RESEARCH / INVESTIGATION

What am I doing? 

Knowing what to do is obviously essential for the development of a project. We need to create a poster characterised by appropriate content to advertise the school’s X Factor Event. It will need to meet all the requirements that Mrs Daykin and Mr Mariani set for us. The purpose of this unit is being able to create something that will be affective; we need to set ourselves goals to reach and guiding questions to answer. This will help us achieve a good piece of work. I personally think that starting out with guiding questions is the way to go. It’s the best way to clear out ideas and organise everything. With guiding questions you will most likely never lose track of what you’re doing and you’ll always have something to do next, a path is already structured for you. Setting yourself a final goal is also a great way to achieve something better; with a goal, you always have your mind set to a final result, making your process easier. This thing will help me achieve what I want. 
How does this problem relate to me? This problem relates to me a lot as I'm really interested in this event. I find it really interesting and I may also participate in it. I'm quite enthusiastic to create this poster. I love X Factor and would like to be part of a similar event! 
How does this problem relate to society? The X Factor event will affect the school society positively. It will be a way to encourage people in participating in things they might be really good at. It's a way to get to know each other better. We'll be able to see each other's talents and it's just a really entertaining event! 
How does this problem link to Community and Service? Our task is to create a poster for the community to be aware of when and where the event is happening. It's just providing the community a service by creating this advertising poster.  

Why am I doing a poster?

A poster may sound like a really common way of advertising an event or a product, but for the community we are going to do this for, it is great as students, teachers and parents are always walking around school, posters will be visible and will do their job. Posters are also a great way of advertising because you can notice them from far away and you even are able to understand what its about immediately. It's straight forward and communicates information affectively really fast.

How to create a good poster?    

There are a good few factors to take in consideration in order to make the poster an effective marketing tool. A badly designed poster will not catch the eye of the audience and is simply a waste . Effective posters aren't difficult to design if you set yourself goals throughout the creation.

There are a lot of things that make a good poster, the main ones are; good colours, right amount of images and information, reliable and true information and an appropriate size.

It's also really important to consider what the target audience is and what is the product you are trying to promote, to then understand what kind of people are interested in the subject.

Inspiration is always good in order to stimulate creativity and also gather ideas from affective poster that can then by applied to your own poster. Comparing different posters can help you understand what characteristics are used the most and you may also understand why these are used and why they might be affective.

Planning is essential in the creation of a poster as it leads you to your goal without going through lots of difficulties. Thinking about everything is the best thing to do. Go through all the different possibilities of layout, of information, images, titles, colours, fonts etc. By planning you always have a clear idea of what you need to achieve and it will then answer your questions that may appear during the creation.

Revision is also significantly important. Once your first draft is done, print it out and look at it from every different perspective possible. Ask different people, of different ages, with different interests, ask them what they think is good, what they think needs to be improved and how you can improve. Ask them what they think makes a good poster, there might be a chance that they have really good quality information.

Other simple points:

1.  Lettering should be large enough to be read at normal reading distance. 

2.  Thin lines cannot be read as will as thicker lines.

3.  Plain, simple letters are more readable than fancy letters.

4. Capital letters should be used for emphasis or to attract attention. They are harder to read than      lower case letters if there is a lot to be read.

5.  Writing to a minimum by using a key phrase or word is best. 

                                                      

What makes a good poster? What physical and content characteristics does the poster need to include? 

1.   Original product - Something eye-catching that makes the public want to stop and read it (color,         pictures, drawings, unusual shape, etc.)

2.    Simple - Include a very few basic, clear, brief, straight to the point pieces of information.

3.   Colourful - Use colour for emphasis, variety, and to get hold of attention. But make use of colours sparingly. 

4.    Organisation - Make your points easy to read and follow.

5.    Legibility

6.    Educational - Make your poster something to learn from.

7.   Use of Space - The use of space is essential as it holds together the whole poster and influences how the audience look at it. 

8.   Neatness

9.   Accuracy - Spelling and all information should be correct.

10. Action - Tells the viewer to do something and makes him/her want to do it.

I've then done a research on colour readability and what different colours look best on others.

It's really important to consider legibility when selecting colours for your text and background.  Many colour combinations harmonize well.  But they may not read well.  The following combinations are listed in order of readability:

1.  BLACK on medium Yellow.                                

2.  Medium Dark GREEN on White                         

3.  Medium Dark RED on White                           

4.  Medium Dark BLUE on White                           

5.  WHITE on medium Dark Blue                          

6.  BLACK on White

7.  Medium YELLOW on Black

8.  WHITE on medium Dark Red

9.  WHITE on medium Dark Green

10. WHITE on Black

Basically, lighter colors are harder to read.  If colors are used, they should provide enough contrast to 

the background so they are easier to read.  Another idea is to outline or highlight light colors with black. 

What are the requirements? 

The requirements are obviously creating a suitable poster able to make people aware of the event, explaining exactly what is going to happen, where and when. It needs to clearly inform the community. Along to all of this I need to answer guiding questions, I need to document my process using my blog, including all the changes I'm applying to my research, design brief, design specification, test plan, process journal and evaluation. 
In all ICT projects we have to include and adapt our work to the design cycle, all stages from this cycle has a set of marking criteria that we must meat. 
Our plan should list logical steps we followed during our brainstorming.
The investigation is one of the most significant parts of the whole process. We all need to identify the problem and discuss it's relevance and the affect it can have on the community, develop a design brief in which we talk about why we chose to do something in a certain way and set a design specification based on the design brief and then evaluate the information gathered, analysing and selecting wether it's appropriate or not for what we need to do.  
We need to document how we faced the different challenges met during the creation. 
The design specification needs to describe and discuss the conditions, requirements and restrictions that a design must cover, this includes mentioning and discussing; use of materials/softwares, explanation process and methods. 
The creation needs to show appropriate use of softwares, equipment and techniques and needs to go through an explanation and justification of why we did things in a certain way.
The final evaluation should show how we recognise our work, how we can improve things and what we did well in each stage of the design cycle. We should do this by result testing. We also need to say what type of impact each section of the cycle has on life, society and the environment. 

What type of community am I doing this poster for?

Having a mind-set of the audience your doing your work for is very important. For our X Factor Event, students, teachers and parents are taking part; creating a poster suitable for this type of audience is the right thing to do. This community is characterised by a good variety of different people so it is needed to set a plan that will help create a product suitable for everyone. 

What software should I use?

Using the right and appropriate software will make sure the final product will successfully reach the goal. The right software in this case can be Paint.net or Publisher. We can also make use of other programs to further improve our final product like Photoshop and others.
If possible, a quick research on the internet helps to have a view of a few softwares that could be useful in creating a certain type of poster. People suggest softwares like LaTeX, Inkscape, Adobe Illustrator, OpenOffice Draw, In Design including all Word Processor softwares. 

How am I going to structure the poster?

This is honestly up to whoever is creating the poster. As long as the structure is appropriate, fits the requirements and successfully does its job, it's ok to experiment different layouts, dimensions and colours! For the basics it is needed to follow the characteristics that help create an affective poster. 

What are the basic things to include in every event poster?

The basic things to include in all posters are the facts that answer the audience's questions: What is this about? What time, day, month and year is the event going to take place? Where is this going to take place? Another essential thing is the title; it's the fastest way to communicate straight out what the poster is going to be about. And lastly a few images to state and demonstrate what the subject looks like or what its about. 

Where am I going to find the information to include?

In this case all the information that we need to include is given to us by Miss Daykin. We are sure it's reliable as she, herself is organizing the event! For the work on our blog, all the instructions our found at www.g10unit1.blogspot.com which is a blog created by Mr. Mariani specifically for this unit in order to be followed and in order to set instructions. 

Evaluating a poster in class

In class we discussed the good and bad points of a poster that worked as an advert for the Komicon event. These were our observations:

Good Characteristics

• The bright colors made the poster eye catching which is always a good thing 
• The pictures were themed appropriately
• Right colors were included as the writing was showing really well against the the background 

Bad Characteristics

• Most of the writing was non-legible as the font made the text look like a blob, it was really unclear
• To much writing; posters should include only the essential information, not extra that will then overwhelm the sight of the poster
• It was full of things, very confusing

How to improve

• Include less information and text leaving just the essential points
• Find an appropriate and legible font