The Ste Blog

Artefact 6 Evaluation

2011-05-08T11:27:00.000+01:00

Artefact Description

The sixth artefact was a non-functional prototype of a ‘professional news website’ with a unique selling point that users can upload media content to the articles. Participants then answered a questionnaire about the mock-up.

Artefact Analysis and Evaluation

My previous artefacts found that infotainment is becoming more and more expected to accompany news articles, putting pressure on news organisations to deliver. I also found that citizen journalism is becoming more and more prolific due to the availability of blogs, and their freedom to create more conversational content has put pressure on professional news sites to ensure they still have the interest of their consumers.

Subsequently, for this artefact I wanted to test a theory that a combination of citizen journalism and infotainment could pressure the online news industry into reshaping their business models to allow contribution of media content from the public, to assist articles that would otherwise be text based. I built a non-functional mock-up of a professional news website that allowed users to upload media content to articles and asked participants to look at the design and get a good idea of how the site might operate. Finally, participants (who were experienced/enthusiastic web users) answered a questionnaire, providing contextualised answers. This allowed me to acquire informed and educated qualitative data.

Firstly, 100% of participants said they would rather read the article in the mock-up if it included media content, strengthening the findings from my earlier artefacts.

Additionally, participants were cautiously positive that a scheme like the one in my prototype could be successful on the website of a large news organisation, but showed awareness of the possible pro’s and con’s.

Furthermore I found that generally, participants thought that it would be difficult to maintain credibility when utilising such a scheme; however, as long it was carefully regulated, this issue should remain minimal.

To conclude, responses suggest that citizen journalism contribution to professional news websites will only increase in significance, through more prioritised discussion areas and through the need to supply consumers with actual event footage.

Artefact 6

2011-05-03T11:18:00.001+01:00

Following on from my previous place, I have come up with what I feel to be an appropriate solution in order to tie everything together and reach some logical conclusions.

I have a built a non-functional mock-up of a hypothetical, professional news website, which has a unique selling point that it allows and encourages its users to upload media content for possible inclusion in the articles.

View the mock-up

The actual artefact asks participants to take a good look at the mock-up and try to get an idea of how the site might operate.

It then asks participants to answer a few questions, which each ask for reasoned responses, so I could gain contextual answers and useful qualitative data.

From this artefact, I ultimately want to get an idea of whether these factors are reshaping the news media industry's business models and how they are having to reshape them.

Planning for Artefact 6

2011-05-01T10:40:00.000+01:00

Artefact six represents the last time I will be looking to acquire first hand research into my personal research project. I want to use this opportunity to tie everything together that I have looked at previously, and attempt to compile actual conclusions that will go some way to answering my original research question.

"What are the pressures that are reshaping the contemporary news media publishing industry, as it adapts to opportunities made available by online platforms?"

In order to achieve my aforementioned aim, I looked back at my previous artefacts and assessed my conclusions and the progression I made along with the reasons for that progression.

Firstly, I had already gained evidence to suggest that 'infotainment' (news in the form of video/audio/images) is becoming more and more of an expectancy with consumers, as the Internet has matured and connections have improved. This has put an increasing amount of pressure on news organisations to deliver news in a variety of formats in addition to just text.

I also found that Citizen Journalism (amateur/untrained footage) has become more prolific with the growth of the Internet, due to the availability of web space (namely, blos). Additionally, the freedom they enjoy to write more subjective and conversational content has put pressure on the professional news organisations to ensure they can still provoke similar or greater levels of interest with their consumers.

So, with the above points at the forefront of my mind, I felt that a logical progression for my final artefact would be to address whether a combination of infotainment and citizen journalism could really pressure the online news industry into reshaping their business models in order to allow public contribution of media content to assist news stories that would otherwise be text based.

With a firm foundation in place for my final research artefact, it's time to start planning the actual thing!

Artefact 5 Evaluation

2011-04-10T11:15:00.002+01:00

Artefact Description

The fifth artefact gathered 3 professional news websites and 3 citizen journalist websites and provided a screenshot and short description for each. Participants then had to answer a questionnaire about the trustworthiness and credibility of each site.

Artefact Analysis and Evaluation

The previous artefact looked at Citizen Journalism on a small scale, reporting on a particular subject. The results showed that citizen journalist sites can be successful alongside their official counterparts, largely due to the freedom they have to post opinionated articles. I wanted to further my citizen journalist research by looking at its consumer perception.

I provided participants with screenshots and a description of three well known, professional news websites (BBC News, The Independent, The Sun) as well as 3 of the most renowned citizen journalist websites (WikiNews, Drudge Report, OhMyNews), before asking questions about their awareness of the sites and how trustworthy/credible they thought each site was.

I used this method in order to provide a snapshot of each of the websites, without showing any bias. In terms of awareness, nearly all participants had heard of the professional news websites, whereas the only citizen journalist site participants were aware of was WikiNews, with nearly half being aware of it.

However, the results showed that awareness doesn’t guarantee users, with only 2/29 and 4/30 saying they actively use The Independent’s and The Sun’s website respectively.

Regarding consumer perception, BBC News and The Independent scored very highly for trustworthiness and credibility, whereas all of the citizen journalist websites scored relatively low. Some reasons given for this included less educated contributors, the fact that anyone can contribute and poor aesthetics in the case of Drudge Report. Interestingly, The Sun also scored very low for trustworthiness, proving that being well established doesn’t necessarily guarantee trust; something which my last artefact’s results suggested.

In conclusion, Drudge Report proves that unappealing aesthetics can directly affect how credible a news website is perceived. I also found that consumers will doubt the credibility of a citizen journalist website as they assume that their contributors are less educated.

Planning for Artefact 5

2011-04-05T11:03:00.003+01:00

I found my previous artefact to be very useful in my current research into citizen journalism, drawing sveral conclusions from it.

For my fifth artefact, I want to move on slightly to look at consumer perception of citizen journalism in terms of trustworthiness and credibility.

My plan involves gathering a selction of news websites; half of which will be professional news websites and half of which will be citizen journalist websites. I will present participants with a 'snapshot' of each of the websites, including a screenshot and a brief description.

I will then ask participants questions about the various sites, such as how they would rate each of them for trustworthiness and credibility based on their experiences and/or the snapshots I provided.

My intention is for this artefact to provide an understanding of the general perception of citizen journalist websites compared to professional news websites.

Artefact 4 Evaluation

2011-03-30T23:32:00.005+01:00

Artefact Description

The fourth artefact was a Case Study on Citizen Journalism based on data gained from expert interviews with 2 people that run an Official news website and a citizen journalism website respectively. The Case Study was also based on traffic figures and observation of the two websites.

Artefact Analysis and Evaluation

My third artefact suggested that consumers find infotainment news articles more enjoyable and informative than text-based articles. For my next artefact I wanted to discover the effect of Citizen Journalism and whether it’s as enjoyable, informative and credible as news content from official organisations.

I interviewed the person who runs the Official news website for a football club and the person who runs a successful Citizen Journalist blog (Bulls News), also on the football club. I asked about the type of content they produce in terms of factuality and subjectivity. Interviewing both parties allowed me to make comparisons and gauge their understanding of what they do.

I discovered that the Official website was 100% factual, allowing no room for opinion and they are restricted to publishing only the official word. Bulls News however, admitted to often adding their own slant to their stories and reporting on rumours and speculation. They believe this is one of the reasons for their success as when official news has been lacking, they can speculate or ponder, which is more enjoyable for their consumers.

The research suggested that Official organisations achieve instant credibility with their consumers whereas Citizen Journalists have to work hard to establish themselves and credit their sources to achieve credibility.

I also concluded that Citizen Journalists lack financial motivation which can cause their websites to stagnate, whereas Official organisations have the financial drive to improve.

Ultimately we can conclude that Citizen Journalism can compete with Official organisations due to the ease and freedom they enjoy. And if the Official site wasn’t as organised as the one in this case study, then a Citizen Journalist website could easily be capable of surpassing its official competitor. So yes, Citizen Journalism is a genuine pressure that the news media industry must be aware of.

Artefact 3 Evaluation

2011-02-27T22:02:00.003Z

I put together two web pages, both featuring the same news article; however one also included a video and pictures. I then sent the two versions to 2 sets of 10 people, who then filled out 1 of 2 questionnaires (depending on which article they read) to indicate how they rated various aspects of the article they read.

Conducting the experiment in this way allowed me to make direct comparisons between the 2 article versions and identify whether there were any clear and consistent differences between them.

The majority of the questions on both questionnaires were the same so I could make direct comparisons as previously stated. However, I also added more questions specific to each article which I believed were relevant. For example, for the text based article questionnaire, I asked what would improve the article. This allowed me to see whether people felt elements such as video or pictures would improve a standard, text-based news article.

Interestingly, 80% of those that read the text only article felt that pictures would have been beneficial to the article and 50% thought that a video would also have improved it.

Another article specific question asked whether those that read the infotainment article felt that the video benefitted the article. 70% stated that it did, suggesting that they found it useful and enjoyed receiving news in this format.

Generally the results slightly favoured the infotainment article, as it rated 7.8 out of 10 for enjoyment compared to 6.1 for the text based article. The infotainment article also rated 8.2 for how informative it was compared to 7.1 for the text based article. These results show a slight preference for news in the form of infotainment but the results were only marginal and hardly conclusive.

Third Artefact

2011-02-21T03:11:00.005Z

For my third artefact I decided to explore consumer preferences in terms of news content, in order to determine whether they prefer their news in the form of 'infotainment' (pictures and videos etc.) or static, text-based news content.

I did this by making 2 different articles for the same news story. The first simply had text content:
http://stephengreig.co.uk/xperia-part-one/

The second had text content plus pictures and a video:
http://stephengreig.co.uk/xperia-part-two/

The participants then completed 1 of 2 surveys (depending on which article they read) to indicate how they rated various aspects of the article they read.

I have made an infographic to show the results and conclusions of my 3rd artefact:
(Click to enlarge)

Second Artefact Analysis and Evaluation

2011-02-12T02:00:00.002Z

Artefact Description

The second artefact was a mini website which aimed to discover whether consumers are more willing to click on links to news articles with videos.

Artefact Analysis and Evaluation

The results of this experiment were recorded using ClickHeat, an open source heatmap that allowed me to see how many times each link was clicked. This proved very useful as I could see visually, which links were getting the most clicks throughout the experiment rather than only at the end. A disadvantage of using this method was the accuracy of the results, as I had to manually count the number of clicks on each link, which could have led to marginal inaccuracies in the numbers recorded.

The eight article links were laid out side by side in three rows. I feel that it is possible the placement of the links may have affected the results; for example, the first article link (which didn’t include a video) on the page received the most amount of clicks by a clear distance with 37 clicks. This particular result appeared to be an anomaly, as it was not in keeping with the general trend produced by the other results.

The other results consistently displayed a slightly greater number of clicks for the article links containing videos. Although the video links generally seemed to record better numbers, this conclusion is questioned by the one non-video link that recorded the most clicks of all. As previously stated, this may be because it was the first link on the page. Alternatively, it may have been the subject matter of this particular news story that attracted clicks, regardless of whether or not it had a video. This points out a possible flaw in my research methodology, as the reliability of the results must be questioned due to the fact that the subject matter of the articles may be the sole reason that people clicked on them, not necessarily due to it containing a video.

I feel that this artefact shows, if only slightly, that news articles with videos attract more clicks, suggesting that ‘infotainment’ is one of the pressures that is reshaping the news media industry. However, this artefact is far from proof and I would like to explore this area further.

News Time - Second Artefact Presentation

2011-02-11T22:21:00.002Z

Here are the slides for my presentation of my 2nd artefact which I have dubbed 'News Time'. The presentation outlines my rationale for doing this artefact, the results I recorded and the conclusions I have come to.

Artefact Two - News Time

2011-02-08T03:12:00.005Z

I have now completed my second artefact, which I have dubbed 'News Time'. My first artefact was inconclusive as to whether people would be more willing to read a news article if it included a video. Despite this I believe that in a more covert study that the majority of people will click on news stories with videos, as I feel it is more of a sub-conscious decision.

So this artefact is a mini-website featuring links to 8 news stories, 4 with videos and 4 without, which are clearly indicated. I will then measure the amount of clicks that each news story gets using a piece of software called 'ClickHeat'. ClickHeat is free to download and all I had to do was include the files in my root folder of my website and insert a few lines of JavaScript into my code.

Ultimately, this artefact will go some way to identifying whether 'infotainment' is a real pressure that is reshaping the news media industry.

You can view my second artefact my clicking the image below:

Client Project Pages and Courses

2011-02-08T03:06:00.003Z

Back before I started the project, my client SPS sent me 2 Excel Spreadsheets; one a fairly basic list of pages for the website; the other a much more complex document detailing all of the courses and their categories and sub-categories. Here are a couple of screenshots of the spreadsheets:

Pages

Courses

Client Project Progress

2011-02-08T02:41:00.003Z

I am still in the design stage of my client project website design, but have made a lot progress since my last update. I have designed the look of the internal pages and made ammendments to the basic template as requested by the client, whom I have been in regular contact with via phone and email. They client, SPS, have had a new logo professionally designed with my website design in mind, which I have subsequently added to the site.

The above is how the course list pages will look. The courses have been split into 3 categories which all feature in the main nav menu and which all have their own sub-categories. In order to simplify this multi-level hier-archy of courses, I plan to implement a jQuery dropdown menu on each of the course list pages. In the above shot you can see the sub-category menu; when one of these is clicked, the actual course page links will slide down below.

The above screenshot is how the sub-category menu will look when an option has been clicked on and it is expanded.

This screenshot above is an rough design of how the actual course pages will look. They will all feature sections such as location, duration, description and so on.

This is the design I have done for the contact page. I have organised all of the necessary of the content, so the company's contact details are instantly visible as well as the contact form.

First Artefact Analysis and Evaluation

2011-02-01T00:47:00.002Z

Artefact Description

The first artefact was an online questionnaire which aimed to find out how people access news as well as other general news consumption habits.

Artefact Analysis and Evaluation

My online survey was completed by 78 people and highlighted several interesting points; some of which confirmed my expectations and others that surprised me.

The majority of people indicated that they use a TV to access news (65 of 78) but only 20% of these people identified it as their primary source of news, whereas 43% of desktop computer users and 41% of laptop users claim that these mediums are their main ways of accessing news. The mobile phone also proved a popular way of accessing news (45 of 78), but only 10 of these 45 people said it was their main news source, suggesting that it is used for convenience when other, more preferable mediums are not available.

Surprisingly, 47% of the people surveyed still access news via newspapers; however only 1 of these people said it was their main news source. This is further proof that online news consumers are the primary audience, which needs to be reflected in the business models of news organisations.

The survey also pointed out that consumers are selective in their consumption as 59% access news via specific interest news websites; however it appears that this is not instead of but as well as accessing general news, as 80% claimed to access news via general news websites as well.

Interestingly, despite 87% of people claiming to access news daily or even more frequently, only 2 of the 78 people surveyed claim to purchase a newspaper daily. In addition to this, a 57% majority indicated that they never purchase a newspaper at all. These findings strongly highlight the need for news organisations to utilise sustainable online business models, as my survey indicates that the printed market is losing numbers.

A huge 73% majority stated that they would not be willing to pay for online news content, which suggests that the subscription-based online business model would not be effective in generating revenue or sustaining a customer base.

Finally, my survey was inconclusive as to whether news content is being forced to become ‘infotainment’ in order to maintain consumer numbers, as the results were very even when asked if they would rather read an article with an accompanying video. I still feel that in a more covert study, more people would read a news article if accompanied by a video as I believe it is more of a sub-conscious decision rather than a rationally thought out decision.

How do you Access News? First Artefact Presentation

2011-01-31T01:19:00.006Z

Here are the slides for my presentation of my first artefact; a questionnaire which attempts to identify peoples general news consumption habits.

Initial Client Project Designs

2011-01-30T12:24:00.004Z

I have completed a couple of initial designs for my client, SPS - just click on them to see the full size images.

In terms of the colour scheme, the client wanted the site to be recognisable and loosely in keeping with their brand colours. I therefore strongly implemented their green colour throughout the design but in order to maintain that propfessional, corporate feel, the primary colours I've used in both designs are whites/greys and blacks/dark greys.

This design has a tabbed box near the top of the page which will operate as a jQuery slider. I like the concept of this feature as it encourages user interactivity and allows me to include more information on the homepage without causing it to be too cluttered.

I like the two designs, but I believe the one I will be progressing with is the second design with the darker colour scheme. I think this design is more appropriate and has a lot more scope to fit in the vast amount of data I have to include.

SPP Update

2011-01-30T03:13:00.003Z

The SPP deadline is fast approaching which includes the submission of:

Job Application Forms (if applicable)
Job Cover Letter
4 Job Descriptions
CV
Post Grad Course App Forms (if applicable)
Post Grad Course Cover Letter
4 Post Grad Course Descriptions
1000 word rationale
Portfolio Website

In terms of the job application, I recently applied for a Web Designer position at a local Web Design agency in Nottingham, which was successful. So I am using the application I put together for that with some tweaks here and there to tidy it up a bit.

I've found 4 suitable post graduate courses but I haven't yet completed the cover letter and there are no application forms to complete.

I have also refined my CV which I had previously designed and compiled.

My new portfolio website was a very large project which I have been working on for months; it is now nearing completion and will be ready for submission shortly.

Finally, that leaves the 1000 word rationale which I still have left to do as well.

First Artefact

2011-01-28T00:54:00.004Z

My last post (regarding my plans for the artefacts) appears to have turned out to be rather naive. The idea, which I misunderstood, is to investigate one area that seems the most interesting or that holds the most potential in terms of useful findings. Whereas the artefacts I had planned investigate many different aspects of my research topic.

Therefore, for my first artefact I am doing a questionnaire which I hope will provide context and an insight into the habits of todays news consumers. Then I can look at those results and decide which area would be best to look further into before planning my second artefact.

The questionnaire can be found here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WQ7FYBM

Client Info

2010-12-05T00:39:00.000Z

My client for my Live Client Project is a training company based in Nottingham called Safety Problem Solutions Ltd. They offer hundreds of courses and qualifications in driving, construction, safety and many more areas.

All of these courses will need to be presented on the website, making the project a very large scale prospect. I will need to create and populate a database system in order to handle the sheer amount of data that needs to be presented on the site. A dynamic system will make the project easier to handle and will ensure the site is much easier to maintain in the future. I also propose to develop a Content Management System which will allow me and/or the client to add, edit and delete data from the database via a customly designed interface.

Outline of Artefacts

2010-12-01T00:11:00.003Z

This post outlines the artefacts I intend to create in term two. As of now, I have planned 5 of my artefacts, leaving just one more.

Artefact One
Twitter Based New Aggregator
What?: For this artefact, I will be creating a Twitter based news aggregator which will contain tweets reporting news, each with a link to the full story. I will then measure the number of people who view the tweets only and those who also click on the links to the full news story.
Why?: This artefact will attempt to identify the value of Twitter and other social networks as a news provider in their own right or whether they only act as 'taster' services and require backup from further reading.

Artefact Two
Subscriptions Mini-site
What?: For this artefact, I will be creating a small and to the point, promotional website for The Times website (the only major UK newspaper to charge for online content). The site will feature an option to proceed if you want to know more about subscribing and an option to decline proceeding any further.
Why?: This artefact will help to see if a subscription-only business model is a feasible model for the future of online news content.

Artefact Three
Questionnaire
What?: This artefact will be a paper-based questionnaire featuring general questions regarding the way in which people access their news today.
Why?: This artefact will help provide context and is likely to demonstrate the variety of different mediums being used to access news in todays age.

Artefact Four
Selective Consumption Mini-site
What?: This artefact will be a small website with large clear links to BBC Home/BBC Sport/BBC Entertainment etc. It will prompt people to click on the BBC Home link if they want a general collection of todays news, or the BBC Sport link if they just want todays sports headlines and so on.
Why?: This artefact will help to measure how selective consumers have become today.

Artefact Five
Expert Interview
What?: This artefact will be an interview with an industry professional; more specifically, an employee of a news company who distribute their news through both print and online channels.
Why?: This artefact will provide reliable, qualitative research on the current state of the newspaper market and help to measure the level of success of online news.

Artefact Six
?

Personal Research Paper

2010-11-30T23:53:00.003Z

So, over the last 4/5 weeks I've put a lot of work into my PRP module. Originally, I had planned to explore the areas of CSS3 and HTML5, as these are the cutting edge technologies of my area of interest; web design. However, after discussion with my tutor we agreed that this topic did not have enough scope or background research.

After much thought I moved onto the effect that Internet has had on the business world. This was refined to concentrate on the media publishing industry and the final refinement was to specifically look at the news media publishing industry. So my final research question is as follows:

What are the pressures that continue to shape the contemporary news media publishing industry as it adapts to new opportunities made available by online platforms?

I read the relevant chapters of several pieces of literature during my research and noted down all quotes that I thought may be of use to me as well as all the terms that I thought may be interesting to talk about in my paper. I ended up with 16 pages worth of quotes and research notes which made subsequent work regarding my PRP a lot easier to handle.

After having done my research I planned each section of the document down to each point so I knew everything that I wanted to discuss in the paper, meaning all I had to do then was articulate the points I had noted down. I have since submitted my first draft and received largely positive comments from my tutor.

To provide a summary of my research document, here is my abstract taken from my first draft:

This research paper aims to identify the pressures that are continuing to shape the news media publishing business as it adapts to opportunities made available by online opoortunities. The Internet is at the heart of the challenge to the industry (Ward, 1998) so I will be examining the impact it has had and the challenges it has brought with it.

Declining newspaper readership, accelerated by the emergence of the Internet, underlines just how important it is for the industry to adapt to online opportunities, as revenue from physical sales dries up. The internets gigantic range of free to access sources has triggered a transition in power from the news provider to the consumer, who can now afford to be “selective in [their] consumption of information” (Stephens, 2007).

The Internet has also triggered other trends into motion such as citizen journalism (amateur/untrained journalism), which could be a reason for the perceived decrease in credibility of news content today. Furthermore, a new trend of ‘infotainment’ has emerged, with the ever increasing use of videos and audio podcasts to accompany news articles, raising the question; is the printed newspaper still enough to satisfy our entertainment needs?

News media publishing businesses will have to adapt their business models in order to take advantage of opportunities made available by online platforms. Models involving pay-per-click advertising, donation systems and subscription-based viewing are some of the main business models in use at this time. It has been argued that “Adaption to digital media is not an option, but a strategic necessity” (Birkenshaw, 2002).

It is fair to conclude that targeting will be utilised in a major way in the coming years in order to maximise revenue generated from online advertising. Additionally, selective consumption habbits may accelerate the demise of the newspaper, but ultimately, it can be concluded that if news media publishing businesses do not embrace the digital age, it is likely they will not be able to compete in the industry.

Donations Online News Business Model

2010-11-20T01:38:00.000Z

In contrast to the previous business models I have discussed for the monetising of online news content, the donations system relies on the reader for revenue, which involves the reader donating a sum of their choosing to the provider. Such a model can be hard to manage as income levels would vary due to the lack of control the news provider has. However, it could be argued that this model provides the greatest control over their income, as donation levels would be directly affected by the perceived quality of the news content provided. In this sense, the news provider has great control over the level of income they are likely to receive.

Wikipedia (although news is not their primary service) operates on a donations business model, relying on user donations to pay the bills. Recently Wikipedia have introduced a very large banner at the top of the page throughout their website, urging users to donate to keep the site ad-free.

Personally, I feel that if they need to produce huge banners to push users to donate, is it really any more beneficial than implementing ads on the site? These ads might discourage some from viewing the website due to their intrusive nature; but there are few adverts that would be more intrusive than the huge banner Wikipedia have temporary installed to encourage donations!

Another Online News Business Model (Ads)

2010-11-13T01:20:00.002Z

My previous post discussed The Times website and it's move to make all of its online news content viewable on a subscription only basis. This business model is strongly supported by The Times owner, Rupert Murdoch who believes that the viewing of all online news content should be paid for

As The Times website has shown, this business model can be devasting in terms of website traffic leading other newspaper providers to choose other business models for the distribution of their online content.

The Sun and The Daily Mail websites have opted to display adverts on their websites as a way of generating income through their online content. These ads can generate revenue through charging a fixed rate to display a particular sized advert banner. Alternatively, sites can recieve income based on the number of clicks an advert has received.

This method allows the newspaper websites to present their news content online free of charge; however these ads can also be rather intrusive and could actually distract or deter the reader from reading the news content.

Brave Times

2010-11-10T23:06:00.001Z

I have recently been concentrating on research for my Personal Research Product within which I am focusing on the News Media Publishing industry and how it has been effected by the Internet and the challenges brought with it.

After some brief research into online business models for news organisations, I soon came accross Rupert Murdoch's strong views on the availability of online news content. His ideal web involves news platforms that are viewable on a subscription only basis; his main obstacle being the BBC who are obliged to deliver free online content.

However, determined to change the outlook for online news content, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp made a very brave decision in July of this year by making their website for The Times newspaper viewable to users on a subscription only basis.

I thought this was very interesting and helpful to my research into a news media publishing industry that is constantly being re-shaped. It has made me think; is this the mainstream birth of a widely adopted business model for online news? Or will it simply fail to hold water in an age where there are endless free alternatives?

Early signs are inconclusive. Four months after the 'paywall' went up, 100,000 people have paid to use their website in addition to a further 100,000 who are given free access as they subscribe to the printed version. However, website visits have decreased by 87% from 21 million unique users per month to just 2.7 million. Having said that, The Times themselves actually admitted that they "fully expected at least 90% of the audience to depart". So having lost 87%, can the move be deemed a success?

I suppose time will tell!

My Personal Research Project

2010-11-01T00:30:00.000Z

This is just a quick post regarding my progress with the Personal Research Project. After many [terrible] ideas, I have finally settled on a Research Question for my paper! So here it is:

What are the pressures that continue to shape the contemporary news media publishing industry as it adapts to new opportunities made available by online platforms?

I can finally crack on with some actual research now!

I hope to look at how news organisations have been pressured into altering their business models in order to take advantage of new online platforms, as the newspaper's value decreases due to the sheer volume of cheaper/more practical alternatives.

Digital Piracy - The Facts and Figures

2010-10-20T01:32:00.000+01:00

I have completed my Simulated Client Project on digital piracy and I am really pleased with the final output.

I put a huge amount of work into the visual design and presenting all of the facts and statistics in a format that people would enjoy viewing.

The Final Product
http://stephengreig.co.uk/digital-piracy-facts-figures/

If I were to do the project again, I would design it so the rulers at the top and bottom only go up to the number of sections there are, as I believe the way I have designed it may cause the user to think that there are more than 9 sections.

Almost forgot I had this thing...

2010-10-20T01:15:00.000+01:00

I'm well into the 1st term of my final year at uni now, but due to a couple months of internet troubles I haven't given my blog the attention that I probably should have done at this stage. So here's an update on my progress so far.

Simulated Client Project

The first project of the year was the Simulated Client Project which was a short warm-up project, lasting 3 weeks; the brief being to create a piece of work that informs about digital piracy. My idea for the project came whilst doing some initial research and only being able to find large blocks of text on the subject which I really didn't want to read. So I decided to put the emphasis on presenting the information in a way that people would enjoy reading. I soon came up with the idea of creating an infographic, which - due to the amount of different info I wanted to display - became an interactive infographic, with the help of some jQuery.

To keep the infographic interesting and engaging, I designed each of the different sections uniquely, each with their own colour scheme, typhography and shapes. I believe this strategy increases the chances of the user viewing the piece of work right through to the end, rather than leaving after the first couple of sections.

The final product can be seen in my next blog post.

World Cup Art

2010-04-20T21:14:00.014+01:00

With the World Cup fast approaching, it seems like a good time to reflect on one of the biggest events in the world in terms of design.

Since the first tournement in 1930 the World Cup has taken place every four years (excluding 1942 and 1946 due to WWII), with each event delivering it's own style and flare in the design. Such a timescale allows us to view any transitions in design trends, any timeless works of art that wouldn't look out of place in todays world, as well as the designs that errm... I'm sure were good at the time.

1930 - Uruguay

1934 - Italy

1938 - France

1950 - Brazil

1954 - Switzerland

1958 - Sweden

1962 - Chile

1966 - England

1970 - Mexico

1974 - West Germany

1978 - Argentina

1982 - Spain

1986 - Mexico

1990 - Italy

1994 - USA

1998 - France

2002 - Korea Republic & Japan

2006 - Germany

2010 - South Africa

My View
This collection of World Cup art provides an excellent range of designs.

I was particularly impressed with the logo and poster designs from Mexico '70. I love the simplified football which provides a big, bold focal point of the poster which also complements the stylish text below it. The basic colours used round off the design to create a very simple, yet effective design, very reminiscent of design trends 40 years on. Truly a timeless design.

Another poster design worthy of a mention is from Argentina '78. This is another poster design that wouldn't look out of place in todays industry, notably thanks to the bold, striking typography which reads vertically on the left hand side in an attractive and simple font.

This years poster for South Africa 2010 is another of my favourites, with a really nice use of colour, all of which complement each other very nicely, creating a warm feel to the design. Adding to its appeal is a very clever and creative use of the continent's shape, linking it to football extremely elegantly.

My favourite logo by quite a distance is from Japan and Korea 2002. Clearly inspired by the Fifa World Cup Trophy, it has been beautifully smplified to create an easy on the eye, elegant composition. It seems this design has cemented itself as the official world cup stamp, as an incarnation of the design has featured in both logo designs of the two World Cups since 2002.

The I'm sure they were good at the time designs:
Spain '82 (Poster).
Mexico '86 (Poster).

To sum up, I believe there has been an evident forward movement in terms of design since the turn of the century, with an improvement in most areas of technical design such as use of colour, placement, creativity and simplicity. Having said that, some of the designs from 60-80 years ago are really quite impressive considering the limited set of tools they would have had to work with compared to today.

NewJack Website - Flash MP3 Player with PHP/MYSQL

2010-03-17T21:13:00.005Z

After having created my Flash MP3 player (link), the tracks in it could be edited by editing the XML file that is linked to in the Player's ActionScript code. I thought this was fine as it would save you from having to dive into the FLA file every time you wanted to make a change. Then I had a brain wave in terms of how I could take this one step further. I've got more and more confident with PHP and MYSQL as this project has progressed and I thought there must be a way to populate the XML file using PHP and MYSQL.

So after a few google searches I found that I could create a very simple PHP script that creates an XML file that stores the media player's track data.

I started by creating the MYSQL table that will hold the track data - this will be used by the PHP script to populate the XML file.

My next step was to create the PHP file. The script can be seen in the image below.

Firstly, the SQL query gets the data from the music table and the ORDER BY keyword ensures that the latest track entered into the database appears at the top of the list in the mp3 player.
Then using PHP I have constructed the XML document, within which I have used a while loop in order to get the track name and file path from the database and insert them into the XML file.

Finally, in the MP3 Players ActionScript, where it previously linked to the XML document I have simply changed this to link to the php file.

After completing these steps I could then create a simple HTML form and accompanying PHP script so the admin can upload a new track to the MP3 player without having to edit an XML file and upload it back to the server.

I have also added a delete track form which simply deletes the record from the database where the name = the name typed in by the admin into the form.

NewJack Website - Edit/Delete Blog Posts

2010-03-17T18:04:00.006Z

Since my last post I have made the blog posts so they can be edited or deleted so I am going to exlain how I have achieved this. I will also briefly go over the gigs page which I have also made into a dynamic php page populated by a MYSQL database.

Delete Blog Post
Firstly, I needed the blog page to display edit and delete buttons on each post but only whilst the admin is logged in. So within the php I wrote the html for the buttons in the blog post loop in blog.php - the pseudo code is basically if user is logged in, display these buttons. I wrapped the buttons in a form so I could use the method="post" attribute to provide information to the php script. The form includes a hidden input type, the value of which contains the $id variable of the post you want to delete. When the delete button is clicked it runs deletepost.php which simply executes an SQL query to delete the record from the table where the id=$id ($id is the variable which holds the id of the post you want to delete).

You can see on the image above that when logged in, there are options to logout, edit or delete in the head of each blog post.

Edit Blog Post
The edit button works in much the same way although the process is slightly different. When clicked, the edit button takes the user to editpost.php which features an html form reminiscent of the blog post form in the admin area. However this form is already filled in with the appropriate content by setting the field values to variables that contain data taken from the blog post you want to edit. This way, the form fields already have the existing blog post content ready for it to be edited by the user. When this form is submited, it then runs edit.php which executes an SQL query to update this particular record in the table with the new data.

In the image above you can see that when the edit button is clicked, it takes the user to the edit blog post page which features a form that is already populated with the existing blog post content ready to be edited.

Gigs Page
I have made the gigs page editable with PHP and MYSQL in exactly the same way as the blog page. The image below shows what the gigs page looks like when the admin is logged in.

The edit and delete options work in exactly the same way as I described for the blog.
The image below is the admin area page which fetaures forms to make a blog post and to add a gig.

Upload a File with Blog Post
The admin has the option to upload a file with their blog post. If they choose to do so, the file is uploaded to the /blogfiles directory and the file name (image.png or audio.mp3) is inserted into the database. Then in the blog post php script, the script reads; if the file name contains 'jpg', 'png', 'gif' or 'jpeg' then wrap it in <"img"> tags. If the file name contains 'mp3' then wrap it in <"a"> tags and show mp3image.png - when this image is clicked it goes to the audio file so it can be listened to.

NewJack Website Progress - Post a Blog and Login

2010-03-15T01:10:00.004Z

In this post I am going to explain how I have created a form that allows a user to post a blog with the option of also uploading an image. I will also explain how I have created a login system so only the site admin can access the admin area and post a blog.

Posting a Blog
Firstly, I created a page with a simple html form, with fields for the blog's title, content and an upload file field. When submitted, the form runs insert.php which uses SQL to insert the form contents into the appropriate fields in the blog database table. If the user selects an image to upload, the insert.php file also uploads this image to a directory named /blogimages on the server. So if the user uploads an image called img.png, the file will be uploaded to stephengreig.co.uk/newjack/blogimages/img.png. The text img.png will be inserted into the image field in the MYSQL database table.

When the form is submitted, the form content is inserted into the blog database table as shown in the image below.

Now the data is in the database, the blog.php is updated with the new blog post.

Login System
Obviously, we don't want any random user to be able to add blog posts to the blog, so I have made the admin area page require the user to be logged in. There is a button on the blog page which reads 'admin area', which when clicked takes the user to adminlogin.php. This page simply features a html form (with username and password fields) which when submitted runs login.php.

The login.php file then checks to see if the username and password entered are in the members database table; if they aren't the user is redirected to a page which reads login failed; if the username and password entered are in the members database table then the user is redirected to the admin area page where they can then add a blog post.

It is important to note that the admin area page also features some php code that says the page requires auth.php in order for it to be displayed. The auth.php file basically checks to see if the user is logged in or not.

Also in the admin area page is a logout link which when clicked runs logout.php. This file ends the user session and redirects them to a page which tells them they have been logged out.

Remaining Tasks

Make user able to edit blog posts
Make user able to delete blog posts
Make file upload in post blog form accept image AND mp3 files
Make gigs page so it is populated using a MYSQL database
Make add/edit/delete gigs form in admin area
Make PHP contact form

NewJack Website Progress - MySQL and PHP

2010-03-14T21:09:00.009Z

I've come a long way since my last blog post where I explained that all I had left to do was the PHP/MYSQL elements of the website.

A bit of a Moan
I started the project with no experience of using data driven content in a website so I've had to learn a lot in the past couple of weeks. A bit of a moan here but most of what I've learnt has come from online resources after many, many Google searches as opposed to learning through my seminars. Some PHP learning material was provided but I felt the way in which it was delivered was not particularly ideal for learning. For example being made to complete pointless exercises instead of applying what we'd learnt to our projects was particularly annoying. Last week I didn't attend a seminar so I could actually do work on my project at home instead of wasting time in a seminar applying what I'd learnt to a pointless exercise! These exercises are good hypothetic scenarios to use to learn IF WE NEED THEM but if not, I don't expect to be MADE to complete them. It's like being back at school.

MYSQL Database for Blog
This is what my database table looks like for the blog/news feed.

The table is pretty self-explanitory; there is a field for the news posts id, date, title, content and there is also a field incase the user uploads an image (this field simply stores the image's path rather than the image itself).
Below we can see the current data that the table is holding.

The blog.php page is populated using this data. After wrapping certain php variables in html tags in order for a heavy styling session with css, the blog page currently appears as show below.

MYSQL Database for blog comments
The blog I have created makes use of a commenting system. When the 'comments' link is clicked on the blog post, the page displays a single post view which shows the blog post, the comments and an add comment form - as shown below.

When the user enters information into the form and clicks submit, the data is inputted into the database. It is inserted into a separate table from the blog table and it is assigned to the appropriate blog post with the news_id field. This table is solely for storing comments.

In my next post:

In my next blog post I will show how I have created a form to post a new blog post as well as upload an image.

I will also show how I have created a login system so the admin area can be viewed only when a user is logged in.

New Jack Website Project

2010-02-25T00:31:00.007Z

Since starting the design process on Saturday night I have since coded the main part of the website and created the 3 Flash elements. This leaves only the blog/journal (with php and mysql) page to do, as I am pretty much clueless on how to go about that at the moment so I thought it would be a good idea to leave myself a lot of time for it.

The unfinished website can be viewed at http://stephengreig.co.uk/newjack/

The 3 flash elements are:

Music player/sound bar animation in the header on the home page which plays automatically when the user enters the site. The sound bar animation stops when the music is stopped and restarts if the user restarts the music.
The banner animation on the home page featuring 3 promotional banners linking to relevant music websites in the scene.
A user controlled music player featuring ten tracks that can be played/paused/stopped/muted as well as featuring volume controls and a seek bar.

Website Project for 'Artist'

2010-02-25T00:08:00.005Z

I've been working hard the last few days on our new project. My client is a musician, a friend of mine from near Mansfield.

I started doing a few rough sketches last Saturday before transferring my ideas to Photoshop in order to create a suitable design. The first design I did is shown below.

I liked the general look of this design but there was something about it that I thought didn't make it entirely suitable. I thought I could definitely come up with a better, more exciting design. So I started from scratch and produced the design below...

I was very happy with this design and thought it made my initial design look rather bland and uninteresting in comparison. I think it creates the appropriate feel for the theme of the website and all of the colours complement each other well.

Website Review: Mutt Ink

2010-02-05T10:08:00.005Z

Mutt Ink immediately portrays a specific feel to the user, with its spacious design and use of subtle, light and neutral colours. The designer, Jeremy Holmes also makes very good use of textures and his own doodles/illustrations which very much define the designers style. The background also features subtle ink splodges which ties in well with the brand name, showing good brand identity from the designer. However, the background used is a very large image which makes for a rigid layout with no room for flexibility. In addition to this, the type used, although it is attractive, may be too small for many users and those who wish to increase the size of the text will be limited by the rigidness of the background. The text may also be seen to lack contrast against the background which could it make it very difficuly for visually impaired users who find it hard to distinguish similar colours.

The above screenshot shows how the opening page appears. The design is very subtle and un-obtrusive, allowing the important content to jump out and grab the user's attention. The navigation options are clear and consistent in terms of placement increasing ease of use. There are also clear buttons provided which provide easy access to Mutt Ink's social network pages.

Jeremy Holmes' portfolio, featured above, shows that the website's design very much compliments his style of work, capturing a similar feel and displaying great brand identity.

The above screenshot shows how the placement of the page elements and the formatting of the text ensures a clear presentation of the content to the user. The layout and content presentation used is kept consistent throughout all pages.

The design fits many of the web 2.0 design standards, such as a spacious design, the subtle textures and the content is communicated as a priority. However it also lacks many key points of web 2.0 design, as the layout is completely rigid and provides no flexibility to those who may wish to increase the font size.

The Maze Website Project: Final Design

2010-02-04T11:29:00.004Z

The Finished site can be viewed at: http://stephengreig.co.uk/themaze/

Enter Page

Home Page

Shows Page

About Page

Drinks Page

Contact Page

New Designs for The Maze

2010-02-04T11:19:00.005Z

After showing my original finished website for The Maze to Shaun, he pointed out it's flaws and downfalls. He thought the design was too dark and perhaps didn't portray the appropriate feel of the venue to the user. I certainly agree with this on reflection, although I do feel that the darkness is emphasised on the large monitors at uni due to the extra background space.

Anyway, Shaun asked for 2 new designs to be done in the next week which I have now completed.

The first design I feel is aesthetically pleasing, bold and grabs the users attention. However I think it lacks in suitability for purpose as it doesn't portray the appropriate feel of the venue to the user.

I much prefer the second design, as it is pleasing to the eye, it's funky and most importantly it captures the feel of the music associated with The Maze venue. I have fully coded this design to valid XHTML 1.0 Strict and will post the screens/web address in my next blog.

The Maze Website Progress

2010-01-22T22:18:00.005Z

I have completed the basic design for The Maze website. Below are the 'Home' and Shows' pages that I have designed using Adobe Photoshop. It is worth noting that the images have been slightly darkened upon saving.

I have decided to go for a modern, clean and simple approach putting the emphasis on the actual content. I have tried to make it pleasing to the eye whilst still ensuring the information on the page is transmitted to the user easily.

Initial Sketches for The Maze website

2010-01-22T21:58:00.006Z

I began by scanning through several website designs in search of inspiration, looking for something to spark an idea in my head. Eventually I had enough ideas to sketch out a few very basic designs so I had something to work from.

I decided to use design number 5 to develop further. Below is the start of the design using Photoshop.

After reaching this stage I felt that the design that was emerging didn't quite feel right. The colour scheme is all over the place with the decorative header not really complementing the logo it surrounds. So I decided to scrap this design and start from scratch.

I have since further developed design number 6 from the sketches which I feel is looking good so far. I will upload my progress with this design soon.

Website Project - Trading Retail Establishment

2010-01-18T23:22:00.003Z

I considered a number of appropriate establishments for my project, focusing on places that mean something to me rather than picking something at random.

I finally decided on a local music venue called The Maze, which is one of the only local venues that caters to my own personal music tastes.

The venue does currently have a website which will be useful to gain necessary information from. I have completed a few pencil designs for the site which I will upload soon.

Testing/Final Touch-ups

2009-12-07T00:17:00.012Z

I hosted the finished Radfords site on my domain and posted it on my Facebook in order to gain some feedback.

[The finished site can be viewed here: http://www.stephengreig.com/radfords.html]

Most of the feedback was positive but someone with a widescreen monitor (1600x900) pointed out that some text on the home page appeared in the wrong place; as can be seen below.

However I only needed to make a relatively small change to the CSS and the problem was fixed. I changed the positioning of this text to absolute so the text would appear in the correct place in all browsers/screen sizes. I used http://browsershots.org/ to test my edits. This site allows you to view a screen shot of a web page in any browser and at any screen resolution.

Also, I created a new style sheet for versions of IE that are 6.0 or lower. Firstly I used a 'conditional comment' which is an XHTML comment that is only registered by Internet Explorer. You can then specify certain versions of IE; you can see how it's done by looking at the conditional comment I used for my IE7 stylesheet:

The style sheet I used for IE6 involved setting all of the pages id's/classes to display:none. Then, back in the HTML, within the conditional comment tags I entered the text I wanted to be displayed. I then used the browser shots website again to test my site in IE6; the result can be seen below:

The message delivered is that their browser is out of date and links are provided for the user to update. I have chosen to do this as only a small percentage of Internet users now use IE6 and I feel it is our responsibility as Web Developers to keep the world up to date.

After the final touch ups I tested all of the pages with the W3C Validator to ensure all of the code was still valid. All pages still validated to 1.0 XHTML Strict.

Finished Website

2009-12-03T00:45:00.009Z

I have completed the website for Radfords Function Suite and Match Bar. Below are some screenshots of the completed site, all taken from Mozilla Firefox.

The Home Page

The Events page. I have used Javascript to show more information about each event. I have also used Javascript on this page to make the text bigger for those who are visually impaired.

The Food and Drinks page. The drinks/prices are presented in a pub board style and Javascript has been used to show the snacks board when snacks button is clicked.

The Gallery page. I have used Javascript to make this gallery function; when the thumbnails are clicked it shows them in the main image frame. Also, when the main image is clicked it moves onto the next image.

The Contact page. This page uses a mailto action which sends the content of the form via email when the submit button is clicked.

All of the pages validate against XHTML 1.0 Strict and the CSS also validates. All of the pages also work in all of the major browsers (Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, Opera and Chrome).

The only thing left which I had planned to do is make a separate style sheet for Internet Explorer 6.0 or lower. This style sheet will just show a message to the user informing them that their browser is out of date and will give appropriate links so the user can update.

Gallery

2009-12-02T21:32:00.005Z

I've included a gallery page on the Radfords website I'm making, making use of appropriate Javascript code.

Here is how the page appears in Mozilla Firefox.

When each thumbnail image is clicked, the larger version appears in the main frame. Also, when the main image is clicked, it moves onto the larger version of the next thumbnail.

Here are the images in the XHTML code. The onclick event calls the appropriate Javascript function. For example, the function required for the first image is gal1.

This is the Javascript that makes the gallery work. When the first thumbnail image is clicked it calls the gal1 function. This function shows the element with the id g1, which is an img (the larger version of the thumb) and hides all of the other large img tags.

Website Progress

2009-11-27T23:53:00.009Z

Since my previous progress update I have done a bit more design work in Photoshop, but I have also started writing the code for the website, which has taken the majority of my time.

I always try to ensure that the XHTML and CSS I am writing is valid, so I have constantly checked my code using the W3C Validator to identify any errors early and stop them from accumulating. Additionally, what good is valid code if it isn't compatible with your browser? I have tested my code very regularly in all of the major browsers; Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer (7.0), Google Chrome, Safari and Opera. I am not aware of a way to have two different versions of IE on my computer at one time so I am using 7.0 for IE testing initially and will hope that if it works in an earlier version, it should be OK in a later version!

There have been a few issues when testing my site with IE7, all style related, so I have created a separate style sheet that IE 7 will use. I will also make 1 more style sheet for any versions of IE that are 6.0 or lower. However, this will just show a message to the user telling them that their browser is out of date and they need to update (links will be provided).

The above code features HTML that only IE will respond to. Within these tags I have linked to a style sheet meant only for IE 7.

The above two screenshots both occur in the same web page. I have used Javascript to replace the drinks board with the snacks board. The Javascript basically replaces all of the content from one div with all of the content from another div when a button is pressed. This prevents an extra web page having to load unnecessarily. I have highlighted all of the 2nd screenshot to show how I put it together. Each 'element' of the design is a separate image, so each image can have their own appropriate alternate text for the search engines to feed off. I feel this is important in a web page with practically zero actual text.

The above screenshot is the events page (un-finished). This makes use of Javascript that shows more information about each type of event in an expand/collapse style. This increases organisation and ease of use, as the user can easily access the particular information they are looking for.

All of my pages successfully validate as XHTML 1.0 Strict and they all appear correctly in each of the major browsers.

More Simple Javascript

2009-11-27T23:22:00.007Z

I created another game using Javascript, this time with a bit more substance to it. The Javascript code is still very simple, although I suspect not as simple as it should be - and not without it's drawbacks.

The game (interface shown above) shows images of football grounds and presents the user with a text box. The user can then type the name of the ground into the text box and click the 'Check Answer' button. If the answer is correct/incorrect, an alert will appear to confirm this.

Here's the code:

To begin with, the HTML is a simple img, a text field input and a button input. The text field has an id property so it can be referenced in the Javscript Function. The Button has an onlick property, so it can call the function when clicked upon.

The actual function is quite basic. It calls the value from the text field (that the user has entered), then states that if this value is 'Anfield' an alert should appear informing the user that this answer is correct. I tried to use a simple 'or' (||) operator to state other possible answers, but this stopped the program from running. So instead I used an else if statement to state another possible correct answer. Then, anything else would show as incorrect due to the final else statement I used.

Simple JavaScript Game

2009-11-20T14:51:00.005Z

After being set a task to plan and create a game using Javascript, I considered my knowledge of the language; which is fairly limited.

I had recently learnt how to generate random numbers and I thought this code may be a good basis for a game. After some thought I decided to create a dice game; the aim being to roll either a 2 or a 6 in order to win. Very simple stuff.

Here is the code, including the XHTML framework, the CSS formatting and the Javascript to bring the game to life.

The die=Math.ceil(Math.random()*6); code generates a random number between 0 and 1, then multiplies it by 6, so we have a random number between 0 and 5.999. The Match.ceil part rounds this number up, so we have a random number between 1 and 6.

I then use an if statement to give the game different outcomes. So if the user rolls a 2 or a 6, they receive feedback telling them they have won. Otherwise, they are given the feedback 'sorry, try again'.

The try again text is a link, which also uses some Javascript. This javascript:location.reload(true) refreshes the page when clicked, so as to begin the whole cycle again.

The following screeshots show the sequence of the game.

Website Progress

2009-11-12T00:01:00.004Z

I'm currently in the process of designing the look of the website I'm developing for the Radfords bar. I'm using Adobe Photoshop for this part of the design process as I am comfortable within this software and familiar with all the tools. I have many papers full of sketches of many different design ideas which I will scan and upload at a later date. So far I have designed the look of the Enter page, the Home page and the Food & Drink page.

Enter Page

Home Page

Food & Drinks Page - Drinks

Food & Drinks page - Snacks

I got in contact with the bar's Landlord to get an idea of content for the site and he provided a few bits of information, such as the local ale they serve and the sort of events they hold.

I hope to use Javascript for a Calendar feature on the Events page, the Gallery and the Food & Drinks page. Although I feel the interactive calendar I have in mind may prove too challening for my level of Javascript knowledge... but I will see what I can come up with.

Website Project

2009-11-03T22:31:00.004Z

Our project for the first term is to choose a 'building, structure or environment' to create a website for. The site must have a minimum of 5 pages and 3 interactive javascript features.

I have chosen to create a website for Radfords, the match bar at Hereford United's Edgar Street stadium. The bars main purpose is to serve the Hereford United fans on a match day with drinks and snacks, although the bar can also serve a number of other events, such as meetings and functions.

The bar has recently undergone a huge refurbishment as well as a name change which has given it a new lease of life among Hereford supporters.

Thanks to my good relationship with Hereford's official photographer I can get hold of the necessary images relatively easily, although I do plan to get to the bar in the next month or so to gather my own material.

At this early stage I would imagine the content of the site would be on the following lines; welcome page, up-coming events (maybe a calendar feature), book an event, food/drinks/offers, history, gallery and a contact page. This will more than likely change when I get further into my planning for this project. I do plan to contact the bar's landlord to gather some information and get his opinion on content for the site.

Junior Bulls Xmas Card Design

2009-11-03T18:38:00.005Z

I've just finalised the design I've been working on for the Junior Bulls Supporters Club (of Hereford United) Christmas card. This design will be mass produced and all the players at HUFC will sign each card. The cards then get sent to each member of the Junior Bulls Supporters Club in time for Christmas.

The baubles each feature a player's face as does the fairy; this will be the basis of a competition where the members have to guess which player the fairy is. Everything in the card design was made from scratch including the xmas tree, the presents and the baubles.

User Generated Content

2009-10-25T16:45:00.006Z

We have been asked to find and comment on three examples of websites with user generated content.

1. DeviantArt

The first website I would like to discuss is DeviantArt, as I am an active member of this website, using it as a platform for my design work as well as to seek inspiration from. The main purpose of the site is for artists to upload their work for others to see. The site presents its art in several ways, including order of popularity, time of submission and categorically. There are browse/search features so the user can easily find what they are looking for, whether it be a user or a piece of art. User's can also create their own collections of their favourite pieces, so these collections can be easily accessed in future when looking for inspiration. The site is generally well organised and easy to use, although there are many areas of the site to explore which could be easy to miss for the casual user.

2. LogoMoose

The second website I am going to comment on is LogoMoose. As the title suggests, this website is all about logo design. User's can upload their own logo design's and the very best are featured on the website's gallery. Only the best are featured as the website aims to be a source of real inspiration for logo design. The website also has features such as awards for the best logos and user's who require logo design can also submit job offers for the designers who use the site. LogoMoose is very well organised and all of the options are very clear; the site is extremely easy to use and navigate around.

3. Design Snack

The final website for discussion is called Design Snack. The point of the website is for users to upload XHTML/CSS templates as well as Flash created website designs. This creates a designer showcase that the user controls. A user can then browse through the designs and rate, comment or favourite the designs. The site is well organised and has large fonts and distinctive sections increasing the site's ease of use and desirability.

Interaction Design and Website Design

2009-10-24T22:34:00.013+01:00

We were asked to read and comment on two interviews with professional designers; the interviewees being Dan Saffer and Joel Schaffer. Primarily I'd like to say that I found the interviews very enlightening and extremely useful in terms of building the ideal mindset for a designer.

Interview 1 - Dan Saffer: 'Interaction Design is an Applied Art'
The first point I'd like to touch upon involves the aspects of an interaction design that web designers apply a particular focus to during the creative process. Saffer is very specific when he lists that usefulness, usability and desirability are the most important elements of interaction design. He states that "If your design fills a need in people's lives, works well, and looks beautiful, you've got design gold." Although this statement probably over-simplifies the criteria for creating 'design gold', it clearly points out the three main principles of design that need to be considered during the creative process. If a designer can meet these three principles consistently then they should prove to be very succesful in the industry.

Saffer goes on to discuss the common mistakes that those who are new to interaction design often make. He says that one of these mistakes is "not coming up with enough variations—or, more accurately, not being able to come up with more alternatives. Which is to say, falling in love with one direction and not being able to see others. Often, this direction is something familiar, that the designer is comfortable with." I think this is a trap that most designers, of all standards, have probably fallen into at some point or another; myself included. The designer's skillset and creative process can become somewhat one-dimensional as the designer takes a direction that they have used before and are comfortable with. This can lead to repitition in the designer's work and eventually cause their toolset to become very limited. I believe a designer needs to experiment and learn new things, which Saffer later touches on when he mentions the need to tinker.

I would also like to briefly discuss Saffer's means of inspiration. He describes his desire for seeking inspiration in the interfaces of actual, physical machines. This is an area that I had never seriously considered as a source of inspiration for interaction design before reading this interview. I can now however, realise that sometimes it helps to think outside of the box when seeking inspiration.

The final point of discussion is Saffer's irritations/distractions whilst working. His answer included the following quotation; "My own ignorance, lack of skills, or inability to grasp new concepts. My own limitations are always more frustrating than almost anything external." I can certainly relate to this statement as I have often found myself in a position where I have an idea in my head but I find the task of reflecting this idea onto a blank canvas very challenging. It is these limitations of my own that I find to cause me the most frustration during the creative process. A way to improve on these limitations is to divulge in as much relevant information as possible to broaden your view of design.

Interview 2 - Joel Schafer: 'I'm into minimalistic, clean design'
When describing his own design process Schafer says "I always write down everything to paper before starting a software." This is also where I start my own design process (after seeking inspiration). I find that it helps to make a few rough sketches of a website design in order to help organise the various page elements in your mind and to have something visual to work from when you move onto software.

Schafer also states that a "good photographer is always good to know." This is a good example of how I could expand my own network in order to lessen my own design limitations.

When listing the languages he uses for coding, he mentions "ActionScript, html, xml and sometimes php. These languages is all I need." I think that this is a slightly short-sighted view as my belief is that you need to know whatever the client requests and this request may require coding knowledge outside of that bracket. Therefore to state that those languages are all he needs is, in my opinion, slightly ignorant as he has failed to consider that there are other posibilities.

Portfolio V2.0

2009-10-24T17:06:00.005+01:00

Portfolio v2.0: http://www.stephengreig.com/

I soon got bored with my portfolio and design service website so I decided to re-design it. During the designing process I tried to consider organisation, professionality, simplicity and usability.

The main difference between the previous design and v2.0 is the simplicity element. Previously, you would enter the 'work' area and have a list of categories to explore. The way the work was presented was 4 thumbnails to a page with next/back buttons to move onto the next/previous set of 4 thumbs. This format meant the work area contained several web pages which could have caused some confusion.
For v2.0, the work area has been stripped to it's bare bones and it now consists of just 3 web pages, each with a very clear and organised gallery layout. There is a gallery for Client work, Other work and Graded work.

The services area has also been massivly simplified. Previously there were many options to click on, such as logo design, website design etc etc. The services area for v2.0 is now just a single web page with very clear content detailing what I can offer to the client.

I'm pleased with the new look and plan to use it for at least another 6 months before I get bored with it again and start on v3.0!

What have I been doing?

2009-10-24T14:51:00.004+01:00

Here's all the design work I've done since my last post in May.

New Year, New Blog Look

2009-10-24T03:45:00.004+01:00

So we've started a new academic year... time to reinvent my blog which has been somewhat neglected over the summer. I wanted to design my own Blog template, but that's been put on the backburner until I have sufficient time to do it; so in the meantime I've found this nice, new template to do the job. I designed a header splash thing to try and give this skin more of a unique feel.

In terms of the year ahead, I'm hoping to expand my knowledge of web development, particularly more complex coding languages which in turn will allow me to broaden the services which I can offer to clients.

I will be updating my blog soon with all the design stuff I've done since my last post.

Finished Interactive Showcase

2009-05-07T01:07:00.005+01:00

Finally finished it after months of working on this.

You can view it here:
http://www.stephengreig.com/interactiveshowcase.html

The room obviously includes my 5 identities elements but also includes many additional interactive features for the user to explore. A little disappointed with the quality of the images but overall I'm very pleased with it and glad everything seems to work ok.

If anyone would be kind enough to provide some feedback it would be greatly appreciated.
Send to steve.greig1@ntlworld.com
Ta.

All Coming Together

2009-04-29T00:33:00.011+01:00

Finally finished all of my identities elements as well as the design of my showcase. So all that is left to do now is to bring them all together in the final Flash showcase. Here's what I've done...

1. Logo

2. Audio-Visual (Pixilation - A Day in the Life of Stephen Greig)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATxaVlBpxIo

3. Avatar

4. Portfolio and Design Service Website

http://www.stephengreig.com/

5. My World (Graphic Design - Typography)

Interactive Showcase - Completed Design

This gives me about 2 weeks for my essay and an extra few days to make my showcase interactive, which I'm hoping will be enough time!

Final Element - My World (typography)

2009-04-28T19:00:00.004+01:00

I've known since the start of the module that I was doing a logo, avatar, pixilation and a website for 4 of my 5 identity projects, but I've only decided on my 5th element in the last couple of days.

For a while I've been trying to think of ideas that would really display my personality and not just things I like etc. I wanted to really spell it out... so I thought I could do just that. Last night I got some friends and family to contribute words that they think describe me. Then, last night and today I have used those words to form my world - according to those who know me best. And this is the result;

I was given a mass of words from all different types of people in my life, which lead to a variety of descriptive words... many contradictory, but then that's just part of who I am. Sometimes I am quite, sometimes I am loud etc. etc.

Avatar...

2009-04-27T00:06:00.006+01:00

Originally, I wanted to create an avatar that reflected my own appearance. Then I realised how damn hard that is. I did try - numerous times, but I found it very difficult to create a shape that looks like a human, let alone me! I've never been able to draw people and it seems it's no different with modelling. Fair play to everyone who's created an avatar that looks like them.

So this presented a problem and I needed to think of a way around it. I thought if I can't show my appearance with my avatar, then I want to put the emphasis on displaying my personality. So this is the concept I've come up with...

My avatar is my name [STE], with each letter showing a different aspect of my personality. The 'T' is the main body of the avatar, which holds the other letters in each hand. As it is the main body it shows the main part of my personality, which is my casual/laid back approach to life.
The 'S' shows that I like to go out and have a good night.
The 'E' shows that I can be a very hard worker when I need to be.

Laid back.

Party time.

Hard worker - like to get things done.

Three major parts of my personality.
I dont tend to wear party hats when I go out, I don't usually wear shades, and I don't wear ties when I'm working, but this isn't based on my appearance, it's based on showing the different sides to my personality and I feel these features emphasise this.

I realise it isn't great quality, but I like the concept and feel it's a decent compromise for my lack of 3D modelling skills.

More Logo Work (and finished AV)

2009-04-26T19:30:00.006+01:00

So I decided my first logo wasn't really suitable. I liked the concept and thought it looked ok, but it doesn't really meet the criteria for a good logo.

All the logo's I've done so far;

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Like I said for the first one, I think it looks alright, but when you reduce the size it's hard to make out the shapes.

I think I prefer number 4 as the full logo and I can then use number 3 as a sort of sub logo.

In addition, I have completed my Audio-Visual piece which is a pixilation entitled 'A Day in the Life of Stephen Greig' - watch.

Audiovisual Element

2009-03-12T01:42:00.005Z

Just a quick update of my progress. I decided straight away to do a pixilation for my audiovisual element as I enjoyed the pixilation project from the Narratives module and I'm not really into filming.

I had a few ideas but none of them really said a lot about me, so I racked my brains until I thought of something that would say a hell of a lot about me. My pixilation will be a day in the life of me. I've already shot the pictures with the help of a mate (and my mum!) a couple of weeks ago and will start the editing process during or after Easter.

The basic structure is divided into scenes which are:

Waking up
Take the car for a spin
Game time
Design time
Eat and Drink
Getting ready to go out
--Clock speeds from 9pm-4am--
Get home

Here are a couple of the shots...

Car Scene

Drinks scene

Getting ready scene

Identity Package

2009-03-04T13:13:00.006Z

I've done a fair bit of design work in the past couple of days, but none of it course related. Although it is highly relevant! My brother in law is setting up a fun run to take place in the summer in aid of cancer research and I have offered to design it's 'identity' by creating a clear house style for multiple documents. This is a very convenient client project considering my current Identities module and it could benefit my final outcome in the module. I will also be developing a website for the charity, which I have already designed graphically. So far I have done designs for an A3 poster, a letter template, sponsor form, flyer, advert/business card, website and the logo;

There may be a few tweaks here and there but otherwise these designs are final.

This is the website I have designed for the event which I hope to code soon.

Me... as a shape?

2009-02-26T22:10:00.003Z

This is the shape that I believe represents me. I think. I'd had a look at some people's blogs and a lot of people had done sphere's, cone's and other rounded objects and I liked the reasoning behind it, so I wanted to be round as well. But then I thought that I needed sides - and a lot of them - because there are many sides to my personality. So I am round because I'm an all round kinda person and I like to just kick back and roll with the flow of things; but I also have several sides to my personality, which I think is what allows me to get on with so many different groups of people.

However, I'm a little disappointed with the outcome of this task as, although I like what I've put above and believe it, I don't really like the look of my shape. I like it's description and how it relates to me as a person, but aesthetically it's not smooth or shiny enough to suit my taste. And I'm all about aesthetics. So this shape's only half successful.

...following on from my last entry

2009-02-26T18:19:00.004Z

As I expected, I got an email today from my hosting company saying I'd made the top 10 and I have qualified for their platinum service blah blah blah. The benefit of this is that I 'get' to pay £97 a year for their platinum service instead of £300 odd. Errrrm, thanks but no thanks.

Would still like to think the whole top 10 website thing is genuine though... although I highly doubt it!

Promise on the Website Front

2009-02-26T07:56:00.004Z

I got an email from the hosting company that my website's hosted with explaining that each month, they pick the 'best' 50 new websites and then the best 10 to offer their platinum service to and mine was in that initial group of 50. It doesn't sound all that great but when you consider that they have 10,000 new websites each month, it's a lot more impressive! That's like coming 1st out of 200... which can't be too bad. The top 10 will be picked in the next 10 days.

Part of the email read;
"Once a month myself and our marketing manger look through all of
our new accounts and select 50 websites which we believe have
future potential based on their design, page layout, initiative,
and development quality."
"Your website was actually a favourite of mine which I put through
personally, so congratulations Stephen Greig and I wish you the best of
luck over the next few days!"

That's all good, but there's a part of me that suspects it's a mass email sent to every user in a coy to 'offer' them their platinum service before saying... "oh by the way, it's another tenner a month!".

Maybe it's genuine though and hopefully, it will fulfill that 'potential'!

Writing Task: Creativity and Research

2009-02-23T23:10:00.004Z

What has my creativity been for in the past few years? Well, after rolling this question around in my head for a short while I have managed to determine three categories for which I 'create' for; school, clients and just for me. Then I realised that was who I created for. So what did I create for?

In terms of school, I used my creative abilities in order to gain the best grade I could in the creative courses I took, such as GCSE Art and A-Level ICT. I created according to a brief, which took the form of a mark scheme, trying to tick all of the boxes that this mark scheme included.
With regards to clients, I began by creating graphics just to help people out whilst also having something else to add to my portfolio. More recently, I have created graphics and websites for clients with the added incentive of a financial reward - which is always nice.
However, a big chunk of my creativity in the past few years has been for my own benefit (mostly graphic images made on Photoshop); having the freedom to make whatever I wanted, being able to incorporate my own interests into my creative output and most of all, the satisfaction of seeing something that I have created myself that I like and that I can show to other people.

To sum all of that up, I'd say that my creativity in the past few years has been in order to see/have something that I have made that I like and that other people like.

I created for school because I was told to - or at least that's how each project started. I had/still have a tendency to turn a school based project into a personal project. For example, if I have created something that meets a certain aspect of the mark scheme perfectly, but is not something I particularly like or am satisfied with, I go back and refine this aspect of the piece until it is something I am happy with, regardless of what the mark scheme says. This was probably my downfall with certain projects, but it meant I was happy with my creation and proud to feature it in my portfolio.
I have created for clients because they asked me to. This was the result of creating for my own benefit, as this work got noticed by various people and I was therefore presented with another reason to create.
So why did I start making graphics for my own benefit? This was down to a mate who had started making some pretty cool stuff on Photoshop; I just said, 'hey that's pretty cool, how'd you do that?' So he showed me the basics and I went from there. I enjoyed having a blank canvas on my screen and an amazing picture in my head, and the challenge of transferring that amazing picture from my head to the blank canvas on my screen. The satisfaction of doing so formed a desire to create - so I did - not for any particular purpose.

Like any normal being, in the future, I want to use any creative skills I may have picked up in exchange for monetary reward. However, if I have the time I would love to continue to create things - any things - just for me, that I like and that are interesting to me. And anything else I make I want money for!

Research can most certainly help me get to a point where I can offer my services for regular financial gain. For example, I currently have a new personal website which offers my services, but I don't get a steady flow of requests. Why? Because properly conducted research, the key ingredient, was missing from the creative process. Research into how to market yourself and advertise such a website would go a long way to increasing the amount of users that stumble upon the site. The research starting point that would be most beneficial in this instance is 'for', as this involves researching what is happening in other related disciplines. This allows you to understand how other, similar services have made themselves known and how they are sustaining that interest.

With regards to creativity in general, I feel most drawn to the 'In front of' research starting point, as I feel creativity is all about meeting some kind of goal; whether it be a brief set by someone else or just a picture in your head. People's reactions to the work measure how well that goal has been met and the work can the be revised in order to meet it better, resulting in a better final piece.

I feel there is a place for all of the research starting points in certain situations, but the one which I feel is most irrelevant is the 'In through' research starting point. This is because I feel the creative output is the only really important thing. Excluding obvious practical factors such as time and expense, if two people produce the same output, then their various processes to reach that output are irrelevant.

Logo

2009-02-16T18:53:00.008Z

Started work on my logo today and the process has been pretty quick and easy. I began by thinking of the things that make me, me, by referring to the brainstorm I did at the start of the module. I then did some very crappy drawings to give an idea to work from.

Once I had a solid idea I was happy with I began designing the logo on Photoshop.

Final logo.

My two main passions in life are music and football, so I'm really pleased that I was able to portray this clearly in my logo. To ensure it wasn't too bland I added a tint of blue as blue is my favourite colour and I like working with it. However, I realise the lack of colour/contrast may still be an aspect of the logo I have to work on. But as of now, I'm happy with this design as my final piece.

I feel it pretty much sums me up. Music + football = me.

Another Showcase Update

2009-02-16T00:42:00.004Z

Since my last post I have modeled some CD, DVD and Xbox 360 cases so I could add some of my personal preferences to the room. It was hard only trying to pick a few so I ended up with 20 CD's, 18 DVD's and 8 360 games. My plan is to use these in an extra interactive feature in the room; you will be able to click on the area to close in on the cases and then hover over each case to view the front cover and game/film title/music artist.

2nd Interactive Showcase Update: Design Stage

2009-02-12T02:13:00.006Z

The last time I posted I had the main design of the room completed plus some of the smaller objects such as the computer/lamp etc. I have since continued creating the objects that give the room a bit of life and that make it look like it is being lived in. I've added a PC keyboard, an Xbox 360 and a CD player which were all very tricky to model with my limited knowledge of the software. Here are the render screen shots.

I'm really pleased with how the keyboard turned out as it's probably the most realistic thing I've done on 3DS Max so far. It was actually pretty simple to model; it was just a very repetitive and tedious process. It's a shame you can't see any of the detail in the room as it's so far away, but maybe i'll find another use for it.
I left out a lot of detail and generally modelled the Xbox pretty badly, but I figured it would be sufficient due to its position in the room, as it would have been hard to make out the detail anyway. Same goes for the CD player really.

All in all, I'm really pleased with how the room looks and I'm glad I decided to learn how to use the software properly. All that remains is to add some CD's to the shelf and model some kind of computer chair. However, I daresay there might be a few more additions before it is properly finished.

Interactive Showcase Update: Design Stage

2009-02-10T00:07:00.012Z

I've had a very productive week in terms of work for the module, despite not making it to my lectures/seminars on Thursday and Friday!

I've been working tirelessly on my 3D room (my interactive showcase). The room is now taking shape as I've done a lot of modeling with the help of Google and some online tutorials. My skills with the software are progressing at a very decent rate, which has allowed me to create whatever I have wanted to create and make things look like I want them to look.

I've been recording my progress by taking screenshots of the 3D room render after I completed each model and added it to the room.

I followed tutorials to create the bed, the pc monitor, part of the computer tower, the drawers and the lamp. I was able to use the skills I'd learnt from these tutorials to create the desk, cupboards, tv, shelf, mouse and the computer speakers.

All that remain are the small, fiddly things like a CD player and an Xbox 360, which I imagine will be the most testing things I would have attempted to model. However, I aim to finish the room design by the end of the week so then I can actually start the module projects and eventually make the room design interactive.

Interactive Showcase

2009-02-06T17:01:00.005Z

I've been working on ideas for my interactive 'box' that will showcase the 5 pieces of work I have to produce throughout the Identities module.

I tried to think outside of the box - so to speak - and after considering many options I have decided to attempt to create an interactive room to present my 5 projects.

I have a habit of making more work for myself than is entirely necessary and this appears no different. I want to model the room using 3DS Max in order to produce the most realistic, professional looking piece possible. It is based upon my actual room although certain aspects will be modified considerably for practicality.

I have produced a couple of sketches of my room design. The first design is just a very rough representation of my own room and is of a pretty awful standard, but you get the idea.

At this stage, I was planning to design the room graphically, using Adobe Photoshop. I then considered using 3DS Max, which I thought would mean a hell of a lot of work and an extremely steep learning curve to start climbing, but I decided the potential output of using 3DS Max was too good not to attempt. So I completed another, more detailed sketch of my room in a more practical perspective that I plan to adopt during the room's actual creation. All of the features are labelled so you can see how exactly I plan to feature my 5 Identities projects in the interactive room.

The ideas are not set in stone, but the general concept is clear. I still don't even know what I am doing for my 5th Identities project, but if possible I would like to attempt a game of sorts, so this could be an interactive feature for the xbox in the room.

I have since made a start on modelling my room in 3Ds Max and so far have a floor, walls and the drawers finished. I realise my plan will require a lot of work but I'm prepared to persist and hopefully the final output will be as good as the picture I have in my head.

Moodboard

2009-02-06T00:42:00.002Z

My moodboard for the identities module. Just a simple collection of images of things I like.

What am I doing to develop myself as a multimedia practitioner?

2009-01-28T20:27:00.010Z

The pathway I plan to take next year is Online Environments, as the area of multimedia I specialise in is web design. My main strength is graphic design and this can also be put to good use within an online environment, so I feel this is the perfect route to take in order to enhance my existing skills.

I have been designing websites for a couple of years, often relying on my graphic design skills rather than my coding skills, as I tended to use WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) software, such as Adobe Dreamweaver to put the HTML web pages together. This produces messy and sometimes out-dated code, which makes it difficult to maintain and update and can also cause problems in future. I also created my html layouts using tables, a technique which I have read is an old and out-dated technique and there are now far better alternatives.

I decided I needed to cean up my knowledge of html and css and be able to code a website by hand, without the use of WYSIWYG software. I purcased a massive book, which details what you can do with xhtml and css and how to create good looking websites with clean and valid xhtml code. The book also goes on to discuss other programming languages such as PHP and javascript, which I plan to read at some point.

After reading about how to produce css based layouts and valid xhtml code, I set about creating my own personal website. I designed the entire website in Adobe Photoshop, ensuring I put my graphic design strengths to full use, before coding the website from scratch using a text editor. I constantly checked that my code was 100% correct and valid, using an online code validator.
My website can be found here; www.stephengreig.com however I intend to modify the site further, mostly in terms of content.

I also attracted the attention of a new, American based website design company and have signed a contract with them to produce websites on request. This should hopefully provide some insight into how professional web design companies operate and what standards are expected in the industry. www.vertigocreations.com (I designed the basic website before it as manipulated to meet the owner's specific needs). Other websites I have made via this company;
www.tier-10.com
www.neumodemedia.com

So that's what I'm doing to develop myself as a web designer; I've read a book, made my own website and signed a contract with a web design company.

Oh, also, in terms of graphic design, I designed many pages (including front/back cover) for a recently published Hereford United book;
http://www.stephengreig.com/wagu.html
http://www.herefordunited.co.uk/buy/2288613/The-Whites-Are-Going-Up

Avatar Ideas

2009-01-22T16:47:00.003Z

Today we had our first lecture on the Identities module; the topic of which was the 3D avatars that we are required to create. I found the lecture more useful than I anticipated as it gave me a much clearer idea of how to create a digital incarnation of myself that shows who I am as a person.

Preferences

Possessions

Passions

The above points are the '3 P's' that were presented to us in the lecture. If these points are used as a guide, we shouldn't have much trouble trying to show ourselves in the avatars we create.

Preferences: I assume this point to mean your own personal preferences in terms of things such as clothes for example that can obviously be easily shown on your avatar.

Possessions: Your favorite possessions could be evident on your avatar. For example, if you cherish your headphones or you can't live without your phone, these could be easily included in your avatar creation. Alternatively, if there is one particular item that sums you up as a person, your avatar could simply be a modified version of this object. We were shown some impressive examples of this in the lecture; one for example being a little ketchup bottle character.

Passions: If you are passionate about something then it is likely to be a big part of who you are and you'd probably want to show this in your avatar. If you are passionate about art for example, your avatar could be holding a paint brush and colour palette or something similar.

My ideas:
My two main passions in life are Hereford United (football) and music. I intend to show my passion for Hereford United by having my character wear a Hereford shirt or perhaps a scarf.
In order to show my love for music, I think I will have my character sporting some headphones or an I-Pod or something similar.
My character's attire will display my personal preference in terms of clothing, and obviously the Hereford shirt/scarf will show my preference in terms of football teams.
With regards to appearance, at this stage, I plan to work with my actual appearance as opposed to something enitrely different like an object. I would like to create my avatar with a big smile as I feel this will reflect my personality somewhat - and the fact that I smile a lot!
I'm glad I did the mind map of myself yesterday as I think this helped a lot with these thought processes.

I'm looking forward to starting the 3D avatars and I'm hoping I can create a good quality, digital version of myself that shows who I am. I'm also hoping there's not too much drawing involved! I did actually get an A in art at GCSE but I can't draw characters for shit.

Identities - My Identity

2009-01-21T16:22:00.004Z

The identities module is all about creating things that represent ourselves. Logos, avatars, pixilations etc. etc. that show a part of who we are. This got me to thinking about who I actually am and how I could show myself in my work. So I decided to create a mind map for myself, to organise everything I know about myself. I'm hoping this will help me with this module, in terms of having a clear idea of my identity.