Evaluation

Jess Stanton

Constraints:

When first creating an idea about what I would create for this project I decided to include Photography as this is an area where I feel comfortable and somewhere which would allow me to experiment with the technique and expand my skills. Working to a brief and with a client aided this process and made me understand measure I need to take and factors to consider when photographing for a client which I may not normally need to think about.

There were many constraints within this project, some of which I anticipated. As the brief written by the client suggested I used social media as the base to the project with elements of photography I had to take into account the legal constraints involving fonts and images when using them in social media. Although the profile is not online as of yet, any material I have created will go to the client and so at any point could end up online, meaning from the start all images, fonts and text had to either be my own or copyright free. The fonts, sourced from Dafont.com were all 100% free as well as all the image which appear on the social media which were taken by me. When taking the images for the client, I needed to use models who were having their hair cut to show the client and her business in action. A constraint here was that any model who may have been under 18 would have had to have permission from a parent or guardian and themself before I could photograph them – something which could have proved a constraint if they had turned up to the shoot without this permission.

Financial constraints were also something I had to take into consideration however quickly proved not an issue. When thinking through the financial aspects of this project I was careful to ensure any materials I would use would either be my own or property of the college’s so that I would not have to find money to fund any equipment I did need. Camera equipment was all my own, the studio I I used for product shots was the college’s as were programs I used such as Photoshop. One benefit to the client’s business was that it was located close by, meaning there would be no travel costs on this part.

Time Management:

At first when I began planning this project I wanted to ensure I had enough to do to fill the three weeks of production time however didn’t want to over plan and end up with a project which would take more time to create ending me up with a half finished project. To prevent this from happening I created a production schdeule, a day by day plan of what each lesson would have me doing as I worked towards completing the project. To ensure I handled my time management effecitvely, I planned out what tasks I would carry out day by day giving myself the most time consuming work on a Monday when i had a full day of production. This worked well as when I had comlpeted some production I was able to see how long certain aspects took to produce which then gave me a rough idea of how much time to leave myself to complete pieces which were similar, using my time usefully.

During this project the only one working on production was myself, meaning I didn’t have to consult with anyone else about production and i had full control of every aspect meaning I knew how up to date I was at all times and there was no confusion or miss communication at any point. The client however was the only other person who I needed contact with during the project. I did keep in contact with the client, emailing her whenever I would want her feedback on what I was producing with an email.

I believe I have met the requirements of the brief producing an “offline” Facebook page for my business, including images of your choice to promote business products and services.” I achieved this and as well as making the Facebook page I also had time to produce mock up posts of what posts promoting products would look like.From doing this project I have learnt that when working with a client it is important to have communication when producing work. This could be from confirming what the client would like to avoid misinterpretation or instead for constant feedback of whether the client is satisfied and you yourself are on track with the project.

Feedback:

Working on this project as given me skills to use when working with client’s in the future including how to manage the work load when I am the only one working on the project, as well as how to not judge my work from a subjective point of view but ensuring that it fit’s the client’s requirements.

From feedback I have received the overall perception is that the mock ups look realistic and are a reliable representation of what the hair studio’s profile would look like if set up. Although this was the case and I agree with the Facebook page mock up being realistic, I believe I could have don’t more to make the image posts realistic. The text font on the post, although the same font as the one used online doesn’t look all that similar similar to the font online. It is little details like this that I believe if perfected would allow every aspect of the posts to come together and look all the more realistic.

Comments on the photography were all positive, saying how the images of the image posts for the product shots looked professional and added information to the page which wasn’t just written down. This shows how my aim to add information to the page through images was achieved and proves images are effective on a social media page as they prove popular with inquisitive customers.

Having worked on this project I now feel more confident in working with clients. Although having previous experience with them, these have only been producing images for them unlike this time which has required more complex production. Working with client’s has enabled me to stick to a work schedule and produce work to deadlines and work to a brief and it’s requirements, satisfying the client.

Final Product Example

Final Product Example