My logo;

This is my logo for my own website that I have designed, I created this on Photoshop. I find that it's quite simple but affective. I've used gradient circles underneath the lettering, all in different colours for the bold font to stand out more. I then used the line tool to produce pulse waves. 

Here is a screenshot of me designing my logo in photoshop, I used the font Dakota, in size 28 to 30. I  decided to use bold and italic, for the letters to stand out more. I left the colours in black because I wanted the gradient colours behind the lettering, for the single letters to stand out. 

This is another screenshot of half of the logo. This is showing my pulse waves which I created using the line tool to the left and right of the picture. I did this because i feels it gives another affect to the logo.  Originally I was planning on leaving all the gradient colours in red, but I felt that the letters needed to stand out more.   

Codes and conventions of newspapers;

Newspapers Codes and Conventions 
Codes include individual media, such as the type of articles included, prices, the types of advertisements, whether the information is quantitative or quantitative and much more. Conventions are the typical plot elements including conflicts and resolutions of a particular medium.
Each section has its own forms and conventions. Radio, newspapers, television and magazines and the internet have a different look and a different method of communicating and a different codes and conventions. Within a specific medium, you may also find distinct codes and conventions. A good example of this involving newspapers is that different newspaper have more qualitative information with others having quantitative. 'The times' national newspaper's price in the UK is 90p on weekdays and £2.00 on Sunday's, this paper is more qualitative and is generally seen as a serious publication with high standards of journalism. Where as 'the daily mirror', or 'the sun' is not much more than 50p, these are both seen as very cheap compared to 'The times'. The 'sun' and the 'daily mirror' are cheap newspapers with more quantitative information than qualitative. 

Brainstorming logo names;

I have looked at two different names that I would like to use for my website logo. My website will be based on music for teenagers applying for any gender.
The two names I have come up with are;

Pearl music & Pulse. 
When I researched Pearl music, many different websites were shown relating to pearl music. I found one website that was an actually studio which is called; http://www.pearlmusicstudio.co.uk/. I went against the idea of calling my website that, as it was copyrighting. 
Pulse 
I have checked to see if there was any other channels out there called pulse and I found one called pulse which was an entertainment channel focusing on eSports. It was launched on the 16th May 2007 and closed on the 2nd March 2009. The channel was broadcasted in the United Kingdom on British sky broadcasting. For more information on this website here is a link; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulse_(TV_channel). 

The Brief Specifications for Media Studies Advanced Portfolio

A couple of weeks ago I  received the brief for OCR's Media Studies Advanced Portfolio A2 coursework. The main task outlined in the brief, is to design a website. The website that we will also create with be used to advertise our TV channel. My website will include original images, audio and video extract. I have begun my research on a number of different teen channels and there websites that help to promote them, this includes channels and sites that target teens. 

Before being formally given this brief, we were given some time to brainstorm any ideas on what type of TV Channel we were going to base our ideas on. 

I have started to research the TV industry and web-designing industry in some detail, looking at how a website is produced using particular programs, such as looking at typical case study TV websites around today.

Research on Jakob Nielsen

Web usability - Guidance --- Web standards-- accessibility -- Navigation

JaKob nielsen has many different opinions on website designs, here an some examples of his work;
Bad search;
Jakob said that some search engines are likely to reduce usability. Particular search engines are unable to handle typos, plurals and hyphens. Search engines are difficult for elderly users to use.
PDF files for online reading;
Many users hate finding PDF files when browsing and checking the internet. They simply don't like this as it breaks their flow of whatever they may be doing. Simple things like saving documents or printing may be difficult because standard browser commands may not work. 
Page titles with low search engine visibility;
Searching is very important to users for them to ways to discover more websites. It is important for users to find their way around individual websites. The main page for the website title page is to attract new visitors from search listings and for you to help existing users to locate the specific pages that they need.

Jakob is a user advocate and principal of the Nielsen Norman Group which he co-founded with Dr. Donald A. Norman former VP of research at Apple Computer.

Time plan

This time plan includes time allocations for each section of this coursework, in order that all the work is completed:

Time Plan

Here is a time plan that I have made as to what needs to be carried out in my Pre-production phase of this coursework:
Research into different websites
Site organisation
Images which are going to be used in TV listings
Newspaper Ad's
Website  planning & construction

My own example for the website layout;

My basic design of a website layout 

I have created this to show you a basic view of what I want my website to look like. I will include a logo on my channel website, the logo that I will be using is something that I have designed myself using photo-shop. My homepage navigation will be seen at the top of the page underneath my logo. The links that I will include are; Shows, Top News, Chat, Competitions & Contact Us.

The images that I'm planning on using will be dotted around my website in various places. I am planning on using  images that teenagers will find interesting and eye catching. 

I decided that the navigation bar will be located at the top of my website because it looks attractive and easily accessible. I have chosen to do this because of my research on other teen channel websites. 

The font style, size and colour will mostly be the same, showing that the website is for any gender.