Evaluation

For my task i had to design and create a website for a chosen charity, either already in existance or made up. I was given the task of creating the site using webplus 10, including some of my own photos and a video, and i had to create a logo to put onto the site. It also needed to have a working nav bar included so that the website could easily be used to anyone who wished to visit it. I chose to create my own charity called 'Help For Children', which trys to stop cruelty and abuse towards children.

When making my website i looked at similar websites beforehand. I noticed many different conventions which stood out and stayed consistent throughout each different site. I saw that the logo is usually positioned in the top left corner of the page. Also the nav bar is usually placed at the top of page, just 'above the fold'. i think i mirrored this as the logo i created was put at the top of the page in the left corner. the Nav bar was also in the conventional place, below the fold. following the conventions of web design makes it much easier for the website user to navigate around the site, so makes people more comfortable in visiting the web site.

My project was set to represent children in need of help due to abuse and neglect. i think i represented this group well as i used a number of pictures displaying children, showing their different emotions. For exaple i used a picture of a happy child, and a sad one, to represent how they are feeling, therefore encouraging people to donate. i also used a video which showed a childs view from being abused, to put the feelings of the child into perspective and once again encourage people to donate.

My media product would firstly be distributed on search engines such as google and bing. Once a user types something regarding abused children charities, my website would come up in the list. This would mean that my website would good coverage as people searching for a charity regarding the cause would find it using a search engine with ease. I think that my media product may also be distributed by television institutions, as the charity is for a good cause. Tv institutions are known for holding live events such as sport and comic relief, so i feel that if my charity gained lots of recognition it could gain coverage or campaigns from tv and broadcasting institutions.

My website was targeted towards adults who are willing to donate to the cause of helping abused and neglected children. This means that the types of people will have to be interested in making a difference and helping children in dire need of help. I attracted this targeted group of people in a number of ways. First of all, i made the website colours very neutral and calm, with just white and blue as the colour scheme. This will make sure people arent detered from the site by unnattractive colours as a starting point. I also used a simple and easy to use nav bar, so that people feel comfortable in using the site, and can navigate around the site with ease. I then took plenty of photos of which tryed to represent the abuse of children. Using children's different expressions in my photos this may attract my audience as the pictures make an impact, and they mirror the slogan which was 'put the smile back on their faces'.

In making this website, i learnt how to use a number of technological programs which were vital to the success of my site. The programs i gained knowledge upon were Serif Webplus 10 and Adobe Photoshop, both unfamiliar programs of which i had never used before. I learnt the basics of Serif Webplus 10 during my preliminary task, as it was the program i used to make my preliminary site. I therefore had a limited knowledge on the program and used it towards making my final site, using hyperlinks and anchors to change from page to page. I also had to use Adobe Photoshop, which was also unfamiliar to me due to the fact that i had never used it before. I desinged my nav bar using this program, using a number of layers on top of each other to create the flashing blob when the mouse is rolled over the headings. i also made my logo using photo shop, which i had to save as a JPEG and insert onto webplus 10.

Looking back over my preliminary task i see how i developed my final website from the skills i learnt during that task. i learnt how to create a nav bar on the preliminary task, and used these skills to make one on the final task. i even added a roll-over which i didnt use during the preliminary task, and i wouldnt of been able to do this without the time i saved in being able to create a simple nav bar first off. i also learnt a bit about colour theory, and with testing some colours on my preliminary task, saw which colours do and dont look good when put together. i also made a very simple logo on my preliminary task. this gave me some basic skills which i then used to create my final design logo. without the previous knowledge i gained from my preliminary task, the whole process of making my final website would of took much longer, as i wouldnt have the correct knowledge on what to do. If i were given the oppurtunity to create my site again i would make some changes. I would take much more time planning my site, as it would make it much easier and quicker in the long run when i finally come to creating my site. i could also of chosen to break some media conventions, as i researched some unconventional sites of which looked very stylish. I could in a future project try to mirror some of the things i saw in unconventional sites, in order to make mine a more stylish and attractive website.