My Identities Report

Identities
Evaluation Report

The Brief set for this Identities Module asked us to choose between three Identity Options: 1) Nottingham Trent Multimedia BA/BSc Course, 2) Trent Media, 3) E Stings 4, and to create a Identity Package for one of the above.
As an individual we had to Research, Design and Produce a corporate Identity Package, which could be used by a client in the real world.
I chose to Design and create a Multimedia Course Identity Package (option 1).
My Original and only Idea was to create a package that would be presented to Prospective students on Nottingham Trent University Open Days, so students would come along still unsure, see the posters for the Multimedia course decide to go along to talk and there my AV would be shown as a virtual tour, the students would still like to know more and would be able to go and get that information from my website.
The original Multimedia identity was already established throughout the Multimedia Course such as the website and the logo, so therefore I had to re-create these. I also chose to produce a short AV that could be shown to Prospective students on an open day as a virtual tour of the Course and the Learning areas. I would also design and create a poster and logo for the open day.
The first deadline was to deliver a Design Board Presentation that would inform the listener about your intended package and the methods that would be used, to produce a schedule that would be kept too, and files and footage of your ideas.
Firstly I made myself a time schedule so that my work could be spread along each week and I could give myself longer to work on my website as this would be my bigger challenge. I then designed a basic layout on Dreamweaver for my webpage which I found incredibly hard as I have only used this in Simons Seminars (www.intranetjournal.com), I put in place holders for the writing, pictures and logos, and added the links to each page as I had a homepage, prospective student page, first year page, second year page and a third year page. I had originally decided to have a background of the islands of the earth on to show multimedia is worldwide and the lettering was purple and I had no real order to the font. My logo was of the earth and had MM in purple falling off the world. I designed my poster to the same layout as my webpage and had similar information about the 1st, 2nd, 3rd years and to have the same logo imprinted on it, I presented this with sketches and drawings, I should have designed them on photoshop and put in place holders for the content as this was not clear for my assessors as they wouldn’t have been able to visualise the poster or webpage without the correct layout or font. My AV I designed using stills as I originally decided to use stills in my AV, I also had a narrative to go with the AV, which I wrote below the stills on the design board, my AV was designed to show students the Multimedia Course and what it entails.
I produced my Initial Ideas to Jules and Deborah I got some good feedback about how I could improve my Ideas, such as I would need to make the writing on my poster and webpage clearer, to make it stand out so it would be legible for Prospective students. Also I was asked to think about the background of my poster and webpage, as it was very busy. So I re-arranged my poster and webpage layout by creating a space, night sky background using a blue gradient I then added a few yellow dots with a thin brush for stars and used the smudger brush to create a distant look.
I changed the content on my poster, as I believed with less information but just the core details this would enable the readers to be a lot more intrigued about what the subject entails. I used Arial Narrow lettering for my poster and webpage, as this is easily legible writing, also I changed the layout so that the lettering was in line with each other and gave the poster a more professional look.
I found difficulty when after designing my website the logos and pictures which had been designed in Photoshop wouldn’t appear when hosted, I later found that this was due to me not updating my files when finishing changes and so they were just keeping the original files so I had to rename and re-link my new files.
I had a few problems with my logo as I couldn’t find the right colours or brushes to create this as I have not long since been using Photoshop, but after using the tutorials on the web (www.tutorialized.com/) and a few trial runs it became a lot more simple and came natural. The best technique I found was to use the smudging brush as it made everything blend and not have an outline or a definite line. I used the colour green which I had also used for the web page and the Logo as it kept the neutral and earthy tones and the world theme, I made my Logo into only a quarter of the world instead of the original full shape as this would not distract readers from the content and core information. I changed the multimedia lettering on the logo as the original was too fussy and it needed to be simple so the world could be seen also, I kept the same colour lettering as the poster and webpage as this then tied it all together as a whole package. I did change the lettering type to Bauhaus 93, as I still wanted the Logo to look different to the information lettering.
The Nottingham Trent Logo was also difficult as I copied and pasted from the Nottingham Trent Website (http://www.ntu.ac.uk/) had a white background from the page I had copied n pasted it from, here I couldn’t find a solution until I spoke to Toby from my course who had, had the same problem he told me that I needed to copy and paste just the outline by going to select and colour range and pressing midtones copy and paste it to where you want it and then do this again with the other outline then just rearrange the two so they fit together perfectly this then took the outline without the background.
I think the redesign of the logo, poster and web layout was a good idea as now they are all legible, blend together and the design and layout is a lot more aesthetically pleasing than my original idea.
My AV I designed on A1 Design Board with stills from my digital camera and drawings. I designed it to portray the University life inside the Course and out as it said in the brief “the course wont get in the way of the students interests”. I used stills of the outside and inside such as the lecture theatres, I also had stills of friends and the entrance to the Waverley Building. When I began my AV my original idea was to have a narrative voice over but I changed this as I thought it wouldn’t appeal to Prospective Students who are sitting through it on an open day as they may become tired of being told what is where and who is who, so I decided to create a real University life feel using one of the first songs I heard at university which gets me excited and interested every time I have heard it, ‘Put your Hands Up for Detroit’ by Fedde le Grand.
When I came to take the stills I also decided I wanted to use film instead as this would also create more of a virtual tour for the audience, so I began by filming the outside from a distance the Waverley Building, I filmed closer and got a really good shot from under a tree with the leaves falling over the top of the camera. I took many of up and down the outside of the Building and the entrance, I shot the lecture theatres, seminar rooms, recording booths, computer suites and editing suites. I shot my halls to show how the students could be living and the friends they will make.
I edited the shots to the beats in the music making each no longer than 3 seconds so each clip moved on the switch in beat. I added effects such as the slow down effect on a few to give a longer look to a shot, on door shots I added the effect Circle Splash Distortion as it made the entrance look more desirable, I used N-Square on the recording booths as this made them look a lot more interesting than the original. I had the logo on the beginning and the poster asking the question at the end as this also ties the package together nicely. I kept the same lettering and colouring as the logo from my poster, I decided instead of having no voice over at all I would use subtitles as this kept the audience interested but also gave them the information needed.
After presenting my final ideas to Jules I realised some of my mistakes and things I could of improved on such I spelt Animator wrong on my poster which was also on my AV, the layout of the Trent Logo should have been centered, I could have developed my website further by adding my AV onto I didn’t do this as I thought I would have many problems with this as I did have with the logos and pictures. I think if I could change anything about my identity package it would be my AV as I would have liked to create my own music instead, but I still think the music I chose worked well and gave a younger effect. If I had of had more time I would of liked to design and make a key ring and pencils for handouts for the Prospective Students, but with the amount of work I had set myself with not a lot of experience I didn’t think I would be able to handle that amount of work. Altogether I am pleased with the work I have created and shown myself what level of work I can create, I had not used Dream weaver before university and now I can say I have a clear understanding of how to use it, I have developed my skills on Photoshop as now I can draw and have learnt a lot more about what each brush is for. I am very pleased with this project and I am eagerly awaiting my next challenge.











Bibliography

(www.intranetjournal.com)- I used this tutorial for Dreamweaver.

(www.tutorialized.com/)- I used this tutorial for Photoshop.

(http://www.ntu.ac.uk/)- This is where I took the Nottingham Trent Logo.

(Successful Presentation Skills) by Andrew Bradbury- I used this book for both of my presentations

The Grilling

HAHA not at all a grilling, but i tell you what waiting outside that room is been one of my most nervous experiences ever!!! but when i went in it was quite chilled altho my hands was shakin to the max! jooles helped he asked me if i was nervous i wanted to say "a HELLLLL YESS"! haha but obviously i just said "yes i am" haha i did my presentation and everything worked and went well it may have gone a little to fast but other than that it went quite well! Jooles said he liked my AV and said yes when i said i wanted to take Audio Visual as my pathway next year!! He pointed out that i had made a spelling mistake on my Poster (schoolboy error) ha, and that he wished i had made my trent logo abit more inline with the other lettering. He really liked my world and why i chose to use the world (multimedia is worldwide) he said it looked also like an egg before it has formed, which he liked! He praised my Av also but wished i had put it onto my Web, but this would have proven difficult for me to do. so all in all im quite happy with my presentation hehe :)

WAHHHHOOOOOOO

yay everything is finitooooooooo!! all my posters are printed lol its only cost me £1.70 for three and all web hosted and workin woopwoop and burnt them all to cd and the AV is all subtitled music uped lol and we r fin yayyyy now jus for the presentation and the Report!!! woopwoop