The document provides details about various practical and technical problems that may be encountered when creating an FMP project from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. It discusses potential issues with equipment, software, storage, power, and backups. It also considers theoretical problems such as weather/location impacts, managing production timelines, health and safety concerns, and the need for refreshments. The document outlines experiments that will be conducted to learn new software, understand fonts and effects, and determine suitable color schemes for the project.

1. FMP – PROBLEM SOLVING
BY TEGAN ARTHUR

2. PRACTICAL AND TECHNICAL PROBLEMS
• Equipment
• Working at Home
• Software
• Storage
• Power
• Backing up

3. PRACTICAL AND TECHNICAL PROBLEMS –
EQUIPMENT
When thinking about the equipment for this project I will be limited due to the covid-19 crises, however, I plan to
use my laptop. If anything, unfortunate was to go wrong with this laptop, I do have a backup plan where I could
use the college laptop I borrowed for a previous project . The laptop does have the things I will need to help
create this project . Alternatively, I could use my mum's computer to help create my project to an extent.
Other equipment I may possibly use is a printer, this will help me to scan my sketches for each page of the
fanzine. However, if I am unable to use a printer to scan my work, I will use my mobile phone to take a
photograph and send it to my college email address. This could possibly affect how the images look, however
after consideration I feel it will be better than not being able to show my sketches. It would also make things go a
little quicker without spending time on scanning pieces of paper with sketches on.
Furthermore, if I want to scan some work, I could also use the scanners at college which automatically send the
images straight to my email address. I feel that this would be the best option because if I was to scan some work
it is quick and saves a lot of time by going straight to my email address. The alternative scanning route would
mean that I must spend time going into my email, find the file and send the images to myself. That being said, if I
am at home, I will try use the home printer and scan my work or possibly use my mobile phone to take images of
my sketches.

4. PRACTICAL AND TECHNICAL PROBLEMS – WORKING
FROM HOME
Due to the covic-19 pandemic for over a year and a bit now, I have been doing my work mostly from
home. I have also had problems when trying to complete work at home, this is because when transferring
work to different devices such as from my laptop to a computer some of the devices don’t support a
certain software due to it not been updated or because it's not compatible. To overcome this, I try to make
sure the software's are updated and are saved as a file that is suitable for both the computer and the
laptop. If I didn’t save the files that are suitable for both devices, then I wouldn’t be able to upload my
work onto my website or improve it by ensuring that when I get my feedback that I act upon it, also it
could affect the quality of my work.
However, what I could do is my work on the computer or use the college laptop to help prevent this issue
from happening when trying to do my project. This would then make things easier, and I wouldn’t have to
worry about whether the files and documents are compatible for each device, which can take time.
When and if lockdown eases, I would be able to use the College computers which would make doing some
of my work easier as they have all the software I need already. This would mean less time spent
worrying and doing things to ensure the work is compatible on the devices, also it would give me time
that I could put towards improvements and adjustments on my production.
Additional things to consider when working from home is that there will be other people working from
home and using the Internet which may also slow my work down when using any online applications.

5. PRACTICAL AND TECHNICAL PROBLEMS - SOFTWARE
For previous projects I have used the adobe software, however as I am working from home due to the covid-
19 pandemic, I will have to use free software that is available to create my project. This could affect how my
project looks visually and how smoothly the actual creating of the project goes. Also taking into consideration
that I won't have much experience on the free software as some of them I have never used before. So to help
solve this issue, I plan on experimenting with the software as this will help me understand and to see what I can
create within this software. This will then help so that I am prepared when it comes to the production weeks of
the project.
Furthermore, the covid-19 pandemic has had and will continue to have a huge effect on how this project goes. I
need to make sure that everything goes to plan as best as I can, otherwise I could waste time and therefore I will
need to limit how much time is wasted as me is a vital part in this project because everything needs to be to the
best of my abilities and ensure I am productive.
The different software I would have used to create my project would be Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign,
Adobe colour and possibly adobe Illustrator. This is because I have previous experience using these
different software and understand where my limits are within each of the software. If unfortunately, the
lockdown continues, I will have to learn and use the free software such as Krita and Gimp to create my project.
The positive in using another software will be exploring and learning something new.

6. PRACTICAL AND TECHNICAL PROBLEMS - STORAGE
Currently I store my work on my USB stick which I have two years' worth of work. However, I have had a
few issues in the past when using a USB stick, therefore now I save my work on One Drive. This is mainly
because my USB stick is almost full but also because I am working from home due to the pandemic and I
don't want to risk losing work due to storage. The One Drive doesn’t have a limit of storage and I find this
will be the best option to use as it is more reliable than a USB stick and so far I have not had any issues of
losing work or storage.
With this project I plan to use One Drive to save most of my work and the storage on my laptop to make
sure I have everything I need to make sure this project goes as smoothly as possible.
As a backup I also plan on sending my work through my email address so that I can save a copy at home.
This will allow me to make any changes before everything must be submitted in. This will help me to make
sure everything is completed to my best standard and considering the options available to me during a
difficult and unusual period. I want to also ensure the work is done to how I fell it is supposed to be before
the deadline. I am keen to work hard and demonstrate what I am passionate about and to work
towards the grade I want so that I can get into University and eventually then get into the job I want.

7. PRACTICAL AND TECHNICAL PROBLEMS - POWER
When thinking about my project I plan to save my work every 20 mins because if I was to have a power cut
or had issues with the software freezing, I would know that my work is saved, and I won't have to worry
about losing too much work.
Another solution would be saving my work regularly on the One Drive as well as save it on a USB stick or
use another device like a computer to save my work. This means that my work will be saved and if it
freezes, I can do another task such as doing experiments while waiting for the software to respond. This
will hopefully help to not lose too much time.
However, for previous projects I have not had problems with the power, but I want to make sure my work
is still there as a precautionary measure, I will save every 20 minutes. The last thing I want to do is invest
time in my work and risk losing it and must then spend time trying to recover work which then reduces the
time I will have to finish the full project.

8. PRACTICAL AND TECHNICAL PROBLEMS - BACKING
UP
In the past I have had a few issues when it's come to saving and backing up my work. But because I will on
occasion be working from home, I will need to make sure that I am on top of everything as I don’t want to
waste any time trying to recover my work. So, when thinking about my project I plan to save my work on
One Drive, my laptop and a computer. This is so that I have at least three copies of my worked saved just in
case I have any issues when trying to save the project .
Previous experience has taught me when I have backed up my work using a USB stick that has gone wrong
in the past, so I plan to back my work through One Drive and in my files on my laptop to ensure I don’t risk
losing work. With doing it this way I know I can access the work easily and being cautious about the risk
losing of work with a USB stick.

9. THEORETICAL
PROBLEMS
Weather/Location
Production Time
Refreshments
Health and safety

10. THEORETICAL PROBLEMS - WEATHER/LOCATION
When I start to produce my project, it will mostly be done indoors due to the covid-19 pandemic lockdown,
so the weather won't be a huge problem unless I decide to sit outside I the garden at home then I could
only do this on a dry day.
The weather can have an effect when it is stormy as this can cause issues with the internet connection and
signal. If the weather happens to be like that I will need to make sure my work is saved regularly and if I
can't do anything on the laptop due to no internet, I will try find another task to do.
No Internet tasks I could do that would help me whilst I waited for the internet connection to come back
are things such as drawing out the pages, analysing them and making improvements before I create that
page.
The number of people working from home can also slow the internet connection down therefore
considering the work others are doing I could time when I complete certain types of work as well to limit
who is using the internet at the same time.

11. THEORETICAL PROBLEMS – PRODUCTION TIME
When thinking about this project, I need to manage my time well. Time management is key, this is
because if I do end up falling behind it means it will have a knock-on effect on the rest of the project and
areas will get rushed to get finished on time and this will mean that my work won't be to a high standard
that I would want it to be.
I will also need to make sure I complete everything and stick to the deadlines. This is because during
the production section I want to be able to have enough time to complete everything and make
improvements before the full project must be handed in. Therefore, to make sure I meet the deadlines I
will create a plan of what I'm going to do each day so that each part of the project is finished within an
allocated time to meet the deadlines. This will give me plenty of time when it comes to the production
part of the project.

12. THEORECTICAL PROBLEMS - REFRESHMENTS
Refreshments are important. I need to make sure that I am hydrated to help me concentrate on this
project otherwise if I don’t drink enough water or eat at regular intervals I could fall ill or feel too
tired. This would be a nightmare for me as because it would mean I will fall behind on work and wouldn't
have enough time for production. Then everything would be rushed, and I won't get the grade I want to
get into University.
I would also need to consider that when I have refreshments they need to be quite far from the laptop or
wires because it could end up in a disaster if I spilt water over my laptop and lose all my work, causing
costs to either replace or repair the laptop.
I need to consider all these aspects as there are many issues that could happen but also look at ways to
prevent them and so that I am still on track with my work.

13. THEORETICAL PROBLEMS – HEALTH AND SAFETY
When thinking about the health and safety of my project, I need to think of potential issues such as wires
left in the walkway or drinks left near computers and laptops, power cuts etc.
So, to prevent all that I will make sure that wires are away from the walkway and so no one trips on the
wires and gets hurt. I will also make sure that whenever I have a drink, they will be placed at a good
distance away from wires and devices such as my laptop. This is because I don’t want to risk losing work
but also to prevent causing serious hazards.
How I sit when working on a computer and Laptop can affect my posture and can be uncomfortable, so I
need to ensure I sit correctly.

14. EXPERIMENTS
• Understanding the software
• The glow experiment
• Gitter effect
• Fonts
• Text effects on free video software
• Colours

15. EXPERIMENT – UNDERSTANDING THE
SOFTWARE
Before lockdown I have used print-based software such as photoshop ,
however because for my fanzine I will mostly be using free software to
create this project, I may need to learn how to create things such as
the glow effect which I could do on photoshop. The new software I will
be looking to use will be Gimp and Krita.
I am looking to use similar design techniques that I have in used in past
projects and put them into this one. However, before I can do that, I
will need to be able to understand how to use the free software,
especially if we are still having to work from home when it comes to
completing the production part of the project.
When trying to understand Krita I will mess around with the brushes
and tools to see how I could use a range of these in my project.
However, with Gimp I have used it a little before on car design's I have
done and at the time I found it was very slow when using it, I only plan
to use it for little things this time around.

16. EXPERIMENT - GLOW
Having spent time looking at the software Krita and Gimp and
playing around with it I feel that I kind of understand the
software.
I plan to do most of the project on Krita because it's not as
pixelated as Gimp and seems quicker to use. Gimp I feel I could
easily lose work on it. I would only use Gimp for small pieces of
work such as text or filters.
When using Krita I plan to use similar techniques I've learned in
the past that I did in photoshop which was the glow effect. I have
found that the glow effect is eye catching and draws people in.
Furthermore, when trying out this effect on Krita I found it was
much quicker to do than photoshop so if I wanted to do this effect
within my project, I would know how to do it.

17. EXPERIMENT – GLITTER
EFFECT
I've never really done a glitter effect before so it will
be my first time doing it especially on a free software
and if it goes well, I will probably put some of this into
my project.
After trying to create the glitter effect, I found it
works well as it is quite simple and easy to do. This is
because all you need to do is use a particular brush
and use shapes. I think I may put this effect in my
project somewhere I just don’t know where yet.
Thinking about possibilities, I could maybe put it on
some of the designs and text throughout the fanzine.
This would help make the little things such as the text
stand out a bit more.

18. EXPERIMENT - FONTS
Font play a big part in my project as it effects the way it looks and is
one of the ways that captures the audience's attention. Even though
this isn't really learning a technique, it is more about looking at what
style would be the best. In the software Krita, I am just
playing around with the different style of fonts to see which one I
would mostly use throughout the fanzine. By doing this it will help
me understand how each individual style makes the text come across
slightly different to the audience but in this case myself for now.
When experimenting with fonts it didn’t take me too long to do but
out of the four styles I did, I do prefer the second and third style. This
is because they are quite basic but the second one has more of a
creative design to it. So, when considering my project, I need to think
about what the best style would and if it would grab the audience's
attention. Looking back at my research most logos and
magazines would use fonts like the third style as its basic and doesn’t
look complicated. But the second style has that little bit of creativity
to it and yet it is still quite basic .

19. EXPERIMENT - COLOURS
The main thing I need to also consider would be the colour
scheme. This is because in past projects I have just used black, with
bright colours and repeated it through previous projects. Taking a
step back I will need to consider information from my audience
research as they would like to see a variety of colours.
Rather than using black all the time for the layout, I will use bright
colours. To help with this, I plan to use a colour wheel that will
help me understand what colour works best with other colours.
Throughout the project I may add more colours or take some
away to help improve it. I will also need to look at what colours I
plan to use throughout it all.
I plan to use the Adobe colour wheel as its free to use and gives
you a variety of colours that work well together. Also, it doesn’t
take too much time away and you can choose whether to have 3
colours, shades etc. So, when trying to understand which
colours work best with one another I think it works really well and
is very helpful. Especially when I struggle with deciding on what
colours I plan to use for this project when trying to avoid too much
black.