Web Accessibilty Pratical

Today’s Web Accessibility Practical gives us a chance to assess a particular website's practical accessibility using a variety of tools. The first tool we used was Lynx which is a text only browser. This is mainly used by blind people. As such it does not show any images and instead shows the alternative text (alt text) that the web developer has given to the image. One of the main problems with this method was that it was very difficult to understand some parts of the website such as the lottery results.



Using the tab key to select the lottery numbers proved to be an impossible task! There was no order when moving between numbers. It was very frustrating and I eventually gave up.



When I checked the contrast of the web site i found that it was actually quite good and did pass some tests. I used the AIS toolbar to check the contrast and some parts some scored quite highly and some parts even passed the test.





Finally, when changing the text size on the Playmonday site there was very little change as the majority of the site is made up of flash applications and images. Also the background and text colour would not change when I changed the internet settings. This would be bad for people with colour blindness or other visually impaired disabilities.

Trent Media Logo Development

I have started developing my Trent Media logo. The image below shows how I have developed my logo design.



I have decided not to use red and blue which are used in the Nottingham union logo as many people felt that it did not work very well.

After further research many people stated that they really liked the Fly FM character. This has given me the idea to develop the character further and add two new characters to the platform and the Trent TV logo. Therefore I have diverted from the cube theme slightly and have decided to use circles as this would show a link between the trent media logo and the characters.

I have still kept the 3D text as it was very popular, but I added a circle background that I thought worked quite well. At the moment the circle is blue to link with the fly fm character, but this may change as I develop the logo further.

Identities Timescale

I have made a Gantt chart showing my time scale that I will try to stick to ensure that I will be on target for the deadline which is Week 42.



The presentation is all complete and is ready for Wednesday. I have made a PowerPoint presentation and a design board.

Identities

I am now clear over what I am going to do for my identity package. I am going to produce the following:

Leaflet: This will be available during fresher’s week and also handed out to students in the union and outside the library. The leaflet will open up into a 3D cube that will display information on the three media’s on each side, as well as info on ‘Trent Media’. (See ‘Ident Testing’ post for more info on design)

Calendar: I wanted to create advertising material that the students could use. Through my research I found that A2 wall calendars were very popular and used by the majority of students. Therefore I plan to produce an A2, 2007-08 term calendar advertising Trent Media.

Mobile Phone Wallpaper: Almost all students have mobile phones that they carry around with them regularly; therefore I intend design a collection of funky wallpapers that students can download for free off the internet. This would appeal to the 87.5% of people who said that they would like free download for their phones and mp3 players. Pod casts are soon going to be available from fly FM which students can download.

Poster: Posters are a good way of catching people’s attention around the university buildings and union bar. The posters will be simple but will hopefully capture people’s attention. This could be done by using a combination of popular bands and celebrities, as well as bright colours and interesting images.

Key Ring: The most popular form of marketing I have seen aimed at students was the Co-op key ring. The key ring was given out for free during fresher’s week and is on the majority of keys of students staying in halls as is was in the fresher’s welcome pack in everyone’s room. Personally it was the first thing I noticed in the pack so I therefore found it quite effective.

Ident Testing

I looked at various leaflet designs for insiration for my design.



After looking at various interesting designs for leaflets i have decided to test these by making scale paper mockups to decide what paper is suitable, how it will be printed and to get a sense of size and weight the leaflet will be. I was also able to ask people which leaflet idea they prefered and they were able to get a true sense of what the leaflet would look like, as oppsesed to a verbal explanation or a drawn diagram. The final developed leaflet design is shown from different angles below. The leaflet will be handed out flat but will open up into a 3D cube shape. One each side it will have information on Fly FM, Trent TV, Platform, and information on Trent Media as a whole and how to get involved.

One side you will be able to look through a whole to make it look like a television. The Middle fold will represent a magazine, and the back will be like a radio for Fly FM.



To test sizes and designs for my mobile wallpaper I reaseached mobile screen sizes. I found that there are 3 standard mobile screen sizes that the majority of models use. I tested this on numourous phones and it was successful. Wallpapers that you download off the internet are mainly jpeg as this is now a standard for the majority of phones with a camera and colour screen.

Ident Logo Design

I am currently in the early stage for my logo designs. I have been experimenting with Photoshop and Flash. I have got inspiration from the Nottingham student union logo such as the shape and the colours.



At the moment I have just been starting from scratch and tiring to create some completely new logo designs. However, I am not currently sure if I will completely scrap the current Fly, TV and Platform logo.

After the survey I discovery that a lot of people did not like the 'Trent Media' Logo with the glasses, therefore I am pretty sure that I will scrap this logo, although I am not going to 100% rule anything out at this stage. Another thing I noticed from the survey is that a lot of people like the fly FM character therefore I may consider keeping this.



So far here are a few of my initial designs which are completely original, and have no obvious link with the current logos.