Monday, 7 June 2010

Finished website

http://portal.nkschool.lincs.sch.uk/media/92hm11/

Tuesday, 4 May 2010

Evaluation

My task was to produce a campaign website for a charity of my choice which I felt strongly towards too. My charity website had to include my own photographs, a logo, and written text, audio, video and easy navigation. I chose to make a charity website on the subject of protecting and re-homing animals. I based it on the RSPCA (Royal Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Animals) and the PDSA (The People's Dispensary for Sick Animals).

My media product uses all what a website should have because I have followed the conventions. I have worked off my chosen website the RSPCA and tried to make it as much as like that but with changes and using my own ideas and work and creating a new name and logo and layout.
My media product represents particular different social groups for my charity website. This is because the RSPCA is a large well-known animal welfare charity that can help any animal in need of rescue. Unlike few other animal charities it focuses on all animals not just one specific animal. I made my website on the few popular animals that are normally known to be kept as pets. The target audience which I aimed my website towards is interested in saving and preventing animals or interested in donating or take that animal home to have as their pet. My website needed to communicate that the charity of issue I chose is a serious matter and they take their job very seriously in doing the best in saving animals. I have attempted to make my website look professional to convey the message that this is a serious issue of matter and it needs to be well-known to save animals and give them what they deserve, a loving home and a new family and the greatest care.

I think the kind of media institution that has made a lot of interesting in the welfare of animals and that is a highly raised government issue and will involves the government and the institution. It could distribute my media product because it is a serious issue that needs to be raised more across the world to sort this issue out and make people respect animals more. Even media giants could invest in my website making the charity from a small charity to a massive well-known charity. Because my final media product is a website I will be able to distribute it through web search engines like google or yahoo and add links on social network sites like twitter or facebook to raise the websites profile.

For my charity website I aimed my target audience at people who are interested in saving and protecting animals from any form of cruelty. The website is based on adopting, re-homing and donating towards pets in need of great care. I researched into demographics and the different social groups. Upper class (ABC1) and lower class (C2DE). I have aimed it more at the ABC1 class area as they may have the more money to give it to charity. I have aimed my website to look smart and professional towards the demographic ABC1. Part is aimed at C2DE, but this demographic is more of the people who are students, low paid or unemployed. These people may not have the money to give to this charity. The group ABC1 may held more organisations or fundraising in big companies whom they work for. Which will then make the person and the company enhance a reputation by donating to the charity. This demographic group may have the technology to donate maybe when donating online. The C2DE group can easily if they want to give money through post, fundraising challenges, recyle, give unwanted goods to the charity etc. Belonging to the upper middle class will mean more income, which may mean that they may want to give their money away to a good cause, saving and preventing cruelty to animals. This is why I have aimed my website more in the demographic ABC1 area. Whether that sort of care may be a loving family to look after the animal well or serious care in needing veterinary needs. If people are great pet lovers and hate the thought of the animals being treated badly then the audience can donate to the charity so they can give their help. If a pet charity is one that the audience feel strongly about then this is another website which they can get plenty of information and help get involved. Some people may have had an experience of seeing a pet being treated badly. The audience may want information on how they should look after their pets to the best of their ability. The website needed to have clear navigation, easy to use, supply loads and useful information and supply contact information for any queries.

I attracted/addressed my target audience by using a clear navigation bar which is easy and looks good. The navigation bar which I made myself highlights with a blur effect when scrolled over to show what they are clicking on or what page the viewer is on. When creating my website it was useful to follow the conventions to make it clear and not confusing for the audience. One convention I have followed is the navigation bar as it is along the top of the screen down the left hand side. Also the logo which I have created is in the top left hand side of the screen where it is normally known to be in that particular place. It is there to be a recognised site.

The home page is full of photographs of cute pets to attract my target audience to read the headings beside them photos and making them want to browse the website and to get the message across that the cruelty to animals is a serious matter.

I have learnt about using new technologies in constructing this task. These technologies which were used are the program, ‘Serif WebPlus 10’, 'Windows Movie Maker' and ‘Adobe Photoshop’. Serif WebPlus10 was used to create my final website. This program was new to me but I had some practice of using the software in my first preliminary task in making a website for a school/college. I used Windows Movie Maker to create my audio video to put on my charity website. In creating my video I could either use film to film someone talking or performing or an easier option which I did was inserting pictures and turning it into a video, I added titles to the video also to have more of an effect to really get through to the audience. Throughout the process I have been using Adobe Photoshop many times, I have used it to turn my work into JPEG's to upload to my blog. I made my logo and navigation bar and logo through using Adobe Photoshop which is explained in the construction process.In order to make my charity video, I used 'Windows Movie Maker'. I added pictures by importing them and dragging them onto the timeline. I was able to add video effects such as transissions from slide to slide, I mainly used fade. I was able to add text and titles onto my storyboard and add a short video clip of a filmed actor discussing the charity for example who the charity helps, how they help and why it’s important. I was then able to insert it on to my website for the audience to view and be entertained rather than just text/information and pictures. Also they have a proffessional talking to them about the charity.


Looking back at my preliminary task I feel I have learnt a lot during the process then to making the full charity website product. I have gained new skills in making my website such as creating my own navigation bar and roll-overs, making my own logo. This time in my final making of my charity website I used my own original photos instead of ripping them off the internet it makes it look more professional and serious. Making my website have a great appearance, and eye-catching and full of photos then it will be more effective and target the audience more. My school website wasn't great but learning from previous mistakes I was able to improve my own final charity website loads with new things introduced such as creating my navigation bar, logo and using my own photography.

If I were to do this project again, I would change few things such as trying to break some conventions to make my website look a little more stylish and fun and could potentially be more aimed for kids so they know what a serious issue animal charities are. Having more colour but still following the colour theory would have maybe made my website look more presentable but still sending the message of the matter that its serious. More photos could have been appropriate and the logo could have been a little more exciting like a moving motion one. I could have aimed to much more of a larger audience like creating a kids page for the younger generation. On the other hand, I have enjoyed doing this project and experimenting with new programs which I have never used before. My website is very successful, clear and easy to navigate and the amount of information and photographs were very effective, and may well appeal to my audience.

This is my link of my final website:
http://portal.nkschool.lincs.sch.uk/media/92hm11/

Thursday, 29 April 2010

Final Charity Website

In order to create my charity website I used a software called, 'Serif WebPlus10'. I was able to insert my own photographs, a video, hyper links, logo, a navigation bar and text. These could either follow web page conventions or break them. I chose to follow the web page conventions to make it clear for my audience to navigate around my website. Below are my final screen grab shots of my charity website. Each page displays the logo, contact helpline and the navigation bar. It also displays the title of the page to make it clear for the audience what page they're on.
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Home Page
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The home page includes original photographs of animals relating to the charity website. The navigation bar is clear and easy to use. There is a little it about what the website involves such as the, "Looking for a pet?", "Fundraising for the PA&D", "Our animals" and "The PA&D Today".
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About Us Page
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The about us page includes a whole, welcoming text about the charity of issue and also a video about what the charity does.
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Donate Page
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The donate page includes information about donating for the PA&D and main points on how to do that. I also have included a photograph of one of the animals to make the page more exciting not just boring and plain and full of text.
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Our Animals Page
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The our animals page displays just some of the animals that are from the charity. I have displayed their names and a photograph of them. This could have more of an effect on the audience actually seeing the poor animals who have been treated so badly.
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Rehome Page
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The re-home page includes a lot of information about re-homing. There is a hyper link which I have created to able the audience to get more information from just clicking on the highlighted, underlined text. "Click here". This makes it easier to navigate around and enter a new website from just one click and to get more information.
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News Page
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The news page shows latest news and photo's of the PA&D's and stories. More photographs make the page more interesting and will be effective for the target audience.
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Contact Page
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The contact page gives all the information on how to contact the charity. It is a bold and big piece of text to show its importance.

The colours of my website are suitable for a animal charity website. Most animal welfare charity websites which I researched in use the colour blue for their logo and layout. My layout is clear and displays the logo, title, contact helpline and navigation bar on every page. The colours connect to the colour theory under analog colours. The blue's which are used are either side one a little darker than the other and analog colours are known to be used when nature is involved or harmonious. As it is to do with animal I feel it is appropriate. The connotation of blue gives a calm atmosphere instead of red meaning danger for example.

Wednesday, 28 April 2010

Construction Process for My Charity Website

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Dimensions
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In order to start creating my charity website I had to set the dimensions to a certain width. I inseted a website template like the one above to work off as a background so no objects such as; text, photographs go under the template. This would mean that the audience would have to scroll down to see anymore information so it was essential that all the important object were within the template.

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Navigation Bar
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I had a task of creating my own navigation bar, I did this on the program 'Adobe Photoshop'. As I was new to this program and unexperienced on all the tools, I was able to follow simple instructions to create my navigation bar. Firstly I used the shape tool to draw out a rectangle shape as my main background of my naviagtion bar. Next, I added text using the text tool onto my naigation bar, I was able to change the font and colour. I inserted the names of my pages which I wanted to appear on my website. I chose a font that was clear and easy to read and a suitable colour to read off a dark background. I chose white and blue as I feel they work well together. Next, I added an effect to my text, I used the effect blur. Adding this effect made the naviagtion bar look more stylish and clear for my audience. To insert my navigation bar onto my website I went to insert, web object and clicked on rollover as you can see in the above image. The box above then appeared. I ticked both boxes normal and over as I had a second layer with the blurred effect on my text. I browsed for my sepearate parts of navigation bar and put them all together to make my navigation bar. To make the naviagtion bar navigate around my website I had to add a thing called an anchor to the page and connect it to the naviagtion bar. This then abled the naviagtion bar to work and made it easy to navigate around the website.
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Logo
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I created my own logo, from using my designs and producing it on Adobe Photoshop. I used the shape tool and created it using a paw print shape relating to the animal charity website and added text to it with the text tool. I changed the colours then my logo was completed to insert into my website. Inserting the logo was simple, just went to insert picture, from file and browsed for my logo and moved into appropriate place (the top left side of the screen) following the conventions of website making.
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Photographs
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I took my own original photographs of animals (cats, dogs, rabbits mainly) to use to put on my charity website. To insert my photos all I had to do was go to insert picture, from file and browse for the photo to insert and place it in a suitable place within the website template because they are eye-catching for the audience. I was aiming for my layout to look professional and serious.
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Video
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In order to produce my video for my charity website I used the program, 'Windows Movie Maker'. This was a simple enough program to use as on the left side of the screen it gave me information on what to do. I inserted my own photographs and added some text and the charities logo. It was put all into a sequence and was timed reasonably well. I was able to add transitions to the movie and the edit faded from one photo to another. To insert my video onto my website I went to insert, media and then video. I was able to browse for my video set it as an icon to show up on my about us page. Above is a preview of my video for my charity website.
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Text
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On this software there was a text tool to insert text and write plenty of information for my website. I could change the colour of the text and the font, I thought to using the same colours to make it look sensible and 'Calibri' font so it is clear and easy to read text. The propaganda of my text had to aim to persuade my target audience to give their help, get involved and dontate to those needed animals.
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Hyperlink
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As part of my task in producing a charity website, I had to add a hyper link to my website. It is located on the re-home page where the audience can find out more information. I have hyper linked it to my blog. I highlighted some text saying 'click here' right clicked and went to hyper link I could then type in my choice of hyper link to link that piece of text to.

Final Designs for Charity Website

Below are my rough ideas for my final charity website. They able me to look off them to create my final charity website.I tend to work off these to make each page for my charity website. Each page I plan to have will include a logo, contact helpline, navigation bar and title of page. The original photographs will appeal off the white background with blue font, logo and navigation bar. The navigation bar is on the left-hand side following the conventions of a website. I also plan to create my own navigation bar and add an effect so the text lights up when rolling over the text.
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Home Page
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On the home page I plan to have a few photographs of the animals and a little information.
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About Us Page
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I plan for the about us page to have a video introducing the charity to the audience, telling them who they are and what they do and what the charity involves.
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Donate Page
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The donate page will have plenty of information about how and why to donate.
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Our Animals Page
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This page will preview the animals that belong to the charity and their photographs and name to give the audience a little information making them want to find out more about maybe one them certain animals that are in need of a home.
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Rehome Page
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Similar to the donate page it will give plenty of information and a photograph so it's not just all text.
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News Page
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This page will give information about what has been going on recently and recent photos. Latest news can really appeal to the audience because they might want to know what's going on at the present time.
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Contact Page
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This page gives all the information on contact details and a photograph. This is a very old page because it needs to be taken seriously.

Monday, 26 April 2010

Logo Designs & Final Logo for Charity Website

In order to create my own charity of issue website I needed to create a logo. Below, you can see I have created 4 designs for my logo. I then market reserached the logos to see what the public had to say about my logos. I market researched my logos through the social networking site 'Facebook'. This abled me to recieve feedback of my logos and made it easier to choose the most suitable logo to have as my final logo and which colour scheme to use.
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Design 1










This logo design could be recognisbale and suitable for my website. However, from my comments by my market researchers it is found to be a bit complicated. With the letters (PA&D) joint together it looks messy and not very clear. It may be simple but not very effective for my charity website. The paw print behind is the only thing that will give it away that it is an animal charity. Without giving the full name of the logo how will the audience know that it is a pet adoption and donation website? The colours are suitable and with the font a darker blue it helps it stand out over the lighter blue coloured paw print. This was not a popular choice of designs because it's not clear with the letters to close together and compilicated and not recognisable for the audience.
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Design 2










This logo design was the second most popular. Reasons for this were because it gives the full name of the charity which is different to other charities such as the, 'NSPCC, RSPCA, PDSA, WWF'. One negative opinion which a person gave was that it doesn't fit within the pawprint and looks quite boring. The colours were fount to be suitable and smart and can represent the website as a calm and serious charity of issue. The font is boring but the whole logo design is simple but it is not attractive and not a very effective logo to use. The audience won't find it recognisable because it is plain and boring. As the second most popular, I don't think I will be using this for my final logo from what has been commented by my market reserachers.
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Design 3







This logo design was fount to be the most popular in my market research. It is simple but very effective giving the shortened and full name of the charity website. With the shortened version in the paw print it is very different. With the name in the darker blue colour it makes it stand out more over the paw print. Most people fount the logo not to complicated and helpful with giving the full name of the charity. It is also similar to the pdsa and rspca which are both shortened down versions of the full name of the charity. People also made their opinion that it is one complete logo with the text fitting in with the paw print so it doesn't make the paw print look like a seperate logo to the text. This logo was fount very effective because the text forms part of the paw print. I will take into account that this was the most popular logo chosen and may think of having this as my final logo for my charity website.
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Design 4










This logo is very simple and from my reserach it is fount to be quite boring. It is recognisable for a website however just with the shortened version of the named (PA&D) it doesn't give the full title in the logo which can't be very helful for the audience and can be fount complicated with what it means. The paw print is appropiate to that is an animal website. This was not a popular choice to be my final logo, so overall I think this will not be used as my final logo for my charity website. It is to boring and not effective enough to be eye-catching for the audience.
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Final Logo
I have chosen to have design idea 3 as my final logo for my charity website. This is because I think it is suitable, simple and gives the full name rather than just the inititial 'PA&D'. My market researchers chose this one to be my final logo. It tells my target audience that this is the, 'Pet Adoption & Donation' charity website. The colours are a similar mixture of the rspca logo and pdsa logo. Blue is used for many animal charities.