2. Day 1
• Today the first thing I did was finish off doing my pre proposal and explaining what I had
planned and explaining the tone and mood I would ideally like to convey in the products I aim
to create. Following this I then in more detail explained the reasoning for why I want to
follow certain conventions and have a specific tone.
• We had one final brief on the work and following that I began my research, the aim of this
research is to find out about some of the theories behind the type of work we see today and
I started off with researching one of the most influential figures in graphic design and I
attempted to gauge an understanding of what his beliefs were and some of the creative
meaning behind his work. This was useful to me as it genuinely helped me see a different
side of graphic design and it gave me a wider view on what type of decisions I should
consider. Not only did it benefit me in this sense but it also helped me learn about other
resources I could use to actually do my research, for example I used Google books for the first
time and It was interesting to find a new source of information I could use for the future and
it will also help me expand my bibliography in the future. I also think I managed my time fairly
well today and considering I was just getting started and trying to gain an understanding of
the task and also find places of which I could actually use to research. However at certain
times I feel like I could slightly have pushed myself to do a bit more so for the future I will do
that and stay fully focused in order to use my time efficiently.
4. Day 2
• As I am not focusing on production it is fairly difficult to discuss my development during these
early stages of research, however today I continued the same process as yesterday, in which I
researched in more detail the theory behind some of the work I am going to be doing, the
main aim of this task is for me to gain an understanding of why successful people have used
certain techniques/ the creative meaning behind everything, and understanding this in order
to have the knowledge so I can then consider these things and implement it into my own
work. So far I think this has helped me to an extent as I have learned some new things and it
may help me think differently when creating my products. In terms of time management I
feel like I used it fairly well although there were times when I should have remained more
focus on my own work in order to get the maximum out of my research and benefit myself in
the long term. Tomorrow's day of college (and some additional work at home over the
weekend) is my deadline for this particular research task until a later date if more needs
adding so I will have to use my time as well as possible and make sure I finish my work by
then.
6. Day 3
• I set today (yesterday) as my deadline for finishing my theory research in college, however I
was not in college due to being at a uni open day, so this work was completed at home on
the Friday in my own time, with next week being where I aim to research existing products.
Today I researched multiple theories and learned some information I can use for the future, I
focused more on aspects which will help me for my podcast and the journalism aspect for my
articles. I don't think this has benefited me a great deal, and the existing products and
audience research will have a much greater influence on these parts of my production. I did
not complete as much of this as I had hoped so I will try continue to finish this research over
the weekend. As it is just the same research as I had done in previous days it is fairly difficult
to discuss it in detail. Overall with this theory research I have found it to be fairly useful
although generally I feel like it will have quite little impact on my end product so it may turn
out to be a waste of time as I could have focused more on an area which will benefit me in
the long term. Tomorrow I aim to begin with some of my primary research and I will create
surveys using surveymonkey.
8. Day 4
• This was the first day of my other type of research, I plan to have six college days, plus time at
home to complete this. The first thing I did was create two surveys on surveymonkey. My
intention with this was to really narrow down what my audience's views were on specific
things and see what they find appealing and what does/ doesn't work in things like podcasts
and when looking at websites/ articles. I created two separate surveys and I tried to spread
them out amongst as many football fans as possible. In doing this I would be receiving results
and answers from people who actually like these products and their previous experiences
with certain things as well as their general preferences would give me a genuine advantage in
creating my own work. I sent out the survey to people who I know would have some interest
in my products and mainly to people who I Personally knew, this has both advantages and
disadvantages. The advantages obviously being that I would get answers which were based
off genuine opinions on similar products, this feedback would show me what the best and
worst aspects of these products were and how to make my own product good by using
similar features, and also what features to avoid using in my own product. The disadvantages
in doing this were that it meant I could get some answers from people who don't take it
seriously and just put joke type responses, which obviously did not benefit me. I also made
certain questions too vague and some I thought that would help me I have realised are not
that effective and wont make a big impact on my product. Tomorrow I am going to focus on
working on my existing product research.
10. Day 5
• Today I started my existing product research on websites that already exist. I firstly analysed
the Liverpool Echo, and then focused on the logo. This analysis was very beneficial to me, as I
first gained an understanding of the use of logos on the website, and I thought about the
creative meaning of them and why certain aspects of it were used, for example the use of the
red, not , only is it a bright and eye catching colour, but it also represents the football club
who they are covering. I also analysed the use of the liverbird and researched context of why
they chose to use that, this research was useful as the insight it gave me may lead to me
using the liverbird as part of a graphic on my own production as I think it is a really good
symbol of the club. I also analysed the colours of the logo used and considered why they
were important and learned about the creative meaning behind it. I also discussed in detail
the font choices, and I came to the conclusion of how using bold, sans serif fonts is very
effective and is the best style of font for a headline or as the main body of text, such as the
website's name, so when I create my own product I will use this. I then looked into more
detail in terms of the actual layout of the website. One of the most important things I took
away from this is the use of space and how each article is spaced out and their positioning,
for example it is important to not overcrowd the page with too many articles, and it also
important to consider which article is placed where, for example the main news event should
be placed above two smaller article links and be the size of the two less relevant articles on
it's own as it demonstrates a sense of hierarchy. Lastly on the analysis of the Echo, I gained a
strong understanding of what type of ratio of text to images is best to use. For example I
realised that using a large image, with a small line of text headlining the article is effective as
it retains the readers attention and also makes them more likely to click on the link as an
image is the most enticing aspect of the page and is likely to be the first thing the reader
looks at. Tomorrow I will continue with researching existing products on a website and I will
look at another football news related outlet.
12. Day 6
• Today I continued with my exisitng product research. I continued to analyse websites, however this
one was much different. I chose to research a website called LFCTransferRoom. Although it is very
professional and has high standards, it would be more comparable to my potential idea and it is the
reason I chose to analyse it. Although I like this website and it is very reliable, in comparison to the
Echo it had quite a lot of areas which I thought that could be changed, and that I would avoid doing on
my own website. One of the most noticeable things about this was how they placed the navigation
menu fairly low down on the page, I think this is fairly inconvenient, and because of the conventions I
am used to, it looks aesthetically pleasing when it is at the top of the page, so when I make my own
product I will make sure to keep it at the top. Not only was the positioning of the menu poor, but also
the colour choice for the fonts was very poor and did not stand out at all and clashed far too much,
this highlighted the importance of making the navigation menu be clear and stand out, this will have
an impact on my product as it means I will make sure to use simple and effective colours such as white
and make sure I use a bold font. Despite some criticism, I also think there were positives of this
website which I want to include in my own website. For example there was a live moving banner
reading out the latest news, the text of it was also bold and clear. I think this is a strong point as it
keeps the readers attention well as it makes you want to follow the text, but it also pulls the viewers
attention in immediately as it did for me. It also conveys that the text being shown on it is the most
important information there is and is what people need to know, this will then influence someone
into looking at an article on the news. Today i feel like i managed my time fairly well and got a
reasonable amount of work done in the time I had and i also benefitted a lot from this research.
Tomorrow I plan to start researching articles that have already been produced. I hope to gain an
understanding of the conventions of both the writing style, and the sentence structure as well as how
certain types of pieces are layed out.
14. Day 7
• Today I continued with my existing product research initially, as I have already been doing this
I did not learn a great deal differently to what I have already learned, however I did gain a
wider understanding on articles and how their constructed and what style of writing is
appropriate for each type of article and also what appeals more to specific age audiences.
For example an older audience group will probably find an article with lots more text and less
imagery with complex sentences more appealing. However to a more casual reader of
articles/ a younger audience, short and simple sentences are the most effective way of
keeping them engaged. I also realised that something small like an interactive question based
upon the article subject is likely to work well as it keeps the reader engaged and then they
are also likely to interact with the question across other social media outlets and it is
something that can give them a lasting impact beyond just simply reading an article as it gets
them thinking. After quite a lot of existing product research I went into look at some more
production research lightly as I had not yet started that. So far on this I have looked up some
prices as well as generally considered props/ things that are necessary for creating my
products, this benefited me as I gained a wider understanding of what I will need to use and
it will prepare me for the future, allowing me more time to focus on the actual creation of
products. I also looked at an existing tutorial for a logo which I could follow the steps of for
when I create my experiment, this was helpful as it made me more familiar with the tools I
will use, and when I go to create it in the future it will not take as long and will allow me to
manage my time effectively overall.
16. Day 8
• Today I continued with my existing products research and I worked on analysing an existing
article which contrasted to the first article I analysed, this benefited me as I learned about an
entirely different type of writing style and it gave me a wider understanding of different types
of language devices which I can follow and use depending on the type of article I am writing
about, these techniques will help me in my actual products as when I create my own articles,
if it is an opinion type piece I am likely to use a similar style. I did not manage my time too
well in this day and I would have ideally liked to have got more done. I also spoke about the
context of the author, this gave me an understanding of potential reasons of why he wrote
like he did and about the meaning behind the work and also the motivation behind it. This
will benefit me in my FMP as when I am writing my own articles I will consider how I want/ if
I want to incorporate my beliefs into my writing. Before finishing for the day I also continued
with my production research by looking at another tutorial for making a podcast for
beginners. This was very useful to me as i had no idea and it gave me a good starting point
for understanding podcasts and good potential places to edit them. I then evaluated my
overall production research and discussed which areas of it I thought were good and how
effective this particular bit of research was. Tomorrow I am going to research existing
products for podcasts. I already have a couple in mind which I will research. I plan to look at
their graphics and logos as well as the content and the conventions, for example I aim to gain
an understanding of how music is used in between cuts, and the style of how they are edited.
18. Day 9
• Today I began my existing product research for podcasts, the ones I used and analysed are ones I
have already listened to recently, I decided to do this mainly for the reason that it would be very
time consuming to do and if I talked about one I had already listen to I could primarily focus on just
that and it would be a more effective use of time. The first product I analysed was a football and
comedy related podcast, I thought it was a good thing I used this as research particularly because it
pointed out something I don’t like about it, meaning I can try my best to avoid doing this in my own
product. One of the things I did not like about this was the host on the podcast, personally I didn’t
find him funny anyway but aside from that I thought he constantly interrupted the guest and the
other co host. When I create my own podcast I am going to make sure I allow the guests to speak as
much as possible and that I don’t interrupt to much. I thought this was also a good product to
research as it benefitted me specifically as It is also football related, and as a member of the
audience it gave me an insight on the type of content id like to hear, which makes it easier for me to
produce when it comes to making my own content. The next podcast I researched was a comedy
based one, for this, my focus on this was not as heavily on the content but more the conventions of
a podcast, for example learning about when the apporpriate time is to stop the conversation and
move on, or to change segmens by using the jingle in between. I also realised that it seemed better
with the stlye of it not seeming heavily scripted and there was a flowing conversation. This means
that I will script my podcast in the form of writing some notes as reminders for conversation topics
but I do not want to script my responses as I think the podcast will be better if they are natural and
reflect my current opinion at the time. I am quite happy with the progess I made today and
altohugh there are areas on this research powerpoint I will return to at a later date, I am quite
satisfied with the stage I have left this powerpoint at, as tomorrow I plan on starting the ' problem
solving' powerpoint.
20. Day 10
Today I began my problem solving and experiments powerpoint. I started off discussing the practical
problems which could occur when creating my products. I firstly discussed the potential issues which
could arise when creating my podcast, this was the longest part of these practical problems compared
to the other ones, however that isn't such a bad thing because it outlined a lot of potential problems
which means that they are more likely to be avoided now the issues have been considered. For
example, I have never created a podcast before and my general ability when it comes to being on one is
non existent , so I do not know how putting it together works, especially if it is recorded, and whether
or not I have to sync up the audio to the footage.
I then considered the potential practical problems which I could face when it comes to writing an
article, as well as a website. I thought these slides were slightly less valuable to me as most of the
content on them was really just filler information for the sake of being there as there are less issues to
occur when creating these, but also I have more experience with these so less issues could occur. I
thought this task was fairly useful and it could well help me when it comes to creating the products as it
has made me consider smaller details more carefully which are likely to have a positive impact on my
work. However, although it was slightly beneficial, writing up all these practical problems was time
consuming, and that time perhaps could have been used more usefully. The website side of the practical
problems was very light and had far less content compaed to the podcast one, so I may be better
prepared for the podcast and the website may not look as good as it could have seen as their were
fewere potential problems that I could think of. I am fairly happy with the amount of progress I have
made today, altohugh I would have liked to sart my theoretical problems as well. My aim for tomorrow
is to complete all my theoretical potential problems that could occur.
22. Day 11
• Today I focused on the theoretical problems which could occur with the products that I make.
I think this was a good activity and it will benefit me in the long term. It allowed me to
pinpoint potential problems which I may not have considered previously, and meant that I
could prepare solutions for them that I may not have been ready for if I had not planned and
thought ahead like this. I think I managed my time fairly well as I did quite a lot of
work vcand discussed theoretical problems for all the potential products I will make. One of
the weaknesses of today’s work however was that although the writing I did for the podcast
and even the article were quite strong, the piece for the website was hard to write about and
I felt as if I was just saying things for the sake of it and I struggled to write about that in a lot
of detail so it looked a lot weaker compared to my other problems I had, i also felt that it was
quite hard to come up with alternative solutions for some of the things I mentioned. This
could end up effecting me in the long term as there could be theoretical problems I did not
consider that I couldn’t think of which could come up and I would not be able to have a quick
solution and it could slow down my whole project. I plan tomorrow to continue with doing
some more experiments, potentially with graphics and making a logo and looking at
photoshop tutorials in order to develop my photoshop skills and demonstrate some technical
ability.
24. Day 12
• Today I finished writing my experiment article, for this I wrote about a preview for an upcoming football
game, this was a very useful task for me, as although it is something I had some experience in, it was good
to get used to doing it as besides this project, football journalism is something I have an interest in
pursuing further. I followed a style guide for writing articles which was incredibly detailed and made the
layout apper more professional, and also it showed the correct way to word phrases which were likely to
be used. While creating this article I would look at existing match previews so I had some foundations to
roughly base each section of the article on. I thought a weakness of this article was the introduction and I
struggled with this the most as I was unsure on how to start it and I had a few attempts at the opening few
paragraphs as I was not happy with the starts I had made. Something I liked however was the length of the
article as I was concerned I would use too much unnecessary detail however I thought I got it about right
as it was not too long but also featured everything that was necessary. Something I was happy about
particuarly with this experiment is that I realised to use the style of the one paragraph per sentence, this
was common in the existing articles and I think the use of this keeps the reader engaged better and looks
better visually. Overall I was happy with this article as an experiment and I think I will improve when I go
on to make my own articles. After this I began to create the podcast experiment. I set up the camera and
the audio recorders and my friend watched the camera as me and my other friend did the actual podcast.
As it was being filmed I also adjusted the lighting accordingly. As it was on camera and something I have
never done before I was nervous and I also had planned this briefly before doing it on the notes on my
phone however I think I didn’t plan them in enough detail and I was not happy with the podcast in the
end. I think the main issue with this was down to my lack of confidence with the camera being on as well
and my inexperience. I am glad I have done this experiment as it means that when it comes to creating an
actual one I now know that I will be better if I just use an audio recorder as it will improve my presenting
skills. Before finishing for the day I uploaded the footage onto a computer and saved it onto my desktop
and onedrive for editing tomorrow.
26. Day 13
• Today I began with editing my podcast, as I was in college early I did it in the library which is a different computer to the one
I use in the classroom, as I later learned this would be an error ( I think). I firstly tried adding using premier pro as it was
video footage so I thought it would be easier a si am familiar with that software, however for whatever reason ( I think I
imported it as the wrong type of file ) it would not open on premier pro. I had eventually decided against using the video
footage and instead just using the audio that was recorded on the audio recorders, as i realised that would be better for my
end product as i would be more confident and it would have a positive effect on the actual production I make as it would
mean my presenting skills were better due to my confidence. After Premier Pro did not work, I tried using Adobe Audition,
however I had never used it before and I also did not understand the tutorials. I only wanted to edit it on a basic level as
that’s all that was necessary and also to get to grips with the editing software. I eventually used a software called Audacity, I
didn’t know really how to use it however I eventually realised how to cut clips and that is all I really needed to do. I quite
liked the simplicity of “Audacity” so I will probably use that when it comes to the post production of the end product. I have
not yet created a jingle as an experiment and I will not have time really to experiment with a jingle, although I did not create
one I did briefly use the GarageBand application and play around with some settings and gain some familiarity with it. Since
trying to upload this experiment, for whatever reason I can not access the edited podcast, therefore I am going to have to
just upload the raw footage of the unedited audio of the podcast onto SoundCloud as it wont let me on YouTube without
any video footage alongside it. When I tried to access the edited version on Audacity it gave me an error message. I am glad
I have done an experiment as quite a lot has gone wrong and I have learned a lot about creating a podcast so hopefully it
should run slightly smoother when it comes to creating actual podcasts. However I am still frustrated at how I can not show
an edited version of my podcast and this also means I did not get a lot of time to experiment with the post production side
of creating a podcast. Although I struggled with using Adobe Audition, I am going to try again in the future to get to grips
with it because it is compatible with the mac and I can use it on multiple devices then. This day was quite unsuccessful and I
was not happy with this experiment, however it does mean that in the future i should struggle less as I do now have a much
greater understanding of it all then I previously had. Tomorrow im going to work on finishing my problem solving and
experiments PowerPoint by doing an experiment for a website and logos as well as doing a table of the resources I will be
needing.
28. Day 14
• Today I set the aim of finishing the current PowerPoint I was working on. I firstly went to do an experiment in creating a
website. For this experiment I used wix and an already set template. I chose to use wix because it is something I have used
previously, however when I have used it in the past I was not very happy with it for the reasons that firstly, I find it quite hard to
use and also the fact it is harder to develop technically. One of the few things I do like about using wix though, is that it already
sets up an aesthetically pleasing design in the background. Despite this I mainly do not like using wix, another reason for this is
how they use quite unrelated images on their set template, also this would not work for my actual product as I would prefer to
use images that are either my own or that I have had an impact on. As I did not really think this experiment was that good, when
it comes to creating my actual product, I am going to use an alternative domain. I am strongly considering using WordPress,
however I have not previously used that before so that could be a disadvantage using something I have never used before for my
actual product. I think when I use WordPress, one of the promising things about that is that the design etc is much more
customisable to my own taste and I can try give it more of a personal influence, which can help portray things easier and
demonstrate the use of a creative meaning behind my choices.
• I then went on to experiment making a logo. For my logo/ any graphics I need to create for my FMP, which could be used across
all my products and then also social media pages which I create as part of my product. I first started with looking at a photoshop
tutorial on how to make a sports logo design, I followed this to an extent but after a while and id grasped where it was going I
made my own adjustments with my own skills. This tutorial did benefit me and I think will make a positive difference for me as I
used something I had not used before. The skill I used and was something I had not previously used was using the anchor point
tool, this allowed me to extend and change shapes and make things myself which previously I would have just had to find from
images and edit myself. I will probably use this skill in my actual product as I need and want that to be as originally made as I
possibly can. Although this was a positive part of my work, I was not at all satisfied with any of the experiments I made. The first
reason for this is because it straight away to me just doesn't look aesthetically pleasing and also does not look professional or like
it took much technically. One of the areas of this I struggled with the most was trying to get colours that had a real creative
meaning behind them but also looked aesthetically pleasing. I also did not want to try copy something too much. This concerns
me the most as it means that I may not be able to make my production as good as I would like, however I will try my best in my
own time to get more ideas and practice more with learning new photoshop techniques. Lastly on this PowerPoint i created two
tables to consider health and safety issues as well as potential resources I would need. I think this was a very productive day and I
am happy with the progress I have made. Next up I will start on my final PowerPoint before I begin production.
30. Day 15
• Today I began my pre production PowerPoint, I was briefed on it and I gained an
understanding of what I need to include in it. Today particularly I focused on creating style
sheets based around the colours I want to include in my products, and specifically my
website. I realised that I am probably going to mostly use the same colours throughout all my
products to an extent, and on my website I will probably have the opportunity to incorporate
all the colours related to the club, even if some only feature in a very minor way. I discussed
how I am going to use the colour schemes related to Liverpool FC, the football club which my
product is going to be based around. I found an image with the hex code of each of the
colours that can be found on a previous badge. I also considered the creative meaning behind
each colour, and the connotations that people will associate with these colours in order to
further justify my use of these colours. I thought my analysis of the colours I plan on using
was a strong point of my work and I was happy with this written content as it was very
detailed and insightful, however I did not complete as much work as id have wanted to on
this day but this was mainly due to the fact that at the beginning of the day I was uploading
and finishing off previous work. This can be improved in the future by generally managing my
time better and aiming to complete tasks at home if I did not at college before the start of a
new week.
32. Day 16
• Today I started the day by quickly checking through yesterday's working and also adding bits
to it and adding further analysis and justifying the use of some of the colours I plan on using,
this also included a small amount of quick research to learn about things such as
connotations associated with certain colours. This benefitted me as it gave me a slightly more
detailed piece of analysis as well as the fact it helped me learn something new, and it was
information I can use to my advantage when I create my products. After finishing up my
colour style sheets, I began to plan the style sheets for the type of text I would use. I started
off by using 'Dafont' and looking at different themes of font styles which would be useful in
my products. I made sure the fonts I was researching were 100% royalty free in order to
avoid any issues later on. I looked at some bold sans serif fonts, with the idea that they would
be used regularly for things like the title and headline of articles, and on the website as well
as above articles. I was quite satisfied with the fonts I found for this and I am fairly sure I will
end up using some of the fonts hat I researched. I think this part of the planning was useful
and will benefit me as it has prepared me to find a font will want to use ahead of my product
which is in the next couple weeks. This is a good thing as it means I will have more time and I
can use my time more efficiently when it comes to the production as it means I wont have to
spend as much time looking for a font when I should be working on my production. I
concluded this research by looking at potential fonts for the written content in the articles,
but this was already fairly obvious to me and I will probably just use a basic font such as Arial
as it is simple and clear and that is the most important thing in an article.
34. Day 17
• On this day I intended on getting this Powerpoint finished and being the last day I spent before properly
beginning my production. To complete my style sheet I collected a range of images which I could use as
inspiration and roughly base my products off. For example I would look at existing podcast or brand logos
and I would take away from this something like the position of the text, and the colours used. I want to
maintain a consistent style so the logo can become recognisable, as I think this is better than having
different logos on different products, espescially if you want to make a lasting impression. Something
else which appeared to be popular on these podcast images was the use of a square logo. Although this
seemed fairly popular, I doubt I will also use this as I plan on making my logo in thw shape of a circle, and
as I mentioned, I don’t want to keep changing my logo around. The other types of images I analysed was
similar logos of footballing online outlets to what I want to make. I chose to not be general and only focus
on Liverpool related ones, as this would specifically help me and is directly related to my product. The
most obvious theme in common with these products was the use of the colour red. Every product more or
less used red, this is obviously because it is the club's colours. It was interesting to see the variety
of shades of red, with some using a bright red and some using a darker tone. When I create my own
product I am going to opt to use the darker shade of red. Not only does it obviously have the connotations
with the club, but it is also aesthetically pleasing and has deeper connotations such as what can be
associated with the colour red, as I have previously mentioned in my colour style sheets. Another common
theme with this was how the logos were often circles, I think this looks aesthetically pleasing so it is a style
I will try use.
• I then went on to do my layout plans, this was a fairly simple task where i just used the shape tool on
Powerpoint to create basic designs and then label each area of it to describe the colours/ what it oculd
potentially be. I made multiple layout designs so I would have a variety of choices and backups if I turn to
use these. I didn't quite finish these so tomorrow I will make sure to as well as add a few other slides
covering potential smaller areas which need considering.
36. Day 18
Today I intend on being the final day for my pre production side of the FMP. I went on to do my
layout plans, this was a fairly simple task where i just used the shape tool on PowerPoint to
create basic designs and then label each area of it to describe the colours/ what it could
potentially be. I made multiple layout designs so I would have a variety of choices and backups if I
turn to use these and one can't be made/ I change my mind on what looks good and opt to follow
a different style. I made different mock ups for each product.
After doing multiple layout designs, I went on to briefly talk about other potential things which
may need addressing. I did this in order to fully prepare myself for potential difficult
circumstances as well as to make it easier to organise in the future. One of the areas i discussed
was about the locations I may use if I use my own original images. I also talked about potential
finances, materials/ props required/ and personnel/ crew as well as facilities that may be used.
I thought doing these tasks was fairly useless as I cant see them massively benefitting me in the
future and I doubt I will refer back to them, but either way I was happy to get them out the way. I
am glad I have finally finished everything regarding pre production and I think I am in a good
position to move on to my actual production, and hopefully I do use some of the work I did over
the course of this period of time and it will hopefully benefit my work.
