Category: Blog

I had the opportunity to engage and take part in Deakin University’s Freelancing Hub internship unit, in Communication and Creative Arts (ACC700) from February to May 2017. This was not a mere internship unit which bared credit, also was a great experience in both academics and professional development.

In relation with the project Tunstall Square, this blog post will be addressing the areas of Overview of the specifics of my part in the project,Examples of my input and creations and what part they played and How it was planned and delivered.

I was able to work with an amazing team on the project Tunstall Square, a shopping center situated in the Manningham neighborhood. It is one of the largest strip shops in the area. The objective of the project was to create a communication plan which supported the following;

• Create Tunstall as a holistic health center
• New signage approach / stress free car parking signage
• Social Media approach / content creation for social media
• Encouragement of younger demographics
• Creation of event’s approach with a wide variety, that can incorporate children

(source : tunstallsquareshops.com.au)

Overview of the specifics of my part in the project

The main objective of the project was to deliver a communication plan to client. The requirements were gathered during the first client meeting at the initiation of the project, on week one. Then a client brief was created to understand the problems and in order to create solutions. The project’s deliverable were divided in to specific areas, in relation with the client’s requirements. Following are the areas the project gave attention to;

• Creative approach (Signage and Stress Free Car park Signage)
• Events and Competitions
• Social Media approach /Content Creation for social media and prototyping
• Cost and budgeting

The areas which I directly got involved was the creative approach to signage, stress free car park signage and creation of content for social media approach.

Creative Signage Approach

In this project my role was to act as a creative consultant. The objective was to develop a creative and feasible approach of signage for the Tunstall Square shopping center. Firstly a research was carried out to understand the demographics of the area. Then clients requirements were incorporated with the solution. As a result  I was able to develop a solution which caters clients needs in both signage and stress free car parking signage.

Social Media Content Creation (Video Production)

Creating new content for the social media approach was one of the major tasks in the project.  I carried out the pre-production of the video capturing and post production of the Tunstall Fresh (a fruit and vegetable shop at Tunstall Square) promotional video.

Except for the above areas, I was involved in the social media approach in creation of the prototypes of each social media platform which was selected for the project’s deliverable.

Examples of my input and creations and what part they played

Signage Approach

In the signage approach, after carrying out a research simultaneously with the demo-graphical research a solution was created. It was to suggest a signage approach which fulfills the clients needs. Due to the fact the location attracts seniors of the community, but at the same time the client’s need included, attraction of younger crowds to the shopping center  two different approaches of signage were introduced.

Perspective prototypes were created for both traditional and digital approach, for documentation and presentation purposes. The implementation locations of the signage was taken into consideration while this process was carried out. Following are the prototypes created for the both signage approaches and the appointed installation locations of each type.

Traditional Approach

PROTOTYPES

Installation locations

The prototypes were designed to provide the client the idea of how the approach will look like in real life. Perspective views of the selected traditional approach (Pylon signs) were used to develop the prototypes. Installation locations were appointed after considering the demographics and foot and vehicle traffic around the shopping center. The installation locations are marked by red squares.

Digital Approach

Digital approach was developed, as it would aid to attract younger community to the shopping center. Following are the prototypes and installation locations.

Prototypes

Installation locations

As a recommendation, a mixed approach of signage was suggested for our client in appointed locations considering the traffic and the crowd density of the shopping center.

Car Park Signage

The stress free car park signs were another area which I was involved in. As a solution I suggested to incorporate art work on car park spaces. The idea was to incorporate the communities such as schools, sport clubs and other community clubs to create and draw artwork at car park spaces. This can be also incorporated with areas such as events, competitions and promotions. The following is an image which represents the idea.

(source :  kaboom.news)

(source :  kaboom.news)

Comparison view

 

This was an area which client showed much excitement during our second client meeting and at the final presentation. The client mentioned us that the organization wishes to put this idea in to practice in the future.

Social Media Content Creation

One of the client’s requirements were to revamp and create content for their social media sites (Facebook and Instagram). Production of promotional videos for Facebook was carried out. Production included pre-production and post production phases. Pre-production was carried out at Tunstall Square. The video which I produced is for one of the shops at Tunstall Square. It was Tunstall Fresh, a fruit and vegetable shop.  The following is the outcome of the production.

This video was to showcase the idea of content which can be used in social media platforms such as Facebook to promote shops and services available at Tunstall Square shopping center. These videos can also be used to convey the core values of Tunstall Square.

Few other promotional clips were created by another team member which I was involved in capturing content (Pre-production).

How it was planned and delivered

The planing was carried out on the first week of the project. Our project manager helped us to create a project planner. It was divided in to areas in relation with the weeks which we have allocated for the project. The areas were as follows;

• Client Brief
• Research
• Analysis
• Design
• Development
• Implementation

The first phase, client brief was created with the team members to understand the requirements of the client and the project. It was carried out in during the first week after meeting the client in person.

After client brief was created, as a team we separated areas of our specializations to carry out the objectives of the project. The following image represents the areas and tasks which had to be carried out.

After appointing the tasks to team members, I was given the tasks in the area of Signage and Video production.

During the research phase of the project, I carried out research on different approaches on signage and video ideas for social media. During this phase of the project I was working closely with the team members who were carrying out their own research in demographics and social media. As a result documentations were created on creative signage approaches and video productions. Later it evolved to a presentation which each week we presented to our project manager to receive feedback for changes and enhancements.

The phases of design and development were carried out simultaneously. As a result I was able to deliver a prototype of perspectives of signage approach in both traditional and digital. During the same time story boards were created for video production which was carried out in the development phase.

As a result, our team and myself was able to deliver number of promotional video content. These content were updated and enhanced with the feedback received from our project manager and other stake holders.

All the above tasks and planning the phases were made easy with Microsoft office 365’s online planner application. It helped the team to share, communicated and manage tasks. It was also connected with our SharePoint folders as it supported the clarity of the tasks which were carried out.

As a result in combination of all of the above factors, as a group and also as an individual, was able to deliver the requirements of the project effectively and efficiently. The idea of planning and phasing the project made the process easier. The constant feedback and support from our project manager aided to make the project a success. The final presentation was delivered to our client and few other stake holders on the final week of the project. It was a successful presentation session. Great feedback was received from the client and other stake holders which were present at the presentation.

 Group picture with Emma Simpfendorfer (Project Manager) and Supervisor of Freelancing Hub and Irene Goonan (Tunstall Square Representative/Client)

 A selfie with the client after presentation.

Team members (minus Matt Haycroft)

Overall it was an amazing experience, which was not only educational, also professionally enhancing.  Special thanks go to our client for giving us the opportunity to take part and engage with the project and our project manager for providing us continuous support and guidance through out the internship period to make the project a success.