Tuesday 8th January 2012

ProgressI am currently working on my second product prototype. My client was impressed with the initial prototype but has given me lots of improvements for me to carry on to the newer version. After this prototype I am going to make another and then one final one which will be the final product. I have encountered a few probems when creating my product, for example the file that contained my 'index' page became corrupted over christmas, but luckily I had recently backed up all of my files but I still lost a week of prgress. My contingency time allowed for this though so I am still up to date with my project plan.

Resources

• YouTube for video tutorials on how to create an interactive game
• Adobe Flash to create product components, interactivity and to weave the product together
• Fireworks to create graphics for the game
• Microsoft Word to collect print screens of how I am creating the project and my progress to show to my client
• USB stick to store files
• Personal computer to back up memory stick regulary

Communication

I have limited communication with my stakeholders over the Christmas period but I have scheduled multiple meetings for the near future.

Concerns

I have a slight concern with the reliablity of my USB stick and am currently debating the suitability of it as a storage device for my product. I think the solve this concern I will consistently back up my work on a regular basis on a variety of different platforms and devices.

Action Points

• Ensure that I increase the amount of communication between me and my client so that he mantains a strong influence in the development of the product.
• I need to continue to progress through the product at a steady rate.
• I need to make sure that the quality of my work is high although I will be able to improve the product when I create further prototypes and then ultimately the final product.

Project Progress Review 1

Subject: Project Progress Review 1          Date: 20/9/2012                Next Review: 16/10/2012

This is the feedback obtained from my client in our most recent project progress review which was held on Thursday 20^th October to review the success of the preparation stage. I have scheduled regular project progress review meetings and they will be used to measure how satisfied the client is with my progress and the progress of the product as well as identifying any areas for improvement or any necessary adjustments. It is different from a normal meeting because we review my overall progress in the whole of one section.

General Project Progress

Good

I have successfully kept to my project plan throughout the whole of this section. This is how my plan looked before I started my project.

 My first task was to create a project proposal which I started on the 5^th of September and the last task was to research some Adobe Flash tutorials and practise with Flash on the 18^th of September. I had one meeting with my senior manager which was held on the 10^th of September and I have recorded a detailed set of minutes for this.

 As I moved through this section I recorded my progress by updating my project plan regularly. This is how it looks today (20/9/2012).

The ticks indicate that 100% of a task is complete and every task in the ‘Preparation’ section is complete so every task has a tick next to it.

Bad

As I progressed through this section I only updated my project plan three times and when I did I ticked off the tasks I had done in the last week or so but when I move onto the next section I aim to update my project plan after each task so that my plan remains accurate and up to date.

 Communication

Good

·         I exchanged emails with my Senior Manager, Mr Love and he approved my project proposal and said he is happy for me to create the product for MCM Net.

·         I had one meeting with my client where we discussed the general foundations of the product and basically established what the client wants and what the product needs to deliver. I recorded a detailed set of minutes for this meeting.

Bad

I feel I have succeed in establishing a fluid flow of communication betwwen myself my client and my senior manager although I have not communicated with all of my stakeholders i.e. my peer reviewer. I also want to improve upon the level of communication with my cline in the next section- ‘Design’ as this will ensure that the client has lots of input so the product is exactly what they want.

I have only communicated with two of my stakeholders in this section (client and one senior manager) when I should be communicating with both senior managers, peer reviewers and client consistently throughout the project as well as the other stakeholders.

Blog

Good

I have a consistent amount of basic blog entries for this section that describe how I am progressing and I have given a general overview of how the project is going and what I am doing.

I have shown some levels of communication with stakeholders.

Bad

I do not think my blog entries have been as detailed as they should have been in this section and to rectify this for the future I have devised a set of blog headings that will help to focus my entries and provide a specific and detailed account of my progress. These are the headings I am going to use:

Progress
Resources

Communication
Concerns
Action Points

I have included a screenshot of an email for this section but this is the only evidence I have for this section so I will aim to have at least two pieces of evidence for communication in the next section.

Tuesday 20th November

Progress

I am currently creating the initial prototype for my multimedia product. I have created the initial structure of the product; I designed the opening sequence that will run when the product is opened and I have also created five seperate pages (who we are, web design, online games, SEO and contact us) which are all linked together. I have also begun to create a video that will consist of animated text and images that will feature on the 'who we are' product section aswell as an example games that will feature on the 'online games' section.

Resources

• YouTube for video tutorials on how to create an interactive game
• Adobe Flash to create product components, interactivity and to weave the product together
• Fireworks to create graphics for the 'who we are' video
• Microsoft Word to collect print screens of how I am creating the project and my progress to show to my client

Communication

I phoned my client yesterday (Monday 19th November) for an informal meeting. I just wanted to update John on how I was progressing through the product and to give him a brief overview of whereabouts I am. He was impressed that I am ahead of schedule and looks forward to seeing the inital prototype in our next meeting.

Concerns

John briefly mentioned a slight concern regarding the speed that I am creating the product at as he would like to ensure the quality is still of a very high level. I ensured John that the quality is remaining consistently high and reminded him that this is only the first prototype and that I have allowed extensive time for second and third prototypes to improve the product as much as possible.

Action Points

• I need to continue to progress through the product at a steady rate.
• I need to make sure that the quality of my work is high although I will be able to improve the product when I create further prototypes and then ultimately the final product.
• Keep a consistent level of communication between myself and the client as the feedback is very useful.

Prototyping

I have begun to create the initial prototype for my interactive multimedia product.

To do this I am using my digital designs, my storyboard and the feedback I recieved from my client. I have regular meetings planned so that my client can assess the progress of the product and make any changes or alterations that he might have.

To create the product I am using Adobe Fireworks (to create images and buttons) and Adobe Flash to make the product interactive.

Peer Review Meeting

I met with my peer reviewer yesterday following her email so that we could have a more formal meeting and go over her points of criticism and ares for improvement.  I opened the meeting by presenting Jas with my Initial Designs. I have three different designs number one, two and three.  Jas said that she liked the first design and liked the fact that there was lots going on but thought the colour scheme was not very well thought through and some of the dark greys were too dark when compared to the bright oranges. Jas said she like the minimalistic ideals represented in the second design because its quite simplistic and proffessional.  Jas raised the issue of whether the client would be happy with an addition to the company logo as in design three I have drawn a bubble around the logo which distorts the image of the logo. We returned to design two and looked at it in detail and ways to improve. Jas said the product should have lots of white space. Jas liked the MCM Net logo in the bottom of every page.

I am happy with the comments I have recieved from my peer reviewer and they have been very useful in allowing me to understand how the product looks from a different point of view.

Peer Review

I handed my initial designs to my peer reviewer last week and asked her to email me her feedback. She did so today and this is what she said.

I have replied to her email asking if we could have a formal meeting so that I could recieve some more detailed feedback and I can take some minutes.

Presnted Initial Designs

On the 28/9/2012 I had a meeting with my client where I presented my initial designs. This was my feedback.

Key Action Points Arising from Meeting

·         The font used should be ‘Street’ and not ‘Arial’

·         John has chosen design number two as the design that will be used for my product.

·         John wants white and orange to be the two primary colours and grey used as a secondary colour.

Actions Closed Since Last Meeting

·         I have created some initial designs and given my client a choice of what the product will look like

·         I have presented the designs to my client

·         My client has chosen the design for the product

Project Planning

Today I have begun to plan out my entire project. I am going to create a Gantt chart consisting of what I need to do to create a successful product and when it needs to be done by. I have split the project into seven sections so that it is more manageable and at the moment I have roughly eight tasks in each section although this is higher/lower in some sections, this figure may also change as I progress through the project. I have also made some allowances for contingency time.

Storyboarding

I have created a product storyboard for my interactive the product which shows what the product will look like, what content it will present and what it will do. I have ensured a high level of interactivity by including videos, sound, buttons, page transitions and a game. The plans have been approved by my senior manager and I will now meet with my client so that we can discuss the plans and make any nessecary alterations.

Project Proposal Approval

Today I recieved an email from my senior manager saying I had his permission to proceed with the project and that he agrees it will be a succesful and useful product for MCM Net. His main comments were that I need to make sure the multimedia product is distinct from the companys website and adds value to the company, he also said that I now need meet with the client regulary and begin to plan out how the product will look.

As my senior manager has pointed out I now need my client to approve the product proposal and I plan to d this within the week.



Definition of Scope

Now that my project proposal has been confirmed I am able to begin my definition of scope and this is what I did today. This is a list of measureable points that will determine wether or not I have succeed in providing the client with what he wants. These points are based upon the requirments John McMahon has asked for me to meet in the product. So if I carry out this project effectively, then end result should deliver exactly what I stated in my project proposal, no more, no less.

Project Proposal Presentation

Today I completed my projoect proposal presentation which I will present to my senior manager at the end of the week. Hopefully he will be impressed with my intentions for the product i intend to create and satisfied the the clinet I have chosen is suitable. I have devised speaker notes to help me deliver the presentation in a informative and proffessional manner. I am presenting my proposal to a class of peers as well as the senior manager so I need to ensure they are engaged and interested throughout the presentation.

Final Draft of Project Proposal

Activity

Today I completed the final draft of my project proposal. I decided on the dates that i wanted to complete the four different sections of my project by;

• Section A- Project proposal: 8^th July 2012
• Section B- Project Planning: 15^th October
• Section C- Documenting the Project: 6^st February 2013
• Section D- Creating the Product: 1^st March 2013
• Section E- Evaluation: 15^th March 2013

This will help me to manage my time effectively and finsish my product on time and to a high standard. I also expanded upon the ptential risks particulary looking at the issue of poor time management and inability to keep up with deadlines which could result in failure to complete project.

Product Design Alterations

After a number of emails between myself and John McMahon it has been established that the interactive product should not be something that is available online as an interactive advert before videos and instead it should be given out on memory sticks or CDs at business confrences and even used as a business card. 

On the market there are many memory sticks available that are shaped like a business card and can easily fit into a wallet and therefore can be used like a business card but in this case it will contain an interactive product. The potential customer then takes the CD or memory stick home or to the office and opens the interactive product in order to view the contact details and company information. It will be an interactive product so initially a home screen will be displayed and the user will be give five options; ‘Who we are’, ‘Contact Us’, ‘Web Design’, ‘SEO’ and ‘Online Games’. This is because MCM Net specialise in three main services; web design, search engine optimization (SEO) and online games. There will be lots of animation on the home screen and around the buttons for each different service. Each section will advertise the company and the services they offer. Some sections will also showcase past work and testimonials from clients.

Project Proposal Peer Review

Today one of my stakeholders, Jasmin Cook reviewed my project proposal and gave me and list of improvements and some constructive criticism so that I could make some changes to the proposal to make it more detailed and informative. My peer reviewer gave me a very valid list of criticism that was very useful that included points such as 'what is the role of each stakeholder' as i had forgotten to write about the role of each individual involved in the project and what they will do to help me. She also advised a higher level of detail on the company MCM Net as more background knowledge will help the proposal look more professional and well researched. Finally my peer reviewer highlighted the need for a section that outlined how I was going to tackle the project. I found this exercise very helpful and will be using my peer reviewer to help my project progress regularly.

Project Proposal

Today I modified my project proposal and considered who the stakeholders are and what affects they will have upon the production of my product. I also considered the resources that I will need to create my product.

Project Proposal

I have begun to research and produce a proposal for my multimedia software product. When writing my proposal i had to firstly outline what the project is about, what it will deliver as well as considering the potential benfits it will have and if there are any risks involved. Then I had to also consider the functional requiremnts the product would nheed as well. I have also begun to document who will use the product- my target audience, how long the product will take to produce, when it must be finished and finally who else will be involved (stakeholders).

Practice Using Flash

Practice on Flash using buttons and actionscript. I managed to create a picture gallery consisting of five images and created buttons that allowed me to scroll through each image by clicking on either the next button or previous button. Before I created the buttons or used actionscript I had to make sure all of the images were exactly the same size and the background was exactly the same as image size so that the tranisition between images was smooth.

Finding a Client

Today I begun to consider a flash product and a client that would use it. I sketched my idea of an interactive advert that will display before a video is viewed on sites such as 'Youtube' and '4od'. I then decided that I would like to pitch my idea to the web design company 'MCM Net' as a promotional product that aims to increase brand awareness and increase company sales.

MCM Net is a company based in Tonbridge, Kent that specialises in web design, search engine optimisation (SEO) and online games. They have worked for companies such as LIDL, Topps, Cats Protection Charity, Chelsea FC, Childline and the Welsh Rugby Union just to name a few. MCM Net already have a marketing team working within the company who are very experienced at promoting the company and generating new business so the concept of the productive must be new and innovative and the qulaity must be of a very high standard to impress the managing director.

Later on in the day I then pitched my concept to the managing director of the company Mr John McMahon. He was very intrested in the product and intriguied to know what benefits it would have on the sales of mcmnet and whether it would be useful in promoting brand awareness. The project is in it's early stages but the probability of working with mcmnet in the near future to create this flash product appears promisning.

Introduction

This is my project diary providing evidence of communication with stakeholders and proof that I am moving the project forward, keeping to the project plan as well as actively managing the project.