Many interactive media projects are commissioned; meaning a client in need of a certain product appoints a media company to do the work. This product could be anything from a website or intranet or even a multimedia presentation cd-rom / DVD. An example is the drinks giant Coca Cola, and its interactive website based on the “The Happiness Factory” advertising campaign.
The supplier is usually given the job after putting in a bid, including the cost of the project and being compared with other media companies and giving a more thorough pitch as to what the company is looking to create, this is not necessarily the most cheapest pitch, but the one that incorporates what the company is looking for.
Let’s look into this process in more detail.
The media supplier is typically invited to present their pitch after being short listed by the organisation who is commissioning the product. Short listed suppliers are handed a brief as to what they have been asked to create and must write a formal response back to the company.
In this case, to make a simple website that has a range of small games involving the process of how Coca-Cola is produced, this focuses on the fun atmosphere that the employers of Coca-Cola experience in the Happiness Factory and tries to convey this to the audience.
Upon receiving the brief the supplier assigns a project manager to analyse the brief, liaise with the client over any questions or clarifications. This includes determining what age group the client intends the media to be targeted towards and really get a feel for they want the product to represent.
The project manager will then gather a team to brainstorm ideas as to the brief they were given, this usually includes a designer, and a developer. A content developer may also be included. Between them will come up with ideas in response to the brief. They will also be responsible to allocate the budget on the project. It is written up in colour and printed in high quality and sent to the company professionally bound to make a good impression.
The predicted cost of the total product is established by the product manager, individually asking each member of the production team, from designers to developers, how many hours it will take to do their part in the making of the product, then their hourly wage is multiplied by how many hours they predicted the project will take, this gives them a predicted cost for the project.
The company will have an information architect, someone who analyses content that is going to be included in the product and works out a way of structuring it, so that it is easy for users to navigate around. This is usually set up like an organisation chart, called a content map (or site map for website projects). Depending on how much content there is for the product, the Information Architect may need to create a classification system for the content, using metadata. They will then be able to develop a wireframe diagram displaying where different elements of content, navigation and other functionality should be displayed on-screen. This would show what is on the main web page, buttons leading to other parts of the site (the games), links to the main Coca Cola website and other important information.
After extensive research, including market trends looking into the target audience and marketing activity, the Content Strategist will come up with a set of Publishing Guidelines. These are clearly written instructions which will specify the writing style – among other things, that should be used for the products text content, the aim of these guidelines are to make sure all text for the product is presented and communicated to it’s audience in a way they are able to understand.
Once the publishing guidelines have been drafted, the supplier can begin to look into writing up a functional specification. This is usually left to the Producer, or Information Architect and requires a definitive attention to detail. The document is a guide as to what the product needs to do, covering every eventuality to which the system needs to cater for, and covers basics such as having a handle to be easily picked up, to more technical applications including everything that can happen in the product ie; user interactions, behind-the-scenes processes, error messages etc. Fortunately this is usually based on the outcomes of the business analysis carried out by the company prior to this. While predominately being a text heavy document the functional specification may include many annotated illustrations and diagrams about the product.
Once all of the above has been completed, the supplier can begin planning the visual and textual content to be used in the product design. The visual design is achieved by using a graphics software package to create screen mock-ups of the product; they will follow the brand guidelines of the company if they have any, and work towards their existing corporate identity. These visuals will show how the product will appear to users, and show the layout, colours, typography, and branding that will be used. This can be shown to the company and feedback can be used to alter the design until it meets the criteria the company has laid out.
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