Reflection 21.01.2015

What I did today?

The past few days have been spent rounding up my project and bringing it all together so that my pitch is ready to be presented in a couple of weeks.

I created a detailed schedule to follow for my final week of work to make sure that I get everything that needs to be done complete to a good standard. The schedule kept me on track and helped me out when I finished my tasks for that day. If I finished my daily tasks I began with the next days tasks that I had already set up, this meant I was ahead of schedule as everything was planned and ready for me to start as soon as the previous task was finished.

I created a detailed schedule to follow for my final week of work to make sure that I get everything that needs to be done complete to a good standard. The schedule kept me on track and helped me out when I finished my tasks for that day. If I finished my daily tasks I began with the next days tasks that I had already set up, this meant I was ahead of schedule as everything was planned and ready for me to start as soon as the previous task was finished.

What were the main three elements that helped me develop?

• Rewriting my notes to make them as useful and understandable as possible.
• Testing different presentation software.
• Thinking about an interactive element to my presentation.

What did I struggle with today?

I struggled slightly using the Prezi software to create my pitch, I have had little experience using it before which meant I had to teach myself how to navigate my way around the site and learn all of the aspects of it.

Was there a ‘what happens if’ in my day?

'What if my presentation is far to simple and doesn't give me enough support in my pitch?'

Were there any eureka moments?

Experimenting with different pitch software rather than sticking with the simple Google Slides presentation software.

How can I improve on today - tonight or tomorrow?

Familiarise myself with my pitch. Practice what I'm going to say, how I'm going to move and how myself and the computer presentation will compliment one another. Making sure I am confident and prepared to pitch when we come back from half term.

Creating My Pitch

This week I have been working on my final pitch that I will present to the Bath Chronicle in just under two weeks.

I started by looking through all the blog posts I've written throughout the project whilst making notes about the aspects of each post that I feel should be included in the final pitch. I wanted to keep my note taking brief by mainly using bullet points so that I don't get used to having to read large amounts of text from a screen or paper.

After making the notes and separating them into groups that will work as different slides, I begin to build the presentation using the Slides tool on Google Drive. Whilst creating each slide I kept in mind that I wanted images, little text and opportunities for interaction. There will be an interactive element in my presentation when I give the clients a physical copy of my poster to look at.

Whilst developing each slide, I rewrote my notes to emphasise how helpful they will be to remind me what to talk about in the pitch presentation. I will put these bullet points onto flash cards rather than keeping them in my note pad as I feel this will look better prepared and professional in my pitch.

So that I could experiment and challenge myself my using software that I'm not as familiar with, I recreated the presentation using Prezi. I find that Prezi looks more creative than Google Slides as it has a very wide range of themes that are very arty and you can adjust them to fir your style. I even managed to find a theme called Social Media, which is very fitting to my product.

Product Feeback

As my product for Bath News & Media reaches it final stages, I have asked for some feedback from my peers and teachers to that I can see whether my product has reached the requirements of the brief.

I sat with James, my lecturer and he looked through the links on my brief, commenting on the positive aspects of each one as well as the steps I could take to boost my grade to the next level. The main way to do that will be to include some more core information on the blog posts for the first couple of written assignments. This way I can make it clear exactly why I chose to develop my final product in the way I have.

To review my poster, I printed it then presented it to four members of my peer group along with a table, one side reading positives and the other reading negatives. I asked them to look at the poster and together, write their comments in the boxes on the table.

The feedback I will take on board from their comments will be to separate the text out more and make sure the correct bleed is applied to the document so that I don't have a white border around the edge and so that the poster fills the whole page. As you can see above in the image of my printed poster, the bleed hasn't been applied.

After adjusting the text so that it's more spaced out and clearer to read, I changed the print settings so that I can see the cutting lines, this means that when I cut along those lines my poster will have a clean finish and the image will fill the whole page. Here is the outcome, the peer group feel as thought the small improvements make the poster complete.

I sent my peers links to both of the videos I made, asking them to comment their opinions on each one and also specify which one was their favourite.

Comments on the longer video without jump cuts:

Comments on the shorter video with jump cuts: 

The majority of my peers preferred the longer video which was my original idea, they liked how the shots were more detailed and varied. However the jump cut video was popular with some of my other peers as they preferred the faster pace and the length of the video was more appealing because it takes less time to watch.

Overall I don't see a stand out favourite in the videos, I will discuss this in my presentation and suggest that the Bath Chronicle's YouTube channel contains a variety of video styles as different people engage in different things. Sticking with one video theme may get tedious.

To review the Instagram account I held a focus group where I showed three members of my peer group the online version of the Bath Chronicle Instagram account and I did a screen recording to capture their opinions in real time. I also showed them the mobile version just so that they could get a feel for the way it will look on both platforms.

The feedback was all extremely positive. My peer group think that it's a great way to engage the target demographic and it works really well on the mobile app which is what most people access Instagram on. They liked the competition and how the account still has a link to the news site.

The only criticism is that that the link in the bio looks quite long and messy so it would be worth looking into a URL shortener or something along those lines to make that area look more clean as it's right at the top of the page.

Bibliography Of Sources

Fernquest, L. (2015) Introduction to the Bath Chronicle Presentation. [Online] Available at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-RkO7t8hZU9VFhYdWx3X2FBUGs/view Accessed on: 19.05.2015

The Bath Chronicle. (2015) [Online] Available at: http://www.bathchronicle.co.uk Accessed on: 19.05.2015

Wikipedia. (2015) The History of Newspapers and Magazines. [Online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_newspapers_and_magazines Accessed on: 19.05.2015

Bath News and Media. (2015) Bath Chronicle Love to Shop Awards. [Online] Available at: http://www.digital-thisis.co.uk/bath/lovetoshop/ Accessed on: 19.05.2015

The Daily Mirror. (2015) The Pride of Britain Awards. [Online] Available at: http://www.digital-thisis.co.uk/bath/lovetoshop/ Accessed on: 19.05.2015

Frome Standard. (2015) [Online] Available at: http://www.fromestandard.co.uk Accessed on: 19.05.2015

Wikipedia. (2013) Somerset Guardian and Standard. [Online] Available at: http://www.fromestandard.co.uk Accessed on: 19.05.2015

Slideshare (2011) Consumer Behaviour- Family, social class&life cycle. [Online] Accessed on: 17.02.2015. Accessible at: http://www.slideshare.net/rainbowlink/family-social-class-life-cycle?related=2

Youth Net. Young People’s needs in the digital age. [Online] Accessed on: 16.03.2015. Accessible at: http://www.youthnet.org/what-we-do/key-facts-and-figures/media-factsheet-young-people’s-needs-in-the-digital-age/

Pew Research Centre. Teen and Young Adult Internet Use. [Online] Accessed on: 16.03.2015. Accessible at: http://www.pewresearch.org/millennials/teen-internet-use-graphic/


M. Stanley (2009). How Teenagers Consume Media: the report that shook the City. [Online]
Accessed on: 19.03.2015. Accessible at: http://www.theguardian.com/business/2009/jul/13/teenage-media-habits-morgan-stanley


BuzzFeed. (2015) [Online] Accessible at: http://www.buzzfeed.com Accessed on: 19.05.2015

BuzzFeed YouTube. (2015) [Online] Accessible at: https://www.youtube.com/user/BuzzFeedVideo Accessed on: 19.05.2015

The Bath Chronicle YouTube. (2015) [Online] Accessible at: https://www.youtube.com/user/BuzzFeedVideo Accessed on: 19.05.2015

Steele, A. (2014) Fall Outfit of the Week! [Online] Accessible at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLHIcj_KiXc Accessed on: 19.05.2015

Starbucks. (2015) [Online] Accessible at: https://instagram.com/starbucks/ Accessed on: 19.05.2015

Oreo. (2015) [Online] Accessible at: https://instagram.com/oreo/

Pitch Practice To Clients

Before today, my only practice in pitching in front of a client was the pitch of my initial idea to lecturers. After that initial pitch I was given some feedback that I took on today when creating a presentation on a classmate to develop my pitching skills.

After spending a short amount of time interviewing my classmate, Dan, I had made notes and written about the points I wanted to include which were: name, age, location, awesome facts and future ambitions. My aim was to make the pitch short, snappy and informative.

When creating the presentation, the main piece of advice that I remembered from my previous feedback was that I should minimise the amount of text on the slides and add more visual elements. Each slide had just a few words, with the main attraction being an image.

I presented my pitch to the class and got some positive feedback. The things my classmates and teacher complimented were my confidence in presenting- I was sure about what I wanted to say and din't show nerves. Also, I moved around just the right amount so that I didn't look awkward of fidgety. 

There was however some feedback suggesting some room for improvement. It was suggested that I could use the space in the room more to engage and involve the audience rather than remaining in the small amount of space around me. Another point was that I came across a little too smiley and friendly, for a serious pitch that may come across slightly unprofessional.

For my final Bath Chronicle pitch I will use my time to practice the way I move to engage the audience as well as some more tactics to involve them. When presenting to the Bath Chronicle team I think I will naturally act more professional due to the environment and nature of the topic.

Instagram Account Design

Here are three different profile icon pictures for the Bath Chronicle's Instagram account. Using Photoshop I took my own photo's that I've taken around Bath and I added the Bath News&Media logo and the Bath Chronicle's logo to them, so that the account can be recognised as there's straight away.

If the Bath Chronicle or Bath News&Media logo isn't in the icon then the account won't be recognised as there's straight away, if people just think it's a generic account of someone who posts pictures from around Bath they are less likely to show an interest.

The good thing about Instagram is that you're free to change your icon whenever you wish, meaning that the Bath Chronicle can alternate between different icons for example having a bright icon in the Summer and a more Christmas themed icon in the winter.

During an event in the city, the icon could even be changed to fit the theme of the event. For example, fireworks in the background in the lead up to the university's firework display.

The bio for the account can be anything up to 150 characters so you have to keep it short and sweet. There is only one opportunity on Instagram to share a link to your website or content you want the audience to look at so you should include the link that you feel is the most important whether that be a link to the Bath Chronicles home page or a link that takes you directly to a specific article.

My plan for the link in the bio is to update it everyday in the morning with a new link to a news story of interest on the Bath Chronicle's website. Each day a photo from the article or related to the article will be posted on Instagram with a caption that reads 'To read more about this article, click the link in our bio any time today!' 

The link will be updated again with a new story the same time everyday, with a corresponding picture on Instagram so the followers are kept updated. The date will be written in the caption for each picture so that if someone views the picture a few days later, they will know the article in the bio will have changed, which saves any confusion.

Instagram allows you to post video clips up to 15 seconds long. With a simple, free 'video downloader' app you can download any YouTube video onto your mobile and then select a 15 second clip from it that you would like to share on Instagram.

Adding short, taster video clips onto the Instagram page as well as photographs creates some variety and also gives you a more in depth feel for what is being shown. For example, instead of uploading a picture of a street performer a short video would probably be more effective. 

To get a variety of posts on the Instagram account without someone from the Bath Chronicle having to spend a lot of time going out and capturing pictures, anyone from the town can get involved with providing content. 

If you take a picture that you would like the Bath Chronicle to post on their Instagram page all you have to do is tag @BathGram in your picture to give them permission to share it and of course give you credit!

Online Content

The information posted on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram should all link together so that no one misses a post. We don't want someone who follows the Bath Chronicle on Facebook but doesn't use Twitter to miss out on anything and vice versa. 

Instagram gives you the choice to share anything you post with Facebook and Twitter, this is something that should be done with every post so that people who don't yet know about the Instagram account become aware of it. The option of being able to share posts between different social media platforms means that not as much time has to be spent composing posts for each individual site.

Here are some example tweets that I composed on my mock up Twitter page. To tweet successfully for the attention of a teenage audience as well as for the benefit of your company you should...

• Use capital letters for words that you want the audience to be attracted to the most.

• Be short and snappy as you only have an 140 character limit, this means that all information you choose to include must be crucial. However, if there isn't enough characters to include everything you want, you can REPLY to your own tweet so when it appears on peoples timelines it follows on from whatever tweet you reply to.

• Use popular # trends. This means that lots of people are tweeting about something that is popular. If everyone uses a hashtag # when you click on this hashtag you will be directed to every tweet with this hashtag. This means that even people who do't follow you are able to see your tweets and hopefully follow you!

• Be encouraging. Persuade your followers to get involved with events and using hashtags by emphasising the fact that every single follower counts. Being personal and friendly is welcoming.
• Tweet pictures. If there is a picture that relates to the tweet, then attach it! It makes the tweet more exciting by adding a visual element rather than having a timeline that is full of text.

The layout of the Twitter page is important. The header and icon are great ways to add some vibrant colour that will attract the audience. As well as just looking nice, the header can be used to display information as it's right at the top of the page and it's what the audience will see first.

As the Instagram competition is the current event that I want to be relevant, I simply adjusted the print poster design so that it fit the dimensions of the Twitter header, this will attract the Twitter audience to Instagram.

The header and icon can be changed as often as you wish, so a good idea would be to make them relate to seasons and events such as Christmas, Bonfire Night, Summer, Easter and also specific events that happen in the city such as the Bath Marathon and Bath Carnival.                                                                                                         

The content on Facebook will be very similar to that of the Twitter account so that no body is missing out on information. Stories from the website can be shared as well as smaller snippets of information and pictures.

Facebook has a feature that allows you to create events. When the Bath Chronicle host events they can use this feature to invite people on social media, leaving the invite open or closed- whatever they prefer.

This is a free invite service where you can share details of the event, people can leave there RSVP's as well as posting any questions they may have in the invitation page.

Reflection 07.05.2015

What I did today?

Today I did some further work on the development of the Bath Chronicle's Instagram account as well as some work on their Twitter account and how social media can be used effectively to attract a younger demographic audience by the content and design of each social media platform.

Also I did some work on explaining what my Instagram mood board shows and how it helped me develop my ideas for how to best develop the Bath Chronicle's Instagram account.

What were the main three elements that helped me develop?

• Pre preparing photo content for the Instagram account to help build it up.
• Figuring out how to convert YouTube videos to a format that can be posted on Instagram to help with variety.
• Reflecting on my development so that if I alter any ideas and can look back upon how I reached those decisions.

What did I struggle with today?

As I am not personally a Twitter user, I had to start from scratch when coming to terms with how everything works so that I could effectively present how the Bath Chronicle should be using it.

Was there a ‘what happens if’ in my day?

'What happens if I cannot think of good enough content to build up the Instagram account, therefore not being able to back up my proposal of it being a good idea?'

Were there any eureka moments?

Having the idea to include short video clips on the Instagram account, it adds some variety from just using photographs and as the video clips are only 15 seconds or less and easy to edit on Instagram itself, it's not a difficult task.

How can I improve on today - tonight or tomorrow?
Collect more content for the Instagram account, develop upon my Instagram video idea.

Instagram Mood Board

As research on how to use Instagram effectively in a company and to get some ideas on how I wanted to develop the Bath Chronicle's Instagram account I created a mood board of ideas an concepts.

My research showed that Starbucks are one of the most successful brands that use Instagram. They post arty pictures of there products and the theme of the photo always relates to the season we're in, for example their photos at the moment are vibrant and colourful to reflect Summer. In the Winter they post warming images, it works in a way that provokes your senses to want to buy their products.

I got my idea for an Instagram competition from Starbucks from their 'White Cup Challenge'. To enter the competition you had to decorate your plain, white Starbucks takeaway cup and post a picture of the end product onto Instagram using the hashtag #WhiteCupContest. The contest was VERY successful with over 4000 entrants, I think this is because it was so simple to enter.

https://instagram.com/starbucks/

Oreo are another brand that use Instagram very successfully. What I like about their account is that you can tell each picture they post is part of the Oreo brand, they all follow a similar theme of being simplistic with a lot of use of primary colours.

An interactive aspect of their account is that they regularly use the hashtag #PlaywithOreo where they post pictures of someone doing a simple activity with an Oreo covering their face, they encourage their audience to post similar pictures using the hashtag as similar to Starbucks, they know that it's super easy to do.

https://instagram.com/oreo/

I wanted to see whether any other news companies were using Instagram as a platform for their company, I couldn't find any British newspapers that are using Instagram which means the Bath Chronicle would be one step ahead at reaching out to the younger demographic! 

I did find some American news companies that are using Instagram, such as USA Today where they post photographs of notable things that are going on the USA such as sports games, music events, extreme weather and even cute animals! Most of the topics are fairly soft news which I feel will attract a younger audience.

The Bath Chronicle's Instagram account could be used similarly to the USA Today account but just on a smaller scale, posting photographs of news, events and any interesting topics that are happening in Bath. The topics should be kept light to attract the younger demographic that I want to engage.

Companies such as American Apparel, Calvin Klein and Lancome have created their own hashtag trends so people can discuss and share their brands products all in one place. There are also more generic hashtags that can be used on Instagram such as things like #Summer, the Bath Chronicle should use both custom and trending hashtags so that their account is reaching out to the widest possible audience.

By using trending hashtags, people that aren't following you can stumble across your photos without meaning to, this can help the account to gain new followers and get more likes on their pictures. Without using hashtags it is likely that only original followers will see the posts, leaving the account at a bit of a standstill. 

Aesthetically, it looks good if all of your photo's follow a basic theme. For example, it looks best to stick with just one style whether that be uploading all of your photos as the square shape that Instagram offers or using a border on every picture.

I intend to use the square option for the Bath Chronicle's Instagram account as I feel it looks more constant than different width borders. A key point to remember is to take the photographs using the 'square' mode on your phone or making sure you use a picture with enough background space so that you still include the main feature of the image. It doesn't look well thought out and professional to obviously cut away parts of an image.

Reflection- Week 2

After the results of my questionnaire showed that teenagers are strongly into online content and would hardly ever consume information from a print based product, I decided to do some further research into what teenagers like about online content and what they'd like to see more of. 

I am creating a research method of ideas I will use to collect some more research, the results will give me a clearer idea of the final product I can produce to increase the interest of BNM for teenagers.

Focus groups are good way to collect information as people are more likely to share their true opinions and all of their opinions when they say them out loud rather than right them down.

Some of the points I want to research are:

• What teenagers like/dislike/want to improve about the Bath Chronicle's website.
• Compare aspects of the Bath Chronicle's website with BuzzFeed's website.
• Analysis/discussion about the BuzzFeed YouTube channel and specific videos. 

Reflection 13.04.2015

What I did today?
Today I added some more detail to my four originally bullet pointed ideas about what can be used to make Bath News&Media more appealing to a younger demographic. I blogged each idea in some detail then held a focus group to get some feedback on the pros and cons of my ideas.

What were the main three elements that helped me develop?
Having an insight into other people's ideas and thoughts helped me to develop my ideas further as their ideas helped to provoke thoughts that I hadn't previously considered.
What did I struggle with today?

I struggled to make my ideas suitable so that they will actually work and I won't get lost and confused when choosing one to develop. I'm worried that if my ideas are too bold then my plans will crash.
Was there a ‘what happens if’ in my day?
Yes, what happens if I can't creativity develop my ideas and I get stressed and don't develop a good product.
Were there any eureka moments?
No.
How can I improve on today - tonight or tomorrow?

Use my feedback to aid my research that will help me to decide on my one final idea. The reason for my feedback is to help develop a product that will really meet the demographic I'm aiming to target rather than just doing whatever I decide to do.

Reflection 05.05.2015

What I did today?

This morning we did some peer assessment in class to make sure everyone was on top of their work and that they were showing progress on their brief. I made sure all of the work I've done so far is linked to my brief so that even my small stages of progression are shown.

After this I worked more on my Instagram advertisement design and the design of the Bath Chronicle's social media sites. I adjusted the Instagram ad design so that it would work as a Twitter and Facebook header, this creates continuity between all of the social networking platforms.

What were the main three elements that helped me develop?

• Comments on my brief from my peers which suggested what I should be adding as well as aspects they liked.
• Feedback about the writing on my Instagram ad helped me to experiment with different colours to make the product more legible, resulting in a more effective product.
• Becoming more familiar with the InDesign software meant I could easily adjust and adapt my product by using tools like the pipette and converting my design from a print publication to a web publication.

What did I struggle with today?

Making sure that I am adding everything to the brief so that it makes sense and will all be looked at.

Was there a ‘what happens if’ in my day?

'What happens if I miss something off of my brief and it doesn't get marked, effecting my final grade dramatically?'

Were there any eureka moments?

Making the last minute decision to change the font colour on my poster even though I was content with it before, in fact the change made me like the product more.

How can I improve on today - tonight or tomorrow?
Work more on how the Bath Chronicle can effectively use their social media sites, especially by building up the Instagram account.

Social Media Design

To advertise efficiently, all of the Bath Chronicle's social media sites should link together. To do this, at the time of an event or an occasion the headers on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube should all be the same so that each site is recognised as one company. 

Using my Instagram competition as an example, I designed a print poster that will be displayed around the city, I then adjusted the dimensions and layout so that the poster would work as a Twitter or Facebook header and I also altered and edited a square picture so that the advertising can continue on Instagram.

Adjusting the advertisements for each social media networking site looks more stylish and professional than having one standard adverts and cutting out sections to make it fit each site. Teenagers are more attracted to neat layouts that are easily legible.

Pitching My Idea

This video shows me presenting my pitch idea to my teachers, they give me feedback on what I could've done to improve my pitching skills as well as feedback on my idea.

Luckily my idea was well accepted, there were just a few questions about what the final product was going to be. James suggested some sort of advertisement for the Instagram account I initially proposed, I thought this was a good suggestion. 

James and Steve's feedback and questioning helped me to question myself and look back over everything I intended to produce, their feedback was really helpful as before the pitch I was unsure about making my idea work but sharing the idea helped me to finalise it more and decide what I should do.

In terms of the actual presentation, I felt confident whilst presented and tried to be ask relaxed as possible without reading directly from the screen. However, although James and Steve knew that I wasn't reading from the screen, the fact that there was a lot of text on my presentation could have suggested that I was reading from the screen.

It was suggested that my pitch should contain far less text, just minimal bullet points that I have the knowledge to expand on. I should include a lot more images in my presentation as they are more pleasant to look at than text and they show what the words are describing.

For my final pitch to the Bath Chronicle I want to make sure I use very very minimal text and I should include lots of images and interactive elements such as videos and links to other pages. As well as the computer presentation I will also present my initial idea mood board and my final poster, this attracts attention elsewhere for a while making the presentation less boring.