Reading Week

First thing on Monday, I emailed Steve to identify the reading week task. In response he revealed, my reading task would be to research the colour ‘Yellow’. Through the means of a short presentation, I am required to communicate the cultural affects, psychologies interpretations and symbolism associated with the colour yellow.

I feel all colours have both positive and negative meanings that are subjective to personal interpretation. Identifying several interpretations should allow me to generate facts for the handouts and presentation. Since I am not sure what version of PowerPoint is on the computers at college, I will avoid incompatibility issues and create a pdf from Adobe InDesign instead. Designing my handouts around the objects associated with the colour will hopefully create a fun memorable experience. I am really looking forward to learning about the other colours from my fellow students.

In conclusion, my tasks this week include:

1. Researching my chosen colour
2. Preparing a pdf presentation with associated handouts
3. Practising my presentation against the clock, start and finish strong, speak clearly, make eye contact
4. Implementing communication guidelines to all future journals
5. Get hosting set-up and working
6. Printing off production schedule and copy the new assignment for Monday

Dig for Fire

This week, I utilised the Internet to research a company called “Dig for Fire” and quizzed Emma Thomson, Freelance Specialist, at The Book in preparation for today’s interview. The Book is a recruitment company that exclusively deals with creative jobs. In conclusion, “Dig for Fire” are an amalgamation of two established companies, Scope Creative and Paradigm, under the umbrella of Digital Marketing Group plc. Dig for Fire are now the largest direct marketing agency operating out of London, with an extensive blue chip client list.

Initially, I was interviewing the interviewer, not a good thing, however it probably demonstrated confidence. I felt it went well and that I answered the questions to a satisfactory level, although you can never tell as the interviewer always smiles politely. The Interviewer “Richard Waite (The Creative Group Head), confirmed that he would honour my personal development and encourage me to continue the college course. Brilliant!.

Hopefully, I will be asked back for a further interview and be offered the job. I should hear from Emma, in the next few days. Meanwhile, I now have two results to wait for:

1. Will I pass the unit?
2. Will I be asked to attend a second interview?

Only time will tell. I will keep you posted.

Good news comes in threes

Firstly, I hope you have all completed the unit on time and enjoy your break. Don’t worry about the result, we are all in it together and it is our first attempt therefore we can only improve.

This week
Tuesday of this week was a satisfying occasion; a feeling of fulfilment and elation empowered my body when I submitted my first assignment, leaving the college with a beaming smile. Now a few days later I have been short-listed for an interview at a design agency in Sheffield. It is said, “good news comes in threes”, and so I am hoping that I have passed the unit. Glad that I have got a break away from college work this week but eager to start the next assignment. In the meantime I need to get my portfolio in order and wait in anticipation of the forthcoming result.

Looking back
Prior to starting this course, I felt disappointed that I knew nothing about web design and the associated technology, to a point this is still true. In the creation of this unit, I now appreciate how usability and accessibility affects the users experiences, a vital consideration of web development. Furthermore, I now value all the methods we have used to record the progress and evidence our learning through the use of these electronic journals, sketchbooks and written reports. On first impressions, I admit I felt a little bewildered by this obsessive behaviour and did not feel at all comfortable presenting a sketchbook that didn’t have a logical order. Over time, I have managed to become less anally retentive over the methodical presentation of the sketchbook and now feel lost without it.

Points to consider next time

1. To keep a record of the Internet sites I visit and catalogue them against each element of the unit
2. Set achievable weekly targets after each tutorial and review my progress in the blogger
3. Make sure I have an adequate amount of printer consumables, since I keep running out of paper
4. Avoid the distraction of unnecessary research
5. Keep study periods within sociable hours
6. More engagement in other peoples blogs

Still deliberating over the design

Setting myself a list of targets to complete every week, I am on track to getting the unit completed for Saturday. Allowing myself one day of checking before submitting on Monday. Feeling quite apprehensive at the moment, I seem to be consistently adding bits to my web plan or tinkering with the screen design. I just need to leave everything alone and complete the evaluation report.

After carefully considering everyone comments, find below the current screen designs.

My main target audience is a 68 year old retired naval officer, originally from New Zealand. Diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis a few years ago, it has affected his co-ordination and now he has Deutanopia colour blindness; subsequently due to his condition, simple tasks like controlling the mouse or viewing information can be difficult if not on a contrasting background.

At the Library, he uses a PC with a broadband connection and is on-line communicating with other people with the same condition or gathering research about maritime history. At home, he’s on a 56k modem, he is frustrated when poor navigation sends him down the wrong path and similar to a teenager would rather visit another site than wait for a site to download.

Bearing in mind the target audience, please could you think of any suggested improvements?.

What are your thoughts about this design?

With still plenty to do, it is important for me to stick to the production chart. Recent modification should allow me to avoid getting distracted, by learning about usability issues that are not necessarily related to the assessment criteria and focus my effort to completing the unit. To complete the unit, I will need to cross reference my work against the assessment criteria and finalise my web plan and evaluation report.

It was gratifying this week to receive some feedback from other learners about my blogs, especially comments to support my sketches. Taking much longer than original expected, please see below my version 6 – screen design with feedback form.



What are your thoughts about this design?
Prompt constructive responses would be very much appreciated.

Gantt Chart

At the beginning of the week, I set myself a checklist of targets, which improved my focus and gave me a sense of enormous satisfaction. One of the targets, was to define the look of the site template. Initially, I was reluctant to begin designing until I was satisfied with the content required for the other units. Similar to leaving your dessert till last, temptation got the better of me and I reached for the pencil.

Fixed

Liquid

Please feel free to leave constructive criticism (the more critical the better!), I will look forward to receiving your suggestions for improvement in eager anticipation.

Self-discipline is something that I don’t find difficult, but having a good balance between, College, Work and Family is a juggling act. Implementation of a Gantt chart will illustrate my scheduling against the units ahead. With the deadline fast approaching, I feel both apprehensive and confident. Apprehensive that my sketch blog doesn’t have an adequate amount of supporting evidence, but confident that by referring to the Gantt chart, I will complete each unit on time.

Oblogatory web guidance

I decided to alter the format of my Blogger to conform with the web accessibility guidelines (1.1, 1.2, 4.2, 12.3 and 14.1) http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/full-checklist.html, in comparison to my initial design the new design has real impact and fulfils my artistic expression.









On loan this week from Wakefield Library, “Jakob Nielsen, Prioritizing Web Usability”, reading this re-confirmed my thoughts about usability. The book includes factual information and human psychomotor behaviours such as Fitts' law and explores many hidden factors that need significant consideration in order to build an engaging user experience. This week I have discovered that a websites’ appearance is determined by it’s user, unlike print where WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) an interesting comparison to comprehend with my background in printing.

Some of these web considerations included:

• Links that change colour when visited
  Vital for people who suffer with short-term memory loss
  

• CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) CSS allows the user to alter the appearance of the site, very useful for users with different types of colour blindness
  

• Only 40% of users view the second screen of a webpage

• CGI (Common Gateway Interface) – Is Just Magic!
  Common = Interacts with many different operating systems.
  Gateway = Provides users with a way to gain access to different programs, such as databases or picture generators.
  Interface = Uses a well-defined method to interact with a Web server
  http://www.oreilly.com/openbook/cgi/ch01_01.html
  

• A site built using HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language)
  It will create a small size site compared to a site created with images as blocks of text.
  

• RNIB Not considered ?
  To ensure that standard print is legible for as wide an audience as possible RNIB (The Royal National Institute of Blind People) recommend a minimum type size of 12 pt Arial, for all printed documents. This is not as restrictive on the web because the user can determine the type size, interesting debate!
  http://www.typophile.com/node/28764
  

Following my second tutorial, I realised that whilst it is a positive thing to research and collect evidence for my sketch blog, it is also imperative to collaborate my findings within a written report. Concentrating my effort this week, I have produced a thorough written evaluation of my Project Goals, Target Audience and delivery requirements. It is my intention to start the design process next week.