Brief Four: Communication

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Website Two: Final outcome

Here are a number of screen shots from our final outcome of website two:

Male skin

Female skin

Website One: Final Outcome

Here are a number of screen shots from our final outcome of website one:

Cardboard skin

Fabric skin

Website Two: Further Development

At this point we have our page layout designed in photoshop, a basic template to include all the site information and a huge mass of photographed hands. Now is the time to complete and build this idea.

Web page designs

Here are the final main website pages. The first image is of the front end/ home page where you are given the option of male or female hands. We decided to label these options 'Ladies and Gentlemen' as this is a phrase that is often used to introduce something. It is also the most polite and universally recognized way to label these options.

The second image is that of the main pages within the website, using the card template to present all important information and allowing the user to interact with the card using the onscreen hands through keyboard navigation.

Website page designs

Using the basic landscape template, each member of our group was allocated with a specific website page/ link.

Using creative typography we all designed a title page for each link and used the same typographic imagery throughout the following pages to create a sense of consistency. To help the user and to retain the consistency of the website we color coded each subject.

Here are the final pages.

Site Map

As stated earlier we decided to create a unique site map for this website. her is the final, beautifully constructed site map using all the final page designs...

Website Two: Theory

Website One: Further development

THE BIG RISK:

The idea of using raw materials came with a huge risk. The construction of every single part of the website was very time consuming, let alone having to do it using two different materials. This process was extremely time consuming and left us little time to actually build the fully interactive website. As well as having the second website in the back of our minds this was a very stressful time, not knowing how successful the concept was eventually become!

Here are the final cardboard buildings and the various assets (such as clouds and birds) that will be animated on screen. During the construction of these pieces we were all fairly confident that this idea would work successfully.

Here are the final material buildings and the various assets (such as clouds and birds) that will be animated on screen. During the construction of these pieces we had no idea how successful this would be as it became increasingly difficult to construct by hand and visualize the final outcome.

OK, now that we have constructed all of the cardboard and material assets now is the time to put them all together and see how successful each concept is... fingers crossed!!!

Cardboard skin:

Fabric skin:

After building both concepts in photoshop we were very pleased with the outcome of both website, particularly the material website that we were all quite unsure about.

Hooray for 'hand made' things - they just look better!!!

Website one: Site map and Theory

Site map:

When considering the site map for this website I discovered that instead of it appearing like a bog standard site map with straight lines branching of from each page, this could become a lot more interesting. The navigation of this concept allows the user to move left and right and up and down; with this in mind I realized that our site map would appear circular as each page is ultimately on a continuous circular loop. Here is a quick example of what our site map could look like:

Theory:

With this idea in mind we thought it would be benificial to research some existing circle theories in the hope to find something that could inspire our work.

1.	Circle Theory
	Originates from Rutgers Camden. States that men are fixated on certain things because of their roundness. This encompasses, breasts, all manner of sport balls, bald heads, streetlights. The circle theory states that men in history and entertainment who want to dominate the world have this desire because it is round. (Mo' Urban Dictionary: Ridonkulous Street Slang Defined)

2. The Theory Circle: A Tool for Learning and for Practice

Abstract

Social workers have grappled for many years now with the tension between theory and practice. The struggle may be to bridge a perceived gap between the academic knowledge base of social work and the complex realities of practice. Equally, it may be to move from common-sense interpretations of human need and professional responses, towards a more informed and accountable approach to practice. In recognition of the challenges faced by social work academics, practitioners and students, in relation to applying theory to practice, two of the authors of this paper developed a model, which aimed to facilitate productive discussions between practice teachers and students about the nature of theory and its link to practice. In addition, the model was designed to promote partnership approaches where service users participate fully in identifying their own issues and in shaping the services they receive. This paper describes the model - The Theory Circle - and reflects upon its effectiveness, based on the views of 19 practice teachers from central Scotland. The findings suggest that the pictorial model is one that practice teachers and students find accessible and valuable; it helps them to build a theoretical understanding of service users' situations and to work alongside service users to agree the most appropriate methods of intervention.

Keywords: Practice Learning; Theory; Practice; Integration; Process; Partnership

(Published in: Social Work Education, Volume 27, Issue 1 February 2008 , pages 70 - 83)