DiDA D203 – Get Set!

D203 Review
Contents

The Project as a whole........................................................................ 2

Aims and objectives......................................................................... 2
The plan ...................................................................................... 2
Test users and reviewers ................................................................... 2
In retrospect… ............................................................................... 3
The graphic products .......................................................................... 4
The gift bag .................................................................................. 4
T-shirt......................................................................................... 4
Logo ........................................................................................... 5
Medal.......................................................................................... 5
Web graphics................................................................................. 6
ePortfolio..................................................................................... 6
My performance ................................................................................ 8

Candidate Number Dan Foy Centre Number

02145 1 23329
DiDA D203 – Get Set!

The Project as a whole

Aims and objectives
I had a few aims and objectives for this SPB:
• Successfully plan and manage the project and my time;
• Create and develop bitmap and vector images that are appealing to the
target audience;
• Create an effective ePortfolio;
• Be more efficient and successful than in previous SPBs.

I believe that I have met my objectives. I have managed to stick to my deadlines

in this SPB better than in any of the previous SPBs. I have also made better use of
my project plan in this SPB by referring to it before each session, and better use of
my project diary (‘Journal’) by keeping it regularly updated.
I can measure the effectiveness of my products by my feedback:
• “They look professional and inspiring” – Ryan Burns on the web graphics
• “It looks authentic” – Ben Harrison on the medal
• “I think it’s funky – it looks like a designer t-shirt” – Stefan Hawkins on the
t-shirt

The abundance of positive feedback such as above outweighs negative feedback

and is indicative of success.

The plan
My plan was quite effective. I created 3 significant versions of it and used it as an
indicator of my progress. For the most part I managed to stick to my plan,
although it had to be altered slightly on occasion where tasks took longer than
anticipated.
It was harder to manage time effectively during D203 than the other modules
because of the lack of time. Although we didn’t have drastically less class-hours to
complete the work, having 16 hours per fortnight on a single SPB was quite
intensive and left less time for receiving feedback, planning and so on. The
deadline was also more rigid than in previous SPBs.

Test users and reviewers

I chose a variety of test users and reviewers. I received both unrecorded vocal
feedback, and directed feedback on purpose-created forms. I received feedback
from a number of 12 and 13 year olds in particular for the t-shirt and gift bag
products as these users are in the oldest out of the 9-13 age range and therefore
are most likely to give relevant feedback. I chose a wider range of ‘young people’
for the medal and web graphics because the term ‘young people’ is broader I was

Candidate Number Dan Foy Centre Number

02145 2 23329
DiDA D203 – Get Set!

receiving poor feedback from the 13 year olds. This may have been my fault for
not creating a targeted-enough feedback sheet.

In retrospect…
The project went quite well. I do have a few regrets, however.
Firstly, I wish I had revised my idea to create a set of wallpapers rather than 3
separate ones. If I had had time I would’ve redesigned them in such a way that the
text and the images fitted together.
Secondly, I wish I’d had more time for my ePortfolio. It is functional, but with an
extra 2 or 3 hours I could’ve improved it considerably and made it more graphics-
orientated. I could’ve made a gallery for the thumbnails rather than pasting them
into one big image, for example, or rounded off the corners of the main ePortfolio.

Candidate Number Dan Foy Centre Number

02145 3 23329
DiDA D203 – Get Set!

The graphic products

The gift bag
The purpose of the gift bag is to hold the t-shirt; it also has a secondary use of
advertising the Get Set! Campaign.
The gift bag includes features that make it specialized to its purpose:
• There is a representation of a t-shirt on the back that can have a size code
entered in it – for example S, M, XXL;
• There is a very large outline of a runner that covers 2 sides which
emphasises the event that it was created for, and is also a visual link to the
t-shirt design;
• The text ‘Get Set’ and ‘fun run’ are included on the side to further
advertise the event and the campaign.

I created my bag as a net design which I created myself from primary research into
the construction of gift bags. I created it in Macromedia Fireworks as a 1/2.5-scale
PNG vector, which means that it can be scaled losslessly. This is useful for resizing
the bag for different sized t-shirts or if extra items are to be given out at the
event, and the format also keeps file-size down (relative to the bitmap filesize).
The gift bag has assembly instructions printed directly onto it, with extra
instructions available in my annotation document. I then took a picture of it and
showed scale using a ruler. I didn’t put a scale on the design because this would
detract from the design – better to have the dimensions on a separate document.
The gift bag design is very similar to the t-shirt design and as such is suitable for
boys and girls. When I exhibited the bag in my tutor base, I got generally equal
interest from both boys and girls.
The feedback on the giftbag was positive on the whole, with most negative
feedback being down to taste (“I dislike the colours of pink, red and yellow” –
Rodney Green) or misunderstanding (“Size needs to be bigger” – Stefan Hawkins on
the 1/2.5-scale model). I think that I could improve my gift bag by making the
assembly instructions clearer to follow, and perhaps by numbering the glue areas
etc.

T-shirt
The aim of the t-shirt is to appeal to children aged 9-13, to be used as a reward for
taking part in the Get Set! Fun run, and to advertise the campaign.
My t-shirt features a large outline of a runner and a dust trail that implies speed,
which is representative of participation in the fun run. This is also a visual link to
the gift bag. The Get Set logo appears twice – prominently on the front and also
more subtly on one of the sleeves. This is good advertising for the campaign. The
t-shirt is also not predominantly boyish or girlish without an overuse of typically
boyish or girlish colours (except blue on the background, but it isn’t a particularly
boyish blue and there isn’t any camouflage patterns or anything like that). This
makes it attractive to both boys and girls. This is reflected in my feedback.

Candidate Number Dan Foy Centre Number

02145 4 23329
DiDA D203 – Get Set!

I decided to create my t-shirt as a set of images that can be transferred to a blank

white t-shirt, rather than a representative image. I created the images as vectors
in Macromedia Fireworks so that they could be scaled for different sizes of shirt.
The positions of the logos and other parts can be seen both on my planning
documents and on my pictures of people wearing the t-shirt. Unfortunately the t-
shirts we were supplied with were size XXL – which would swamp a 9-13 year old.
Therefore the images should be seen as representative and not as the finished
product.
The t-shirt received overwhelmingly positive feedback, with comments such as “I
like it because it is colourful, nice slogan… it’s nice!” (Tanzela, 13) and “I think it’s
funky, it looks like a designer t-shirt… I want one” (Stefan Hawkins, 13). This
shows that my design is attractive to the target audience. However, Tanzela
commented that she disliked the logo on the arm, and Harry (13) commented that
“I dislike it because it’s too big”. This can be remedied by swapping the arm-logo
for stripes or similar in future designs, and by being provided with realistic sizes.

Logo
I designed a logo to represent the Get Set! Campaign in Macromedia Fireworks. It
works in monochrome and a variety of colours, and the full-colour logo uses 5
colours plus black. The spokes are representative of the London eye or a
speedometer (both relevant to Get Set!) and reflect the official colours of the
Olympics, and there is also the outline of a female runner that I traced from a
photograph by a fellow Flickr member (with permission). It is made in bright,
playful colours to appeal to a younger audience but the runner brings a maturity
that appeals to an older audience.
Jonathan Wormsley wrote “the edges of the coloured section are a bit bumpy” in
his feedback, but the fun design was popular with virtually every other subject
asked. He also commented that the logo didn’t flow – again, this was contrary to
other feedback received (particularly with younger subjects such as Harry and
Stefan), but if I were to improve the logo I would first concentrate on making the
logo look more natural and perhaps the spoke design a little less abstract.

Medal
I created my medal using Macromedia Fireworks. I created it as a vector, with an
image on the back representing Derby that is of a high enough resolution to resize
significantly without distortion. It does not exceed the 70mm limit. I also used
bevel and emboss effects to make the medal appear more medal-like.
I experimented with a couple of designs before arriving at my final design. I also
experimented with two different pictures of the cathedral for the back of the
medal. I chose the cathedral because it dominates the Derby skyline and is the
second highest cathedral of its height in the country. I chose a date in summer of
2010 for the tournament as it is nearer to the 2012 Olympics and therefore likely to
have better support.
On the whole my test users liked my medal. They gave positive comments such as
“It looks authentic and I like the picture on it – very well done” (Ben Harrison), “I
like the size, the colour and the picture” (Stefan Hawkins) and “The Derby church
image is very nicely inlayed” (Jonathan Wormsley). Negative points also appeared
to be a matter of taste – for instance Stefan liked the size whereas Ben Harrison

Candidate Number Dan Foy Centre Number

02145 5 23329
DiDA D203 – Get Set!

didn’t. Jonathan Wormsley commented that I had neglected to put the date on the
back of my medal, so I corrected this. He also suggested that I make the edges of
the lighter sections more blurred – they were only meant as a representation of the
shininess, but I gave them a Gaussian blur anyway.
If I were to do the medal again, I think I would make the logo on the front a little
more prominent and perhaps try and get around the dead space on the back
somehow – I feel that this space could’ve been used better. I created the logo as
round as many versions of the Olympic medals are round and it is an easy shape to
show as being 70mm. However, if I were to do the medal again I would experiment
with different shapes.

Web graphics
I took the images for the web graphics myself and edited them in Adobe Photoshop
Elements. I saved the images as JPEGs with some compression to keep down
filesize and loading times. I saved the wallpapers in several popular resolutions.
Details of this can be found on my annotation documents. The images are
apparently effective, as I received feedback such as “promote exercise well” and
“cleverly done” (Ben Harrison), and “They look professional and inspiring” (Ryan
Burns).
I decided not to use secondary sources for my graphics as I didn’t feel that they
would significantly add to the final products. The wallpapers follow a theme in
that they are all of people performing trampolining moves; however, I wish now
that I had pursued my idea of creating a set of wallpapers with related words and
phrases. Having said that, I don’t think I would’ve had time to complete the
images to a high standard.
The banner confused me somewhat with the wording of ‘the banner must be a full
page width’. I researched banner sizes and picked the largest most common
horizontal size. I created my banner as a vector in Macromedia Fireworks so that it
can be easily scaled if it needs to be larger.
I don’t feel that my banner is my strongest graphic – I found it hard to create
something interesting without using images, but I eventually created a little
interest by creating a ‘bounce’ type effect by layering the text. Test users
reported that the colour scheme was OK.
The web-page is lightweight but functional. There are reasonably sized thumbnails
for all of the wallpapers, with links to different resolutions. The banner is also
there, at the top where a banner would usually be found. However, there isn’t
much text and I had to re-use an ePortfolio header to save time. Whilst I feel that
this works well, I should perhaps have added a little more text.
If I made the web graphics again I would try and create wallpaper designs that are
quicker to make, which would give me more time for creating the web page. I
would also perhaps use more white in my banner to create a lighter feel. With the
wallpapers I would also like to improve my workflow by sharpening as the last step.

ePortfolio
My ePortfolio was designed with the moderator in mind. There are prominent links
to all of the products at the top of the page, and then contextual links in the
sidebar of each page. There are also relevant links within the text of the pages.

Candidate Number Dan Foy Centre Number

02145 6 23329
DiDA D203 – Get Set!

The ePortfolio also makes use of graphics – there are background images for the
body, the content and the links in the header. The header background also
changes contextually for each section. Jess Payne commented that there should
be “more graphics included on the ePortfolio” – I took this into consideration and
created some of my annotations in sizes that are appropriate to display on the
ePortfolio pages, such as on the logo page.
I have kept the file size within the limit by using vector tools where possible and
limiting the number of large bit-depth photos. I have also compressed files at a
reasonable quality in JPEG, which is often smaller than Macromedia Fireworks’
native format PNG. I created my images using layers, but flattened the images for
the final products before putting them in my ePortfolio to further reduce file sizes.
I saved all documents that were to be printed – for example the gift bag and medal
– at 300dpi. I saved all web documents such as the graphics and ePortfolio headers
at 72dpi as this is the maximum resolution most screens can display.
I created my links relatively, which means they will work on external systems. I
used complementary colours of orange and blue for the headers, which Jess Payne
and other test users reported to “work well”. I used a shade lighter than black for
the text in my documents as this is easier on the eye on computer screens. I also
added some extra line-spacing to aid readability. The text is sized in EMs which
means it can be resized with browser controls to aid usability.
If I had time to revisit the ePortfolio, I would spend some more time on my
commentaries, proof-reading and spell-checking. I might also redesign the
background and try to implement some of the features I had planned such as the
avatars for different types of file and the rounded corners at the top. I might also
make the stripes on the background a colours other than grey.

Candidate Number Dan Foy Centre Number

02145 7 23329
DiDA D203 – Get Set!

My performance
I believe that I worked to the best of my ability for this SPB. I endeavoured to
follow the brief as closely as possible and do all that was required, even in
situations where I didn’t understand what was being asked (such as the ‘banner
must be a full page width’ instance).
This project has rounded off my DiDA learning experiences. The other SPBs have
been very beneficial in helping me form good personal habits like planning, sticking
to deadlines, maintaining high standards and working to specifications.
The D203 module has taught me to address issues as they emerge, rather than
putting them off and letting them get on top of me. A good example of this is
completing my Journals as I went along and being proactive in the construction of
prototypes such as the bag and the t-shirt. This has had a positive all-round effect
on both my schoolwork and my general wellbeing, as I am now less stressed and
more productive.
If I were to do the project again I would try and concentrate on creating the bare
minimum first, and then adding bells and whistles later once I have secured a good
foundation. I feel that I spent too long on insignificant things such as the headers
on my ePortfolio and looking for the xHTML 1T DTD.

Candidate Number Dan Foy Centre Number

02145 8 23329