Contacting the MS Society

After reading having a look through the branding guidelines it said that you can't use the logo for the society unless you have asked permission. 

Using the email which was put on the guidelines, I emailed them and asked if I could.

This is the email which I sent to them, however I tried a few times and found that it wouldn't send. Because of this I went on the Society's website and found another email address and used that instead.

This is the response that I got from the Society in relation to using the site.

Joomla: Installing

As a group we went through downloading and installing Joomla on to our Macs.

Notes

- Download Mamp (free version) & Joomla 3.2

* Put a folder on desktop & put Mamp in it (create folder)
* Download Joomla 3.2 & put it in the folder
* Install Mamp
* Open applications & open Mamp, then press launch
* Once it's opened press the start button (start servers)

Have to create a database (like a filing cabinet)

* Click PHP my admin
* Click new on the left side
* Give the database a name, keep it simple

Have a text edit doc open to put in passwords & info then save it in the folder

* Drag a zip file of Joomla in to Mamps & put in a folder
* Rename the file - double click on Joomla, that folder you rename (htdocs)
*Get the link, copy & paste it then open it up in Chrome - delete address up to the numbers & add the database name after (888) local host
* Fill in all the details (think of admin user name, copy & paste to text edit)
* When you done all the configuration, press install 
Database configuration: UN- root P- root   click on orange button

Think of the webs tie as a filing cabinet.
Make categories & sometimes sub categories for 'articles'. They need somewhere to go before you have them. 
Need to think & plan the structure before building the site.
Plan your main categories & then plan your subcategories

Bookmark the page, if the Mamp isn't open than the page won't work. If you add /administrator it will take you to the admin page to log in.

These are some screen shots that I took during the process.

Research: Branding Guidelines

After looking at the branding guidelines for the National Trust, I thought on the off chance I would search in case the MS Society has their own branding and was surprised to find that they did. I downloaded the guidelines from their site.

In the guideline it talks about their logo, colours, icons, imagery and the layout of their posters and documents. It was interesting to look at, and helped me when considering what I was going to do.

Logo

Font

Colours

Icons

These were the key sections that I took out of the branding guidelines.

Ideas: Brainstorm

Writing the brief

As part of the brief for the independent project, it was required to write our own brief. From my initial idea, I decided to stick with making a website for the MS Society. The deadline for handing in the brief was this morning, and this is what I came up with.

Background
"We live in a world where there is more and more information, and less and less meaning." Looking up something which in the long run will have an affect on your whole family can be something that is rather scary. Whether it is you that have been diagnosed or someone close to you that has been, it is important to have an understanding about what Multiple Sclerosis is and how in the long run it can have an affect on your lives. Having somewhere where you can find out the information clearly and easily, as well as finding other people in the same/ similar situation as yourself makes you feel less alone and finding out other people’s stories will help with understanding the situation better.

Proposal
In this project I want to create a website which will provide information in a way that is not so overwhelming. I want the target audience for the website to be young people who are aged from 11-18 who have either been diagnosed themselves or have some close to them who have been diagnosed, as well this age group being the main target audience I want the site to also have the potential to be for older people who want basic information. I want the website to be one which is easy to use and for the experience of using the site to not be a daunting one, especially due to the subject the users will be looking up. With this project, I think the user experience and the target audience will be something that needs to be carefully considered when thinking of suitable designs and the content, which will be put on it. Although I want the site to be informative and provide the right information for users on the page, I don’t want the site to be text heavy and overwhelming so much so that it will put people off from looking and reading it.


As well as writing the brief, it was also a requirement to put together a reading list to go alongside the project. Using Google books I sourced some relevant ones to put together.

(For Dummies (Computer_Tech)) Lisa Sabin-Wilson-WordPress Web Design For Dummies-For Dummies (2013)

Chris O'Connor-Wordpress For All _ How To Create A Website For Business Or Personal Use, Quickly & Easily - Whatever Your Skill Level (2013)

Using WordPress - Tris Hussey (2010)

Using Joomla: Building Powerful and Efficient Web Sites - Ron Severdia, Kenneth Crowder (2009)

Joomla-Guide-Final - Taty Sena (http://www.makeuseof.com/pages/download-the-complete-beginners-guide-to-joomla)

Joomla! Templates (Joomla! Press) - Angie Radtke (2012)

Joomla!: Visual QuickStart Guide - Marni Derr, Tanya Symes – Pearson (2011)

Website Design and Development: 100 Questions to Ask Before Building a Website - George Plumle (2010)

Implementing Responsive Design: Building sites for an anywhere, everywhere web - Tim Kadlec (2012)

Instant Responsive Web Design - Cory Simmons (2013)

Web Site Usability: A Designer's Guide edited by Jared M. Spool (1999)

Designing web usability - Jakob Nielsen – (2000)


The books that I've found are based on website design and usability as well as the programs in which I could make the site on.

Initial Idea

Initially I wasn't to sure as to what I wanted to do for my independent project, all that I did know was that I wanted to create a website.

Whilst thinking in class, my first thought was the MS society, which is a charity for Multiple Sclerosis which my Mum and Auntie both have.

MS Society

|

Forums - Events - Twitter/Facebook Feeds - About MS - Information for people who have it - Useful contacts - Information for carers - Finding your nearest centre

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Forums - 

    |

  Tips - Advice - Different subjects 

                                    |

                       Someone to talk to

Events - 

    |

   Conferences - Fundraising - News - Cake break - Cake recipes - Fundraising packs and info

                              |               |

                        Donating   New drugs - To do with food and diet

Twitter/Facebook Feeds - 

    |

  Live updates, news and information, links to news articles

  

About MS - 

    |

  Include a section about the charity

Information for people who have it - 

    |

Online leaflets - Links 

            |             |

          For further help and information

                             |

                      Motability - Money

                                           |

                                       Support/funding

          

Useful contacts - 

     |

Telephone, email, addresses - People who work within the society

Information for carers - 

   |
Online leaflets - Links - Forums - Organisations
            |             |                               |
 For further help and information       Centres - Other support charities
                             |
                         Money
                             |
                  Support/funding
          

Finding your nearest centre -

     |

 Links with useful contacts 

Maybe have a pin board or gallery type thing in which people can upload images 

     |

  From fundraising, activities 

                |

          Cake break

Maybe links, videos, information for exercises, physio, or for equipment/aids like walking stick, a frame, wheelchairs and scooters

Notes

After being given the brief we had a bit of a discussion on the possible things which we could do, as well as this we had a look at a few examples of previous projects just to give us an idea.

- Website 
- Motion Graphics
- Film
- Illustration

On being given the brief, I knew that initially that I wanted to do a website. I haven't made a made a website since last year, so I thought this would be a good chance to refresh myself on what I already know as well as pushing myself with expanding on what I already know.

Notes
Don't play safe
Be bold!
Ideally don't work/ or do it for a client

Websites: Contact Management System
- Build a template
- Has placeholders
- A link points to a template
- WordPress is a contact management system
- Joomla, another contact management system

Writing the brief (300 words)
- Say what you want to do
- Say why you want to do it
- An overview of the structure
- Include a reading list (books associated with the project)

*Reading list if you are doing a website would include books/reading to do with responsive design, power of social media.

The Quotes

From the list below, I need to choose one.

1. "It is a truism to day that we live in a "remix culture." Today, many of cultural and lifestyle arenas - music, fashion, design, art, web applications, user created media, food - are governed by remixes, fashions, collages or mash-ups. If post-modernism defined 1980s, remix definitely dominates 2000s, and it will probably continue to rule the next decade as well."
Manovich, Lev. What comes after Remix?

2. "We live in a world where there is more and more information, and less and less meaning."
Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation

3. "To practice space is thus to repeat the joyful and silent experience of childhood; it is, in a place, to be other and to move toward the other... Kandinsky dreamed of: 'a great city built according to all the rules of architecture and then suddenly shaken by a force that defies all calculation."
Michel de Certeau, The Practice of Everyday Life

4. "...Fan fiction is a way of the culture repairing the damage done in a system where contemporary myths are owned by corporations instead of owned by the folk."
Henry Jenkins

5. "This is the postmodern desert inhabited by people who are, in effect, consuming themselves in the form of images and abstractions through which their desires, sense of identity, and memories are replicated and then sold back to them as products."
Larry McCaffrey

6. "Do stuff. Be clenched, not curious. Not waiting for inspiration's shove or society's kiss on your forehead. Pay attention. It's all about paying attention. Attention is vitality. It connects you with other. It makes you eager. Stay eager."
Susan Sontag

7. "By the late twentieth century, our time, a mythic time, we are all chimeras, theorised and fabricated hybrids of machine and organism; in short, we are cyborgs."
Donna J. Haraway

8. A project of your choice (you may want to use a different quote as a starting point, or it could be something completely different).

Project Three: Independent Project

The Brief
Students are asked to choose one of the quotes as a starting point or to do an independent project totally of their own choice, and formulate a brief, indicating possible avenues they may wish to explore.

This is registered with the Course Leader and constitutes 'Part One - Proposal' form (300+ words and reading list), which must include a reading list submitted by you.

'Part Two - Project Review' (500 words) is submitted by the students at the end of the module, This review document is self-evaluative in nature and is intended as a tool for you to review the final projects' intentions and conclusions, alongside all research work and the final project execution.

Both forms are included in the assessment criteria for this module.

Key Dates

Friday 7th March - 1pm for proforma/ proposals (email)
Wednesday 26th March - Pitch independent pitch/ ideas/ plans/ storyboards/ research
reading lists - assessed
Wednesday 7th May all day - Deadline and pitch for Independent projects