Our task was to work as a group to design and create a new and improved website for West Hill Cemetery.
Project Brief
You will be working on a client based project in which you need to find an element within your chosen area of specialisation or one which you wish to enhance / explore. You may choose to be teamed with other designers according to the elements in which you wish to specialise, or a developer. Discussions with the developer will be ongoing so that the design is built to a complete working product or prototype depending on the client’s requirements.
Below is a proposal we sent to the client about the project and what we can do for them.
Initial Ideas
I brainstormed ideas to start the project and gather thoughts and aspects that may go towards the social media campaign. Eventhough we all have our specfic jobs (mine is being in charge of the intercative map), we all created designs for the branding and website for West Hill Cemetery.
West Hill Cemetery is located across from the university reception and forms a popular route through to the city centre. The cemetery holds a vast amount of history and contains important individuals who were once buried here, including many soldiers from World War 1. Therefore, it is our duty as designers to successfully promote the Cemetery to educate the public about the history that lies within West Hill Cemetery. The first stage of this project has already been completed by which was to get a web presence created by using Word Press in order that the client can make their own updates. The second phase requires more depth of content.
Our Objectives for the project this semester include:
Complete the website for the West Hill Cemetery by finishing the look and feel of the website through design
The VR views of the Chapels that once stood in the middle of the cemetery need to be complete and added to the website
The interactive map showing the position of all known graves needs to be included within the website
Time Mangement
I created a Gnatt Chart to keep on track with my studies and projects this semester and have good time management. I always ensure I have enough time towards the end of the semester to make appropriate changes and submit my work.
As this was a group project, it was important to ensure we met regularly to share ideas. As I was project manager, I wanted my team to be working equally so we can combine all of what we developed together. I held alot of responsibility being in charge of my group, so I wanted to set goals and times to complete each element by. Below is my individual Gnatt Chart.
Written Proposal
As one of our submissions, we had to produce a written proposal as a group. All of our work is mainly below but more information is displayed on the next dots.
Research
It’s important to research into designs to get inspriation and ideas. As we are working on a cemetery project, there is further research into the graves etc.
We got sent information and resources from the client. Below are the map designs and some further information towards the map which should benefit me when improving my map designs.
I was also sent images which can be added to each grave to show the users what the graves used to look like aswell as the updated images.
I also went to the cemetery and photographed their map at the entrance to use as inspiration and would keep in with the cemeteries theme:
I also thought of following the design of the Universities map.
More research can be found under the written proposal.
Interactive Map
As I was in charge of the interactive map, I put most of my efforts into this element of the project. I thought of various ways to improve the map I completed last semester.
It is important to sketch my ideas out first before spending more time on the digital designs. Sketching is time efficient and displays ideas in my mind visually.
I then developed my sketches digitality and following inspiration from my research.
I experimented with different shades of colours and textures. I created the icons on Adobe Illustrator by tracing images I had taken of the graves.
Below shows more information about my map designs.
Website Designs
As a group we all contributed with the original website designs. We eventually went for Tom's designs in semester 2 (can be found on my portfolio under 'Group Project'). As this was not my main role in the group, I did not go into as much depth as I did for the interactive map but more designs can be found under written proposal..
Below is a design I completed for the website.
Branding
It’s important, mainly for the website designs to follow the University Branding Guidelines due to copyright, and fear of the website getting shut down because of it. The Branding Guidelines can be found at the bottom of this page. Branding also gives the cemetery an identity that people will hopefully notice.
Here is a mood board I created and then used in semester 2 when continuing with the project. As a group we thought more about branding in semester 2 also, as felt the cemetery would benefit from having its own identity.
Final Outcome
The final outcome was good and the client was pleased with the outcome, althought we did not finish this project fully til semester 2. All final designs can be found below.
I used various software I knew already and have learned from my last 3 years at University. It is important in third year to build on the skills we already know rather than trying to teach ourselves something new. This makes us more advanced in our specific areas of design.
The target market for West Hill Cemetery is more the elderly generation due to family members of the graves being older, and this generation is more likely to want to learn about the cemetery. West Hill could also attract younger people from an educational point of view.
The West Hill Cemetery website should follow the University of Winchester branding guidelines as shown below. We also adapted them slightly to fit in with the new designs.