1. PROJECT LOG MOLLY ATKINSON

2. 10/09 Today, I got to grips with the course outline, which included creating the relevant folders for all my future publications, and creating documents such as my sources table and generating my project log. I then also started to produce my initial plan. I will finish this at home for next lesson.

3. 13/09/12 Today, I continued to work on my initial plan, finishing it in the lesson. Then I copied a version of my plan onto another sheet in the same document and made it my on- going plan. I then started to create my database, however, this was done at the end of the lesson and so I didn’t get much done.

4. 24/09 Today I continued to create my database from last lesson, however, I ran into some difficulty when I imported my data as not all of it imported. However, I then adjusted my import criteria to allow for more characters it imported all of my data. I then researched new pieces of data to import and then input these into the database. I also put the sources of the information into my sources table.

5. 27/09 Following on from last lesson, today I started to develop my data entry form, and ended up acquiring new skills such as adding buttons into the data entry form. I ended up producing this rather quickly and so I was able to finish the form in the lesson. In order to make the Form more user friendly, I did some research over the internet in order to learn how to introduce buttons to the form and how to work the software better for design purposes. I also researched 3 new animals to put into my database

6. 08/10 Today I started working on a new part of the project, the membership fees. Initially it was challenging to get my head around how a cash flow spreadsheet works, however, after carefully reviewing the data I was able to understand what to do and was able to start building the spread sheet. To do this I made a skeleton spread sheet without any data in order to figure out what calculations I would need to include and what formula’s I would need to manipulate.

7. 11/10/12 In todays lesson, I Finished my spread sheet, with the total profit/loss value being +£1. I then started to create a PowerPoint detailing how I made the spread sheet and why I did everything I did. This was quite challenging as I had to keep checking the data to insure that it was correct and this meant I kept having to go back and change all of the formula’s slightly in order to manipulate them to give me the right results

8. 22/10 In todays lesson, I continued to work on my spreadsheet, and spent most of today’s lesson getting the balance as close to zero as I possibly could. After I got the balance down to £1, I started to include conditional formatting to make the spreadsheet more user friendly and easier to operate. I also finished working on my PowerPoint which details how I made spread sheet and the rational behind my uses of the formula and formatting

9. 12/11/12 In todays lesson I started working on my reports. I spent a lot of my time today trying to refine my searches down so that they would only return 5-15 results. I had to spend a lot of time on this so this took up most of my lesson. I then had to start considering what I wanted my corporate Identity and so I had little time to actually start refining the reports to make them presentable. I also found working in access as a presentation software really hard as it is hard to create the same effects that can be found in other programs such as publisher

10. 15/11/12 Today I spent the lesson working on the aesthetic side of my reports and making sure that they all looked as similar as possibly so that they were all in line with my brand. However, I found it hard to make them look as professional as I would like because I found it hard to manipulate the software to produce the effect that I would have liked.

11. 29/11/12 Today I started the designing of my membership card. I decided that I wanted it to be really vibrant and interesting to the eye, as it was going to be used by a younger audience who are more drawn to colour. I spent a lot of time fiddling with the layout this lesson and so I will need next lesson to work on the content. I found doing this piece of work relatively easy as the publisher software is very user friendly and so it was easy to manipulate to make it do what I wanted. However, I spent a lot of time trying to make it as professional as possible to make up for my reports, which I did not feel were up to the same standard that I would like my publications to be.

12. 10/12/12 Today I finished working on my membership card and started working on making sure that I had all of my work up to this point completed to a high standard. I will continue to do this next lesson to improve the quality of my designs. Overall I am happy with how my membership card turned out as I feel that it is appropriate for my target audience as it has fun and vibrant colours, along with meeting the SOB by including all of the data required for the publication

13. 13/12/12 In todays lesson I finished perfecting my Membership card and then I spent the lesson organising my work ready to hand in for a mid course check up. After the lesson I decided that I would like to re-visit my corporate identity in the next lesson because I do not feel that the work I have produced up to this point is up to the best standard.

14. 7/1/13 In today’s lesson I started work on my leaflet by doing some research into what other similar leaflets look like so that I could evaluate from this what I needed to include in my own work. I then started work on the basic layout of my leaflet so that next lesson I would know what information I would need to input along with what images should be included.

15. 10/1/13 In today’s lesson I filled in the information in my leaflet, and then went on to start forking on the aesthetic aspect of the publication. This again took me along time as I had to match it to my membership card. However, I found it hard to use the background image that I had used in my membership card and so I used a textured background instead.

16. 21/1/13 After having to alter the background of my leaflet last week, I decided to go back this week and change the design of my membership card so that it would create a more consistent set of publications. This took me longer than I expected as I had grouped all of the individual items in the membership card together and it took a long time to ungroup them and then put them back the way they were with a different background

17. 24/1/13 In today’s lesson I started work on my final publication, the pack folder. I found designing the folder relatively easy as all I did was copy the design from my other publications onto this one. I had trouble however, in creating a template to put this design into as I had to get the pages into the right order so that when I printed them double sided they would print the right way and I had to design my own flap to hold the other publications

18. 4/2/13 In todays Lesson I started work on my presentation. It took me a while to figure out what I needed to in speaker notes, but once I got started I worked really quickly and finished in the lesson

19. 7/2/13 In todays lesson I kept making improvements to my publications including inserting coloured backgrounds to my text boxes to make them easier to read and changing some of the font, based on feedback given to me by my second project buddy. I also found that some of the animals that I had used in my draft of my leaflet weren’t in my reports, which was specified in the SPB, so I went back and changed this.

20. 12/2/13 Today I started to write my end of project review. I found it quite hard at first because I didn’t know how to start it off and when I started reviewing my publications I didn’t know what to say. However, once I got into it I found it got progressively easier and will continue to work on this next lesson

21. 28/2/13 Today I finished working on my end of project review up until the portfolio, which I will write after t has been completed. I then spent the rest of the lesson organising my files ready to put them into me eportfolio.

22. 11/3/13 In todays lesson I started work on my portfolio. Is started by creating a mind map in Matchware, and then started to create the opening paragraphs and attaching my files to the various pages. The rest of my eportfolio and my project log will be completed outside of lesson time.