brief was very vague in what design they wanted, I had a lot of room to play with to make my choices although before making these choices I needed to do some pre-production planning and market research.
The Web Portfolio:
The web portfolio I created has a minimalistic design; it contains a banner under the navigation to display the featuring content, in my case it shall be my media converging product. This is also covers one objective of the client brief which was to “plan and design a new converging media product that will be the first item to be hosted on your web portfolio”. The client brief also mentioned I can use a content management system to create the website; I chose Weebly in this case due to the wide choice in design, drag-and-drop design feature and handy HTML/CSS editors. I have created separate pages for each different project to navigate easily around the site.
I have chosen to create a minimalistic design with a lot of whitespace because it is easy to view, looks clean, well-structured and neat. The target audience should not have an issue browsing the web portfolio with this design. I have chosen this design from researching existing websites which higher education providers own or use, they are also structured well and have a lot of whitespace and I have researched potential employer websites too which are more creative as well as neatly structured. Therefore I have combined the two to get my very own design.
The Converging Media Product:
The client brief required me to plan and create a new converging media product, which I have done. The steps I have taken into creating this is to first generate an idea. I then took that idea further by creating a mind map of the possible features it can have, I then took it to a prototype design stage and created a mock-up for my presentation which I pitched to a small focus group, I got feedback from my focus group and then went onto improve my idea. I had to make sure I was connected with my market audience for the converging media product, so I created a survey; the results I got confirmed what budget I should keep it within along with some other details.
So now with the converging media product planned and created, the client brief required me to create a promotional advert. So I had to get a story idea and then I had to draw it out on the storyboard, the target audience for the advert is potential employers and higher educational providers. In the advert it will contain a man in a suit to attract business savvy people and higher education providers to say that this product can be used by them and I will attract my main target audience of consumers aged 16-30 with a character in the advert choosing the product over an MP3 player. My design choice of the product looking sleek has come from market research as well as existing product and thoughts about which will essentially be the look for the target audience.
The Web Portfolio:
The web portfolio I created has a minimalistic design; it contains a banner under the navigation to display the featuring content, in my case it shall be my media converging product. This is also covers one objective of the client brief which was to “plan and design a new converging media product that will be the first item to be hosted on your web portfolio”. The client brief also mentioned I can use a content management system to create the website; I chose Weebly in this case due to the wide choice in design, drag-and-drop design feature and handy HTML/CSS editors. I have created separate pages for each different project to navigate easily around the site.
I have chosen to create a minimalistic design with a lot of whitespace because it is easy to view, looks clean, well-structured and neat. The target audience should not have an issue browsing the web portfolio with this design. I have chosen this design from researching existing websites which higher education providers own or use, they are also structured well and have a lot of whitespace and I have researched potential employer websites too which are more creative as well as neatly structured. Therefore I have combined the two to get my very own design.
The Converging Media Product:
The client brief required me to plan and create a new converging media product, which I have done. The steps I have taken into creating this is to first generate an idea. I then took that idea further by creating a mind map of the possible features it can have, I then took it to a prototype design stage and created a mock-up for my presentation which I pitched to a small focus group, I got feedback from my focus group and then went onto improve my idea. I had to make sure I was connected with my market audience for the converging media product, so I created a survey; the results I got confirmed what budget I should keep it within along with some other details.
So now with the converging media product planned and created, the client brief required me to create a promotional advert. So I had to get a story idea and then I had to draw it out on the storyboard, the target audience for the advert is potential employers and higher educational providers. In the advert it will contain a man in a suit to attract business savvy people and higher education providers to say that this product can be used by them and I will attract my main target audience of consumers aged 16-30 with a character in the advert choosing the product over an MP3 player. My design choice of the product looking sleek has come from market research as well as existing product and thoughts about which will essentially be the look for the target audience.
Feedback from the client on preproduction documents & how would you improve your pre production documents?
I have sent the client the preproduction documents and received feedback on it. The client mentions that they like the range of images in my mood board; it shows the technology and visual style being used in my product. I agree with this because it did help gain an inspiration and formed an insight of what I visual style I wanted and the technological aspect behind it.
The client also said the mind map was very detailed and the sub headings were used well to illustrate the different aspect of the product. Although the client criticised the title headings, mentioning it could have been in capitals or in a larger font to project the importance of it. The program I used for the mind map was very helpful and I agree with making the title headings stand out from the sub-headings to show importance of it and it also will be a neater structure for it.
The visualisation diagram was clear when illustrating the web portfolio design although could have done with colour to really show what the site will look like. I agree with the client feedback about the visualisation diagram, I think I could’ve added more colour, details and made a proper dummy of the web portfolio before designing it. This would have improved the visualisation diagram making it easier for the client to see what they’re getting and for my own reference too, to visualise what I am aiming to design.
The client feedback about the storyboard says it has all the relevant information such as the shot-type, sketches were informative and well illustrated and duration of each shot. One thing I could have improved was adding details about editing such as the transition between shots. I also agree with this statement although I slightly disagree about the transition information because in post production decisions may change as they see the effects don’t work well or another works well than the one planned. I could have improved the storyboard by adding some colour and setting backgrounds to get the proper feel of what each shot composition will look like.
When I received feedback from the client and target audience for the converging media product, here were questions, statements and answers.
The client also said the mind map was very detailed and the sub headings were used well to illustrate the different aspect of the product. Although the client criticised the title headings, mentioning it could have been in capitals or in a larger font to project the importance of it. The program I used for the mind map was very helpful and I agree with making the title headings stand out from the sub-headings to show importance of it and it also will be a neater structure for it.
The visualisation diagram was clear when illustrating the web portfolio design although could have done with colour to really show what the site will look like. I agree with the client feedback about the visualisation diagram, I think I could’ve added more colour, details and made a proper dummy of the web portfolio before designing it. This would have improved the visualisation diagram making it easier for the client to see what they’re getting and for my own reference too, to visualise what I am aiming to design.
The client feedback about the storyboard says it has all the relevant information such as the shot-type, sketches were informative and well illustrated and duration of each shot. One thing I could have improved was adding details about editing such as the transition between shots. I also agree with this statement although I slightly disagree about the transition information because in post production decisions may change as they see the effects don’t work well or another works well than the one planned. I could have improved the storyboard by adding some colour and setting backgrounds to get the proper feel of what each shot composition will look like.
When I received feedback from the client and target audience for the converging media product, here were questions, statements and answers.
Q) When you want to take pictures with the watch do you have to take it off?
A) The watch has two cameras, a front and back. Both cameras have an impressive 8MP and the back includes a flash. You will have to take the watch off to take pictures with the back camera; it is easy to do with the detachable and rotatable but secure watch wrist band.
Q) There's an existing product just like this one that does the same thing.
A) Well firstly I can assure you this statement is false because this product is so unique, it has a flexible 3.5inch screen, customisable wrist bands, app store, existing operating system compatibility, full-on entertainment system, loudspeakers, high-quality cameras, advanced voice recognition, social media apps and a feature allowing you to connect with your phone to synchronise your messages, tweets, Facebook feeds and calls.
Q) What kind of wrist band strap does the watch have?
A) The strap comes in leather, urban-style plastic, metal and fabric. We also create custom straps for our consumers.
Q) Could you not make a loss from this product because of the cost to make it?
A) Fortunately to manufacture this product in bulk would cost approximately £100 per watch. Consumers are ready to pay between £250-750 for this. This is already more than double the profit.
Q) The ergonomics of the design, 3.5 inches is big, what about people with smaller wrists?
A) The watch can be worn with the screen horizontal or vertical; it's your choice with the wrist band which allows you to rotate it on the spot. The screen is also flexible and follows the shape of your wrist.
Q) How can you fit loudspeakers on the watch?
A) Similar to the way you fit it onto a phone, it will be able to amplify sound loud enough to hear from across a bedroom.
Q) Is there a keyboard on the watch?
A) Not a physical keyboard but a virtual keyboard is available.
How is my pre production documents fit for purpose?
Each of my pre production documents serves a separate purpose; I will be going over what pre production documents I used and why it was best suited for the purposes I used it for.
Mood Board
I have used the mood board to generate inspiration for what my web portfolio will look like. The mood board was fit for this purpose because it allowed me to research images and I collected the chosen images and created a composition of images. I could now look at this and generate inspiration of how the web portfolio will look like, the colours, the layout, the content, the typography, logo etc. So therefore the mood board was fit for the purpose I have used it for.
Mood boards don’t only need to be used for web portfolios, you can use a mood board to generate ideas of all sorts of things including: interior design, vehicles, new products, graphic design, art, furniture, wedding plans, birthday plans and so much more.
Visualisation Diagram
I have used a visualisation diagram to plan out the layout of the web portfolio because it is easy for the client to see and visualise the end product which in this case will be the web portfolio. The web portfolio is the centre of focus in the diagram; different part of the centred illustration is annotated and explained appropriately so the client therefore knows what they are getting and what each part is. This will also enable the client to visualise the end product.
Mind Map / Spider Diagram
The mind map was used to brainstorm my converging media product idea, each aspect feature my product had and the sub-features coming out of the product. Mind maps were really useful for expanding and growing ideas because anything can come out the title and anything related to it will become a sub-title, like a tree it can grow and grow. The vines of the mind map all lead back to the title and is formed as one.
Storyboard
The storyboard was used to create the promotion advert and this was the most appropriate way to create the advert because you can draw it frame by frame, show shot transition, write shot descriptions and types. Anybody can look at the storyboard and understand what the artist/director is aiming to achieve just by looking at the sketches and reading the information.
Mood Board
I have used the mood board to generate inspiration for what my web portfolio will look like. The mood board was fit for this purpose because it allowed me to research images and I collected the chosen images and created a composition of images. I could now look at this and generate inspiration of how the web portfolio will look like, the colours, the layout, the content, the typography, logo etc. So therefore the mood board was fit for the purpose I have used it for.
Mood boards don’t only need to be used for web portfolios, you can use a mood board to generate ideas of all sorts of things including: interior design, vehicles, new products, graphic design, art, furniture, wedding plans, birthday plans and so much more.
Visualisation Diagram
I have used a visualisation diagram to plan out the layout of the web portfolio because it is easy for the client to see and visualise the end product which in this case will be the web portfolio. The web portfolio is the centre of focus in the diagram; different part of the centred illustration is annotated and explained appropriately so the client therefore knows what they are getting and what each part is. This will also enable the client to visualise the end product.
Mind Map / Spider Diagram
The mind map was used to brainstorm my converging media product idea, each aspect feature my product had and the sub-features coming out of the product. Mind maps were really useful for expanding and growing ideas because anything can come out the title and anything related to it will become a sub-title, like a tree it can grow and grow. The vines of the mind map all lead back to the title and is formed as one.
Storyboard
The storyboard was used to create the promotion advert and this was the most appropriate way to create the advert because you can draw it frame by frame, show shot transition, write shot descriptions and types. Anybody can look at the storyboard and understand what the artist/director is aiming to achieve just by looking at the sketches and reading the information.
What are the technical and aesthetic qualities of my pre production documents?
Mood board
The mood board was created in PowerPoint presentation. The technical qualities of this preproduction document are the ease of the program because it allows me to: move, resize, print and presented in different ways as well animate it into the screen.
Storyboard
The storyboard was created in Adobe Illustrator which uses vector graphics and Bézier curves. This is great for tracing sketches and recreating things digitally in high quality. The aesthetic quality about this program and creating the storyboard in it are that I can resize the illustration without losing any quality whatsoever as well as reframing shots.
Mind Map
I used a free online program to create the mind map; the beauty of this is simplicity and ease of use. I can easily log in using an account from the most popular internet web page, Google and simply create, change branch colours, add, edit and remove, initially creating my mind map quick and efficiently. I can then save the mind map online or in PDF and JPEG, two great formats.
Visualisation Diagram
I also used Adobe Illustrator to create the visualisation diagram and once again it offered scaling without loss of quality and I could easily use the tools to create a quick skeleton fast and efficiently. The beauty of this is that I can then take it into Photoshop or any other editing program for further editing if I wanted to. A good technical quality about Illustrator is the wide range of output formats. If I wanted to I could have easily used the slice tool to export it as a created and coded HTML page.
The mood board was created in PowerPoint presentation. The technical qualities of this preproduction document are the ease of the program because it allows me to: move, resize, print and presented in different ways as well animate it into the screen.
Storyboard
The storyboard was created in Adobe Illustrator which uses vector graphics and Bézier curves. This is great for tracing sketches and recreating things digitally in high quality. The aesthetic quality about this program and creating the storyboard in it are that I can resize the illustration without losing any quality whatsoever as well as reframing shots.
Mind Map
I used a free online program to create the mind map; the beauty of this is simplicity and ease of use. I can easily log in using an account from the most popular internet web page, Google and simply create, change branch colours, add, edit and remove, initially creating my mind map quick and efficiently. I can then save the mind map online or in PDF and JPEG, two great formats.
Visualisation Diagram
I also used Adobe Illustrator to create the visualisation diagram and once again it offered scaling without loss of quality and I could easily use the tools to create a quick skeleton fast and efficiently. The beauty of this is that I can then take it into Photoshop or any other editing program for further editing if I wanted to. A good technical quality about Illustrator is the wide range of output formats. If I wanted to I could have easily used the slice tool to export it as a created and coded HTML page.