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Work placement – Newmarket Consulting
I began my work placement as part of my 3rd year course for Creative Digital Media. I began working for Newmarket Consulting. Newmarket Consulting work with motivated people who see the evolution of their organisation as an exciting journey and embrace the adventures along the way.
I was offered to do the work experience with Newmarket and accepted it because of the valuable experience and opportunities that would become available to me from working with the company.
Newmarket Consulting website: www.newmarketconsulting.ie/
DAY 1 - 10/02/11
I began by having a brief discussion with my supervisors Mitchell O’Gorman and Clodagh O’Brien. They gave me an understanding of the tasks I was about to undertake. My first task was to make a critical analysis of two websites owned and related to the company itself.
The two websites were:
Through the analysis I looked at every aspect of both sites, such as structure, design, navigation, graphics, content, logo design etc. Having completed this I then began working on samples to redesign both sites and exploring possible solutions to try and make the sites more interactive and visually appealing. Updating and upgrading the sites was the main task!
DAY 2 - 11 Feb 2011
During my second day working at Newmarket Consulting, I began by documenting all the work I had done the previous day. I created a document containing my analysis of two websites and some re-design samples I created as a possible solution to updating and changing the two sites. In the document I recommended possible solutions and examples of techniques and designs that would be suitable for the two sites. During the completion of the document I then forwarded it on to my supervisor for him to look through and keep as a record for the websites to refer to.
My next task was to create a complete mock-up design for one of the websites from scratch. I done this through Adobe Photoshop and created a new sample home page for the site. My design incorporated the identity and style of the original site but with a new look and feel to it.
Day 3 – 14 Feb 2011
Today I created a PowerPoint presentation for the companies trip to Belfast. The presentation consisted of information on the companies involvement in European projects. I prepared the presentation and designed the layout of each slide along with adding the original content given to me by my supervisor.
The other task I completed was a document containing 5 sample re-design layouts for one of the companies websites, www.notforprofit.ie. Each design was created from scratch and designed through Adobe Photoshop CS4. In my design I tried to keep the sites original style, layout and identity in mind and incorporate those features in my new re-design layout. Here is an example of one of the re-design layouts I created:
Day 4 – 15/02/11
Today I was given 3 tasks to complete:
1. Create ideas for promoting a campaign through media forms such as videos, ad’s, graphics, games etc. The campaign was for the Street Performance World Championships 2011. The campaign involved promoting a world record attempt for the most people dressed as ‘Where’s Wally?’ in the same place at the same time. I began brainstorming on ideas for the campaign such as creating posters, graphics and viral videos.
2. I was given a proposal document for the campaign which was a plain text document. My task here was to add graphics, logos and pictures to the document to make it more visually appealing and which gave the client an idea of the type of work that would be created for the campaign.
3. My final task of the day was to update a graph for a document and make it more visual and new. I began creating this through Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.
Day 5 – 16/02/11
Today I continued working on the campaign for Street Performance World Championships 2011. I created a graphic for a proposal document for a client of the company. The graphic was based on the ‘Where’s Wally?’ theme and incorporated the companys marketing and PR strategies and ideas.
I then began working on a unique presentation template for the company to use on several presentations throughout Ireland. My template design used the companys colour scheme, logo and identity features.
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Day 6 – 17/02/11
Today I had a meeting with the companies website designer about changes and additions that could be made to the companies website. During the meeting we spoke about the style and structure of the site and I made suggestions for some changes that could be made to make the site more professional, interactive and visually attractive. After the meeting I was asked to design a mock-up screenshot of the site’s pages and create a document explaining the changes I had made to the design. To accompany my design, I was given three documents:
- A website design & development brief
- Homepage text document containing information on the company and its work and goals, that would be inserted into the site’s homepage.
- A list of testimonials for the company containing quotes about the company from previous clients and people in the industry.
The second task was to design a graph for a project called ‘Creative Edge’. The graph contained information on Creative Edge’s three pillars to success and the benefits associated with these pillars. My job was to design a graph representing the information on this project so that it could be printed and used in a document for the project. I created two designs for the graph as samples, here are the two designs:
The final task was to create and design a leaflet handout for a presentation the company had in Belfast. I was given a word document containing all the information that was to be used in the leaflet and then my job was to create a design and insert the information. The design was then printed out and used as handout to accompany the presentation. Here is the leaflet design:
Day 7 – 18/02/11
My main focus today concerned the design and development of the Newmarket Partnership website www.newmarketpartnership.ie. In my meeting yesterday with Gerard Tannam , the companys web developer, we discussed changes that could be made to the website. My job today was to create mock-up designs for the website. In my design I incorporated all the changes we discussed during the meeting which included changes in the content, structure and design.
Next I had to create a document containing the designs and write a short report explaining all of the changes made in the designs. The document then had to be looked through by my supervisor and when he was able to sign-off on the document, it was then sent off to the web developer.
Day 8 – 21/02/11
My work today began with editing and creating another version of the graph I had design the week previous. This new design was created in Photoshop and included extra information about the company and its objectives. Here is the new design:
I then went for a short meeting with both of my supervisors to discuss the next set of tasks I was to complete over my final 10 weeks here. The tasks included work on 4 websites, recording and editing videos and attending several meetings throughout my time here. This meeting gave me a better understanding of what was being asked of me and what I had to do for the duration of the work placement.
Following the meeting I began creating some documents for the company to use for general office work such as letterheads and card design. Each were designed using Adobe Illustrator. Here is the letterhead design:
Day 9 – 22/02/11
Today I spent most of my time researching how to create and build a website using WordPress. The reason for this is that the decision was made to do a complete re-design of the companys website: www.notforprofit.ie. At the moment the site has been created using a different content management system(CMS), which was dated and difficult to use and control. WordPress was discussed and agreed upon to build the new site so I began researching and studying the information documents on the wordpress.org website.
It was also agreed to re-design the sites logo. The current logo was also dated and was a poor quality image. I began creating sample logo designs through Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. Each design I created was based on the original logo and its style and colours. Here are some of the sample logo designs I created:
Day 10 – 23/02/11
Today I began by continuing my research of WordPress websites. Having read some documentation from the wordpress.org website we realised that using WordPress mite be a difficult task when moving the site from its original platform to the WordPress one. As an alternative I began looking at other (CMS) content management systems such as Joomla and Drupal, to see if using their platform could be easier to use.
After lunch I attended a meeting in the city center at the Irish Film Institute (IFI). The meeting was for Creative D, a network that brings together the creative industries in Dublin to understand how the sector works. Creative D stands for Creative Dublin. It is a European Project and includes organisations from countries such as France and Sweden.
The meeting was informal and basically involved getting members together to discuss current events and to share new ideas. Two new organisations attended the meeting to pitch their ideas to the members. The first pitch involved a new website where people could look for funding for a project and get donations from other users through providing a reward for the donations and support. The second pitch involved a start-up project for sustainable incubators. This idea was based around getting young people, college graduates and the unemployed to participate and be involved in the project. During the meeting I took notes and got to hear about several creative organisations in Dublin and their campaigns and projects. One of these organisations could be a future employer so I made sure to take in as much valuable information and experience as possible.
Day 11 – 24/02/11
My task today was to take the research I had gathered the previous day and insert the information into a document for my supervisors. The document contained information on suitable content management systems(CMS) such as Joomla and Drupal, and the steps, benefits and relevance of each to Newmarket’s website.
During the second half of the day I had a meeting with Gerry O’Reilly, the manager of Newmarket’s sister company, Newmarket Partnership.
The meeting involved talks about Newmarket Partnership’s website which they also wanted to be re-designed and updated. I had created mock-up designs for their website from my meeting with the companys website designer on the 17/02/11. We began critiquing my designs and suggesting what parts would and wouldn’t work. Here are the mock-up designs for the home and about pages of the site:
Home Page:
About Page:
Day 12 – 25/02/11
Today I began making changes to the Newmarket Partnership website designs I had discussed the previous day. Following the discussion with my supervisor we decided on some changes to be made such as colours, font type and sizes, images being used and so on. I then began editing the designs in Photoshop and including the new changes agreed upon.
Day 13 – 28/02/11
This week started with the re-design and development of the companys website www.notforprofit.ie. We decided on using WordPress to create the new site so we began the day with signing up to a new web hosting provider called Bluehost https://www.bluehost.com/ .
The reason I chose Bluehost was because of their detailed control panel which is easy to use, understand and navigate around. Having bought web hosting from them for 1 year, I then began downloading and installing WordPress to use as our design and development platform. I used the documentation as a reference on the wordpress.org website. The installation process involved setting up databases and users in phpMyAdmin and MySQL, as well as editing the php files that are part of the wordpress directory folder that I downloaded.
Day 14 – 01/03/11
On this Tuesday morning I continued working on the installation process for the notforprofit.ie website. The installation process using wordpress documentation was difficult and technical. I worked my way through the documentation but got stuck towards the end during the editing and changing of phpMyAdmin. Due to this error I became completely stuck and could not find a solution and therefore could not continue on with the installation. After a call to Bluehost, they suggested another way of installing wordpress websites through their own control panel. I decided to try this way and after a lot of trial and error, I finally found the solution. The website was installed in wordpress and could now be designed and populated with content, images, plug-ins and widgets. I finished the day by editing all the background information about the site in wordpress, such as e-mail accounts, administrators, users etc. Everything was now set up to design the entire site from scratch in the coming days!
Day 15 – 02/03/11
I began designing the new notforprofit website today using WordPress. I began by browsing through wordpress template websites to find a suitable theme to base the design of the website on. After I found the theme I could then go into its css file and edit and manipulate the code to suit the style for notforprofit. The theme i found was called ‘Amphionlite’. Having looked through the code and the features of the theme, I began making small changes to the design.
The changes I made firstly were:
- I began editing the images for the slideshow gallery that will be used on the home page of the website.
- I changed the timing of the slideshow so that the time in between slides changing was slower to allow each image to be read clearly and not rushed.
- I created a background image for the website with the colour scheme of notforprofit.
These were the first few changes I made to the design. The next changes will be to the structure of the site over the coming days.
Day 16 – 03/03/11
Today I began working on the structure of the website. I began looking through the css stylesheet and making changes where necessary to the structure. I began adding menu styles, navigation styles, footer styles, slideshow design, and more. Most of the changes I made came from research on the internet through websites and forums. Here is a sample design so far of the site after two days of coding:
Day 17 – 04/03/11
Development of the site continued today during the morning. I progressed in the design and worked my way through the code applying changes where necessary. In the afternoon, I stopped working on the site and focused on reading up about accessibility for websites. Accessibility is a key part of this site as many of the clients involved with notforprofit deal with disabilities. I was advised to check out www.webaim.com to refer to as it has many documents and tutorials on accessibility features that can be applied to websites. Features such as access keys, font adjustments, screen readers and more, are things that I would be interested in implementing in this site. Webaim was very detailed and helpful and I would advise anyone looking to use accessibility in their websites to refer to this site for help and ideas.
Day 18 – 07/03/11
After a meeting and discussion with my supervisors, we decided to buy a wordpress theme to use for the site instead of creating one from scratch. The reason for this was because we had time constrictions for the development and re-design of the site and also because of other projects and events the company wanted me to work at. Using a pre designed theme was a simple solution as it would take half the time to create and would have useful features already built into it such as: ‘Google Analytics’ & ‘Search Engine Optimisation’. I would then not have to insert the code for these myself and I was also not too experienced with using that sort of code either. I began browsing through wordpress template websites to try and find a theme suitable and a theme whose design was similar and closest to the mock-up re-design templates I created in Photoshop. Here are some of the templates i thought would be suitable:
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Day 19 – 08/03/11
Having discussed the various theme options the previous day, my supervisors and I decided on the ‘Bluelight’ theme (image on the left above). I then went and bought the theme online and then began working on installing the theme and all its features. The theme had helpful guide files and images to refer to when installing so I found it easy enough to implement. Finally I then began entering the background information for the theme and the website with which it will be used for such as e-mail and user information, file directories, image and media settings and other general settings.
Day 20 – 09/03/11
Today I went with Clodagh, my supervisor, to a meeting at the CRC – Central Remedial Clinic. The meeting concerned a project which Newmarket are a part of and it was just a monthly board members meeting. The project is the Not For Profit Business Association which I was now re-designing the website for in WordPress. My job at this meeting was to say a few words about the new design and layout of the website and get feedback from the board members. The feedback was positive with a few suggestions for content and imagery. Following the meeting I went back to the office and continued working on the website.
Day 21 – 10/03/11
I began today by editing some website design images I was given by my supervisor. The colour scheme for the design needed to be edited and I created some samples using different colour schemes for content blocks and text. Following this I continued working on the notforprofit website. I began populating the individual pages of the site with updated content for the original site. I also tried experimenting embedding video to the site. I embedded a youtube video using code provided on the Youtube website which I then inserted into the php code of the site. Here is a screenshot of the site so far:
After lunch I attended a meeting in the office with members of another project called RASLRES. Raslres is an organisation focused on Approaches to Stimulating Local Renewable Energy Solutions. Here is a link to their website: http://www.raslres.eu/. During the meeting the members spoke about a new tool that will be used on the website. The tool would mainly be web based so listening to the designer talking about styles and techniques was a really good experience and learning point. After the meeting I was able to have a brief chat with the designer about designing websites in general and he gave me plenty of tips and advice as well as online references and his business card to contact him in the future.
Day 22 – 11/03/11
Throughout today I continued working on the notforprofit website. I focused on the backend of the site e.g the HTML, CSS & PHP code. I began by browsing through each file and making changes to the code where needed. Changes I made where as follows:
- Editing image tags and including all alternative and description tags for accessibility.
- Deleting and replacing code to adjust content blocks.
- Inserting and editing video embedding code.
- Editing the stylesheet and making small changes such as font styles and colour, page widths and content, image sizes & positions and other small general coding changes.
I then created a short word document containing requirements I needed for the site development which I was to present to my supervisors the next day. The requirements included content that would be provided by the notforprofit members, images for the websites slide show, reports and submissions from the members, information on a video that I would be creating for the website and RSS news content provided by the notforprofit project itself (from the original website).
Day 23 – 14/03/11
I began work today by carrying on in the development of the website. The stage I am at now included editing the individual RSS News feed sections with the site, adding content to the various pages, adding a terms of use/privacy page, adding a sitemap, editing the php files for specific pages and specific areas within those pages e.g sidebars, footers etc. I also installed and edited a contact form page where users can fill out a form and send their messages to the company itself through e-mail.
Next I began browsing for another wordpress theme for a second website I would be re-developing, newmarketconsulting.ie.
I will be re-designing this website as well as the notforprofit.ie site I’m working on at the moment. Before I can even begin with this new website I need to find a suitable theme. I spent time looking for many templates to provide to my supervisor to see what they felt was the best choice. Since I bought the last theme at themeforest.net , I began browsing their themes for another one. Here are 2 sample theme designs I found:
Finally today, I was asked to re-design an image for the company. The image was provided to me and I was asked to make small changes to the colours, fonts, and style. I created the re-design in Photoshop.
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Day 24 – 15/03/11
Following up on the research I did the previous day, today I began by analysing each theme layout and began making notes of the pros and cons of each in regard to the newmarket consulting website.
Pros of the first theme (image above on left) were:
- Good/clear/strong search bar on all pages
- Breadcrumb links build in on each page
- Theme is compatible with all browsers and browser versions e.g IE6 to Firefox 3.6
- Portfolio page – would be perfect for the page on newmarkets site ‘ Our Clients & Services’
- Footer – includes three columns 1. Google Maps image 2. Contact Info + Social Media Icons 3. List of page links or space for a dynamic tag cloud
Pros of the second theme (image above on right) were:
- Clean & professional design
- Good slideshow on home page
- Dynamic RSS feeds section
- Blog/Portfolio pages available
- Video ready
- Theme is compatible with all browsers and browser versions e.g IE6 to Firefox 3.6
Next I had a brief chat with one of my supervisors to discuss what thoughts and inputs I had for RASLRES project meeting I attended in the office a few days previous. I gave him my ideas and thoughts and showed him brief sketches I drew up at the meeting to represent my ideas.
Finally I returned to the current website I’m building for notforprofit.ie. I began working on some features I could add to the site. I managed to create a drop down menu for the navigation bar and included some RSS feeds onto the homepage. I finished the day by adding some page content to the site.
Day 25- 16/03/11
Today I began by reading some documentation about accessibility features that could be added to the wordpress website I’m creating. I found the documentation in two websites: http://webaim.org/ & http://wordpress.org/.
Both of these sites provide great tips and information on accessibility for the web. If you were going to create a website that include web accessibility, then I advise you to look at these sites.
Day 26- 18/03/11
Today I had an early day and just kept working on the website. I made some small changes to the individual pages of the site such as changing and editing some of the text, adding links to other relevant sites and adding features into pages for accessibility and user friendliness e.g a ‘back to top of page’ link for pages with long text articles.
Day 27- 21/03/11
I was asked today to create a brief for a website design mock-up I created a few days earlier. The design mock-up was for the Newmarket Partnership website and I was asked to create the brief for Adnet (www.adnet.ie), a website design and software company who created the original website. The brief contained information on changes and features made to the new re-design such as changes to the design, structure and media. I included my own ideas in the brief and some possible constraints and problems that might occur, to give Adnet a better idea and understanding of the thought process and design behind the new re-design layout. I then sent the brief to my supervisor who could then forward it on to Adnet for feedback. Here is the website re-design layout:
The new The old
Next I began creating another document. This document outlined how to add and change content in the notforprofit wordpress website I was re-designing. The document is for my supervisors as a reference to use if they need to change content on the site when I’m gone. The document explains how to find and change individual content within the site, through detailed text and screenshot images taken of the website control panel.
Day 28- 22/03/11
Today began with a short meeting with my supervisors, Clodagh & Mitchell. During the meeting I ran through a wordpress theme design that I felt suitable for the re-design of the companys website www.newmarketconsulting.ie. We then began discussing the layout and design options and where certain sections and pages of the original site would go in this new site. After about half an hour we agreed on the details for the site and then I could now go and begin creating the site from scratch in wordpress.
Before I began this, I needed to do a small bit of work on the wordpress website I have already started creating www.notforprofit.ie. Having added small logos of member organisations onto the homepage, I felt that the logo quality was not clear enough. So I began re-doing each individual logo, 8 in all, and adjusting each so that the quality was better and clearer to see. I then inserted the logos back into the site using the php code in wordpress. After this I added an RSS feed section to the homepage. The feed came from one of the Department of Health feeds.
Finally I went back to the new site discussed in the mornings meeting. First thing I needed to do was set up web hosting for the new site. Since I used bluehost last time and found it user friendly, I decided to use it again. So I began working on bluehost to set up the web hosting.
Day 29- 23/03/11
Today I created a website screenshot of the Not for profit website to allow all of the members to see a visual of what the new website would look like and to provide feedback on it. Also included was a list of content requirements I needed for each of the member organizations to insert into the website such as:
- Information about a video I would be creating and embedding into the site through YouTube
- Information about each member to include on each of the pages in the members section of the site
- An image and slogan from each member to include in the image slideshow on the home page
- Content for the ‘Reports & Submissions’ page
- Content for the ‘Not For Profit News’ page
Here is the website home page screenshot:
Also I continued setting up the web hosting for the newmarket consulting website. Following a call with the hosting provider, bluehost.com, I was told that the account contact information that I filled out was still waiting confirmation. I needed this to be confirmed before I could set up the hosting.
Day 30- 24/03/11
The new website I had been setting up during the past few days got started today! I began by contacting the hosting provider and asking them to sep up a temporary wordpress account for me. The reason for this is that while I’m creating the re-design for the site, I don’t want the site to be down at any stage so to get around this a temporary account was set up. With the temporary account I could work away on the new site without affecting the old one in any way. Then when I am finished i can remove the old site, and use the new one.
Having accessed my new account I then set about buying a theme for it. From a discussion with my supervisors we agreed on the ‘new business’ theme for the site. Here is the demo version:
Next, I went to the website where the them was http://themeforest.net/ and bought it. I then installed it into my wordpress account and began creating the site. First I began editing the contact and account details within the site such as mail info, social media info, contact details etc. Finally at the end of the day I finished up by adding a fav icon and logo to the site.
Day 31- 25/03/11
Today I continued working on the Newmarket website. I began by setting up the home page and designing and populating the content for each feature on the home page. These features included:
- An image slider
- Navigation menu
- Content blocks
- Footer features – Google Maps info, contact info, RSS feed
I then began setting up the portfolio page. This page consisted of the company’s clients and services. There is a total of 21 clients and services projects that the company have done over the years. I then set up a page within the site that contained each project. For each individual project there is a screenshot and a small piece of information about the project with a ‘read more’ button that takes the user to the project page which contains extra information. I done this for each of the 21 projects.
Day 32- 28/03/11
My supervisor began e-mailing me all the information for the Not for Profit website that I required, of the members. I then began sorting the information and organising it into sections, so that I could then add the information to the website.
Following this I began working on the Newmarket website again. This time I began adding in the content for the other pages of the site such as about us, contact us, blog and sitemap. Here is a look of the new site so far:
Day 33- 29/03/11
Today I began putting some of the final touches to the site. I began editing the smaller content and less important features of the site. As I am progressing with the site and have already inserted most of the content information, I now began to take care of loose ends so that when I had finished this, I just needed some small information from my supervisors such as, headshots for the ‘our team’ page, updated content for the ‘about us’ page and photos of the company for the image slideshow on the home page to complete the site.
- The features of the site I edited today are:
- Inserted an updated version of the sites logo and fav icon
- Created a section in the sidebar for a ‘what our clients say’ section ( image, accompanied by a testimonial )
- Updated the 21 images for the portfolio page ( the previous images were low resolution and not the right size for the pages )
- Created ‘read more’ links on several pages to create more space between images and content and so that there are not any long pages just with plain text. These links brake the text up so that it is not as heavy to read and follow for the user.
Day 34 – 30/03/11
I began today where I left off yesterday…adding content to both the Newmarket Consulting website and the Not for Profit website.
For the Newmarket website:
- I added photos and reference links to each of the 21 projects within the portfolio page. Here is a screenshot of one of the project pages to give you an idea:
For the Not for Profit website:
- I inserted documents for the representation section of the website. The representation section is broken up into three pages (working group news, working group events & working group papers).
- I added content to each of these pages including documents, pdf files, images and links.
I finished off the day by backing up all of the websites information onto 2 hard drives incase of any problems occurring in the future.
Day 35 – 31/03/11
Today I continued adding content to both of the websites. I had a problem creating some pages within the Newmarket website, so I began contacting the company and asking them for any solutions to the problem. I’m waiting to hear back from them. Following this, I then began re-designing a leaflet I created a few weeks ago for a presentation my supervisors were giving in Belfast. The leaflet design can be used as a template in the future for my supervisors to use as handouts to accompany their presentations. Therefore, we decided to re-design the handout and give it a new look. I began working on this after lunch and set about creating some samples to choose from.
Also I began preparing for tomorrow which is the 1st of April, April fools day. Newmarket are running an event with the Street Performance World Championships. We have been given a brief and told to bring the following items.
- A backpack
- A random object ( pocket sized )
- A camera
The event if to promote a world record attempt for the most amount of people dressed as ‘Where’s Wally’ in the same place at one time. Tomorrow is a promotional day for the real event at the Street Performance World Championships in June.
Day 36 – 01/04/11
Today was the Where’s Wally Promotion event for the Street Performance World Championships. The event was organised by Newmarket so my supervisors and I attended and took part in the days events. We began by meeting at the LUAS station in Sandyford. Here we were given our brief and itinerary for the day. The idea behind the promotion was to get about 150 to dress up as Wally, go into the city center and walk around getting attention from the media and the public. The event was covered by RTE, Expose, The Herald Newspaper, Radio Stations, and more.
After getting our brief we got onto a LUAS which was given to us for the promotion, and began rehearsing a song that we would be singing on the journey into the city center. The song was ‘Always Look on the bright side of life‘. After the rehearsal we dressed up into our Wally gear, and put our jackets on over to cover ourselves. The reason for this was that as we took off on the journey, we were covered and looked like normal people just sitting on the LUAS. Then after a few stops when members of the public had got on, we began singing and revealing our costumes while the video cameras and the public watched. It was like a ‘Flash Mob’.
Following the LUAS we arrived at St.Stephens Green were we began singing and dancing around all dressed as Wheres Wally. We moved onto Grafton Street next where we had our photos taken. Next we marched onto Leinster House carrying banners and picket signs, as if we were protesting. Next we walked to Merrion Square were we had our final photos taken of us promoting some of the sponsors of the event like Bewleys and The Heralds ‘Metro’.
Here is some of the photos I took of the day:
Day 37 – 04/04/11
Today I began by adding my pictures and videos of the ‘Where’s Wally?’ event to social media sites such as YouTube and Facebook. The reason for this was that we were asked by Mark Duckenfield, the founder of the Street Performance World Championships, to share all of our footage and pictures of the event to give it more promotion and to try and get it noticed and followed by the public.
I added 2 videos which I recorded during the event:
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vr6bXhUbncg
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBGQgkW2vZA&feature=related
Next I was given content for the NotForProfit website by my supervisor, which I then added to the website itself. The content came in the form of text which needed to be updated on the site, and a group of images and text which I then went and edited in Photoshop to create one full image for the slideshow that will be displayed on the homepage of the site.
Following this I created some samples for a leaflet/hand-out for the company to use when giving presentations or at any events. In my second week, I created a quick leaflet for a presentation but I wanted to update this and create a better, more business-like version for the company. Here are samples of the leaflet design:
Day 38 – 05/04/11
I finished my final design of the leaflet this morning and then passed it onto my supervisor. Here is the final version of the leaflet, I designed it in Adobe Illustrator:
After lunch I had a meeting with my work placement supervisor, Hugh McCabe. The meeting was to check on the work and process I have made over the past weeks. During the meeting I spoke to Hugh about the experience in general and the work and events I have been involved in during my time with Newmarket.
Day 39 – 06/04/11
Today I started work by adding the Where’s Wally content to the Newmarket Consulting website portfolio. I added some photos I took during the event and also some links to videos of the event which I uploaded to my channel on YouTube.
Here are the links to the videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vr6bXhUbncg | http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBGQgkW2vZA
Following this I began organising my folders for Newmarket. I organised all the work I have done so far, all my files so that I can find them in the future if needed. To finish the day, I added some extra content to both the Newmarket and NotForProfit websites, which are now nearly complete!
Day 40 – 07/04/11
Today I began by adding a gallery to the Newmarket website. The gallery was for client testimonials and consisted of a selection of testimonials from some of the Newmarket clients. This gallery page was then added to the site as a sub navigation link on the homepage. Also I embedded code for google maps into the website. Finally I prepared notes and tasks for the following day when I have a meeting with my supervisors.
Day 41 – 08/04/11
I spent all day today, having a meeting with my supervisors. During the meeting we discussed the 2 websites I am working on at the moment. I created a list of topics for my supervisors to discuss and address, so that we could come to solutions for the final parts of both sites. Following the meeting we had agreed on the final steps for the sites and that now hopefully in the next week or two, both sites should be fully complete and ready to go live!
Day 42 – 11/04/11
Today I began making the changes I discussed with my supervisors the previous week. The changes were for the 2 websites and I began working away on each site making changes and adding content and images. The changes I made are as follows:
The Newmarket Consulting website
- Created 3 extra slides for the slide show – text for each slide and 3 images for the slides: newmarket image, word cloud and a map image
- content for the 3 content blocks on the homepage – brief paragraph of text with a famous quote attached
- made adjustments to the blog – removed blog dates and times, included new blog posts
- added social media links to site
- created images for the ‘our team’ page – using new headshots of my supervisors
- included a ‘privacy statement’ page
- edited the portfolio – removed 2 portfolio posts, edited post logos to make them clearer and updated
- updated the site map
The notforprofit website
- removed the ‘representation’ drop-down menu
- removed the sub navigation in the representation sidebar
- added an ‘other news’ page and added it to a drop-down menu in the navigation
Day 43 – 12/04/11
Today I spent my time creating an image for the Newmarket homepage. The image was for a content section about ‘insights’. My supervisors and I decided to create an image hand drawn by me on a blackboard and then with my supervisors head against the blackboard as if the drawings were coming out of the heads in the one image. Here it is:
Following this, I began adding some content to the Notforprofit website, in the news section. I added some new news and upcoming events. Also I redesigned the word cloud image I created before. On the screen the purple colour was not visible enough so I changed the colour to make it brighter and more visible. Here it is:
Day 44 – 13/04/11
I began today, by updating images for the newmarket site. The images were for the ‘our team’ page and contained 2 images of each of my supervisors, which I edited to have some contact details and title headings. Here are the 2 images:
I also added some slideshow images for the Notforprofit site. I added 2 slides for 2 of the members: the Central Remedial Clinic and the Irish Wheelchair Association. I finished up by drawing up a second blackboard image for the Newmarket site. The image was for the ‘implementation’ section of the site and was hand drawn by myself. I then added an image of my supervisor. Here is the final image:
Day 45 – 14/04/11
Today I finished up the blackboard images for the Newmarket site. The last image was for the ‘imagination’ section of the site and was hand drawn by myself. I then added an image of my supervisor. Here is the last image:
Following this, I added content to the 2 websites. Each are at their final stages of completion and will soon be sent out for testing and feedback.
Day 46 – 15/04/11
Following a chat with my supervisor, we decided to add an extra section to the not for profit website. The reason for this was that in the original site, the user had to register and then log-in to be able to access certain documents. It was decided that this caused some hassle with certain users so to work around this, an extra section will be created already containing the documents so that their is no need to register and everything that the users needs is right there already on the site. The documents included presentations, newsletters, reports and more.
So I then began gathering up all of the files from the original site and then organising them for the following day, when I could then insert them into the new site.
Day 47 – 16/04/11
Today I continued working on the new section for the not for profit website. I began by creating 4 pages within the site: archive, newsletters, events and seminars. Within each page I added documents taken from the original site. The documents were either in word documents or pdf. In total for all 4 pages there were about 65 documents added.
Day 48 – 19/04/11
Today I put the finishing touches off to the NotForProfit website. This included adding images to the slide show on the homepage, adding content to individual pages, editing the drop-down menu, editing word tags within pages and adding links to other relevant websites. Since the site is now complete, we have sent it off the each of the 7 members for feedback and thoughts. Here is a screenshot of the finished homepage:
Day 49 – 20/04/11
I spent all day today in the city centre with my supervisors. We began by heading to the RIAC, where we booked the conference room. There, we recored some videos for Newmarket and for the RASLRES project. For RASLRES, we had Ian Brannigan from the Western Development Commission who spoke about the RASLRES project in general. These videos will be edited by me next week and then added to each of the relevant websites and also on YouTube. Following the RIAC, we went to the Exchequer Bar, where a Creative D open-coffee meeting was on. During the meeting the members and non-members spoke about the creative industry in Ireland and the possible ways of attracting the bigger companies to get involved with Creative D.
After lunch we arrived in ROTHAR, where we made a video with Anne…., who spoke about ROTHAR and the work they do. Finally we went to NCBI to meet Des Kenny, where we again created a video. In total we created 4 videos and this then finished off a busy day!
Day 50 – 21/04/11
Today I added accessibility features to the notforprofit site. As the site will be used by people with physical and mental disabilities, a certain level of accessibility needs to be added to the site. To do this I added descriptive tags to the slide show on the homepage. When a screen reader goes to the slide show it will read out a brief paragraph explaining each slide as it appears. Following this I updated certain documents such as the Newmarket brochure and website pages to display my supervisors new head shots.
Next I updated the strategy and about us pages of the notforprofit site. I was suggested to me that the two pages were just full of text and were dull, so I added some small detail to make them more appealing and readable such as boxes, colours and links. Finally I began researching for an open source software that was similar to Photoshop. My supervisors were talking about the benefits of using Photoshop, so I found some software that they could use that was similar and free. Its called PixelR.
Day 51 – 26/04/11
Today I began using PixelR to edit some graphs. The graphs were for proposals and presentations for the company that are a bit out-dated. My supervisors asked me to re-design the graphs whatever way I thought best. I decided to use PixelR to design these because I wanted my supervisors to be able to edit them in the future after I’ve gone. I began editing the first graph and will continue working on them in the coming days.
Following this I was also asked to design a newsletter template for ‘Creative D’. Again I wanted my supervisors to be able to edit them in the future after I’ve gone, so I decided to use Mailchimp to design it. I haven’t used Mailchimp before but my supervisors are familiar with it so I’m going to use it. I finished the day but signing-up with Mailchimp and watching tutorials on how to use the software.
Day 52 – 27/04/11
I spent all day today in Blancharchardstown IT editing the video footage I captured a few days previous. The footage was for 4 videos associated with Newmarket. The first was for Newmarket itself and had several people talking about the company and explaining its qualities in 3 words only. The secong video was for the RASLRES project. I recorded an interview with Ian Brannigan, from the Western Development Commission, who spoke about the project and everything involved in it. The next video was for Rothar and showed the managing director, Anne Bedos talking about the company. The final video was for NCBI and showed Des Kenny, talking about NCBI and their work.
During the day I edited each video in Final Cut Pro and exported the files for the web. I will finish by creating a YouTube page for Newmarket and upload each video onto the page. I can then embed the YouTube code for each into the 2 websites.
Day 53 – 28/04/11
Today I created a YouTube page for Newmarket and uploaded the 4 videos. I then edited each video and the page itself to make it look more like the Newmarket colours and style. Here is the link to the page: http://www.youtube.com/newmarketconsulting
I then embedded the notforprofit video into the new Not for Profit website through Vimeo.
Finally I prepared notes for a meeting I have with my supervisors tomorrow. The meeting is to finalize and finish the Newmarket website. I make a list of the remaining tasks that need to be completed for the site to work on.
Day 54 – 29/04/11
This morning I had a meeting with my supervisors. We discussed the 2 websites and what was left to be done with each. We went through each individual page of both and agreed on changes were necessary. Following the meeting I began applying these changes to the sites. Changes I made were:
- Newmarket website
- added portfolio photos
- rearranged the portfolio order
- edited the slide show images and text
- added text content
- embedded video to the site
- edited portfolio logos
- edited page content
- added an extra slide show image
- updated the ‘strategy’ page
- NEWMARKET - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRPwWpRxadI
- RASLRES - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt5OWgHTmQs
- NOT FOR PROFIT - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dvh_tq2z8K0
- ROTHAR - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQkM_Chov9s
Today I had a meeting with my supervisors where we all had a look at both sites and agreed that they were complete and ready to go live. As I created both in WordPress, I then began showing my supervisors have to edit the website using the wordpress control panel. I broke down each section to them and explained how to edit, add and change pages, posts, slides and menus if they wanted to in the future.
MY LAST DAY………
! All that is left now is to ring bluehost when the changes take effect, then follow their instructions over the phone and both sites will be live. HAPPY DAYS!!!
