This is my evaluation for the whole of the AS year. it focuses on what I have learnt and the skills i have improved and progressed on throughout the production of my campaign site.
My media website, which solely focuses on drug addiction and abuse, follows the conventions of websites in many ways but it has some differences because it is targeting a young audience. My website has information about what the charity does and supports to make it clear to anyone browsing, what it is we are campaigning for. I decided to do a charity style website dedicated to helping people with drug addiction and drug abuse. I then did some site research to find typical conventions that other charities use on their websites. As well as conventional websites I also looked at ‘Frank’ because they have a slightly different design to other sites because they are trying to appeal to teenagers. Research into other sites research also ensured that my photographs and video’s fulfilled the conventions of websites because it was important to know what type of images campaign sites use. Mostly they stay away from images of the problem and focus on the difference they are making. I think the photographs I have used of someone smoking cannabis could be replaced with an image of the person as they are now, after being helped by the charity. Website images tend to represent the people they are trying to target. My website audience is for a wide range of people in terms of demographics except for age. My website is aimed more at teenagers and young adults that are being introduced into the world of drugs, therefore I used these types of people in my pictures so it can relate to the audience.
My media website, which solely focuses on drug addiction and abuse, follows the conventions of websites in many ways but it has some differences because it is targeting a young audience. My website has information about what the charity does and supports to make it clear to anyone browsing, what it is we are campaigning for. I decided to do a charity style website dedicated to helping people with drug addiction and drug abuse. I then did some site research to find typical conventions that other charities use on their websites. As well as conventional websites I also looked at ‘Frank’ because they have a slightly different design to other sites because they are trying to appeal to teenagers. Research into other sites research also ensured that my photographs and video’s fulfilled the conventions of websites because it was important to know what type of images campaign sites use. Mostly they stay away from images of the problem and focus on the difference they are making. I think the photographs I have used of someone smoking cannabis could be replaced with an image of the person as they are now, after being helped by the charity. Website images tend to represent the people they are trying to target. My website audience is for a wide range of people in terms of demographics except for age. My website is aimed more at teenagers and young adults that are being introduced into the world of drugs, therefore I used these types of people in my pictures so it can relate to the audience.
My drugs website represents young people and the issue of drug taking. I believe that drugs can affect all social groups and really most age groups but it is important to target young people before they start getting too involved in drug taking. As a result of this I had to choose the videos and images carefully as it would appeal to a wider range of audience. I have done this by using people that were previously or still are addicted to some form of drug. This could be seen as unconventional but I thought it was important for young people to see the affects that drugs have. I also decided to do a survey to see who everyone thinks is the most vulnerable age group to drugs. From my survey the most common age for drug addiction was between 15 and 25 years of age. This is why I chose to use the colours and style that I did. My website also gives the reader a small nsight into the world of drugs by the website having and ‘your Stories’ page. This was done so the audience and readers can look at the stories of other people that could have had similar problems as themselves. The grammar and punctuation that I have used across the website is solely used to relate to my target audience. This is why I have used technical words but is some cases the slang names for drugs. I have included some features that can relate to most of my audience, and features like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have been added as links to navigate to the selected sites. There are also other links on the page that take you to our Facebook and Twitter pages. The layout of my website has been kept simple yet unique and it should be easy for our readers to navigate from page to page.
There are many kinds of media institutions that might distribute my product starting with web servers. The first step I would need to take if I wanted to distribute my site is to register a domain name with a web hosting company. Once my domain name is registered, I can find out how much it would be for the company to host my site. Web hosting costs vary depending on how much content you have on your site. As my site is fairly simple and doesn’t need to do anything complex, it could be available for web visitors for a small monthly cost. These web hosting companies rent space on larger servers. Web servers can distribute my website through either a wired connection or a wireless connection which will then go through to an internet provider. Providers such as SKY and AOL can then distribute my website. Difficulty to distribute a website compared to a radio programme or a film is tough as radio and film are able to advertise in many places which gets to a wide range of audiences. Going back to what I said about the different features my website contains such as Twitter and Facebook, these are very good places to advertise and promote a website. Social networking sites have increased the number of advertisements as they have media products such as mine that are willing to pay social networking sites so they can show off their product to a wider audience.
Using the results of the surveys I sent out and looking back at my website, 24 out of 35 people who our survey said they strongly agree for an organisation such as drugs addiction to have a website. When I did the research for my website, I found that the main social group of drugs addiction is working class. I also found that the main age group for drugs addiction is 18 to 25. I have chosen to aim my website at the age of 15 upwards because there is an increasing amount of younger people getting involved in drugs.
To attract my target audience I have decided to make a colourful yet reassuring homepage that will make the audience feel that this is where the help is. I also have images of the volunteers involved in the website and their stories of how drugs ‘nearly’ ruined their life before the help of DrugRehab. I believe that by using realistic and partial stories I was able to touch out to my audience and therefore they will know more about what we can actually do to help them. Although I have used bright and ‘in your face’ colours, I believe that it will have no affect on how the audience understands my website. Having the name of the charity and the logo at the top of every page is important as it shows consistency on every page, also visitors will be attracted as they know that the website may look professional therefore thinking the same about the actual charity. I used a strip that goes behind every title on the website. This is to emphasise the title and again show consistency in the websites conventions.
I have learned many things about technologies from the process of constructing my website. When constructing my preliminary website I found it difficult at first to get the grips of using the different software such as iweb, Photoshop and final cut express. But when making my preliminary product I started to get to know the basics and started using Photoshop to edit photographs and my logo. After a couple of hours on iweb I started to get to know the software and was able to create a simple looking website which I would look to develop when creating my main website. Using final cut express to edit my video to make it more appealing really allowed me to know how to use it and I hoped to widen my knowledge on it for my main website. With Final Cut we were only introduced to the basic functions and then we developed our skills as we went along by trial and error. IMy creative process for my preliminary website was very basic as I was new to the whole concept of the programmes but I really wanted to broaden my knowledge of them to ensure that my main website was done to my full potential.
Looking back at my preliminary website I was able to learn the programmes needed for my main one. Using Photoshop for my first website allowed me to take one step further for my main website by making a new logo, editing more photos and writing. Using Final Cut Express was hard at first but for my main website wasn’t as difficult as I had used it before. iweb was now a daily programme to me which I was able to take to my advantage by making 4 pages for my main website. I also developed a wider range of creative skills with evidence of much more links such as Face book, you tube and many more. I was also able to add a Google search bar through html whereas my preliminary website had nothing of the type which indicates that that my skills did develop during the creation of both websites. When I compare both my main website with my first one I see that my layout and colours skills considerably develop as I had learnt more and therefore was able to express my knowledge through my website in a more effective way. The way in which I constructed the main website is again different to that of the preliminary one because I had a wider and broader knowledge and therefore I could do things to more effect and it overall looked more professional and stimulating. I have definitely developed my skills and understanding in web design but I know from reflecting on my main site as I’m ready to submit the final draft that I still have a lot to learn when it comes to making my site look real and professional.
