Identities Evaluation Report

Identity Report

In this report I am going to evaluate each section of the working process the identity project. I am going to evaluate each section thoroughly to see the process of each stage and the strengths and weaknesses within the project. These stages will include research, working method, project management and final product. I will look at each of these stages then evaluate them all within a conclusion.

Within this project we have been given a brief containing three options of brands and companies to design a new corporate identity for them. This would then hopefully improve there advertising strategy then therefore bring more attention from the public in there certain areas. Out of the three options I had been given I chose Trent Media and for their new corporate identity package I would then design and produce various means of advertising including a website, web banner, postcard, flyer, posters, bag and a pair of sunglasses.

Research
After I had chosen which option I was going to work with I then went onto research for this I looked at the current structure of the Trent Media package. When doing this I found that that current package lacked continuity throughout the three aspects within Trent Media. So this was one of the main aspects that I focused on when designing the new package having done the research on the current package, so therefore I think this part of my research was very effective as within the package that I have created. As I have used the main Trent media image and kept a theme of sunglasses throughout to show that the three different media aspects are linked within one organisation that is Trent media.


After the first design board presentation I was asked about my research about why I had chosen the sunglasses theme and I was given advice to look at this more closely and look at not just what I thought looked nice but also what the students thought as well so I came up with a few sample pieces and ideas and asked students what they thought about it and I had a good response so decided to stick with the sunglasses theme. However I think that this part of my research process was very useful to my design process as it gave me a better idea of what the students like and what would be effective and useful within the package. (see fig. 7)

Also within my research I also wanted to find out how the old structure worked before what I could take from it to improve it. So I made a questionnaire and asked students the questions such as What is Trent Media? and Where can u access Trent Media? From this I found that not a lot of student new about Trent Media using its current package. This research process was also very useful when designing my new package.





Also within the research process I looked at accessibility of websites. Within is part of my research I looked at various issues such as colour-blindness and hand eye coordination issues as well as other issues people who access the internet may have. During this research process I found that there are many websites that cannot be accessed easily by people with disabilities and other sight difficulties. This research was very effective as it made me aware about such issues as the number of buttons and flash animation and about the colour schemes and size of text I chose when creating my website then this lead to me making my CSS style sheet for my website that would make my website more accessible for people with disabilities and other sight difficulties

Working Method
Within this new package I created I designed and made a website, web banner, poster, postcard, flyer, sunglasses and bag

From my research I found that there were parts of the current package that I could keep such as the bag as it had the Trent media logo that I wanted to keep. I decided to keep the Trent Media logo as it tided in with my sunglasses theme and it is the main logo used so I thought that if I worked with what the students already new therefore it’s still partly known by the students and therefore I could then focus on the other issues I found within my research.

So I started by designing my poster first then I could get an idea for the whole brand I also used this as part of my sample pieces during the research process. So I used this to base the whole package on as I new that the students liked it. I used this to design my flyers and postcards. Evaluating this method of designing it was very useful to me as I designed something very simple such as a poster and used it then to base the rest of the package around. This also helped me keep the continuity within my package.

So after I had done the simple parts of my package I then went on to do the more complex things within this project such as my website and web banner. I started by doing my web banners first because I had a very good idea of what I wanted to do with them as I had just designed my flyers and postcards so I had lots of ideas based on them. Evaluating this process I think this was the simplest but most effective part of the project because the way I managed the project this part of the project was very effective as I had lots of ideas from the flyers, posters and other parts of my package. I also made my web banners very simple and effective as I think it gives more of a statement when on another website.


So the last thing of my package I had to design was my website this was the most difficult and time consuming part of my package. I again based it on the rest of the package for example the colour scheme etc. I started by creating the index page as a base then worked out from there. Evaluating this method it wasn’t a very good method of designing this part of the project as I kept adding pages as a result of working in this way. I started off only thinking I needed 6 or 7 pages and ended up having 15 pages and therefore a lot more last minute work.

Also going back to my research of accessibility I found that when people are using screen readers they need to have very simple websites and all the buttons and things that you add to your web site and also you need to be very clear of what you label and name some of the objects within your site so they can be read by the screen reader then therefore give people with sight difficulties full understanding of what is on your website. So therefore I made sure when creating my website that every object that I added was clearly labelled and that my website was kept very simple. This was a lot more work at the time but I think it is worth it to make it easier with difficulties and disabilities.
Also due to my research I created a CSS style sheet that I could put into my website that would get rid of the colours that are not accessible for people with sight difficulties and replace them with colours that people with these issues would be able to view easily. For me this was a difficult task but I feel is it worth it to enable everyone to view my website. Again I think that I think more web designers should think of these issues when creating websites for major companies.

Project Management
I think my project was managed well. I did a lot of research early on in the project which meant that I could make informed decisions about the rest of the project so that very useful and effective within the rest of my project. I also insured that things such as printing and other factors within my project were done early to avoid the rush on the day of the deadline. However the last part of my of my project was the website deign and that was not planned very well as I kept adding pages within my website which then meant I was behind schedule. I think was one of my major let downs within this project. Also another thing that let my project down was the fact that because I was behind schedule I could not test my project as well as I had hoped this was a major factor as this lead to my CSS and some other issues not working correctly in time for the last presentation I am working on them all and testing them thoroughly to ensure everything is done correctly.

Finished Product
I think the finish product is well researched and well put together however I think I still need to look at the finer details within my project and there could be some slight improvements such as testing and checking everything works how it should and everything is saved in the rite format. The things I like about the package are the flyers sunglasses and web banners.

Conclusion
I think there are good points and bad points at each stage of my project but overall I think it needs a few minor improvements.

I think overall the research section was a very strong well planned part of my project and I think I used the criticism, I receive very well and there for it was very useful and effective within the rest of my project. I also think I used the accessibility when creating my website and other parts of my project and I think it was a major factor for me within this project. So overall I think this was a very good part of the project.

I think the working methods of my project were good as the way I used the poster not only for my research but, also as a basis for the whole project I think that was a very effective. I also think that the planning involved with getting my flyers and posters and post cards printed was also very effective. However I think that my testing and checking of my website could have be been improved greatly.

The finished product in conclusion this part of the project was good if it on my computer but as I didn’t test it on other machines so in the presentation the finish product was not as good as I’d have hoped.

Overall I think the project itself was good and it would have been better if I had tested and checked more accurately.