Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
When i look back to my preliminary task, I feel i have learnt a great deal about the software we were using and also the web servers which were avaliable if i would have wanted to make our website fully functional and visible to all internet users.
The software me and the rest of the class used to make our websites was, Iweb. It is designed to create websites from scratch however, there are templates avaliable but we were unable to use these as our websites had to be our own work made from scratch. This made making the website alot harder but at the same time it allowed us to learn how to use Iweb for ourselves which was of course a challenge to start with but over a duration of time our knowledge of the software increase making it easier and easier over time.
Also, I feel i have developed the skills and experience to be able to create a successful, fully functioning aesthetically pleasing website. We have had to do alot of research on other websites which are linked to our topic since the preliminary task. This allowed us to learn which was the best ways to make our website asthetically pleasing but at the same time very informative. The process as a whole made me realise how hard it is to create a fully functioning website. I have also learned one of the most important things is to be clear about who your target audience are and what the product hopes to achieve. We learned the hard way by not focusing on getting this right in the first draft and we had to spend a lot of time redrafting.
Tuesday 28 April 2009
Monday 27 April 2009
Media Evaluation 6
What have you learned from technologies from the process of constructing this website?
I would like to think i have learnt lot from constructing my media product, these things i have learnt will be able to help me make corrections to my website and also improve it. These things i have learnt such as, being able to use Iweb on an apple mac will all be very useful in the future.
However, Being able to use Iweb has been of great use throughtout the period of making our website because if me and my partner both agree that we feel something doesnt work for example, the layout, pictures and even changing different fonts. We can easily change this now due to our knowledge and experience of using Iweb.
Another key component i have learnt is being able to use photoshop as before i was unaware of even being able crop pictures. However, now i can crop pictures, change the lighting and also being able to use to magic tool effectively which is extremely useful when making pictures look satisfying. These are all very useful when making a successful website because when you become more experience with these features they become less time consuming which can help with other aspects of your website. For example making it aesthetically pleasing which i feel is one the main features for a website with a young audience.
I would like to think i have learnt lot from constructing my media product, these things i have learnt will be able to help me make corrections to my website and also improve it. These things i have learnt such as, being able to use Iweb on an apple mac will all be very useful in the future.
However, Being able to use Iweb has been of great use throughtout the period of making our website because if me and my partner both agree that we feel something doesnt work for example, the layout, pictures and even changing different fonts. We can easily change this now due to our knowledge and experience of using Iweb.
Another key component i have learnt is being able to use photoshop as before i was unaware of even being able crop pictures. However, now i can crop pictures, change the lighting and also being able to use to magic tool effectively which is extremely useful when making pictures look satisfying. These are all very useful when making a successful website because when you become more experience with these features they become less time consuming which can help with other aspects of your website. For example making it aesthetically pleasing which i feel is one the main features for a website with a young audience.
Sunday 26 April 2009
Media Evaluation 5
How did you attract/address your audience?
We attracted our audience in the most influential and sterotypical ways such as, through the use of colours. We attracted our target audience by using simple, calm and pasty colours such as, light browns and yellows which are asthetically pleasing to our audience. Another reason why we choose these specific colours were because they interact with the other components for example, the pictures of horses we took. Pictures are very important in attracting your audience and we took this into account, we thought the most successful way to attract and persuade our audience would be the through the use of relatively cute pictures. Which explains why most of our pictures are fairly cute.
Another feature which is important to attracting and addressing your audience is the mode of address and chosen fonts. We used very simple language as our target audience is predominately young girls so the language couldnt be too complex. The fonts link in with the chosen colours, the fonts are mainly calm and clear although they are large so they stand out and catch the audience's eye.
The positioning of the pictures and writing have been set out in a conventional charity website syle as we didnt want it too be too complicated for a younger audience. The links to other pages and website have been labled very clearly so our target audience do not struggle with using the techniqual use of the website, this will also make the website more effiecent and alot easier to use satisfying our audience.
Our website also features a picture slide show on the dront page to draw the view in and this is also a persuasive technique to persuade the viewer to carry on searching through the website and hopefully leading to a donation.
UPDATE:
After receiving feedback from our class and from the teacher we decided to look at the design and layout of our website again and try to make it more clear about who we are trying to target. We would like to mainly target a young audience, specifically female children who can persuade their parents to sign up and donate. Our first design didn't make this clear and when asked who the website was for most people replied that they thought it was for adults and so we realised we had not been successful in targeting our audience. We made changes to the banner at the top of the page to make it more appealing to children and the large sunshine also clearly connotes the idea of happiness for the animals. The navigation buttons are now in a wooden western design which also adds fun to the page. We've been able to take some of our orginal ideas and more carefully target the site to an audience.
We attracted our audience in the most influential and sterotypical ways such as, through the use of colours. We attracted our target audience by using simple, calm and pasty colours such as, light browns and yellows which are asthetically pleasing to our audience. Another reason why we choose these specific colours were because they interact with the other components for example, the pictures of horses we took. Pictures are very important in attracting your audience and we took this into account, we thought the most successful way to attract and persuade our audience would be the through the use of relatively cute pictures. Which explains why most of our pictures are fairly cute.
Another feature which is important to attracting and addressing your audience is the mode of address and chosen fonts. We used very simple language as our target audience is predominately young girls so the language couldnt be too complex. The fonts link in with the chosen colours, the fonts are mainly calm and clear although they are large so they stand out and catch the audience's eye.
The positioning of the pictures and writing have been set out in a conventional charity website syle as we didnt want it too be too complicated for a younger audience. The links to other pages and website have been labled very clearly so our target audience do not struggle with using the techniqual use of the website, this will also make the website more effiecent and alot easier to use satisfying our audience.
Our website also features a picture slide show on the dront page to draw the view in and this is also a persuasive technique to persuade the viewer to carry on searching through the website and hopefully leading to a donation.
UPDATE:
After receiving feedback from our class and from the teacher we decided to look at the design and layout of our website again and try to make it more clear about who we are trying to target. We would like to mainly target a young audience, specifically female children who can persuade their parents to sign up and donate. Our first design didn't make this clear and when asked who the website was for most people replied that they thought it was for adults and so we realised we had not been successful in targeting our audience. We made changes to the banner at the top of the page to make it more appealing to children and the large sunshine also clearly connotes the idea of happiness for the animals. The navigation buttons are now in a wooden western design which also adds fun to the page. We've been able to take some of our orginal ideas and more carefully target the site to an audience.
Saturday 25 April 2009
Media Evaluation 4
Who would be the audience for your media product?
The specific audience who we aim to target our website at are young girls, house riders and horse owners mainly because that is who our website is most suited for. This is because our website provides such as, how to goom and care for your horses. We also feel if we aim our website at young girls we will be able to recieve the most donations as they are the audience which are most likely to be really interested in horses and want to care for them and make sure they are safe. They are also the most likely to use 'pester power' to persuade their parents to sign up and make a donation or get involved.
The specific audience who we aim to target our website at are young girls, house riders and horse owners mainly because that is who our website is most suited for. This is because our website provides such as, how to goom and care for your horses. We also feel if we aim our website at young girls we will be able to recieve the most donations as they are the audience which are most likely to be really interested in horses and want to care for them and make sure they are safe. They are also the most likely to use 'pester power' to persuade their parents to sign up and make a donation or get involved.
Friday 24 April 2009
Media Evaluation 3
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Apache will be the web server we will use to publish our website. As Apache seems to be to be the most frequently used web server on the Internet, with a high reputation which also means its one of the most successful web servers avaliable. The research gathered when searching for websites such as www.wikipedia.com that Apache would be the sever that came more frequently therefore making it a moree reliable server.
We will have the website published through google as the service they provide can make our website visible and easier to find therefore this will make our website larger and more well known, hopefully providing us with more hits than if we had used another search engine this will lead to the success of our website. The way the website will be visible on the Internet is to go on to Google and type into the search box 'how to make my website visible on google' and then click on the first link which appears, then i will click the link that reads www.google.com/addurl.html, which will then take me to the page where i will be able to make my website visible for Internet users.
There are a lot of things that will have to be considered after the designing of the campaign website is complete. The disribution of your website will have to be thought of carefully, how it will target the audience and then be successful. Also, funding is essential for it to go onto the world wide web and of course, you will need to find a suitable web address to use.
A domain name is what people will search in a browser to find a specific website. To purchase a domain name you must first think of a name which would best describe your website. Usually website names are fairly short or catchy so the audience remember it.
Web hosting is used to publish websites on the Internet. If you make a website and want people to be able to view it then you must upload it on a web hosting service so people search for your website and then view it. You can use many things from web hosting; From personal designed websites just for fun to online shopping websites. Without a web hosting service people will not be able to view your site.
When your website is going live onto the world wide web, a live search team will be needed to make sure your website will come high in the listings when key words are typed into specifc search engines, this will make your website more visible therefore, hopefully more people will view it.
We will have the website published through google as the service they provide can make our website visible and easier to find therefore this will make our website larger and more well known, hopefully providing us with more hits than if we had used another search engine this will lead to the success of our website. The way the website will be visible on the Internet is to go on to Google and type into the search box 'how to make my website visible on google' and then click on the first link which appears, then i will click the link that reads www.google.com/addurl.html, which will then take me to the page where i will be able to make my website visible for Internet users.
Thursday 23 April 2009
Media Evaluation 2
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
When we were planning and taking our photos we had to think carefully about how these images represent our charity and the issue. We wanted to show what our charity was doing for the horses and how they are happy in our care. It's a convention of charity websites to represent the social group/animals they are helping in this way. Some people might expect that you would see shocking pictures of the issue to persuade people to help but we found through our research that that charities only seemed to do this in their advertising, not on the sites. As we wanted to follow conventions, we too used photography which denoted happy and healthy animals in our care. Below is a slideshow which shows a few of our photos we took for the website:
Wednesday 22 April 2009
Media Website Evaluation 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My charity website uses many of the basic conventions of other similar websites. The layout of my home page is fairly similar to other charity websites such as; www.horsetrust.org.com with the links to other pages clearly placed at the top of the page and with a very large, visible logo in the top left hand corner. The colours used on our website seem to be very calm and passive using light yellow’s and brown’s this is done to build a suitable and passive atmosphere. Although, its hard not to follow the conventions with a simple charity website because many of the photos taken will look very similar because all the websites have the same purpose- to persuade the audience to donate money.
However, I feel we have developed these conventions greatly to make them unique to our own website. For example, the introduction to our website is not just to introduce to website but it is also to build a rapport with our audience to make them seem welcome as our audience being slightly younger than other horse charity websites. Therefore, the language we use is not as complex and is slightly more simple and persuasive to draw the reader into our website.
I feel we have certainly challenged the conventions the make our website different to others and our own creation. The pictures we tried to use were not just really depressing but we did use others to make the horses seem delightful and pretty as we felt this would be more suitable to a younger audience and also more effective. Also, the colours used in our website was mainly very light and calm colours this was done to build a certain atmosphere and it also fits in with the website theme.
Some comparisons can be made between our website and other charity websites such as, similar page layouts, some pictures which have the same purpose and some of the colours used are fairly comparable. However, few charity website layouts can’t be called similar, most having links at the top of the page, a large logo in the left hand corner and then various other things scattered over the page. Although, we did try to make our layout as unique as possible. The pictures are bound to be similar as they’re all of horses however, we did make sure we got various different horses, in different conditions so it wasn’t too dull. The colours we used were again to make a calm and passive atmosphere for the audience.
My charity website uses many of the basic conventions of other similar websites. The layout of my home page is fairly similar to other charity websites such as; www.horsetrust.org.com with the links to other pages clearly placed at the top of the page and with a very large, visible logo in the top left hand corner. The colours used on our website seem to be very calm and passive using light yellow’s and brown’s this is done to build a suitable and passive atmosphere. Although, its hard not to follow the conventions with a simple charity website because many of the photos taken will look very similar because all the websites have the same purpose- to persuade the audience to donate money.
However, I feel we have developed these conventions greatly to make them unique to our own website. For example, the introduction to our website is not just to introduce to website but it is also to build a rapport with our audience to make them seem welcome as our audience being slightly younger than other horse charity websites. Therefore, the language we use is not as complex and is slightly more simple and persuasive to draw the reader into our website.
I feel we have certainly challenged the conventions the make our website different to others and our own creation. The pictures we tried to use were not just really depressing but we did use others to make the horses seem delightful and pretty as we felt this would be more suitable to a younger audience and also more effective. Also, the colours used in our website was mainly very light and calm colours this was done to build a certain atmosphere and it also fits in with the website theme.
Some comparisons can be made between our website and other charity websites such as, similar page layouts, some pictures which have the same purpose and some of the colours used are fairly comparable. However, few charity website layouts can’t be called similar, most having links at the top of the page, a large logo in the left hand corner and then various other things scattered over the page. Although, we did try to make our layout as unique as possible. The pictures are bound to be similar as they’re all of horses however, we did make sure we got various different horses, in different conditions so it wasn’t too dull. The colours we used were again to make a calm and passive atmosphere for the audience.
Saturday 28 February 2009
Website Photography and Representation
When we were planning and taking our photos we had to think carefully about how these images represent our charity and the issue. We wanted to show what our charity was doing for the horses and how they are happy in our care. It's a convention of charity websites to represent the social group/animals they are helping in this way. Some people might expect that you would see shocking pictures of the issue to persuade people to help but we found through our research that that charities only seemed to do this in their advertising, not on the sites. As we wanted to follow conventions, we too used photography which denoted happy and healthy animals in our care. Below is a slideshow which shows a few of our photos we took for the website:
Thursday 26 February 2009
Distribution
There are a lot of things that will have to be considered after the designing of the campaign website is complete. The disribution of your website will have to be thought of carefully, how it will target the audience and then be successful. Also, funding is essential for it to go onto the world wide web and of course, you will need to find a suitable web address to use.
A domain name is what people will search in a browser to find a specific website. To purchase a domain name you must first think of a name which would best describe your website. Usually website names are fairly short or catchy so the audience remember it.
Web hosting is used to publish websites on the Internet. If you make a website and want people to be able to view it then you must upload it on a web hosting service so people search for your website and then view it. You can use many things from web hosting; From personal designed websites just for fun to online shopping websites. Without a web hosting service people will not be able to view your site.
When your website is going live onto the world wide web, a live search team will be needed to make sure your website will come high in the listings when key words are typed into specifc search engines, this will make your website more visible therefore, hopefully more people will view it.
Tuesday 24 February 2009
Website Planning Sketches
These sketches follow the conventions of most charity websites such as;
a three column layout, this will help to keep the layout of the website fairly simple.
Navigational bar to access the other pages easily.
A clear logo on each page so the charity is obvious to our audience.
Also, we chose to have a picture slideshow/video on our homepage as we thought it would be attractive and catch the eye of our younger audiences.
The paradigms (themes, structure and iconography) of this website are put in place to represent the horses in a specific way to persuade out target audience.
Navigational bar to access the other pages easily.
A clear logo on each page so the charity is obvious to our audience.
Also, we chose to have a picture slideshow/video on our homepage as we thought it would be attractive and catch the eye of our younger audiences.
The paradigms (themes, structure and iconography) of this website are put in place to represent the horses in a specific way to persuade out target audience.
Thursday 12 February 2009
Audience Profile
The website i am designing will appeal to a young audience aged roughly 8-16 years of age, mainly females who are also interested about horses and there living conditions. Through my research and survey results i have realised there are not many charities specifically about horses but aimed at a young female audience. The main cause for my website will be to create a feeling of love and care for the thousands of horses treated badly and living in poor conditions in the United Kingdom.
A charity such as this one, with not much funding relies massively
on donations to keep running and supporting itself. This means that our website will also have to appeal to the parents as they are going to be the ones to give their children money for donations, at this age the parents will be aged roughly between 30-40 and should have a sustainable income to help charities like this. The target audience is 8-16 which is good for generating donations butt should also be accessible to an older audience so they can use the website together to create a website for the whole family.
Usually when a website is looking for donations its main audience will have a high income so they have the luxury to donate to causes like this. The parents of these children should be mature and are well-educated professionals with knowledge and responsibilities these would be the most likely people to give donations are help causes such as this. They would understand the concept and wish to help the animals which are being treated poorly.
In order to attract our specific younger audience the site will feature with bright colours and big pictures to draw the attention of our audience and cause them to enjoy the site. Also, the pictures featured will be very appealing to young girls making the horses look as innocent as possible, this will make them automatically feel some sympathy for the animals. This site will be simple to use so that the target audience do not get confused or struggle to use it alone, however, often they will be with their parents. The language use will be aimed specifically for children, by not being too colloquial or complex this will help the children to understand but also try to help the parents to respect the website as they will be the ones donating.
Tuesday 10 February 2009
Website research findings
The research i did into websites helped me understand specific structures of similar websites to mine. Most of the websites i researched into had similar conventions such as, layout and how they function. This will have an affect on how i layout my website out and also how it works. These conventions include;
Logo - Mostly the main website logo is placed in the left top corner of the website, this should be where your eye is drawn to first so it should be memorable and also make the name of the company/charity stand out, which is important. Logo's vary from being just a simple picture including a name to a themed animated font with a picture.
Slogan - Not many of the websites i researched had slogans but some do choose to have a catchy slogan underneath their title or by their logo. This can help some people remember the website and even its aim.
Navigation Toolbar - Usually placed at the top of the page underneath the logo or down the left hand side of the page. These are the easiest places to notice it which makes it clear and simple to use. Many websites have contact details placed near the navigation toolbar so it visible.
Bottom of Page - Not a major concern within the structure of websites, but most follow the conventions of just having copyright at the bottom to look professional.
Search Box - These are very popular as they allow people to search more specifically.
Images - Are important is every website as it gives their audience a better understanding and also gives photographic proof of things if needed. Many people are firstly drawn in by the images on a website page so if the images are of a high quality this could be persuasive for audience to donate to their charity.
Colour Schemes - The websites i researched usually stick to no more than 3 main colours for the text, titles and logos. However, more colours can be used within the site for things such as images to add interest and attention.
Language - As the websites i researched do not have the same target audience s as i do there language is different. As they have older target audiences the language they use is a lot more complex where as the language i will use in my website will be simple to suit my audience and also without going into too much detail on things. It is important for charity websites to have persuasive and direct language.
Thursday 5 February 2009
Audience Survey
Name:
Age: (Circle the correct answer)
15-20 20-30 30-40 40-50 50-60 60-70 70-80
Gender: Male/Female
What ethnicity are you? _____________________________
What is the first three letters off your postcode?
What religion do you belong to?
______________________
How much do you earn in a year? (Circle the answer)
10-20k 20-40k 40-60k 60-100k
What is your current relationship status?(Circle correct answer)
Married Single Divorced Widowed Gay
What is your Occupation?
Professional Management Skilled Semi-skilled Unskilled Unwaged
Which is your favorite sport? (Circle correct answer)
Football Rugby Badminton Hockey Archery Other
What website do you normally visit?
_____________________________________________________________________
School websites should be accessible to children? Agree or disagree
| Strongly disagree | Disagree | Don’t know | Agree | Strongly agree |
| | | | | |
Tuesday 3 February 2009
Monday 2 February 2009
Sunday 1 February 2009
Media Homework
1. My perceptions of media studies were pretty developed as i studied media at GSCE.
2. The perceptions haven't changed but i know understand that this course is going to be alot harder than GCSE was and it is also going to ask for much more dedication to achieve a high grade.
3. I have already learnt alot and also recapped on many things such as, Camera shots and movements. I have retained simple things like cannotations and denotations. The small piece of written work went okay considering this was the first real peice of work we had done since alot of time off. However, The storyboards didn't go aswell because i was able to watch Hollyoaks again as the server was down.
4. I haven't not understood anything but i would most definately need to recap on alot of things such as the more complex things involving sound and indepth camera movements.
5. I have understood that the sound in films can make a big difference to your thoughts and can help to do things such as, Build a specifc atmosphere or building tension.
6. I appreciated the pure simplicity of Gone Fishing and also the originatlity of it. I think the shortness of the film adds to the originality and also the storyline is very affective and also the shot where the boy comes into focus is intriguing because it really draws the attention of the audience this allows the reader ti fully focus on the boy which is an important part of the film.
By Jack Brennan
2. The perceptions haven't changed but i know understand that this course is going to be alot harder than GCSE was and it is also going to ask for much more dedication to achieve a high grade.
3. I have already learnt alot and also recapped on many things such as, Camera shots and movements. I have retained simple things like cannotations and denotations. The small piece of written work went okay considering this was the first real peice of work we had done since alot of time off. However, The storyboards didn't go aswell because i was able to watch Hollyoaks again as the server was down.
4. I haven't not understood anything but i would most definately need to recap on alot of things such as the more complex things involving sound and indepth camera movements.
5. I have understood that the sound in films can make a big difference to your thoughts and can help to do things such as, Build a specifc atmosphere or building tension.
6. I appreciated the pure simplicity of Gone Fishing and also the originatlity of it. I think the shortness of the film adds to the originality and also the storyline is very affective and also the shot where the boy comes into focus is intriguing because it really draws the attention of the audience this allows the reader ti fully focus on the boy which is an important part of the film.
By Jack Brennan
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