Process Report

Introduction

Is Semester 2 we had to tackle three projects simultaneously: we had to do our Negotiated Learning Task 2, come up with a business idea and write a proposal for it; and to accomplish the biggest task, to write our dissertation.

In our Negotiated Learning Task 2 module we were asked to undertake another project in order to attain experience or to do a paper based project.

My initial plan was to shadow a freelancer to learn about SEO. Unfortunately, due to lack of projects and work I decided to change my NLT2.

Last year a restaurant owner approached me to do a website for them, so I opted to do that.

To demonstrate our work, we were asked to provide detailed documentation of our designs to serve as a blueprint for product development.

For our Enterprise module, we had to come up with a business idea. Our job was to look at aspects of entrepreneurship; analyse our chosen market, the client needs and prepare strategies for risk management.

We also had to present our business plan to a panel of professional business entrepreneurs and digital media professionals at the Pitch Your Project.

Finally, we had to finish our research for our dissertation, carry out a survey or interview someone and start writing it.

In my opinion, one of the most important things I learnt was time and project management, prioritising.

In this process report I am going to report on the projects I have undertaken and on the learning outcomes.

Expectations/ goals set by me

For all three projects I had specific goals which I set out for myself to reach.

As my NLT2, I opted to design and build a website for a client who owns a Chinese restaurant in Spain.

By doing this task, I hoped to improve and practice my Adobe, HTML, CSS skills; to learn a little about photography (how to take good photos for a website) and basically to make use of what I learnt from my NLT1.

I was very determined to plan and manage NLT2 better than the previous one.

The main goal was to have enough content for the website. Luckily, my client was very helpful; it was fun working with him.

I didn’t have a specific brief for the project, but what I found important was (because Tianyou is a Chinese restaurant in Spain) to find an interesting way to combine Chinese style with Spanish. I really gave my best to produce a design that was meant to meet the expectations.

As for the business plan, my first intention was to come up with a business idea that would work, but as I was doing the research I grew fond of my idea.

My company, Or-she is a boutique selling quality clothing with a wider range of sizes. It seems there would be a need for a high street shop like this one, if I would have the money, I might consider setting up the business.

The dissertation gave me the opportunity to explore better the subject which has always been my passion: art.

The reason why I chose to undertake Digital Media Design was because I wanted to learn how to produce works of art digitally. During the 3 years I got to like web design too, but art still remained important to me.

I realised it would be interesting to combine the two: to use digital art for web designs.

My goal for my dissertation was to find out as much as possible about this area and to identify what’s the trend in the industry.

Strategies

This semester was busier than the previous one. In Semester 1 we had the NLT1 and the research bit, whereas now we had three tasks to do.

The most important thing was to learn to manage our time well, to have enough time to do everything.

It was a bit difficult to concentrate on so many things at the same time. I prefer to do one at a time, instead of switching from one to the other, because I can devote my attention better.

I had to get used to handling all the three tasks.

First, I had to prioritise which are the most important and which the lesser ones. The most significant is, of course, the dissertation, then the NLT2 and finally the business plan.

I wanted to spend equal time with each one; I made efforts to focus on everything as best as I could.

After prioritising, I started to divide the tasks in little groups and to work my way little by little.

Tasks and milestones

In my opinion all three tasks are going to be useful for me in the future. The NLT2 provided me more stuff for my portfolio, the business plan gave me the insight I need if I want to work as a freelancer and the dissertation helped me to understand my chosen field better.

NLT2

My initial plan to shadow a freelancer didn’t work out, so as not to waste more time, I started doing the website for Tianyou restaurant.

My client didn’t set a specific brief, he just asked me to do a nice website for them. The interior and the location of the restaurant inspired my work so much, that I thought it would be great to combine the Chinese elements with some Spanish ones.

When I was approached by Jackson, I took a lot of photos of the place, because that way I had what I wanted and what I imagined for the website.

Next, I had to plan what content I needed. I prepared a list for my client which includes the following:

·         Description of the restaurant

·         Contact info

·         Digital copy of their menu

·         Facebook

·         Useful links

·         Customer feedback

Then I set out the following deadlines for the project:

Date	What happened	To do/ Goals	Result
Summer 2012	I was approached by Jackson Zhu to do a website for his Chinese restaurant in Spain	I had to take photos of the place and to ask for contact details	The photos and the interior of the restaurant gave the inspiration of the design
Autumn 2012	I emailed Jackson to send me content for the website	I had to start doing some sketches	I came up with a few ideas, but decided to work on it during the Christmas holiday
January  2013	As NLT2 I was intending to shadow a freelancer but due to lack of clients it didn’t happen	Alter NLT2	I decided to do the website for Tianyou Restaurant
12th January	Start working on the design	I had to decide how many pages the website needs	Have a rough idea what I want to do
20th January	Start working on the website in Dreamweaver	Choose which photos I’m going to use	Have the initial version of the home page ready
6th February	Choose the photos	Use Photoshop to cut out some parts or to adjust the colour, crop the photos	Have all the content ready (including photos)
1st week of March	Ask for feedback from friends	Improve design if needed	Have a clear idea of the design
2nd week of March	Create all of the pages	Create screenshots for product development blueprint, Ask for more feedback	Have screenshots, Improve bits
3rd week of March	Contact client and ask for his feedback	Make last changes	Have the end product
End of March	Have the website ready	Create the project portfolio, Update the NLT2 proposal, Update CV, Fill in the Self-submission sheet	Have everything ready for submission
3rd - 4th April		Submission
Middle April	Start writing process report	Finish process report	Have it ready by end of month
1st May		Submission	Completed

One by one I had the little tasks ready for my due dates and by the submission date the website was ready and my client satisfied.

Business Plan

For our Enterprise module we had to come up with a business idea, present our business to a panel of professionals, do a cashflow forecast and write a business proposal.

Again, I had to do it bit by it. The most difficult was getting started, coming up with the idea.

I had various ideas, from a cake shop to a physiotherapy gym, till I finally came up with Or-she.

Next, I set out my deadlines:

Date	What happened	Action	Result
January 2013	We were introduced to the brief	Start brainstorming	Have an idea
January	We were asked to come up with a name and a logo	Start looking for inspiration	Have the name and at least a sketch of the logo
February	We had to start working on the spreadsheet	Have explained how Excel works	Have a rough idea of the costs and expenses, profits
1st week March	We had to start working on the PowerPoint	Do it	Have an initial version ready
7th  March	We went through with Richard on the PowerPoint, he gave feedback	Make improvements	Have the end version ready
14th March	We had to present our business in front of each other and give feedback	Have to practice	Be ready for the Pitch You Project
16th March	We presented our ideas	Make a note of the feedback	Be ready to write the proposal
April	Start writing business proposal		Have everything ready for submission
Middle April	Start writing process report	Finish process report	Have it ready by end of month
1st May		Submission	Completed

Mostly I managed to keep all of my deadlines.

Dissertation

The most important part of our third year work, the dissertation, took the most time to do.

I set up the following deadlines:

Date	What happened	Action	Result
January 2013	I continued reading	I took notes	Have notes of my ideas
January - February	I started reading about human perception	I took notes	Have notes
1st week of March	I started thinking about who to interview	I looked at LinkedIn	I decided to contact Daniel Mackie
April	I asked Debs for Daniel Mackie’s contact info	I got his email address and contacted him	He didn’t agree
April	I asked others on the course about what does digital art mean	I checked emails	Have a few replies
April	I got 2 response	I had to come up with a new subject	Have to contact Debs
April	I started writing (with the help of my notes)	Check and re-read paragraphs	Have the dissertation ready by the deadline
4th May	Finish writing	Re-read again	Have it ready for submission
7th May		Submission	Completed

Although I had a clear idea of what I wanted to write about and had all the notes ready, the lack of responses and interviewee started worrying me. I had to come up with a back-up plan.

Achievements and challenges

In some ways all three projects had their own challenges. Of course, the most challenging was the dissertation but I enjoyed doing all of them.

I feel, mostly I managed to achieve all the goals which I set out and now I’m ready to start working in the industry.

NLT2

The most difficult part of this project was to come up with a unique design which represents truly the atmosphere and the feel of the restaurant.

Everything went better than in NLT1. It was fun working with my client, getting the feedback and the cooperation I needed.

My biggest achievement is that I have more stuff for my portfolio and Jackson is satisfied. As soon as he finds a domain name and host server, the website is going to be live.

Another useful thing I learnt was how to take photos which make a good impression on the visitors of the website. There were a lot of photos to choose from, I spent a lot of time debating which one would be ideal.

I’m satisfied with the end product, though probably I will make small improvements on it in the future. The new menu has to be uploaded and we might update the Feedbacks page.

Business Plan

I could say, the whole task was a challenge, because first we had to come up with an idea, then we had to do a prediction of the costs and expenses and then there was the Pitch Your Project in the end.

First, it seemed scary how we will manage it, but Richard helped us in the brainstorming. My initial idea, the physiotherapy gym didn’t seem to be a working idea, so I had to come up with a better one.

As soon as I had the new idea, I felt more confident, though the spreadsheet was the next challenge. I did as much research on the costs as I could, but perhaps I was a bit optimistic.

Although I dreaded presenting the idea to the panel, practising it on the last week helped.

The feedback I got wasn’t that bad, they seemed to like my business idea.

The first comment was that they thought my wages were too high. Considering that I have to deduct the pension, NIC and the insurance, the net payment isn’t so much. My staff would have to work 5-6 days a week, so they would deserve it.

One of the panellists suggested I should increase the prices. If my products are really that good and qualitative, then women wouldn’t mind paying more for it.

This seems reasonable, but if I would sell it for the same price as my competitors, I would lose my USP. I could increase the prices a bit more, staying still affordable.

Richard thinks Or-she could be turned into a halo brand; this would be another good cause to increase the prices. My plan was to make my business into a clothing franchise by time; I think the two could work together.

The panellists’ main concern was that I might not sell enough to make profit. I see their point, however Or-she sells tops, dresses and accessories too. I could expand the business by time, making it a gents shop as well. This would definitely guarantee enough income to make profits.

With the feedback I received from the panel, I think I could improve my idea to make it a really working business.

Dissertation

My main passion is art, though while studying on this course I also got to like web design. I wanted to include both in my dissertation, therefore this was the biggest challenge in this project.

Digital art is still a new part of digital media, it wasn’t easy finding the resource I needed. I had to pull little bits from a lot of different papers and books.

The next thing which hinders my work is lack of replies and lack of interviewee. In my dissertation I wanted to include up-to-date information about other people’s (professionals or who have an understanding of digital media) opinion regarding digital art. It would have been splendid to talk to a digital artist to find out how he sees the industry, now I have to give the idea up.

Doing the research and writing the dissertation helped me to understand the industry better. I think it is going to help me in finding a job.

Conclusion

Although this semester was very busy, it taught us how to manage our time and resources. We had the opportunity to work on a project, to develop a business idea and to write a dissertation about our chosen field of industry.

Now I have more material in my portfolio to show employers, know how to set up a business if I want to become a freelancer and I’m well informed about my field.

All these are going to be valuable for me in the future; I believe it prepared me for what’s coming.