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Section 9

Project Sign-off sheet

This is my final conclusion to the project sign off. This is signed by myself to show that i had completed the task.

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Section 7: Project Proposal

Review the project with your client

As I have identified myself as the client, i will review my proposal and further evaluate in the self-Assessment. I have currently completed my project within the allocated time shown in Gantt chart. I have successfully created a CV and Cover Letter to add to my portfolio for future employers, Printed T-shirts, created Logos and Meme’s. In addition I am close to completing my evaluation.

Ensure the project is running to plan

The Gantt chart and Flowchart diagram have helped me manage my time during this unit. I am happy with my progress and i just need to make some final edits to the evaluation report.

Check Your assumptions made earlier are still valid

I am currently writing this section in March, as the review states; i have managed to complete my artefacts therefore i have met my expectations and kept to the allotted time schedule. Things to do now:

- Complete Section 10

-Complete Section 9 .

I have also calculated the final outgoings and i am proud to say that i was within the budget. The estimated cost of Tracing paper was £1-£2, actual costs were £1. The estimated cost of Photocopying was £1, the actual cost was £0.60 and the estimated T-shirt cost were £75-£80, actual costs were £72.02.

Estimated Costs- £82.52

Actual Costs- £73.62

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Section 6: Project Development

Logo Design- Adobe Illustrator

For the Logo design i will use Flash as a media source. The finalised design will be screen printed on the t-shirt. I chose to collaborate with Howard for the logo designs; we have both gained experience in Flash  during our studies at University, however i will use some time to learn and develop my Adobe skills. We managed to ensure that the quality of the logo is high and can be scaled to print onto a t-shirt. The Software was free to use as it was provided by the University of Portsmouth.

Illustrator may have been a better software to use as it is a vector graphics software. However due to experience with Flash, i felt comfortable producing the design on this software. 

Productio

The picture Above is Howard posing next to the t-shirts that had been printed. This session lasted approximately four hours and consisted of an induction to making up screens and eventually print our t-shirts. This experience required a lot of manual labor, although is was an enjoyable project. The Screen printing room gave us access to all the hardware we needed. This included; Screens, Ink, Heat Presses etc. 

The Logo’s were photocopied onto A4 paper, this is then photocopied on two pieces of tracing paper before screening. 

Facebook

The team used a group chat Via Facebook messenger to keep communications, share information and schedule meetings.

CV

This is an updated CV to go into my Portfolio for potential employers. All the relevant skills that i have used are stated within the CV

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Section 5: Asset Production

Logo & T-shirt Design

The logo has to be recognizable and consistent with the house style developed earlier in the project. The Text needs to be simple, a black/white San Serif font offers a straight to the point design, the bold and sharp typeface complements the memes as it is readable and simplistic. I was playing around with some designs and I experimented with the LT Cutter font. Initially I assumed that this design was the most visually appealing, however after research, many people preferred the Sans Serif font as it emphasizes the Memes. Once the designs are mocked up in Adobe Animator they will then need to be sized, improved and finalised before the screen printing process

The Meme’s were created after research on previous memes and by mind mapping ideas. The memes that were voted best memes were printed on the first batch of 10 t-shirts. The stool will have a look-book for Pre orders, this means that customers can customize their t-shirts with one of the memes that we had designed for a deposit fee of £5.00 and a further payment of £5.00 on delivery (Pre order sheet above). 

Potential Customers were amused by the Meme’s and many people agreed that they could relate to the t-shirt. The artefact was about making people in this case students, feel apart of a community/society. This brand holds its values and it about amusing and sharing the same habits and interests as the consumers

The T-shirt designs gave me a visual representation of the final artefact, i was able to play around and experiment with designs to see how they will look once printed. After Primary research i had felt that all the inspiration for the final artefact was collected to inform the final design. In hindsight more time would be spent on looking at previous designs, particular font and concepts to ensure the best outcome for the brand. However as the client i was happy with the initial designs made by myself and Howard therefore I decided to order t-shirts and move onto the production. 

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Section 10: Final Completion

The Project and Rationale

Throughout the CIPM unit, I have learned how to instil fundamental project manager responsibilities at each stage of a project life cycle and use flexible project management model to develop a creative artefact. The task started with considering some ideas for a client/project. The rationale behind the project included factors such as interests, relevance to my degree, relevant experience, Timing and Costs.

I decided to become my own client and assembled an enterprise team to manage the project. The main artefact were t-shirts aimed at students. Fashion and business are two of my interests, and previous multimedia experience in graphic design, entrepreneurial drive from business studies and contributions from team members gave the project the opportunity to succeed. As well as my interests and key competencies, the software and hardware resources I needed for the project were available through the University of Portsmouth. I aimed to design and print 20 T-shirts to sell on a pop up stool.

Processes

My vision early on in the project was to create t-shirts that will appeal to university students. Being a university student myself; I thought of ideas that would appeal and relate to myself. The idea was to create t-shirts with meme’s printed on the front. The trend of Meme’s are very popular on social media particularly among millennials therefore relate-able to the target audience.

The house style for the brand is simple, sharp and bold; the black/white text on a black/white background gives the brand a simplistic look and creates typeface that is straight to the point, emphasis the memes and is easily readable for others. 

I considered a range of names for the brand, and once again being within the same demographic as my target audience made the process simple, it gave me the ability to think of a name that would relate to the audience. I named the brand “Lazy Student Society”. Many students suffer from being lazy and unorganized at times, therefore I decided to research existing memes that would relate to Lazy Students to get some ideas for my artefact. 

 Planning the project proved to be an essential factor for a successful outcome. The tools I used to help me manage my time effectively were: Gantt charts, SWOT Analysis, Flowchart diagrams, mind maps, risk assessments and budget sheets. I believe that the project would not have been a greater success without these fundamental tools which allowed me to keep organised and visualise the project therefore providing me with direction from start to finish. The Gantt chart also allowed me to see which part of the project will require the most amount of time, this proved to be the research stage.

Once I had gathered some design ideas, I created some mock up designs in Adobe Flash and produced a questionnaire to carry out primary research. This involved asking students in and around the Eldon building for design preferences and filling out a questionnaire to find out the consumers purchase intentions. This process was effective as I was given some key insights to the target audience, rather than continuing to build the brand on assumptions, which increased the likelihood of success. During this process; I delegated some members to carry out secondary research on potential suppliers.

The feedback was great overall, students responded in amusement to the memes and shared their views on what worked well and vice versa. In hindsight I would have ensured that we had a larger sample of students to carry out the market research to get a more accurate result.

As I was the Project manager I assigned relevant tasks to the other members. Myself and Howard who is an animation student were in charge of creating the designs and finalising the logo with the questionnaire for primary research, whilst Avril, Jonny and Aaron carried out secondary research on suppliers and screen printing facilities. The Production process was a collaborative effort from the team. I had booked our induction for screen printing and we all attended for roughly two hours. Once we had carried out the induction and test prints; we were able to begin production.

Merits and Problems

Creating a small t-shirt business was a great experience. Going into this project I analysed the breadth and depth which will be required. By implementing project management tools I was able to develop new organisation and time management skills. The Gantt chart and work breakdown structure allowed me to keep some consistency throughout the project and clearly see if objectives were being met by the scheduled time.

Initially the team came across a problem in the production process. Jo Linking’s who was in charge of the screen printing faculty was ill for three days. This impacted our sales as we had planned to print the t-shirts within that week in order to set up a pop up stool the following week. Unfortunately we were not able to create the first batch. However I updated the Gantt chart and scheduled an induction for the following week when Jo was well. Fortunately our booking was confirmed as we were able to take the business to production. Within the week of February 27th – March 3rd, the T-shirts were made and sold.

The most prominent merit was seeing the final t-shirt’s printed and heat pressed, however the objective was not achieved yet, selling out the stock and taking pre orders was a proud moment and was the biggest Milestone of the project; a tangible exchange from business to consumer. I have always enjoyed enterprise and hope to become self-employed in the future. This unit offered me a great opportunity to create a memorable portfolio to aid my CV and impress potential employers, managing a problem has given me an insight on the process of producing a creative artefact from scratch.

Another Problem occurred after a smooth trial run in the screen printing room. We had accidently split white fabric paint on one of the black t-shirts, however this did not interrupt the project lifecycle. Although it effected the net profit margin; I decided not to sell that particular t-shirt and instead, I made use of it as a sample for people to try on at the stool.

The Verbal feedback from students in Eldon building was predominately positive and we achieved a total of four pre orders and broke even within the first three hours of setting up. This is a clear measure of effectiveness and I am very pleased with the outcome.

Future Developments

I would not change much in terms of planning and research as I managed to carry out the project successfully by the deadline. However in hindsight additional artefacts such as a website and business card would develop a more professional portfolio.

In future I will create some sample’s to send for testing and feedback. Testing the new designs in Eldon building did not provide the greatest exposure, the building was fairly empty on a Thursday Morning of sales and started to peak during lunch time. Samples for testing with an array if people would widen the results for an accurate conclusion and provide substantial qualitative feedback to document.

 Finally, a future development would be extensive social media advertising. I used the Eldon faculty Facebook page to promote the pop up stool to give awareness of the organisation however a diverse range of social media accounts and an integrated website would drive brand awareness and brand extension due to the exposure.

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Section 4 Project Management Methods and Tools (Detailed project specification)

Risk Assessment

The screen shots above is the risk assessment for the production process of this project. The risk assessment allows me to highlight any problems that may occur so that i can avoid them or respond accordingly if they do arise, therefore ensure high conducts of safety for myself and my peers

Budget

The Screen shot above is an estimation of the outgoings for this project, as you can see the maximum outgoing is £84.00 to ensure that the project is funded and completed for the deadline.

SWOT Analysis

The Swot Analysis above is a useful tool for me to identify the strengths and competencies for this project. I can further analyse the weaknesses and threats and turn them into opportunities to improve for the current project and future projects.

Flowchart Diagram

The Screen shot above is my work breakdown. I decided to breakdown the key aspects of the project so that i have an indication of the tasks need the most attention. This is an important addition to the tools i need to manage this project, including my Gantt chart. These tools will allow me visualize the project life cycle/goals and tick off the documents leading up to my final deadline.

Above are screen shots of my Gantt chart. I made the Gantt chart using Ganttology; which is a website that documents updated groups, milestones and tasks easily. An improvement for organisation would have been to colour coordinate each group as i have currently created six groups for six sections all within the same colour code, this can make the chart layout confusing.

You can see evidence of the Gantt chart being updated. I had to include a contingency date for the production process as I was behind schedule as Jo was ill and not available to give me an induction. The estimated time for the production process was February 27th however due to these circumstances the production phase was not finished until March 2nd.  After this process the project will be evaluated and finally taken to the last stage; sales. 

I will be able to gain verbal feedback at the pop up stool, Pre-orders and sales will be monitored to measure the success of the project and can be used to evaluate the final artefact. 

This is a mind map that I created to highlight some of the key tasks I made before creating the Gantt. The mind map was a useful tool to ensure that I was following an adequate work structure.

 The screen shot above is the market research survey I carried out in order to gain insights on customer purchase intentions. I gathered research from a range of students asking tallying the feedback. I also integrated the sample pictures that I had made of the t-shirts in order to get feedback on the most popular designs for production. 

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Section 3 Proposal (Project Initiation)

This document is the detailed proposal form for the project.

Project Proposal: Your Name: Yaseen Abdou-Alhafeez

Client if applicable: Self Employed

Brief Description of project:

This project will consist of managing a small enterprise; from planning to creating a live small business for a pop-up stool launch in February. 

Assessed Artefacts: 

Final Printed T-shirt Designs

Adobe Logo and Font Designs

A general CV for future employers 

Planning Process: Marketing, Gantt Chart, Mind-map, 

Collaboration: I will Delegate roles among a team of five. The main collaboration will be Howard. Howard will help me develop the logo and font designs as he has previous experience in this field. 

Client/Project Specifications:

Market Research

Mock ups and final Designs

Gantt Chart

Budget sheet

CV 

Self Evaluation

Test screen printing design process 

Software/Hardware:

Software for design: Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.

Hardware for design: PC/Laptop, Screen Printing Screen, Heat Press, UV screening machine. 

General software: Microsoft word, Ganttology, Excel, MindView.

Copyright Issues: 

Copyright for Logo and Brand name with any promotional tools used and T-shirts produced will be claimed by the use of the copyright symbol.

 Possible Risk Involved:

Safety Procedures such as the following will be further calculated using a risk assessment:

Dropping heavy print frames.

Printing Ink in the eyes or Ingested.

Burn from the heat press.

Dropping heavy drying rack shelves.

What Skills do you need to complete this project and do you have these skills? Identify. 

Similar roles in previous group tasks has developed my leadership, organisation, team working and interpersonal skills therefore I can confidently lead a team to enterprise. My Digital Marketing Degree has allowed me to develop my understanding of marketing theory and concepts to inform the Pre and Post production process of creating my small business. My Introduction to graphic design unit which I studied in first year gave me the fundamental skills to create some of the Photoshop designs along with assistance from a key team member with Photoshop competencies. 

Timescale: (See Gantt chart)

T-shirts created by February 27th and sold by March 3rd

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Section 2: Scoping The Project (Project Feasibility)

Meeting the client

As I have chosen to be my own client for this project; i have understood that i will miss out on a great experience on managing a clients project and therefore sacrifice experience on working towards someone else’s expectations and requirements. Therefore i felt as if i was at an unfair advantage as I had a clear vision of what i would like to produce. A benefit of creating a personal portfolio is that i would have the flexibility to showcase my interests and explore them further and create a professional portfolio to support my future.

Identifying clients or your previous multimedia experience

During my time at university, i have been studying for a degree in Digital Marketing and i am currently in my second year. Previous units that i have studied at level 4, had informed me with some of the skills needed to carry out this project. I have the fundamental skills to create logo designs in Adobe Flash which i developed as apart of my graphic designs unit last year, Marketing theory and concepts which i have studied during my time will allow me to carry out the necessary research and a previous background in business studies has informed me with management and organisation skills. I have assembled a team of students from Digital Media, animation, photography and marketing backgrounds to ensure any skill gaps are covered to the best of our ability. 

Understanding the breadth and depth of the project

Breadth

In the first meeting, I created a mind-map to analyse all the aspects that will inform the final artefact. This tool was beneficial as the team could visualize the key components that would make this project successful. It became clear that market research will require a long duration of time. This is because the brand values the customers interests. An indication of a successful project is not only based on myself and the group satisfaction but the number of leads and sales that are made. Therefore customer research and market trends will need to be analysed. A mind-map proved to be an important tool to begin delegating tasks to the team members based on their competencies. It also allowed me to create a gantt chart to break down the tasks and monitor the time management allocated to each task; this will also create a visual of the expected time scale of the project and will allow for myself and the team members to follow a clear structure and make adjustments where issues may occur, avoiding inefficiency during the project.

Depth 

In order to ensure that the project is successful, i will create primary research documents to carry out in and around the Eldon building. The documents will include a survey with customer purchase intentions and mock up designs for customers to score on preference; this will be carried out between all five members of the group. During the primary research period, we will carry out secondary research to compare price and quality of suppliers before coming to an agreement. This information will be documented for the budget sheet in order to measure the success of the project.  

Once the research is complete, the results should give me an insight of what the target audience will be willing to purchase and therefore be ready for design and manufacturing once the supplier has been agreed upon. The Pre, Production and Post production stages will be updated in the gantt chart so that the project life cycle is clearly visible. I will also evaluate these processes further in a self assessment in order to improve in hindsight and highlight the success and struggles so that future projects can be more successful.

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Section 1

Identify a Client 

For the project carried out; i have identified myself as the client. My role of project manager will entail the journey of managing a small enterprise team to create and sell t-shirts from scratch. Clothing manufacturing is something i have had an interest in for many years and a portfolio showing my contributions to a successful enterprise will show my creative and business competencies for future opportunities.

Identify the clients needs/ideas

As i am the client, I have arranged some needs/ideas that I will comply with to inform my final artefact for the project:

- Professional Structure - As this is a personal project, I will aim to ensure that i am happy to assign my name to the final project, therefore the portfolio has to be documented in a professional manner; a clear and coherent structure, in order to impress future employers and build a strong CV which highlights my strengths and relevant weaknesses that may need to be addressed.

- Font and Logo Design- The typography should be bold and easily readable as the idea is to create amusing memes that other people can read. A simplistic and sharp typeface is most appropriate as the interaction comes from the meme’s; where as a quirky font would be less visible and defeat the purpose of the meme’s. The logo has to be professional and consistent with the house style which is a monotone color scheme; the designs are black and white as the brand is intended to get straight to the point and relate able to the audience. Logo’s and t-shirt designs will be supported with primary research to gain insights from potential customers on preferences and improvements

-Skills Needed: 

Adobe software skills and knowledge

Photography Skills

Graphic Design skills 

Screen Printing skills

- Research - Market research is an important factor for the success of this project. Aspects id like to carry out research on include: 

STP process (Segment, Target Audience and Positioning)

Market trends

Consumer purchase intentions 

Design preferences

The most important factor of this project is working towards sales, this will be further reiterated in the objectives. Therefore the artefact has to appeal to the target audience to achieve leads and sales.

Check this is a suitable project with a member of staff

For this project, i received approval from my student enterprise lecturer to ensure that the project was achievable and realistic within my time frame. I was excited to start this project and produce a professional standard artefact from scratch.