Unit 24: Part II - Be able to manage own contracts.

This is a quote I submitted for a company called Handy's Heating and Maintenance. I chose this project because I thought it would be quite interesting to do something like this, as I haven't done a business card of this nature, I also thought it would be a quite simple task for me to carry out, and wouldn't be too time consuming. I submitted my quote for $80 at £8 an hour, for 10 hours work.

Unit 39 - Undertake Image Asset Management.

Image Asset Management consists of management tasks and decisions surrounding the ingestion, annotation, cataloguing, storage, retrieval and distribution of digital assets. 

Colour management is used to ensure that when you use an image or create something, that uses a range of colours, that the colours appear the same no matter how you view it, be it on different devices like a computer, or a phone, or if you print it off, and view it on paper.

One good way of storing work in an effective manner is to ensure that you back your work up, have a copy of your work on the computer or device you are using, and another copy on a memory pen or hard drive should something happen to your computer, another way is to, for example if you have created something on Photoshop, you should save it as a PSD file, and also as a JPEG, so that you have the JPEG file to view, and if you want to make any changes to your work you can use the PSD file.

To protect your work from physical damage there are a few things you can do, one of which would be once you have printed off your work, put it in a wallet, and put that in a folder, make sure you store the folder in a place where it won't get knocked over or damaged, you can also have numerous copies of your work, so that if one is to get damaged you still have another copy in which you can use.


When carrying out adjustments or the processing required, you must ensure that the integrity of the image is retained, this means that although you can edit the image, you must ensure that it is kept appropriate, and is still what the client wants. You must also make sure that colour management procedures have been carried out correctly and in like with business requirements, ensuring that the colours you do use are suitable for the business and that they suit the type of business it is designed for. It is important to rate and organise your images appropriately with regards to quality and fitness, this means you need to be aware of your strongest items of work, and of which of those aren't quite as strong, you also need to know which of your work is best suited for what the client wants. You must also use appropriate keywords and captions on your work, so that it makes it easier for you to find your work.


With regards to appending copyright information to images, you must ensure that your work isn't breaking any copyright laws, and that if you want to use something that is work from someone else, for example a photograph, you must make sure that you contact them, and get permission to use their work before you use it.


It is important to record all dates, in relation to the management of assets in line with business requirements, it is important because you should keep a record of what work you have done on each day, and what work you have left to do, to ensure that you are on top of your workload, and know what you have completed and what you have left to complete.

Unit 35 - Undertake Technical Adjustment of Images.

Color Theory is a set of principles used to create harmonious color combinations. Colour modes are colour spaces, for example RGB, which is an additive colour model in which red, green, and blue light are added together in various ways to reproduce a broad array of colours. color management is the controlled conversion between the colour representations of various devices, such as image scanners, digital cameras, monitors, TV screens, film printers, computer printers, offset presses, and corresponding media.

Its very important to have technical compatibility in images with specified requirements as some image formats may or may not be compatible with the software you are using, however JPEG and PNG are common formats for images which can be used and are compatible across a range of software and programs. As well as format, the pixel dimensions and resolutions are also very important for images, it can either make your image look clear and perfect, or it can make your image look pixelated and blurry depending on what file size you would like and the quality of said file. 

Descriptive metadata is about individual instances of application data, it is the information used to search and locate an object such as keywords or the publisher. Structural metadata  on the other hand gives a description of how the components of the object are organised, administrative metadata is a term that refers to the technical information including the file type.

There are numerous different file formats for digital images, with JPEG and PNG being the most common because they work on a wide range of software and support many different colours. However if you are creating something animated, then GIF would be the format to use, though it doesn't support as many colours as what JPEG and PNG support. One example of software would be Adobe Photoshop, the PSD format that is used in Photoshop files, is used by many and is supported to some extent by most competing softwares. A PSD file can also be exported to and from Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Premiere Pro and also After Effects.

Out of personal experiance I would say that Adobe Photoshop is in my experiance the best image editing software. The reason I think this is because, as I previously mentioned the PSD file format that is used on Photoshop is compatable with other software programs, it offers a range of different filter effects that you can use, along side with other tools that allow you to edit your images the way you want them. As well as this Photoshop also allows you to be able to vectorise and rasterise your images, changing the file format of them. Photoshop offers a lot to its users, but another thing I find is very helpful is that it is compatable with all computers or laptops, its not just specific to one brand or type. This is why I think Photoshop is one of the best image editing softwares you can use.

In order to find all the relevent materials you will need there are a number of websites you can do this on, for example the most common one would probably be Google, as you can just type what you are looking for into the search bar, and it comes up with a selection of relivent images etc, another one would be Deviant Art, it works in a similar way, you can search in the searchbar, or you can go to relivant categories to find images, textures, brushes, actions and so much more, it provides you with a lot of materials for your image editing. More often than not all the things you find on Google, or Deviant Art can be imported into Photoshop or other software programs.

If you have an incompatible image the first thing you could do would be to try and export it as a different format. What I mean by this is if for example, you have a PSD file which you try to use on different software and it won't work, you can change this image to a format that will work, such as JPEG, as I have mentioned before JPEG is compatable with a wide range of software.

To produce an appropriate image for a client there are a few things you can do to ensure its success, one example of this would be to do some research, have a look at past work, for example logo's, their website (if they have one), buisness cards etc, and get a feel for what they like. Another thing you can do is to ensure that you have read the breif properly and you know 100% what you are doing, and what the client is expecting from you, and make sure that if you are unsure or you have any questions that you ask said client, to ensure that you produce a piece of work that they and you are happy with, that meets all the standards. You can also perhaps get some feedback off your colleagues, ask them to suggest ways in which you can improve your work, and if they think you are meeting the standards and requirements. Another highly important thing is before you submit your work, make sure you arent breaking any copyright laws.

Ensure that you save your work in the correct formats, for example save it as a PSD file, so that you can edit if at a later date if needs be and a JPEG file if you simply want to view it.

A potential legal issue which could arrise in a situation like this would be copright. Copyright law says that if someone takes another persons work and changes it in any way, you are still taking there work and passing it off as your own, which is a violation of that law and can in some cases lead to you  having to go to court, getting fined or even in a worse case, being prosecuted. Another thing to be careful of is to make sure your image does not offend anyone in anyway, as this can also lead to being fined or prosecuted, a way to avoid this could be to ask colleagues if they see the image you have produced offensive, in anyway.

You have to make sure that certain images are kept confidential because of the Data Protection Act. You have to make sure that your work is not disclosed to any other parties, without the consent of the individual it is about. Unless there is legislation, or a legitimate reason to share the information, it is an offence for other parties to obtain this personal data without authorisation. You also have to ensure that you comply with all business organisation systems and procedures relevant to your work.

Unit 27 - 2D Animation for Interactive Media Products.

The main use of 2D animation in interactive products, for example on a website, is to add some movement to the page, and to stop it from being static, it is also used to draw your attention to it for a split second. 2D animation is often, and most commonly used for banners, for example I made a 2D flash banner for my one page website.

The main techniques used in 2D animation are frames and tweens, a frame is basically a still image which is used in the animation process, and often the more frames you have the more smoothly your animation works, and in order to add animation to these images you need to add a tween between a group of images. To create such a thing people use Adobe Flash.

The requirements of the breif was to produce a 2D animated flash banner in which we could use on our one page website, the purpous of doing this was so that we understood how to go about creating a flash banner and so we had some experiance in this area. The expectations of the users I would think is probably quite high, as technology has changed a lot over the years and we are now able to do a range of different things that we once couldn't do, and because of this the expectations of the people who use this software have also changed, we expect a lot from said programmes, I am a first time user of Adobe Flash so when creating my banner I didn't set my expectations too high, so I opted for a straightforward, simple animation when I created my flash banner. I also made sure that when I had created it that it was with the same style guidelines as my one page website, to ensure that it fitted well with my overall layout, and so that it was an overall success. I saved my animation as a flash file, but you aslo have to export it as a movie, to allow you to use it one your one page website, if for any reason I wanted to make some changes to my banner, I would edit the flash file and then I would export it over the previously saved file. Another thing you have to ensure you do when creating your flash animation is to name your layers, to ensure that you know what is what and this will in turn make the creating process for your flash banner a lot easier. Also make sure you save all of your work with appropriate names and in suitable folders so that everything is stored in one place.

Unit 24 - Manage and Market Own Freelance Services.

This is Design Crowd, where I will find relevent contacts from within the creative industry whilst I am doing my freelance work. I will identify with relivent contacts and maintain these contacts.

This is where I will find my freelance work, I will browse through different projects including logo design, flyers etc, until I find one that I am interested in doing, and I can find out all the relivent information, for example how much they are offering for the winning design, how long the competition is open for and how many designs have been submitted so far. Once I have found one I want to do I can begin the design process.

This is is my Facebook page I have created for my work in order to promote it, and to get it in the public eye, promoting my services and to enhance my profesional reputation, I also have a Twitter account for my work too. I used social networking sites to promote my work because just about everyone uses either Facebook or Twitter and its a great way to promote yourself.

 This is Gumtree, and this is another place in which I can use to find freelance work, as well as Design Crowd.






Normally my weekends consist of me waking up, going to work for two hours on a Saturday morning, and then socialising for the rest of the weekend, if I don't have any other commitments for said weekend. However lets say I was presented with a job and I had till Monday morning to complete it, my routine would have to change in order for me to complete the task in time for the deadline. For example I would wake up at 9 o'clock, go to work for 10 and finish up at 12, I would get home and have some lunch, and then do 3 hours of work, have a break, and then do 3 hours more work, so I have done 6 hours of work that day, then if I am satisfied with the amount of work I have gotten through for that day will I consider doing something social, and then I will take the same routine on the Sunday, minus going to work in the mornings, and if after the 6 hours of work on the Sunday I haven't completed it, I will carry on till I have with appropriate breaks inbetween. I understand that to be successfull I have to prioritise my workload, and if I have work to be done before a certain date, that has to be my priority and I have to come up with a routine which will allow me to complete it.

Unit 07 – Creative Industry Awareness & Unit 09 - Awareness of Health & Safety in the Creative Media Sector.

There are many industries within the Creative Media Sector that make it what it is, here is a list of industries and what they are: Animation – the art of developing motion 3D graphics. This industry is huge in cinema and on television. Computer games – this industry has a large audience and is connected to motion graphics. Film – one of the biggest industries in the world, a major creative influence on people. Interactive media – mainly based on computers and software, it is the driving force behind the internet and technical evolution. Publishing – a great influence on everyone. Magazines, articles, newspapers; all carrying messages, subliminal or not, which pierce a voice through the world. Radio – a great invention. Information is constantly pumped through the speakers. Television – the most powerful and widespread information emitter. Thousands of programs, films and documentaries are shown each day. Fashion & textiles – The fashion industry is related to the magazine industry, almost entwined with it, is a growing force of the ‘image’ of society. Facilities – this is where the magic happens. After you make a film, you have to edit it. After you do a photo-shoot for a fashion magazine, you have to edit the photos. This is where you make animations. This is where you make music and speak on radio. This is where everything creative is made properly. Whether it’s a studio, a room with a microphone, if you have the correct equipment, you can get something creative done and out there.

The days of big businesses being successful because of just one business are gone. Today, big companies are creating more and more sister companies and a subsidiaries. This cross-industry business is a very beneficial way to become successful. Here are a few examples of companies that indulge in the cross-industry ownership world.

BBC:

The BBC used to be television channels, showing news and entertainment across their 2 channels. Now, they have over 10 television channels, a publishing company for magazines and a worldwide television broadcast empire, BBC Worldwide LTD. The BBC are known worldwide and can be recognized in a lot of places. It has become a household name which people trust, know and love.

Virgin:

The name Virgin first started making appearances in the late 70′s when Richard Branson opened a small record shop. It was small-time for a long while, but then blew up worldwide. This company is probably the company that demonstrates cross-industry ownership the best, and the most. There is not a more diverse global, multi-billion empire on the planet. Richard Branson has broken into the following industries with his brand ‘Virgin’. Music,Trains,Broadband (Phone) & TV, Airline,Virgin Galactic, Virgin Money, Virgin Mobile and Virgin Holiday Cruises.

 Most industries within the Creative Media Sector intertwine with other industries to create a more powerful effect on audiences, for example: lets say you have a fairly new company who are looking to be more recognised and popular, they woul do this by first hiring a marketing and advertising company, they will help promote said new company and work with other companies to get the best result. Lets say that the advertising company had suggested that a viral video will help promote their new company, and therefore they will hire a video production company, who will then continue to produce an advertisement for them. Whilst pre-production for the video is taking place, the marketing company may provide a ‘behind-the-scenes’ photographer for the shoot, which introduces a whole new industry to the equation, whilst this is happening the new company or marketing company might suggest to the production company that special graphics within the video are needed to be made.The video production company then contacts a graphic design company and acts accordingly, until there is an array of different companies working together in different industries.

Project Life Cycle - Project cycle management.

Initiation:

In this first stage, the scope of the project is defined along with the approach to be taken to deliver the desired outputs. The project manager is appointed and in turn, he selects the team members based on their skills and experience. The most common tools or methodologies used in the initiation stage are Project Charter, Business Plan, Project Framework (or Overview), Business Case Justification, and Milestones Reviews. 

Planning:

The second phase should include a detailed identification and assignment of each task until the end of the project. It should also include a risk analysis and a definition of a criteria for the successful completion of each deliverable. The governance process is defined, stake holders identified and reporting frequency and channels agreed. The most common tools or methodologies used in the planning stage are Business Plan and Milestones Reviews. 

Execution and Controlling:

The most important issue in this phase is to ensure project activities are properly executed and controlled. During the execution phase, the planned solution is implemented to solve the problem specified in the project's requirements. In product and system development, a design resulting in a specific set of product requirements is created. This convergence is measured by prototypes, testing, and reviews. As the execution phase progresses, groups across the organization become more deeply involved in planning for the final testing, production, and support. The most common tools or methodologies used in the execution phase are an update of Risk Analysis and Score Cards, in addition to Business Plan and Milestones Reviews

Closure:

In this last stage, the project manager must ensure that the project is brought to its proper completion. The closure phase is characterized by a written formal project review report containing the following components: a formal acceptance of the final product by the client, Weighted Critical Measurements (matching the initial requirements specified by the client with the final delivered product), rewarding the team, a list of lessons learned, releasing project resources, and a formal project closure notification to higher management. No special tool or methodology is needed during the closure phase.  

The type of teams that are relevant to this type of porject are; Creators - plant and resource investigator. Leaders - co-ordinator and shape. Implementer - team builder and team implemente. Completers - monitor evaluator and completer finisher

Aims of a Creative Media organisation; Reputational, most companies want to ensure they have a good reputation among the general public. This is both an aim and an objective. Reputational aims and objectives also include advertising and publicizing the company, especially new or smaller businesses. Advertising, advertising is a more exact way of demonstrating a business's reputation to its target audiences. An aim might be to get the company name spread to a certain age bracket that the company hasn't targeted before. Profit, the ultimate goal for most businesses is profit. Without financial gain, a company cannot stay in business. Future, future aims and objectives are similar in purpose to a one-year or five-year plan. Company officials will discuss the long-range aims and objectives they want for the business, and what direction they see the business heading. They will determine aims for each of the other types of general aims, such as advertising and profit, and will draft out a rough plan to achieve them. These future aims will then be analyzed and steps outlined to meet objectives.

One of the roles within the organisation is the shaper, the shaper’s strength lies in being goal directed. The shaper is a dynamic individual who boldly challenges others during discussions, can handle work pressures and has the courage to overcome obstacles.

Unit 06 - Ensure Your Own Actions Reduce Risks to Health & Safety.

In my workplace there isn't particularly a lot of hazards or risks that I could encounter, the main ones would be related to the computers we use and our working stations, for example because we are working around other people and around computers there are a few things we must do to ensure our saftey and the saftey of other people, for example, we must make sure that our belongings are put under our desks, so that someone isn't going to trip over them and cause themselves any harm. Another example of this is that if we have a drink it must either be in a bottle or have some form of lid, so that if it is knocked over, it won't spill and go onto the computers and possibly break them. We also have to make sure that all the wires are tucked away to ensure that someone wont trip over them. All of these hazards and risks have to be accounted for to ensure that all of our saftey isn't risked, and to make sure that we take proper care of the technology we use. These are all rules that I follow when I'm at work to ensure my health and saftey, but there are other things I must do involving my behaviour and presentation, I must make sure that when I come to work that I remember that I'm at work, and not a social event, and that I need to do the work that is required of me, and that I don't distract other people from doing their work. I have to present myself in a profesional manner, in both the way I look and the way I behave, I do this by working properly, and getting on with my tasks without any arguing, the way you would expect anyone to behave in a working environment, I also have to ensure that I dress to a certain standard, although we are not required to be in shirt and tie style dress, we have to make sure we look presentable at all times, and profesional, so that if someone important was to come into our workplace that we look appropriate.

If there is a risk that isn't something you can directly handle you must tell someone who can deal with it, if something is going on that is out of your control you must inform a supperior, or your boss so that they can deal with it appropriately and effectively.

I dont think there are any unsafe work practices that we carryout within our workplace.

In order to make sure you work safely in accordance to your own level of competence, with relevant instructions and legal requirements,and  following environmentally friendly practices, is to make sure that you always think how your actions can effect yours and other peoples saftey within your working environment, and make sure you dont do anything that will jepordise this, you also need to follow instructions given to you and make sure you follow them properly to ensure that you do them in the safest manner possible.

In my place of work, it is very much like an office, and the things that you should look out for are; trailing wires, obstructed fire extinguishers, overloaded sockets, glare from visual display units, top heavy shelving, overcrowding, inadequate ventilation, swinging doors with no viewing panels, inadequate facilities for the disabled, trip hazards, badly wired plugs, inadequate lighting, filing cabinets left open, smoking near flammable materials, no first aid box, no safety documentation or information, incorrect ambient temperature and inadequate ventilation where appropriate, e.g. near a photocopier. If all of these are accounted for and dealt with properly it makes for a much safer working environment.