Communicating using Digital Marketing/Sales Channels

 Understand how to plan the use of digital media for a specific message, audience and recipients

1.1 – Explain the selection of the organisation’s targeted customers

Gray Dawes is aimed at businessmen and businesswomen, who often seem to be in their 30s or above from what I’ve seen (though they can be younger). The service we provide is corporate travel, meaning there’s a chance clients can sometimes be fairly sophisticated  and interested in spending a decent amount on plush travel services – though this of course doesn’t apply to everyone. We also target a range of companies, ranging from very small ones to multi-million ones.

1.2 – Describe expected target audiences responses to different electronic media communication methods

We generally communicate to clients via emails or directly through the phone. Since we’re dealing with business travellers, these methods work very well from what I know – mainly due to them often carrying a phone, checking emails, working at a desk, etc. Clients seem to respond well to phone calls, due to our service being tailored to suit every client’s needs. They seem to enjoy having friendly people to chat to and organise their travel with, however they also seem to respond to emails well too. I think the online team also use video calls at times, to help clients with any issues when booking their own travel online. Again, this seems to work well, due to it being a quick way for the client to have issues resolved. We do have social media too, however clients don’t seem to use this as a method of communication.
I don’t personally deal with clients directly, my work is almost all internal – I’m discussing my observations over the year I’ve been working here.

1.3 – Describe the characteristics, advantages and disadvantages of different software packages for presenting marketing information

In terms of marketing, we tend to do most of it through emails, sent out from the CRM. This is a tool that most of us can access, and create our own marketing with target lists, test lists, etc. The advantages of the CRM is that it’s quite self-explanatory when building a campaign design, with familiar features such as font choice, colours, etc. The other advantage is how we can have many different lists for various purposes, so it can be kept quite organised. There are, however, quite a few disadvantages with the system. It’s very clunky, and designing a campaign in it is, to be honest, a nightmare. To give it structure, you have to put in a grid, which is incredibly difficult to keep organised. Fonts and text size change accidentally, the layout changes every time you move something, and it’s impossible to create a sleek, well-designed layout. Due to this, we have sent a number of campaigns where it’s a simple image, all designed within Photoshop or something – this of course means there can’t be hyperlinks etc, however depending on the campaign, we sometimes have to choose style over the CRM’s limited features. It’s not ideal, so I believe we’re currently trying to think of a method around it. Once an email has been built however, it tends to work really well, and functions.
We also make use of social media, including Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. They each have their positives and drawbacks, listed below

Facebook: Great for sharing a variety of content, it’s an easy-to-use platform that people of all ages and professions use. It’s pretty social too, so we tend to post varied things, including more professional posts (like press releases), and more laid-back content like illustrations of Grayson, or playing upon popular topics at the time. You can even view statistics for your page, which actually go quite in-depth about both your content and your audience. The negative, though, is that pages don’t actually reach that far, and you’d have to invest money for many people to see your page’s content.

Twitter: Fantastic for short statements or sharing links, we tend to post travel alerts (as text if they’re short, as an image if they require more information), as well as a few news stories, or anything related to corporate travel. We also sometimes post images of Grayson, to keep the account somewhat colourful and lively. You can also reach a huge number of people through it, due to retweets! However, the problem is that you have a character limit of 140, so you have to learn to condense information down. You can’t always communicate in the way you’d like via Twitter (and it’s a bad idea to revert to text speak, you need to remain professional), so you have to be careful and select what you think will work within 140 characters. You also cannot view statistics with Twitter, you have to use other websites such as Twitter Analytics.

Google+: Similarly to Twitter, content can be shared and seen by others pretty easily, and you have the option to join groups and share content with like-minded people. However, the drawbacks are that it’s not actually used by a huge number of people anymore, and to my mind, you’re quite limited in terms of engagement. It’s rare we get any activity at all via Google+, so we tend to simply share similar content to Facebook. You have very limited statistics, too.

LinkedIn: A great professional network perfect for our business, aimed at people who want to talk to other business-minded people. You can have a personal profile (complete with a portfolio, work information etc) and a business page. The business page section even shows you statistics, which is very handy for keeping track of what posts do well. The drawbacks however is that it’s a fairly clunky site to use, it doesn’t feel sleek or fast like Facebook or Twitter. Overall though, there aren’t many negative points, and it’s a great website for a professional business to use.

Pinterest: Quite an unusual site, it allows you to share imagery and caption them. We have a few boards on it, including one filled with Grayson images. It’s a fun, quirky website to use, and it’s nice to have a purely visual website that doesn’t show much text like other social media. However, it’s actually hard to get your content seen unless you follow trends, and it’s not too easy to actively engage with others.

1.4 – Explain the requirements of using multiple digital marketing technologies

Marketing is moving to be digitally-based. If you think about how many adverts you get browsing social media, through email, or just browsing the internet, it’s all based online. Therefore, as a company, it’s vital to cover as many areas as possible to reach a wider audience. The digital world is massive, so to try and capture some of it, you have to invest time and money to get yourself seen! Whether it’s promoting your page on social media, sending out campaigns through email every month, or buying advertising space on other websites, you need to be prepared to cover a number of different areas. Each different type will reach a different audience, which is another reason as to why you need to cover a variety of areas.

2 – Be able to plan the use of digital media for a specific message, audience and recipients

2.1 – Confirm the sales and marketing objectives for the digital communication, including response rates and sales generated return on investment

For this section, I will pick out an email campaign we sent out via the CRM, regarding the Security & Policing event.

Basically, Gray Dawes purchased a company called Events in Focus, who sell nearby hotel rooms to people/companies that attend events. We often help them with their email marketing, putting together the layout (and sometimes target lists etc) in the CRM.

The objective of this particular campaign was to contact people who may be interested (or previously expressed an interest) in the Security & Policing event, and advertise the rooms that Events in Focus have for sale. Therefore, it was vital that the layout was clearly showing off the hotels, with an easy and simple method to book them. The links therefore needed to be clear, and overall it needed to be a campaign that made a good impression. As for sales, it really varies from event to event – not to mention, we’ve heard Events in Focus believe there’s an issue with the statistics. From what I’ve heard around the office, it sound like a 1/100 booking confirmation is the standard aim for something like this. It doesn’t cost anything to put together the campaigns, however it does cost Events in Focus to purchase the rooms, to then sell them on at a higher rate. Therefore, I assume they needed to book up at least a couple of the hotels advertised, to at the very least, make their money back.

2.2 – Identify the criteria to be used in selecting the recipients in accordance with the plan

With any campaign EIF send out, they send it out to people have expressed an interest in the event, or a similar event.

For example, if a person attended Security & Policing 2015, they’d be added to the target list for that event, and information about any future S&P events would be sent to them – including this one I’m discussing. Or, if someone attended an event with a similar criteria/subject, it may be sent to them too.

2.3 – Source and acquire targeted lists and databases of recipients in accordance with the plan

The contacts are first added to the CRM by EIF employees, who fill out their details, and add them to relevant target lists. The target lists then sit within the CRM, and once we’ve completed an email template/campaign, we can select the relevant target lists with ease.

2.4 – Confirm the range of electronic media best suited to communicating to the target audience in line with the sales and marketing objectives

The campaigns always follow the same format – an email listing the event name, hotels available, and additional information, all hyperlinked to relevant pages. The people we’re targeting will more than likely be professional workers, who work with emails fairly often, meaning this method is probably the best and most likely to be seen. It also caters to any age, whether they’re younger or older. Everyone who works in an office (or indeed, most people who work) have access to some form of email, therefore this seems like the best method to cover a decent amount of ground. It can also be tracked easily, allowing us to see the results of the campaign, including the successful parts and failures. Myself and Danielle did once carry out a campaign that included a physical postcard being sent out to old clients (to tempt them back to Gray Dawes), which was a great campaign! It does of course, cost a lot more time and money, and isn’t something we can do for the Events in Focus campaigns (because they’re constant).

2.5 – Agree with relevant people the marketing communications message designed to engage the customer and which is appropriate for the media selected

With these campaigns designed to sell rooms, we tend to keep them very simple, and get across roughly the same message each time –  “You may be interested in this event, and we’re here to provide some cheap rooms to help you attend.” We don’t want the email to mess about or put them off, we want a simple and clear message that is what it is. I don’t believe we’ve ever needed to really discuss this subject too much, because it’s quite a simple and clear campaign.
In contrast, for the campaign I mentioned above where Danielle and I sent out postcards, we did discuss the message. We wanted it to be a lighthearted play on words, that would come across in a good light to old customers. We wanted to get across the quirky side of Gray Dawes, and also appeal to the likely age range. We agreed on this, and created a campaign based on ‘Don’t You Want Me’ by Human League, re-writing the lyrics and title, and having a Grayson-based version of the album cover. This was actually a really great campaign, and was one of our most creative! I’d love to carry out more campaigns like this in the future when the opportunity arises!

3 – Be able to check the digital message can be accessed and/or delivered

3.1 – Check any links, keywords, and supporting attachments allow access by recipients to further information

The campaign advertises rooms we have available in a range of hotels – therefore, it needs to be very clear on how to actually book them. We have a message near the time that says ‘Click Here to Book Online’.

This is then hyperlinked to a booking page set up by EIF, which is very clear and easy for the client to use/navigate.

Once you fill that out, you get taken to a page listing all the necessary information (event location/map, the hotels, etc) where you can fill out more details. The hotels listed here are the same as on the campaign, meaning people can first take a look at the campaign to get an initial impression, then go to the booking link and choose their desired hotel.

It’s vital that the links all work correctly, so this is something we always double check. We don’t normally have attachments, but if we do that’s another thing we check works. To be certain the entire campaign functions correctly, we actually send a number of tests to a test list, which is usually made up of myself, Danielle, and the relevant people from Events in Focus. That way, we can each not only check the email looks correct, but check that imagery, links, and attachments all function as they’re meant to.
Each of the hotels listed on the campaign themselves also link to the booking page, because a client may not consider going back up to the top and clicking on the main booking link. It’s important to have enough links that they can clearly see how to make a purchase, but also be careful that it doesn’t appear to be spam.

3.2 – Identify any risks that the message might be labelled as ‘spam’ and take action to minimise such risks

This is actually an issue we discussed very recently. A woman from Events in Focus was discussing a past campaign with us, noting that it didn’t work at all, and had little to no communication from potential clients – which is of course, very unusual. The head of IT at Gray Dawes said that it might be an issue with the email being marked as spam or blocked. To resolve this, it’s probably best to read up on what stops emails being delivered, and try to work around it.

As for what marks email (particularly marketing campaigns) as spam, there are a variety of reasons which can relate to the technical aspects of the email, or simply some keywords included. Basically, if there’s something in the email similar to how spam emails are constructed, it’s in danger of being treated as such. This article lists numerous issues and how to avoid them, and below is a screenshot of some of the points.

3.3 – Enable click-through tracking in digital messages in accordance with the plan

I believe within the CRM, once an email has been sent out we can check a variety of statistics. This includes how many opened the email, how many weren’t delivered, and how many clicked on links. It’s certainly something we need to make more use of, and plan to in the future. In the past it has been greatly useful try and figure out what parts of a campaign have been successful, and if anything stopped it from being delivered. Of course, it also gives you an indication whether that person uses that email account any more (for example, if they didn’t receive or open any campaigns you sent), and also allows them to unsubscribe.

3.4 – Send messages to the targeted customers in accordance with the plan

Generally, my job is to build the design and layout of the campaign, whilst Danielle or others actually send them out to the targets. However, I can see how they do it – basically, once you have target lists set up with people, it’s a simple case of assigning the relevant ones to a campaign. For this Security & Policing campaign, I can see the target list at the moment is ‘Aimee Test list’ (an employee at EIF), and that she’s the only target within that list. If I wanted to add a list, all I’d have to do is go to the little drop down arrow, and click ‘Select’. This brings up all of our available target lists, which can then be added to the campaign.

3.5 –  Set up reporting system for ‘undeliverables’ in accordance with organisational procedures

We don’t really have a ‘system’ to my knowledge. We simply monitor the results of a campaign, noting where it failed to be delivered, and working to resolve this. For example, as noted earlier, we had a campaign that didn’t seem to get any responses at all, causing us to believe it’s an issue with it potentially being blocked. We find it easiest to simply monitor the results of a campaign ourselves, so we can look into the details and make any corrections.

4 – Be able to monitor and evaluate the response to digital activity and take any corrective action

4.1 – Record undelivered messages in accordance with reporting system

Please see 3.5.
Aside from campaigns, in regards to social media we tend to check the statistics etc, seeing what posts were well received. This allows us to use this information to our advantage, and try to make our content more engaging. For example, we know from engagement that travel alerts work well on Twitter, whereas posts advertising our services don’t tend to get any engagement. On Facebook, news posts or cheerful/lighthearted content seem to work best, whereas travel alerts don’t seem to gain much attraction.
If we ever have to send a message via social media and it doesn’t work, I’d record it down and ensure we find some method of getting in contact with that person.
We get emails through the website that appear in mine and Danielle’s email inbox – it’s therefore our duty to actually forward them to the relevant people in the office, and ensure they’ve been correctly delivered.

4.2 – Identify repeat communications requirements in line with the sales and marketing objectives

Of course, when you’re trying to make a sale, you have to make it obvious to the customer/client where they can click to purchase the service. However, there’s of course a big chance they may not be interested, so you have to avoid spamming them and give them the option to stop seeing your content. We all hate cold calls, and people feel the same way about emails – therefore, it’s vital to consider your audience and be straight with them and try to sell, but also give them an alternative if they don’t want to see your content. This is precisely why we have a number of booking links within an EIF campaign, as well as a method of unsubscribing.

4.3 – Monitor and evaluate the responses to digital marketing against agreed criteria

I remember some time ago, when I first created Grayson, we couldn’t figure out a name for him. So, we had in mind that we wanted to get at least 5 potential names via a social media competition, suggested by fans! We took to Facebook and posted an image of the (at the time, unnamed) character Grayson, asking for suggestions. We actually got quite a few responses, more so than we expected! This made us realise that Facebook is a great place to try and get people involved, especially when a prize is involved! I can’t seem to find the original post, but here’s the second post about it we made:

4.4 – Report the findings of the evaluation in accordance with organisational procedures

Each week I send an email to Danielle, accounting what I’ve been up to in the workplace. Whilst we don’t do it at the moment due to social media being a little unclear currently, but I also used to report on what social media activity we’d had that week, including popular posts, likes/unlikes, etc. I remember reporting this post to Danielle, explaining how the format of it worked very well, and that when possible, competitions are a great way to get people engaged with posts. Asking for suggestions for something is also a good way to get people engaged, because they feel as if they’re really contributing towards something, and feel it’s worth being creative and offering an opinion.
UPDATE: I have now been asked to resume giving social media updates, meaning I will need to begin analysing posts like this in more detailing, noting why I believe it worked, why it didn’t work, how we can replicate this in the future, etc.

Create 2D Animations for Interactive Media Products

1 – Understand key issues relating to creating animations for interactive media products

1.1 – Explain the use of computer animation in interactive products

Animations are there, mainly, to bring life to an otherwise static feature. They make the user feel as if they’re really interacting with something, as opposed to simply clicking on a button or looking at an image. Whether it’s having a button simply change colour when rolled over, or having a fully-animated GIF that activates under certain conditions, the use of animation is very common now in interactive products. They’re not always there for convenience of use – normally, more for aesthetic purposes, to grab the attention of a user and make them feel a little more invested in the product. They may at time be there to help make an experience more convenient, but it’s hard to think of many examples. Most of the time, they’re there to make a user feel as if they’re really interacting with something, and hold their attention a little longer.

1.2 – Explain the key techniques used in computer animation

There are many different methods to create an animation, which give the end result different styles. However, they all tend to work in the same way – the subject moves a certain amount within a certain amount of time. Whether it’s a frame animation or 3D animation, this method still carries across.

Frame animation is a very common method, because it’s very simple and is easy to grasp. This is the concept of having separate images interchanging, to give the illusion of movement – exactly the same as a flip book. This technique can be carried out with ease on programs such as Photoshop, due to its Timeline feature, and Adobe Flash. It’s a method often used for GIFs and short animations, or very simple animations that don’t need to be perfectly fluid. Frame animations work in the same way as hand-drawn animations, commonly seen in cartoons. When you draw an animation by hand, you draw each frame of it with the character/object moving slightly in each, which are then strung together to give the illusion of movement, with an often very smooth, fluid result if done correctly. Basically, it works in the same way as a frame-animation, only more care is generally put into it, with a higher number of frames, and a higher attention to detail.
There are also 3D animations, where a 3D model is moved little by little between frames – again, the same concept as the previous two methods. However, it’s generally very fluid since the parts between the specific frames are automatically filled in, resulting in (when done well) a very smooth animation.

2 – Understand key contextual information relating to creating 2D animations for interactive media products

2.1 – Identify the requirements of the specification/brief

I have been asked to create an animated banner for our new website launch (on WordPress). The timeframe isn’t specific, due to running into a few walls with the website. This brief was given to me after we chose to use WordPress, so we at least know the rough layout of the website. I have been given the sizing, and have been requested to make it a stylised illustration of the London skyline. Initially, we discussed having numerous banners for different pages showing different countries, but we soon realise this could possibly create confusion for the user, due to a lack of inconsistency. We will likely stick with the blue colours to match Gray Dawes’ image, and I must ensure that the final design is clean and tidy, similarly to our design of Grayson. The overall design will look quite flat and blocky, whilst also mature and fitting for a corporate company.

2.2 – Identify the purpose of the product

The banner will be used to pique the interest of users who visit our new website. It should draw them in and make them interested in what we have to say, but without drawing their eyes too far from the content on the pages. Essentially, we want it to catch their attention, thereby engaging them and giving them the opportunity to read more. When it comes to graphics you pretty much have a split second to engage someone with design, and that’s what we hope to do with this banner. We hope it’ll make them stay on the website that second longer, giving us a higher chance of them reading our content. We also want the website to convey the professional yet quirky image of Gray Dawes, through the use of subtle animation and bold colours.

2.3 – Identify the expectations and requirements of target users for the product

People who view the banner on the website will expect to see something professional, related to both travel and the UK, as well as aesthetically sleek and corporate. They may also, however, expect to see something with a bit of an unusual feature, due to Gray Dawes’ pride in being a very friendly corporate company. We’re pretty much rebranding Gray Dawes’ online appearance across the website, social media and other platforms, so the banner must convey the right image of Gray Dawes to users. This is something quite important that I’m taking on, seeing as this banner will contribute to the rebrand of their online appearance – we want to keep the same corporate image, but just give it a fresh new appearance. People visiting the website will have the requirements of an easy-to-use and stress-free experience, so the banner needs to ensure it doesn’t compromise the overall layout, or make the website hard to navigate. It should be bold and make a statement, yet not distract someone too much that they find the website hard to navigate. Gray Dawes is a well-established company with a professional history, so users of the site will be expecting to see an appearance that fits with Gray Dawes’ reputation.

2.4 – Identify the events or user interactions that will trigger the animations created

The animation will actually just be a GIF that activates the moment you open the website, so that’s all the interaction it needs. We want them to land on the website and instantly feel intrigued to look for more, and we feel that an animated banner will do that. Even if they don’t navigate to other pages, a moving banner is certain to hold their attention for longer than a static banner. It’ll give them a sense of interaction, and tell them we care about our online appearance. We don’t want the user to have to go out of their way to trigger an animation, since we don’t feel that there is much point. Our animation is simply there to hold their attention for a moment longer, so we don’t want to have to ask them to take part in any form of interaction with it. The banner should hopefully consistently move across all the pages without restarting each time, which should make the website feel a little more immersive and cleaner.

2.5 – Identify how animation will be used in the product

Within the banner, we’re planning to have a stylised London skyline, featuring famous buildings and landmarks. Amongst that, we hope to have an animated taxi driving between a couple of buildings, and we also want the London Eye to spin around slowly. The CEO has also requested that we have a plane fly across the banner somewhere, to link it back to travel. These few animated elements, whilst somewhat subtle, should definitely give the banner some life! We don’t want the banner to be incredibly distracting or take away from the content of the pages – we instead want the animation to be easy to spot, whilst still remaining subtle, simply to give the pages some movement and life. The banner itself will sit along the top of the website, beneath the logo and navigation bar. As stated earlier, we hope the animation will draw people in for that second longer, giving us a greater chance of them reading some pages on our website.

3 – Be able to create 2D animations for use as part of an interactive media product

3.1 – Design animations within specified style guidelines and within specified parameters and constrains relating to the target platform

On the website, the banner needs to be a certain dimension (1400px x 450px) so that it fits properly, so this was something I had to consider. I also had to ensure that the file size wasn’t too massive, because that could make it difficult loading it onto WordPress, and slow the website down. I also had to ensure the design was appealing to fellow colleagues, so I often stopped and checked the progress with more senior members, and also asking the CEO if there were any changes she wanted made. (progress screenshots can be found in Unit 42)

3.2 – Create animations that meet the specification/brief

I created all of the elements on Adobe Illustrator, making good use of the pen and shape tools. I drew out the London skyline, which we looked at in a few different colours. We decided on a specific colour scheme, which I then added more to. The CEO requested we add some small details like lamp posts, a post box and a phone box, which were also created in Illustrator. I used reference images from the internet to create accurate illustrations, which helped me with the overall structure of the banner. Then, using Photoshop, I put together the overall animation, using separate frames to make them move. The parts that needed to move were drawn as separate in Illustrator to the main skyline, and were on different layers. For example, for the London Eye, we had 11 different illustrations of it with the wheel at a different angle, which were then added to Photoshop as 11 separate layers, which interchanged with each frame. For items like the taxi, I simply had it on one separate layer, and changed the position of it with each frame – the same technique as stop-motion animation.

Overall, the banner certainly meets the brief. It sits well on the website, works properly, and clearly communicates Gray Dawes’ online persona/appearance. We have made use of this banner (minus the taxi, post box etc) on many other documents, including newsletters, information documents, social media and more. This is because the banner just works so well as a header or footer, and we’re using it to keep our identity consistent. You can see the banner below! (progress screenshots can be found in Unit 42)

Below is a screenshot of it on the website.

4 – Be able to liaise with relevant parties

4.1 – Provide clear instructions as required for other parties to incorporate animations into the product

Luckily, the method of incorporating the animation was very simple. All we needed to do was add it to the Media files for our website, then select ‘customise’. We were then able to select the banner, choose our banner design, and then save the changes. We did initially run into a small issue, where we added the banner to the website but it wasn’t moving. The IT guys then realised that when adding a photo, it asks that you crop it. Doing this seems to turn a GIF into a JPEG, thereby negating all of the animation. We tried again, skipping the cropping, and the banner functioned perfectly. Ever since we initially uploaded the banner, of course, there have been very minor tweaks to the original file (like adding a logo to a building, for example), which of course has resulted in the banner being changed a couple of times. But because of the incredibly simple process needed to upload it to the website, I have always been able to do this myself. We have never changed the design of the banner – just tiny tweaks that perhaps a colleague spotted or wanted made.
We have, however, designed alternate versions for different times of the year! You can see them below:

Halloween 2015:

Christmas 2015:

4.2 – Liaise with relevant parties to ensure own animations are appropriate and meet requirements

Since David was the person who initially came up with the idea, I always checked with him whether the animation suited Gray Dawes and the website. He has a good idea of what Gray Dawes’ appearance should be, but also likes to keep things unusual and specific to us. Therefore he was a great person to get feedback from, and it always helped push the design and animation further. I would also check with the CEO, since she had a few details she wanted added/changed every now and then. Naturally, she would have the final say as to whether it suited the new website, so I would always make sure to check each stage of the design with her. Danielle, who is the leader of our group, was a great person to ask to have a quick look over the animation, since she might spot something that I didn’t. I’d always ask for her input and ideas to move the design forwards!

5 – Be able to store 2D animations for use as part of an interactive media product

5.1 – Save animations in appropriate formats to facilitate incorporation into the product

To have the banner repeat itself and activate upon landing on the website, the most obvious format choice was GIF. This offers a lot of freedom due to being a frame animation, being a small file size, and the option to have it loop when designing it. Whilst it doesn’t provide an animation as smooth as other formats, it works well to give the illusion of movement, and we knew it’d repeat itself with no issues. It was also compatible with WordPress, which was another reason for the format choice. Essentially, it boiled down to GIF being the easiest format for us to use, because it just didn’t present any major issues.

5.2 – Organise animations using appropriate filing and naming conventions to facilitate access by others

In the P:Drive, which is accessible to all employees, myself and Danielle have a folder called ‘Communication and Media Team’. Most people know to head to this folder if there’s something by us that they need to get a hold of.
Within that, there’s a folder called ‘Animations’, which is pretty self-explanitory. Then, there are two folders, ‘Tests’ and ‘Website Banner’, which again are pretty easy to understand. Clicking onto the ‘Website Banner’ folder brings up the banner GIF, which can then be used.
I always name folders and files with very obvious names, so that it’s easy to keep track of them and find them through the search feature if things go wrong. I also like to have everything separated into its own folder – there is only one file within the ‘Website Banner’ folder, but I feel it just keeps everything tidy and organised, rather than simply having the banner GIF in the ‘Animations’ folder.

Obtain Assets for Use in Interactive Media Products

1 – Understand contextual information relating to a range of assets in different media formats for use in interactive media products

1.1 – Establish the parameters of the project, identifying key constraints according to platform and distribution methods

For this unit, I will be discussing our redesigned website at Gray Dawes. When putting together our website, we had to consider how each of the assets would change depending on the platform, and what constraints we had. For example, with the website banner we were constrained to a GIF image, because it wasn’t feasible to have an animated video (this would make the page slower, we didn’t know if it’d work across devices, and it would have simply been unnecessary). We also had to consider image size, colour, etc.
Overall, WordPress was very restricted for us – there were a number of features we wanted that got dropped, such as a simple Grayson game. The layout in particular was very restricted, since we wanted to use the icons but the layout was more text-focused. IT had to work around this manually, which not only took a lot of time – apparently, it needs to be redone each time WordPress has an update!

1.2 – Identify the types, properties and formats of assets required for use

We knew we wanted a good amount of imagery on the website, so we knew they ideally would be JPEGs or PNGs. PNGs would be used when we required the background of them to be transparent (icons, for example), and would use JPEGs when we simply needed a flat image. We also knew anything animated would be either created within WordPress itself (the animated timeline banner), or would be a GIF created by myself.

1.3 – Establish the requirements and expectations of others who will use the obtained assets

We don’t expect people will make much use of the assets aside from simply viewing them – therefore, the assets must sit clearly and neatly on the pages, with good colour schemes and a high enough resolution that they don’t look blurry. We don’t think people would be too interested in downloading the files. They also will be used for navigation (the button icons), so we need to manually create some form of interactivity. This is done through the use of alternatively coloured icons, that change from blue to orange when you select that page. They also need to be hyperlinked correctly, to ensure the navigation of the website functions correctly.

2 – Be able to obtain assets and clearances required for the production

2.1 – Research appropriate sources of assets

When we need to use stock imagery, we tend to use freeimages.com, however most of the time I tend to create all of our assets myself! If however we use any textures, we either use free ones or make them myself. Sometimes, companies (like Virgin, Emirates) will give us imagery/assets we’re allowed to make use of, which makes tasks a lot easier! So when we’re given a project, we always need to consider whether we use stock assets, our own assets, or any assets given to us. For the website specifically, we used our own assets, because we wanted everything on the website to be our own and bespoke to us. I feel stock imagery can look (sometimes) cheap, as if it’s there to simply fill space. Some stock imagery is pretty decent, but some look very cheesy and are used far too often. Our old website used stock assets, so everyone wanted to step away from that with the new website, and have everything created specifically for us.

2.2 – Locate appropriate assets

Moving away from discussing the website, I recently had to help design a campaign based around airline Emirates. We were given a copy by an Emirates employee, and told to design an attractive campaign based on it. Whilst designing it, I noticed that I didn’t actually have any imagery to work with – which makes designing a layout very tough. I wasn’t sure how else to source them, so instead I asked the Emirates employee for images. Aside from that, I created the assets (header, etc) myself.

2.3 – Negotiate with relevant parties as required to obtain assets
2.4 – Obtain clearances and permission for use

Below, you can see the emails sent to acquire the assets we needed. It was very easy, all I needed to do was request some images they wanted us to include. It was only easy, however, because Emirates were the ones who requested the piece of work in the first place – I understand that, normally, it’d be much harder to obtain permission to use some images.

2.5 – Prepare a specification for the creation of original content

If I was going to make a contract, it’d tell the person who created/owns the image how it would be utilised – for example, if it was a photograph of a child, we’d have to explain to the photographer how and where the image would be used by us, including products, a website, etc. This would be explained in the contract, as well as these agreements being included.

3 –  Be able to organise obtained assets

3.1 – Use appropriate filing and naming conventions to organise assets to ensure that they can be easily identified and located by other relevant parties

I tweaked the original names of the images slightly, so that they were more consistent and clearer. I ensured they described the image itself, which may help when quickly cycling through them. I also put them in a series of easy-to-follow folders that made logical sense, both on my own PC and the open P:Drive.

On my PC:

All of my folders containing work are on my Desktop because for me, I find it easiest. I have a folder called ‘Current Work’ which is where I keep any things I’m in the process of putting together. Airline Focus is located in there, with a few files inside that. Inside the Airline Focus folder is a folder labelled Images, which contains the JPEGs sent to me by the Emirates employee. This, for me, is a very basic and logical way of labelling the files/folders, and is easy to navigate.

On the P:Drive:

On the P:Drive, myself and Danielle have a folder called Communications & Media Team, which everyone knows to go to if they need anything by us. Within that there’s a folder called Mailings & Campaigns, which contains any campaign-related work that people may need to access. Within that is a folder called Airline Focus JAN16, logically labelled with the title and date for people to access easily. Within that is an Images folder, which (similarly to the version above), contains the assets for anyone to obtain.

3.2 – Maintain accurate written records of key information about the obtained assets

This doesn’t really apply to the assets I described, because the situation was a little different. However, if we did in fact have to obtain permission for assets first etc, I would be sure to keep note of the status of those assets. For example, if at one point the owner of the asset suddenly asked us to not use it in the future in a specific format, I’d note that down so everyone knew. If they added any extra rules, or became more lenient (perhaps in regards to colour, editing, etc), this would also be noted down. Basically, keeping records would allow everyone to know the up-to-date rules to abide by when using the asset, rather than simply hoping they’re using it correctly.