'As a group of students you are to identify a problem from your individual research and provide an answer to it.
You must resolve this How To... in an interesting and engaging way.'
We then had to identify the 10 most important problems as a group, and pass it along to another group. We eventually recieved another groups most important point, and we had to turn it into a question.
Our question was 'How do I conduct a presentation in front of my new class?'
Mindmaps
We started conducting a mindmap together to establish what we are trying to do
Background/Considerations
Who needs to know? Students
What/why do they need to know? How to feel confident about public speaking as they will be doing a lot of presentations now they are a student
How will you tell them? A leaflet to include all the information, a poster to advertise the leaflets, and a facebook page to gain feedback
How are we going to communicate? Inform and educate
What is the tone of voice? Informal, friendly, chatty
Developing Ideas and Research
Research
I knew I would be able to think of more ideas how to present the work if I researched all the information first, because then I could visualise what I needed to include. These are the sources I used to help with my research. We also conferred as a group to discuss what helps us to overcome public speaking.
http://www.speech-topics-help.com/fear-of-public-speaking-statistics.html
http://www.udel.edu/communication/ocf/tipsheets/public-speaking-stats.html
http://publicspeakingsuccess.net/archives/340
Mock up leaflets
While me and Sarah began to research statistics and advice, Jane, Joe and Jordan thought of ways to present the layout of the information, creating mock ups of leaflets.
They came up with several mock ups, but these two are the ones we considered further. The first one folds out as an A4 piece of paper, but we decided that was too difficult to keep unfolding. The second is a concertina style fold out leaflet, which we thought would work better because it folds out easily into sections and it can be carried in a wallet.
We decided to make it the same width as a credit card, and as long as an A3 sheet of paper to get the maximum space we could, while still folding up slim and not having to fit on an overload of information. This meant the measurements were 53mmx420mm.
Infographic
While researching all the information, I decided that an infographic style would work best to display information in a fun and informal way. It would allow me to add statistics and tips, but also include illustrations to make it easy to read and less daunting to the audience.
When we decided on the concertina layout, I knew it would be the perfect layout to create an infographic on, as it is long and narrow. I researched a few infographics to show the rest of the group what they was, and to look at layout. Here is an example of one of the infographics I looked at.
Creating the leaflet design
We decided as a group to work on the infographic style at home and bring some designs the next day to use together. I started work on the layout, and putting in the statistics and information. I wanted the design to have a clean feel so it was professional and easy to read. Here is what I achieved the first night. I wanted to have it in sections - first an introduction to the fear, then how to prepare, and then the tips on when you are actually presenting. While I was creating it I was on Skype to Sarah and using 'screen share' so she could see what I was doing on my own screen and give me feedback which helped.
When I showed it to the rest of the group the next day they were really positive, and had some things I could add to the design. Sarah had created some character designs and Jordan made some illustrations to use for the tips. As they were happy with the direction I was going, they gave me their designs to put onto the infographic.
We really liked how Jordan's illustrations were blue, so I changed the colour scheme of the infographic from green to blue. As Sarah had put a lot of effort into creating characters that people could relate to, I wanted to make sure that when I put them onto the leaflet they stood out.
I went back to working on the infographic that night with the feedback and illustrations the rest of the group had given me, and this is the final design for the inside of the leaflet. That day we had also worked out that each section would have to be 53mm, so that when the concertina was folded out text or illustration didn't get folded over. This was the hardest part of the design for me, because I had to make sure every section worked within a confined space, so there was a lot of moving around I had to do. To make this easier I put guides on every 53mm on the document so I could keep track.
I was really happy how this came out, and I then needed to do the otherside of the leaflet which would have the front cover and back on it. This bit would be a lot easier now because I already knew the colour scheme, type and illustration I was using.
As I said, I wanted to make sure Sarah's illustrations stood out, so I thought by having one on every section would be good so that people could easily look at them and see which one they were. I also think having more illustration makes the audience more inclined to look at it, because it makes it interesting to look at. The top section is the front cover, and Jordan designed it.
As we have also made a facebook group I generated a QR code for it, which can be seen at the bottom, with a link to the facebook page.
Poster
We then needed a poster to advertise the leaflet, and we all came up with the idea that there should be blank rectangles where the leaflets could be stuck on with a little gel pad and pulled off to read. Jane and Sarah measured the poster to be 225mmx594mm. This meant it could be ideally stuck on the pillars we have in the classroom, as we thought that would be an ideal place to promote to our audience, as that is where students have to go. We thought that it would be easy to see as it's quite big, and we could have them placed all over the college for new students to read. Sarah was in charge of designing the poster, and used the same eye illustration Jordan created, and the same font that I used.
We were all really happy with what Sarah produced, and thought that it worked well with the leaflet.
Feedback
We presented our pitch to another group, and they filled out a feedback form for us to look at.
Comment on how clearly the problem has been identified and understood.
'Understood the problem and identified with it, so thet problem was dealt with well. They knew what they were talking about as it was well researched.'
Comment on how well the problem has been analysed and researched.
'Very well researched, and went through a lot of ideas before getting to the final solution. Could have asked peers questions rahter than just using the internet so the research was more suited to students and us in particular.'
Comment on the proposed solution to the problem.
'Not terribly new and exciting to have just a leaflet and a poster. I'm not sure how you would change this but maybe having a little extra something like a video of motion graphic using the characters would make it stand out more. Also there is only room for four leaflets on the poster so what happens when they are gone? Perhaps having a pocket on the poster with more than one leaflet in.'
Comment on the clarity with which the information was presented.
'Well presented and I understand everything. The project is well put together and I think they have covered all aspects.'
After the feedback we agreed to put a QR code on the poster so when leaflets were gone they could be redirected to the facebook page, and there would also be a supply of leaflets at reception.
I think it was unfair to say it was 'not terribly new and exciting' as it was the most informative way to put across the information, and the design itself was not boring or tedious. I also think to create a motion graphic within a week when none of us know how to create one would also be slightly ambitious...
Facebook Page
Sarah set up a facebook page called 'All Eyes On You' for people to write feedback and their tips on public speaking. I made sure that my friends liked the page and commented on it with their tips so that it appeared successful and looked good on the presentation. We thought that a facebook page would be more ideal than a blog of forum because it's more accessible and a majority of students have facebook.
Presentation
Now we had finished the product, we had to do the presentation. Joe and Jane worked on the presentation together, putting all the information that we had in it. As I had used a downloaded font and had all the illustrations, I then took the presentation after all the information had been put on it and edited the aesthetics so that it fit in with the leaflet and poster.
Evaluation
What role(s) did you take on in the group?
I created a leaflet and researched what I was including in it. I chose the fonts, layout and a did a couple of illustrations. I put Jordan and Sarah's illustrations onto it. I also helped with the presentation and advertised the facebook page.
How well do you think you performed your role(s)?
I think I performed the roles well because the group gave good feedback on the design and I included their input. I made sure the facebook page got lots of comments and I made sure I worked within deadlines and did the work quickly.
How well do you think you worked as a group?
It was good that we all did a bit of work and then brought it together and considered each other's ideas. We were also punctual and more than happy to produce the work.
What were the positives of working in a group?
Getting to talk about work together and sharing the ideas. I liked screensharing at home with Sarah because we could encourage each other and give each other advice. It's nice to get feedback on ideas and designs from others.
What were the negatives of working in a group?
It's hard to give everyone a design job as it has to have one look and feel, and everyone has different styles and ideas of what it would look like. It's hard not knowing each others styles/strengths etc, and a week isn't long enough to find out.
What will you do differently next time?
Try to be less nervous during the presentation.
Where could you have improved your resolution?
More prep on the presentation itself.
What were the strengths of the presentation?
Clean, informative, illustrative and straight to the point.
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