Unit Description This unit requires the student to examine the professional practice of Web Design, reflecting upon current industrial practice, in terms of working methods, specific commercial client-led requirements, and solutions suitable for, and deliverable by, existing technologies. The student works as part of a small team, responding to a given, possibly “live”, brief(s) which simulate the variety, volume, and time scale of work which may be experienced in the profession, such as corporate identity, advertising, editorial and promotional web design. Emphasis is placed on teamwork, project management, and working towards tight deadlines. Syllabus The students are presented with a single, or series of, client-led, commercially oriented, proposals for project(s), which will be provided by an industrial partner (the “client”). The students will work in small teams, based on the project selection. The precise nature of individual involvement will be negotiated in an equitable way between team members and staff, which will map out their proposed involvement for the duration of the unit. The responsibility for communication and project management falls to the group, although project progress is monitored and assisted by academic staff. The group must meet all the requirements of a “live” brief in terms of reaching an appropriate creative solution through research and understanding, taking the work through all stages of production, and demonstrating organizational skills by producing work of a professional standard to meet a fixed deadline. Learning Outcomes The student will be able to: - Demonstrate the ability to analyse project parameters as part of a team. Teaching and Learning Methods This unit is studio based, with an emphasis on responsive, student-centred experiential learning (including peer group learning). Assessment The learning outcomes will be assessed through: -the completion, making live, and submission (archive) of a comprehensive, commercially oriented, web site; and individual contribution to group which will be assessed through viva, and a written (group) self-appraisal which includes initial proposal, research findings and project log, and detail of individual contribution to group (weighting 100%). Assessment criteria include: quality, coherence and relevance of content; quality of research; selectivity; critical perspective; effectiveness of organization (planning, preparation and time-management); production values; the appropriateness to the client; progress; and the technical learning and effectiveness.. Indicative Reading Students will be expected to engage fully in on-line research activities, facilitated through the digital environment that supports Web Design (at www.newmediahull.net). Suitable use of research texts will be determined in the first instance by the students, though with the assistance of tutors conducting this unit. Technical Reading (latest versions), Software Manuals, On-Line Documentation Magazines Blue Print, Campaign, Computer Arts, Create Online, Design,Design Week, Eye, Émigré, I-D, Creative Review. |