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.