Running Head: DESIGN TEAM ACTION PLAN: SCHOOL COMMUNICATIONS 1

Design Team Action Plan: School Communications Website

Diya Basil, Hollee Knell, Santina Polacco, Aadnan Sheikh, and Hanan Sheikh

University of Ontario Institute of Technology

DESIGN TEAM ACTION PLAN: HIGH SCHOOL COMMUNICATIONS WEBSITE 2

Identification of Goals
The goal for this assignment is to create a website for a high school, this website will have all the
information relating to the school, the courses being taught as well as important information for parents.
In the website, each grade will have different tabs, in the navigation menu. Within these tabs, there will be
a list of different courses available at the school. The theme of each page would reflect the specific
course. For example, an art course will have a different colour scheme than a chemistry class. The target
audience for the website would be students and parents, the students and parents are able to look into the
courses available at the school. The main goal is to design a website that would appeal to high school
students and parents who would like an idea of what the school is like.

Contact Information of Client

The client is a small high school in Bowmanville, the school consists of 200 students. School
colours are blue, black and grey. The school contacted us via email, with the email:
BowmanvilleHighSchool@gmail.com​. The client suggested to contact them via email or phone
(123-456-7890). Our point of contact for the project will the high school vice principal, Becky Perry. Her
personal email is ​BeckyPerry@BHS.com​, and her extension is 1235.

Deliverables For Each Phase of Project

Research:
Sharing Points of Reference - ​October 31st
- As a group, will each bring an example of one positive and one negative example of similar
websites to settle on which components to incorporate into the website.
Research on the effectiveness of each component - ​November 7th
- Santina will do research on the most efficient use of each component we had decided in the
previous week: navigation, discussion management, etc.
Organization - ​November 14th
- Diya will have how information will be sectioned throughout the website based on research
Curation:
Style Guide Roughs - ​November 7th
- Hollee will come up with four different style guides with rough guidelines for colour selections,
type, logo sizing, margins, image selection style
Style Guide Final - ​November 14th
- Diya will create a more concrete guide with specifics: colour (primary, secondary,
complementary), type (headers, body), etc.
Creation:
Logo Roughs - ​November 7th
- Hanan will be responsible for making 4 different rough logos with 4 minor variants on each logo
Logo Final - ​November 14th
- Aadnan will be responsible for making a clean version of the group selected the preferred logo
variant
Wireframing Rough - ​November 14th
- Hollee will be responsible for coming up with 4 wireframes for a minimum of 3 pages
Any Other Graphics - ​On Going
- Hanan and Aadnan will be responsible for any other graphic elements’ creation as the need arises.
Composition:
Assemble all components - ​November 18th
- Hanan will put together all the elements for a mock-up. Minimum 3 web pages.
Create a Presentation - ​November 19th
DESIGN TEAM ACTION PLAN: HIGH SCHOOL COMMUNICATIONS WEBSITE 3

- Santina will have been communicating with all members about their approach to their elements of
the project and will have a completed presentation, leaving time for others to review.

List of Meeting Dates, Times, and Agenda Items

Note:
- We are using Facebook Group Chat, and Video Messenger to communicate with each other and
get together.
- We are using Google Docs to complete the assignment, this allows everyone to keep track of
what is being completed.
- We are meeting each other through Video Messenger twice every week, on Sunday and
Wednesday, for about 45 minutes to make sure everyone is on track and updated.
- Drafts will be shared with family and friends, that way we are able to show the desired target
audience.
Meeting Dates and Times (Current and Future):
Action Plan - ​October 26th, 2018
- October 17th (6:10 pm - 7:00 pm): ​Collected everyone’s contact information and meetup times,
and decided on a topic for the assignment.
- October 22nd (7:00 pm - 8:00 pm): ​Brainstormed together what the website was going to be
about, and gathered some details about colour schemes.
- October 24th (6:10 pm - 7:00 pm): ​Talked about each individual parts and making sure everyone
was okay with the Action Plan and some design concepts.
- October 26th (7:00 pm - 8:30 pm):​ Communicated through Facebook Video Messenger and
worked together on a Google Document to complete and finalize the Action Plan.
Presentation - ​November 21st, 2018
- Decided on meeting up through Video Messenger two days prior to the presentation and practice
the full presentation, also clear out any issues about the presentation.
Final Artifact - ​November 29th, 2018
- Decided that the best option would be to complete the assignment by November 18th, that way
there will be a few days for any corrections before the due date.
- Meeting each other through Video Messenger twice every week to ensure that the deadlines are
being met, and everyone understands what stage we are at.

Draft Concepts

Since the school colours are blue, grey, and black. We decided to use this colour scheme as inspiration to
the colours we would like to use. Due to the reason that we are still in the designing phase, we do not
DESIGN TEAM ACTION PLAN: HIGH SCHOOL COMMUNICATIONS WEBSITE 4

have a draft of the website. We have been brainstorming using inspiration from the website we all liked
and compared them to find a design everyone was okay with. The group has decided to go for a simple
approach where we will be using an accent colour for each page that also works well with the colour
scheme above. This way we can use the accent colour to help point out important information or
information that may need to be highlighted.

Key Learning
There were 6 design principles we took into consideration during brainstorming; balance,
proximity, alignment, repetition, contrast, and space. While brainstorming, it was important to have
colours that were balanced, with a contrast between colours. We decided that there would be a navigation
bar on the website, which would be repeated on all the pages which allows everything to look consistent.
With the navigation menu, the text would be separated from the top of the website which displays the
school name and logo. Each element will be aligned to the rightmost and the leftmost side of the page, so
the reader’s eyes are drawn to the major points of the website. The proximity between these elements will
help balance the space between text and any images.

Design Principles
The major design principles we would like to follow are balance and contrast. With the website,
we have decided that throughout all the pages, it would be best to balance the ratio between text and
images, since this is for a high school, we will need to follow school colours while we create this website.
The balance between colours is very important to keep harmony throughout the website. For this reason,
contrast is very important, due to the reason that the colours need to work well together. We need a colour
scheme for the pages that work well together and with the school colours. Due to the reason that we are
not in the final stages of designing, there are not many drafts that can reflect these principles, but we are
using examples of other websites to brainstorm on what the best website design would be.

Demonstration of Learning
The group will be taking everything we have learned about the design elements, design
principles, and other various topics to develop the website which combines all of the knowledge we have
gained so far. We will be applying our knowledge about typefaces to create a combination of fonts that
allow the user to read with ease, and choose colors that will complement each other but also represent the
teacher’s values so the user understands what the teacher is trying to convey. We can create a website that
functions well by applying proper balance and unity to give the site a unified look and a fluid navigational
experience. Symmetry and alignment will also play a big role in the site to draw the user’s eyes to what is
important to see on the page. The images used on the website, such as the logo will display not only our
knowledge and experience from designing our own logos, but it will also display the school’s ideas and
values.