WRITTEN OVERVIEW
This details the review for a NGO website that we had to design and develop. We had to choose a NGO that had no website or had an existing website that needed to be fixed or updated. After going through a few options, our choice of selection was a non profit organisation called Down Syndrome Support – Cape situated in Red Cross at the Toy Library. Down Syndrome Support (Cape) is an NGO that strives to provide resources and support for people with Down syndrome (and
other intellectual disabilities), their families and their communities. Our contact was a wonderful lady called Val Hoy who runs the organisation with little or no funds. Having a child of her own who has Down syndrome, she has put all of her energy into this project over the years. This website would be used as a tool for the NGO to raise funds and put the NGO’s name on the map.
We were assigned to groups of six. Amongst our group we broke the work in parts; each member of the group was given a task. My tasks included
development of the website and creating a database for the website and the blog. But we did most of the first main things like colour scheme, fonts, site layout and navigation of the site as a group. We all agreed on a layout which we ended up changing at the end, because we were not able to make the website responsive as it was one of the required features the website had to have. So we had to change the layout ad start from scratch which was a bit of a problem as it was time consuming, because we had started on working on the project. We then had to start over with the storyboards, wireframes, and mock-ups.
The construction of the website was quite challenging as we had to develop the website using zend-fameworks2, most of the groups experienced the same problem. But we were able to get other things done in time like the branding pack, social media and blog as they were the easiest parts of the project. The website’s navigation took us two full weeks to get it working and responsive. Time was not a problem for our group as we had everything else covered on time, other than the website that we were struggling with. We eventually pulled through and got our website working and everything was perfectly designed, our client was happy with our final project.We stared on our project as soon as we got the brief and every member of the group did their outmost best to make sure that they delivered and stuck to deadlines.
We were all happy with the outcome of the project, and I would have not liked to work with anyone else other than my group because we worked well together and had everything under control.
Personal portfolio
This details the result review for a personal portfolio that I had to design, develop and produce for use on the web or in a CD ROM format. I chose to develop a website but I had a problem choosing a theme. I didn’t know whether I should use simple, clean, minimalist theme or a grunge theme and I decided to use both grunge and minimalist. So I looked at different portfolio websites and chose a couple of layouts that inspired me, fonts, colours and navigation structures. I started on the scamp’s, wire-frames and mock-ups for both themes but when I got to the mock-ups I then decided to go with the minimalist theme because it is calm, relaxing interface is a great relief for users, because the grunge theme didn’t work for me and the minimalist is calm and allows greater creativity.
I didn’t want a cluttered website, because a minimalist website would be easy and fast to load. I wanted something that would be appealing to the eyes and easy to read and navigate within the site. I used speech bubbles so that the person visiting my website could feel like I am speaking to them directly. I achieved most of the things that I wanted on my website but I still feel I could have done better.
I wasted most of my time because if I had decided on one theme then I would have had more time. I then had to design my logo which was the most difficult to do because I didn’t know whether I should use my name or use graphics. I think that if I had started earlier on my project and didn’t have to make major changes like I did, I would have come up with a better website with exciting features, but I am happy with the one that I designed and developed but I could have done better.
E-learning digital report
This report details the result review for an interactive multimedia based instructional / educational resource, form April 9 to 14 May 2014, by Sinaye Dabe, a 3rd year multimedia student at the cape peninsula university of technology. We were asked to Select a chapter from any appropriate print based instructional / educational resource and hand in for discussion and approval by: 16 April 2014. After that we had to Design, develop and produce an interactive electronic version of the selected material. So we chose Microsoft office 2007 All-in-one desk reference for dummies, the chapter that we covered from that book introduces users to PowerPoint as it is impossible to sit through a conference, seminar, or trade show these days without seeing at least one PowerPoint presentation. After these tutorial users will be able to create presentations, get a better view of their work, insert slides, put together a photo album, and hide slides.
We first conducted interviews on campus and asked students if they know what e-learning is and what we got from most students was that most students didn’t what e-learning is. So we had to educate them and tell them what e-learning is and some of them knew what it was after explaining to them. We did some research on the internet as well as to see the kind of instructional/ educational resources that are being used.
We then decided on creating a CD-ROM that will help first time Microsoft office tools users. Our target audience would be from primary school to university students and first time Microsoft users both male and female from the ages of 10 to 55years. But for our target audience for the chosen topic would be High School students to university students or any first time users from the ages of 15 to 40. Our theme is clean, simple, and easy to understand and not cluttered. It is based on the Oriel PowerPoint theme but we in cooperated an Ipad to give it the look and feel of and e-learning application. We chose the colors orange, grey and black because they best present PowerPoint and they are welcoming colors
I think that if we had started earlier on our project and didn’t have to make major changes like we did, we would have come up with a better CD-ROM, but we were happy with the one that we developed but we could have done better.
Learning Journal
Learning journal 26 February 2014 we were given a task to create either a CD Rom or a website which was due on Wednesday 19, following these thematic and
stylistic profiles.
– Illustration/Vector
– Clean/Minimalist
– Grunge
– Geometric
I had to create the website with the following scenario n mind. I have been briefed by a client who wants either a website or CD
Rom designed that has one of the above themes as the key stylistic principle. The product will be used in one of the following ways: – A party service (examples: party planners, tent hiring service, wedding cake baker) – Any type of restaurant (examples: eastern or seafood restaurant, bakery) – An educational institution or academy(examples: a school, a university, a dance academy) When I first received the brief I thought it was just a piece of cake, because I thought that I would just do the CD Rom. But that all changed when our lecturer showed us in class a few examples of what she expected if we created a CD Rom. So had to think twice because I was surely not going to meet the standard of the examples she showed us. They were very good designs and I wouldn’t even get close to meeting those standards as I am not a very creative person. I then decided to choose the website as I am able to do a bit of coding. I then searched on the internet to search on academic websites as I had not yet decided on the type of website I would create, but I knew one that I wanted to design a website for an educational institution.
After my visit to the websites, I then decided on the type of website I wanted to create. So I chose the Dance academy, from there on chose my colour palates which are soft shades of pink, grey and white. Then from there I designed the logo. After designing the logo I make scamps on paper of how I’d like my website to look like. Then I designed the layout of the site using the inspiration I got from the internet. Then I started with coding, I though the website was easy hence I had opted for it, but to my surprise it the most difficult task ever. I used HTML to develop my website and it was very challenging but I managed. So what I’ve learnt from this experience is not to ever take anything for granted because when I first received the brief I thought this would be easy but it was not. I had a lot of late night designing and coding the site but it still didn’t look rite. There was always something to fix and even now there are a lot of things I would still like to fix because there’s still a lot of room for improvement.
Are Blacks and Jews too sensitive? Jewish Board of Deputies address
Late 2012, I was invited to speak at the Jewish Board of Deputies in Cape Town. 
We cannot talk about freedom of expression and hate speech, nor can we ask whether Blacks and Jews are too sensitive or not, without putting tolerance on the table.
But the question arises, if we must be tolerant, how much should we tolerate? Should we have zero tolerance in order to eradicate hate speech?
The problem with zero tolerance is that you allow hate to go underground, when it should be allowed – so that we can see it. Because when we can see it, we are able to combat it. And, to a certain degree, exert some control over it.
Zero tolerance would not only mean the end of hate speech, it would also see the end of the freedom of expression because there would be zero tolerance for opinion in case it…
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True Love magazine Analysis
Analysis of True love Magazine
As 3rd year multimedia students we were given an assignment that was due on the 5 March 2014. We had to choose from the following products to review and analyse:
1. True Love magazine
2. Espresso (6am SABC3, Daily)
3. Takalani Sesame (7.30am, SABC1, Daily)
4. Huisgenoot magazine
5. NGO Website: http://www.ru4children.org/
After choosing a product we had to Submit a written analysis of a selected popular media product. Our written submission should include an analysis of the following factors that are regarded as important:
- A through description of the product.
- A detailed analysis of the target audience.
- An outline of the main purpose of the product and how effectively the product design matches the intended purpose and audience.
- The manner in which the particular design medium either restricts or facilitates the intended purpose of the product.
So I chose the True Love Magazine because I thought it would be easy to find and analyse, but I thought wrong. True Love magazine is one the most difficult magazine to find in retail stores. I first went to Checkers when I wanted to buy the magazine as it is the most obvious place where one would go if they wanted to purchase a magazine. When I got to checkers I went through all the magazines they had in store but True Love was not on their shelves. So I went to the Engine garage but I still had no luck, so I turned to the internet as it was my last hope of finding a retail store that sells the True Love magazine but I still had no luck, the only results I got from the internet was the retail price and not where I can actually purchase the magazine. So the next day when I went to class I saw one of my class mates had a copy of the True Love magazine and asked her where she’d bought the magazine. She then told where to go and purchase the magazine, so I went to pick n pay and I finally got a copy of the True Love magazine.
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lLillie McCloud
Dabe Sinaye's Blog 