The InDesign Process and Desicion Making

The comments left on my survey were what I used to amend my layouts and some tasks. Nothing was changed for my front cover, but after printing the front page I would change the text to be bigger or bolder if possible as it looks quite fragile, and as it's the cover it ideally needs a bigger impact.

The first spread was changed slightly, removing the second question and replacing it was an explanation about what it means to be significant and a few examples. The reason for this was that one person left a comment that a lot of children aged 5 would not understand. Another suggestion was that some of the white text is readable, and some was not, so to change some text from white to black. 

The second spread has changed quite dramatically, as I decided that each spread would be equal to two pages, and with a fold in the page, any text that crossed the 'fold' would be lost when printed. I also had more information than I originally thought and had to make room, this was the reason for the first half being changed to landscape, as I don't for see it being a problem with the children. 

One area I felt that had not been covered much was areas for writing, I therefore decided that I would include another small task, asking three questions about each significant person after having read information about them. The questions daily ask why they think each significant person's contributions were important to society, as I feel it is important to develop opinions at an early age, and also to take information and potentially understand its importance within context of their world around them. The original map is still included as a small, lighthearted task. Looking back on this idea now, it may have been good to leave the map uncoloured so that it was left as a colouring task also.

The back cover remains very similar, but I have added both logos to the back as well as the front as there was not much else to include. The text gives a small explanation as to the content of the e-activity book, why it has been made, and who organised it. I've also included at the bottom that there is a welsh version available, and vice versa on the English version.  

Overall, I am happy with the outcome of the project. I feel if I had the time again I may have included another hand drawn, or personally designed task, rather than including as much writing. 

Christmas Break; User Testing

Survey Monkey

The next step in the project for me after creating a rough layout of the e-book in illustrator, was user testing. This was the most ideal time as it allows the opportunity to adapt to any suggestions or from feedback. 

Below are images of the questions and options created for my survey. When thinking of the questions I wanted them to include any doubts I may have had or comments from what peers have already said. It also helps that other people who are around or who have young children may have a different perspective. 

I have sent the survey out to a few friends, family and peers, some who will have knowledge or experience with children, and a few unrelated to the topic. This should give an idea of perspectives from insiders and outsiders, and I will hopefully receive data from about 10 people. 

The results

The feedback I received was very useful, especially the comments. It was mainly the comments that I used to adapt the layouts I had as this was most helpful. Here's a sample of the most helpful comments: 

"Place pics of some of the people featured in the book on the cover. Choose a different bolder font, and/or place in a light coloured block and make font a darker colour." 

"Really good! Like the idea of the picture frames for faces. Looks inviting." 

"The use of lined sections will help children maintain organised answers" 

"Defining words like 'significant' would be useful as it's quite a challenging word for a 5year old. Instead of saying guess who they are and writing. Could they maybe fill in the blanks (i.e Q--E-N)? Also first question is for British and World history, the second is only for British- 5-7yo might not notice this if not made obvious (in bold)" 

"Space is used well and text clear to understand and enough space for answers. The white text needs to stand out more, change font to a bolder one, try different colour or in a coloured block." 

"Characters at the bottom of each paragraph is a very good idea- very visual for the young learners. Task 2s instructions are slightly complicated. Use more child friendly language. For example..after reading your expert information Pretend you are that person and act like you think they would act, see if your group can guess who you are!" 

"The white text needs to stand out more, change font to a bolder one, try different colour or in a coloured block." 

"Some tasks are too similar" 

"not so much for visual learners" 

"not many visuals" 

Checking the Welsh Language Version

As the welsh language can be fairly confusing with 'mutations' and such, I decided it was best to visit an old teacher to check the suitability and Grammar. When she checked the text, I was sent the amended version via email. 

Research and Bibliography;

Research;
Below are the body's of text that I have found through research, that will be used to extract facts into the e-book. The amount of text that'll be needed will be significantly less than is currently available for each person, also not all of the text is relevant or may need re-frasing to be child friendly. 

Captain James Cook  (1728 - 1779)

Cook was an 18th century explorer and navigator whose achievements in mapping the Pacific, New Zealand and Australia radically changed western perceptions of world geography. As one of the very few men in the 18th century navy to rise through the ranks, Cook was particularly sympathetic to the needs of ordinary sailors.

James Cook was born on 27 October 1728 in a small village near Middlesbrough in Yorkshire. His father was a farm worker. At the age of 17, Cook moved to the coast, settling in Whitby and finding work with a coal merchant. In 1755, Cook enlisted in the Royal Navy, serving in North America where he learnt to survey and chart coastal waters.

In 1769, the planet Venus was due to pass in front of the Sun, a rare event visible only in the southern hemisphere. The British government decided to send an expedition to observe the phenomenon. A more secret motive was to search for the fabled southern continent. Cook was chosen as commander of the Whitby-built HMS Endeavour. Those on board included astronomer Charles Green and botanist Joseph Banks.

Endeavour arrived in Tahiti in April 1769 where Green was able to observe the transit of Venus. Endeavour continued on to New Zealand, and then sailed along the length of Australia's eastern coast, which had never before been seen by Europeans. Cook claimed it for Britain and named it New South Wales. Cook and his crew then returned home, arriving in July 1771.

In 1772, not satisfied by his previous exploits, Cook set out on a second voyage to look for the southern continent. His two ships sailed close to the Antarctic coast but were forced to turn back by the cold. They then visited New Zealand and Tahiti, returning to England in 1775.

Cook's third voyage was to find the North-West Passage that was believed to link the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Unable to find the fabled route, Cook took his two ships south and explored the island of Hawaii. Relations with the islanders were soured after the theft of a ship's boat. On 14 February Cook tried to take the local leader hostage. There was a scuffle and Cook was stabbed and killed.

Emmeline Pankhurst (1858 - 1928)

Pankhurst was a leading British women's rights activist, who led the movement to win the right for women to vote.

Emmeline Goulden was born on 14 July 1858 in Manchester into a family with a tradition of radical politics. In 1879, she married Richard Pankhurst, a lawyer and supporter of the women's suffrage movement. He was the author of the Married Women's Property Acts of 1870 and 1882, which allowed women to keep earnings or property acquired before and after marriage. His death in 1898 was a great shock to Emmeline.

In 1889, Emmeline founded the Women's Franchise League, which fought to allow married women to vote in local elections. In October 1903, she helped found the more militant Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) - an organisation that gained much notoriety for its activities and whose members were the first to be christened 'suffragettes'. Emmeline's daughters Christabel and Sylvia were both active in the cause. British politicians, press and public were astonished by the demonstrations, window smashing, arson and hunger strikes of the suffragettes. In 1913, WSPU member Emily Davison was killed when she threw herself under the king's horse at the Derby as a protest at the government's continued failure to grant women the right to vote.

Like many suffragettes, Emmeline was arrested on numerous occasions over the next few years and went on hunger strike herself, resulting in violent force-feeding. In 1913, in response to the wave of hunger strikes, the government passed what became known as the 'Cat and Mouse' Act. Hunger striking prisoners were released until they grew strong again, and then re-arrested.

This period of militancy was ended abruptly on the outbreak of war in 1914, when Emmeline turned her energies to supporting the war effort. In 1918, the Representation of the People Act gave voting rights to women over 30. Emmeline died on 14 June 1928, shortly after women were granted equal voting rights with men (at 21).

Aneurin Bevan   (1897 - 1960) 

Aneurin Bevan was one of the most important ministers of the post-war Labour government and the chief architect of the National Health Service.

Aneurin Bevan was born on 15 November 1897 in Tredegar in Wales. His father was a miner and the poor working class family in which Bevan grew up gave him first-hand experience of the problems of poverty and disease.

Bevan left school at 13 and began working in a local colliery. He became a trades union activist and won a scholarship to study in London. It was during this period that he became convinced by the ideas of socialism. During the 1926 General Strike, Bevan emerged as one of the leaders of the South Wales miners. In 1929, Bevan was elected as the Labour member of parliament for Ebbw Vale. In 1934 he married another Labour MP, Jennie Lee.

During World War Two, Bevan was one of the leaders of the left in the House of Commons. After the landslide Labour victory in the 1945 general election, Bevan was appointed minister of health, responsible for establishing the National Health Service. On 5 July 1948, the government took over responsibility for all medical services and there was free diagnosis and treatment for all.

In 1951, Bevan was moved to become minister of labour. Shortly afterwards he resigned from the government in protest at the introduction of prescription charges for dental care and spectacles. Bevan led the left wing of the Labour Party, known as the 'Bevanites', for the next five years. In 1955, he stood as one of the candidates for party leader but was defeated by Hugh Gaitskell. He agreed to serve as shadow foreign secretary under Gaitskell.

In 1959, Bevan was elected deputy leader of the Labour Party, although he was already suffering from terminal cancer. He died on 6 July 1960.

Bibliography for all areas of the project;

BBC (2014) Emmeline Pankhurst (1858 - 1928) [Online] Available from:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/pankhurst_emmeline.shtml [Accessed 26th October 2016]

BBC (2014) Captain James Cook (1728 - 1779) [Online] Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/cook_captain_james.shtml [Accessed 26th October 2016]

BBC (2014) Aneurin Bevan (1897 - 1960) [Online] Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/bevan_aneurin.shtml [Accessed 26th October 2016]

Northern Ireland Curriculum (2007) Active Learning and Teaching Methods for Key Stages 1&2. [Online] Available from: http://www.nicurriculum.org.uk/docs/key_stages_1_and_2/altm-ks12.pdf [Accessed 8^th December 2016]

The National Archives (2016) Education Sessions and Resources.  [Online] Available from: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/sessions-and-resources/?key-stage=ks1 [Accessed 8^th December 2016]

BBC Bitesize (2016) KS1 History. [Online] Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/subjects/zkqmhyc [Accessed 8th December 2016]

BBC (2014) Schools KS1 History. [Online] Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/teachers/keystage_1/topics/history.shtml [Accessed 8^th December 2016]

BBC (2014) Primary History- Famous People, Florence Nightingale. [Online] Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/famouspeople/florence_nightingale/ [Accessed 8^th December 2016]

Week 9; Moving Onto Screen

Once the elements were scanned into photoshop, I used the polygonal lasso tool to crop around the elements  or remove any other elements, such as the inside of the frames. 

At this stage would be the best time to begin user testing. This layout has been done in Illustrator because I already knew how to use this roughly. Ill later be moving onto InDesign to use the correct page layouts and sizes. 

Idea 1: The location of the little caricatures. 

Idea 2: The location of the caricatures. 
I believe the use of the characters twice is the better version as the children will become more familiar with the faces with repetitions. The Characters also help on spread 2 with their information paragraphs as it is clear who the information is referring to.  

Week 9; The Process

The illustrations coloured with watercolour paint, to scan and edit in PhotoShop:

These illustrations are based off the rough sketches, and to ensure that their costume and style are best portrayed, I illustrated them from observation of several photographs on the internet. 

One problem that occurred during the digital process was finding photographs from reliable sources that fit and are to scale within the frames. Next time I would do the process differently, starting by finding the images that I would be using, seeing the shapes of the photos, and how much of the shoulders would be needed in order to look more convincing. 

The Map: 
The purpose of the map is just a little fun at the end of the activity sheet. I think that the final aesthetic of the map is nice as it has a historical feel, but its downfall is that is not a real representation of London. The map is not to scale, the buildings are not in the correct location or have been completely imagined to fill a space. 

The scroll and Pin: 
These have no significant meaning, they are simply a part of the design and theme. The piece of parchment is for Captain J.C, and the pin is for Emmeline Pankhurts. There is also a layout piece for Aneirin Bevan which is a scanned piece of graph paper, as this would best portray the idea of type machiens and hospitals.  

Week 7; Typography Research and considerations

Typography for my theme and KS1; 

Week 7; Grids Layout Example

Grids

I did not have the time to fill in the whole spread with text, but I have created a sophisticated layout that was inspired by different elements from the example sheets. This sort of layout is aimed for an older, more conservative audience, with a  crisp finish with everything in boxes. 

If I were aiming for a younger audience, for example children, I would make more interesting shapes and perhaps make the text follow the lines of those shapes. The backgrounds would be colourful with lots if imagery, diagrams and illustrations.