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During the evaluation of this product I will be referring back to what was initially discussed in the functional specification. The purpose of this would be to therefore refer to it and to see if what was set out was achieved and to go over the success criteria. It will also be able to explain how the stakeholders comments have been used throughout. For example with the use of the hand drawn designs to the prototype and then to when it was created in flash. To show if the feedback which was given was acted upon or not. Lastly to evaluate my own performance. This would include the skills which have been gained throughout and if any improvements could be made. Product Evaluation: The main reason for the functional specification would have been to outline what each page will have and how the product would be structured. However in this case to be able to evaluate the key success criteria. The first criteria to evaluate would be constructive feedback from stakeholders. This can be seen to have been a success because all of the stakeholders were contacted on a regular basis. This was mainly via email between me and all of the stakeholders. This would also be seen as a success as in all of the emails sent it was stated that a response would be required and that is what was given. Another success criteria would be the colours used must be applicable to everyone. This has also been achieved as the product used appropriate colour scheme which was shown in the hand drawn designs and the prototype. This would also be so that there is consistency throughout the product a colour of the text that is readable and clear. In addition another success criteria would be the novice and technical user manuals, to make sure that this criteria was a success questionnaires were completed by the stakeholders to see if the manuals were fit for purpose. Questionnaires were also sent to the end users who would be the target audience for the product. How would you rate the technical and novice user manual? Excellent Good Satisfactory Poor This shows how one of the success criteria which has been stated above was met. This would be involving the user manuals. The graph is able to show how the stakeholders were split on this but still choosing excellent or good.

Tasks the product must perform: It would appear that the tasks the product should preform have been met. This would be because it is able to provide relevant information about the London Attractions. This would include where to find the attractions and the ticket prices of these various attractions. This has also been double checked with the use of testers that are within the target audience for the product. From this they were able to inform me of their thoughts of the product that it contained the necessary information while still keeping the pages interesting and not complex. As this product was open to younger audiences and older ones it was difficult to make the product accessible to all therefore given more time more animation or images would have been added. TAMARA CARBY 1

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Information that must be supplied: The information included would appear to be relevant to the London Attractions. This would be because it consists of a brief intro to the attraction, the location/ travel direction to the attraction and the ticket prices. The product however could include much more information on what is inside the actual attraction, a brief history background to the attractions and what to expect from the attraction. This was not specified in the functional specification but the information selected in the final product was done to have a greater appeal to the audience and for the overall design. Aims of the project: The main aims of the project therefore the objectives which were set at the start of the project have been met. This would be to make sure that all of those who use the product gain an insight into what the London Attractions is about and what they can gain from it. Evidence for this would be that with user feedback showing how the product is currently appealing to the audience, how it is fully interactive, contains needed relevant information on the London Attractions and to help to increase the appeal of the London Attractions. How would you rate the deliverables overall? Were you satisfied with the amount of multimedia features in the final flash product?

Excellent Good Satisfactory Poor Yes No

This is able to show the feedback from the stakeholders. In this particular question it is clear to see that one of the aims of the product has been met. With the majority agreeing that the overall deliverables were good.

This is able to provide further evidence of one of the aims which have been met. This would be of how interactive the stakeholders felt the product was. This is able to show how all of the stakeholders were satisfied.

TAMARA CARBY

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Changes made from the prototype to the final product: The prototype for the London Attractions pages marked a new stage. This was able to give all of the stakeholders a clear idea of what each page would look like when created in flash. However changes would have been made on the way from the prototype to the final product. Some of the reasons for this would have been to improve the final product from the feedback which was given. 1. The first change which was made would be the introduction of new pages which were not specified in the functional specification. This would include the cover page. The reason why this was not included as a prototype would be that this was not an option at the time but in the creation of the product in flash it was decided by me that this page was needed for the overall design. The purpose of this page would be to add to the overall product and act as an introduction to who would be using this product. 2. Another change would have been how the information is included. This would be because the content in the prototype was very general and not detailed as to how it would be located on the page. I felt that there was a need for change because of the overall presentation of the page but also to add in a form of multimedia to the product. This was then adjusted onto all pages to have a better consistency and to make it suitable to the target audience. 3. There would also be minor changes to text. This would be that the font and size used in the prototype has been altered in the final product. Instead the same font has been used throughout in the final product and the size of the text has been made slightly smaller. Furthermore on the title and the links at the bottom of the page a blue border has been used to make sure that they stand out. This would be of importance to the younger users of the product. 4. I also adjusted the positions, sizes of the images and text of all of the pages than what was initially shown on the prototypes. Further minor changes were made such as the use of different colours for the text than what was shown in the prototype. The purpose of this was to make the pages more eye catching and less confusing for the users. When reviewing the images that were shown on the prototype numerous ones were replaced and more were included to make the page more suitable. The purposes for some changes would be because of the quality of the images were not of a good enough standard but also that when reviewing the image it did not fit with the overall page. 5. A negative change made to the product which could have in fact been beneficial would have been the use of sound. This would be because a part from the videos there is only one form of sound that can be found on the cover page. In fact sound was included on the first prototype for certain pages but removed in the improved prototype. This was removed because I felt that sound would be too much on the pages and confuse the users. However now on reflection sound may have enhanced the product to be more appealing to the younger audiences.

Below you will be able to see an evidence of some of the changes listed above.

TAMARA CARBY

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This is able to provide evidence for number two as to how information has been included on the pages. Below you will be able to see an example of how information has been designed for the London Eye page. To the left you will see the prototype and what was stated to the stakeholders as to what information would like on the page; whereas the image of the right shows the final outcome with the use of rollovers.

This shows how various amounts of information were to be used on the London Eye page.

At this point of time it was stated that multimedia would be used on the information but not how or which one.

This shows the final outcome of how the information was presented on the page.

This is able to provide evidence for number four as to how images shown in the prototype have not been used in the final product. Below you will be able to see the images which were shown in the prototype therefore it was understood that the stakeholders believed that these would be the ones that would be used in the final product. However in the London Zoo case none of the images shown were not used in the final product. The purpose for this would be because of the presentation of the page and that I felt something simpler would be more appealing.

This shows the two images which were included in the prototype for the London Zoo page and the images which the stakeholders were also sent.

This shows as stated above how no images shown in the prototype were used and instead only two trees were placed on this page.

TAMARA CARBY

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User feedback and actions taken: Throughout the creation of the product I was able to gain essential feedback from the testers of the product and from the stakeholders. All of which have helped to improve the product and to see where there was need for improvement. At an early stage during the design stage it was bought to my attention by the peer reviewer that there should be no sound on the navigation of the product. Her reasons for this were that there would be no need as a clear easy navigation should be enough for any user and if fact could complicate things then improve it. This was stated by the peer reviewer and her comments were immediately taken into account. The action which was therefore taken was that in the improved hand drawn design the indication of sound over the navigation buttons was removed. While a tester went through the product I was also told of how the size of the stars used to rate an attraction were too large. Their reason for this was that it was not consistent through all of the pages and that as this was a rollover image was used and the size of the text was smaller than the rollover stars. The action which was taken was to then reduce the size of the stars to an appropriate size that was at the same level as the rollover text. During the making of this product as shown in the formative testing changes were made to the product. An example would be the use of animal images on the home page. However this was not initially shown in the design stage but I thought that this may work out better than the four logos described in the design stage. However the client stated that he did not feel that the use of these images was relevant to the home page as the home page should be about the whole product and he felt animals may be related to the London Zoo page. The action which was taken can be seen in the formative testing as the image was removed and was replaced with the initial four logos shown in the hand drawn designs and the prototype. Another example would be that a comment was passed that more images and detail could have been added to the final page to enhance the page. This would have been the London Zoo page. These comments were made by the senior manager. However the reason why more detail was not added to this page would have been because of the issue of time, a lack of it. Therefore I needed to make a page still of a high standard but of course if more time was given this page could have been more refined and more information included. On the other hand the senior managers comments were still an example of positive feedback and no action was taken. The London Dungeon map page as stated in the formative testing was not an original concept to be a part of the product. However the stakeholders were informed of this and each agreed to the making of this page. The client during communication stated that he would only agree to the making of this page if the quality of the map for the London Dungeon page was changed as he felt it did not go with the London Attractions company and the high standard of the other pages. The action which was taken was to remove the original map which was shown to all of the stakeholders and to replace it with an easier to understand and much clearer map of where to find the London Dungeon.

TAMARA CARBY

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Do you feel that the overall design of the product was suitable for the target audience?

Could you naviagte around the flash product easily?

Yes No

Yes No

This is able to show how taking the stakeholders information into account and the testers achieved positive outcomes. As shown above all of the stakeholders were pleased with the overall design for the target audience.

This shows the stakeholders feedback on the navigation of the product with all of them agreeing that it was easy to navigate around.

Improvements to the product: If more time was available and more detailed planning I would have been able to make numerous improvements which would have been able to enhance the product. An example would be that on the two map pages more could have been included on them. This would have included making the motion tween much more complex and intriguing for the user. Furthermore to be able to show more detail on this pages such as when a mouse is hovered on these pages more information is able to appear whereas if more time was given further information could have been provided such as listing the nearest stations as opposed to just showing an arrow or stating that the closest stations can be seen on the map. In addition although through communication there did not appear to be a need for change to the logo that was created but possibly this could have been improved. I say this because the logo only incorporates the main letters of the London Attractions whereas it could have been more refined and more professional. An example of how this could have been completed would have been to use software such as Photoshop in which specific tools could have been used such as erase certain areas if an image was used or to blur. Also that this could have been correspondence to the stakeholders the issue of a logo was only up once and it was not reviewed whereas in fact this could have been a part of the designs and shown in more detail to the stakeholders and tested along with the rest of the product. There would also be the issue of images used in the product. As you would have been able to see the most of the images can be found on the London Eye page and then mostly on the map pages. The reason for this would have again been because of time but also that I did not feel that it was necessary although in the prototype and hand drawn designs it was shown that each page would have at least one image. Now on reflection I feel that more images would have been needed on the London Zoo page mainly. This would have included pictures of animals or of the attraction itself. However there also would TAMARA CARBY 6

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have been the issue of size and space as having numerous images on the product would have affected the file size and the level of memory that would have been needed to distribute the product. Finally one of the changes which would have been the most beneficial would have been to improve how the product was tested. The product was tested with the relevant target audience however more younger generations should have been tested to make sure that all aspects of the target audience has been met. The reason for this is because it was difficult to find younger testers therefore the results were not as accurate as I had intended. My performance and skills: I believe that my overall general performance has been of a good standard. My reasons for this would include the amount of time which has been spent on the creation of this product. This would include working in college hours but also to work in my own time out of college hours including the weekend. I felt that this was required to have a good quality product and to show my commitment to the making of the product. Of course more time would have benefited me to refine the product therefore this can be worked on for future projects. In addition my performance for informing the stakeholders of every step of the project I felt has also been of a good standard. My reasons for this would be that I have made sure that each stakeholder knew what was occurring and when but also I was able to inform the stakeholders of what was occurring at each stage but also to show how their comments were taken into account by proving evidence. The only drawback would have been that other ways of communicating should have been used as opposed to only emails as it was once discussed that letters may be an option but this action was never taken. Fortunately the stakeholders still accepted emails as a quick and easy way of communicating to each other. The skills which I have gained in the progression of the product would have been the ability to use flash. This is because as an ICT student I have more knowledge of how to use flash but through this process my skills in using flash has progressed and I have learnt more of the tools which were involved. This would include the ability to make buttons, to link pages and the use of animation throughout the product. To also be able to work to strict deadlines; this is because in this project deadlines were crucial and if one part of project went over on time that would affect all of the other stages in the making of the final product. Therefore to have been able to have for example a project diary was crucial and very helpful into the making the product. This is because it was a guide to know when every section was to be complete and I tried very hard to ensure that each deadline was kept which is a good skill to have gained. Finally in the making of the product I have been accessing my performance into the creation of it and I feel that with the positive feedback from the stakeholders this is able to reflect my performance to show that in the creation of the London Attractions product I had a positive performance.

TAMARA CARBY