AO1 Communication Comparison

Collect two types of documents from each of three organisations and write a report describing and comparing the collected documents.

Businesses use many different types of documents to communicate with customers and visitors. These could include letters, advertisements in newspapers and magazines, brochures or newsletters, information sheets, leaflets, newsletters, promotional flyers and websites.

Part A
You should collect two different documents from each of three different businesses. For example you may collect a promotional leaflet from an estate agent and then visit their website.

When you have decided what type of organisation you will gather documents from check with your teacher that this is suitable.

Part B
Study the documents carefully and then write a report that describes and compares the documents.

You may choose the format of your report but you should try to make sure that it is well structured with headings and sub-headings to make it easy to follow. You also need to check your work carefully so that there are as few spelling, punctuation and grammar errors as possible.

Possible report heading for each document reviewed
Introduction

• How is each document laid out?

Layout

• How is the document set out?
• Is it set out well?
• What improvements could be made?

Purpose & Audience

• What is the purpose of the document?
• How well does the document meet its purpose?

House Style

• What is the style of document?
• Is the house style suitable?
• How is this house style demonstrated?
• Is it consistent with the second document you are comparing?

Presentation style

• What is good about the way each document is presented?
• What is bad about the way each document is presented?
• How does the presentation of similar documents compare?

Writing style

• What is good about the way each document is written (the style of language used)?
• What is bad about the way each document is written?
• How does the writing style of similar documents compare?

Improvements

• What improvements could be made to the documents?

For your websites reviews you should include some screenshots to help demonstrate the presentation and house style.

A sample template can be found in appendix 4 and on online learning

AO2 Company Style & Logo Design

This task will prepare you for your document creation, later you will define a company style and create a logo for your record label

Part A - Company Style 
Companies communicate with customers using a consistent style, you will need to define your company style

• What font will you use for standard text?
• What colour will the font be?
• Where will the logo appear on each document?
• What will communication style be? (Formal, informal etc)
• You need to design and style for your record label. Look on online learning to see an example style sheet, you need to create your own

 

Part B - Logo Design 
You need to design a new logo for your new record label.

It should be modern and clear. You will use it on various different documents throughout this project and so you will have to ensure that it adaptable.

Use the design templates on online learning for this task.

 

AO3 Communication Technology Presentation

For this task you need to produce a presentation that will identify any possible communication methods you could use to contact customers and clients. You should also show the technology used to support them

Part A - Planning your presentation 
It is important that you know what you are going to make before you make it.

Plan you presentation on paper stating what you are going to include on each slide and how the slide will be presented.

Below are some of the different topics you should be writing about

Communication Types 

• Written
• Multimedia
• Graphical
• Video
• Audio
• Web-based

Communication Methods

• Paper-Based
• Screen-Based
• SMS (short message service)
• Radio
• Television
• Telephone
• E-mail
• WWW (world wide web)
• RSS feeds (Really Simple Syndication - Rich Site
• Summary)
• bogs (web logs)
• Pod casts
• Virtual learning environments (VLE)
• Real time public information systems

 

Technologies

• Personal Computers
• Touch Screens
• Digital Broadcasting
• DVD (digital video disc)
• Mobile phones
• The Internet
• WAP (wireless application protocol)
• HD (high definition) / blue ray disks
• mobile phones, including 3G phones;
• audio/video compression technologies

 

 

You should be including detail about the technology/communication method, advantages and disadvantages, how they would be helpful to your business.

Your presentation should include evidence of:
Text, graphics, sound, video, animation, transition, hyperlinks (internal and external), use of slide design and master slide templates.
 
Use a design template found through online learning.

Remember your company style and stick to it
 
Part B - Creating Your Presentation 
Create your presentation using Microsoft PowerPoint.

Remember to include slide transitions and custom animation

Your slides should be easy to read which means that the amount of text on screen should be kept to a minimum. Rather than fill the screen with text make use of the Notes Page section which will allow you to add additional information.

One your have completed your presentation print it out in Handouts (2 to a page BLACK & WHITE)
 
Part C- Improving Your Presentation 
Using your printed presentation annotate it (hand written) with ideas on how to improve it.

This can include:

• Page design
• Amount of text on screen
• Order of slides
• Style of language
• The addition or removal of information.

 
Part D - Evaluating Your Presentation;
 
You need to evaluate your presentation stating the following

1. What is the purpose of your presentation?
2. What is good about it, what worked well?
3. What is not so good, what did not work?
4. How well it meets its purpose?
5. What could be improved if you produced it again?
6. How you refined your draft copies to meet the purpose more closely?

 Evaluating Your Performance

You now need to evaluate your performance in this task including the following

1. Were you well organised?
2. What went badly?
3. What you would do differently if you had to do a similar task in future?

Update your commentary and bibliography
Complete the self review and ask your teacher to sign it off

AO4 Create a Questionnaire

You need to create a questionnaire to gain an insight into peoples music preferences.
It should include:

• Name
• Age
• Gender
• Music genre preference
• Favourite artists
• How do they listen to music?
• How do they buy music?
• Any other things you think are relevant?

Remember your company style and stick to it
 
Part A - Planning your Questionnaire 
A key part of the questionnaire planning is deciding what questions you are going to ask. Are you going to have closed or open questions?

Closed questions have the following characteristics:
They give you facts. 

• They are easy to answer.
• They are quick to answer.
• They keep control of the conversation.

Open questions have the following characteristics:

• They ask the respondent to think and reflect.
• They will give you opinions and feelings.
• They hand control of the conversation to the respondent.

Examples
Closed Questions 
Are you male or female?
How old are you? 

Open Questions
What would you do to improve? 
What was your experience of... 

Plan the questions you are going to ask (on paper) and the order in which you will ask them.

Think of user friendly methods that could be used to help the users fill in your questionnaire quickly. The easier you make your questionnaire to fill in the chances are it will be completed more accurately than one with open ended questions.

• Tick Boxes
• Ratings (e.g. rate out of 10….)
• Circle your response etc.

Look at the questionnaire examples on online learning.

Part B - Create Your Questionnaire 
Create your questionnaire using Microsoft Word.

You could get a few test users to complete your questionnaire to give you feedback

Part C - Improve Your Questionnaire 
Once you have received feedback about your questionnaire identify improvements you could make and then make any necessary changes and improvements

Part D - Evaluating Your Questionnaire
 
You need to evaluate your questionnaire stating the following

1. What is the purpose of your questionnaire?
2. What is good about it, what worked well?
3. What is not so good, what did not work?
4. How well it meets its purpose?
5. What could be improved if you produced it again?
6. How you refined your draft copies to meet the purpose more closely?

Part E - Evaluating Your Questionnaire 

You now need to evaluate your performance in this task including the following

1. Were you well organised?
2. What went badly?
3. What you would do differently if you had to do a similar task in future?

 
Update your commentary and bibliography
Complete the self review and ask your teacher to sign it off

 

 

AO5 Create a Letter

Create a letterhead for your record label. You will then need to write a letter to potential artists.

The letter should follow the standard layout for a business letter.

The letter should include:

• A reference to the website (even though you haven't made it yet..) so that the artists can look at your existing bands signed with you.
• Details of who to contact should they wish to sign with your record label.
• You should also reference results from your music survey carried out and enclose the results from your survey.

Access the business letter template on online learning.

Part A - Planning your Letter
You first need to plan the layout and design of your letterhead. You should do this on paper first.

Make it clear where you will have:

• Your company name
• Your logo
• The font you will use
• The website address
• The subject/reference of the letter
• How will you start / end the letter
• You also need to enclose your survey results, presented as graphs

Remember your company style and stick to it.
 
Part B - Create Your Letter
You should now create your planned letter. You should try and make it as close to your design as possible. It does not matter if you do not think it looks right or that you want to make changes as you can update it later.

Yours faithfully is used when you don't know the receiver of the letter at all. (Dear Sir)

Yours sincerely is used when you know the name of the person. (Dear Barry Scott)

Part C - Improve Your Letter
You now have a copy of your letter on the computer, print it out and annotate it with the changes you plan to make.

Part D - Evaluating Your Letter
 
You need to evaluate your letter stating the following

1. What is the purpose of your letter?
2. What is good about it, what worked well?
3. What is not so good, what did not work?
4. How well it meets its purpose?
5. What could be improved if you produced it again?
6. How you refined your draft copies to meet the purpose more closely?

Part E - Evaluating Your Letter
You now need to evaluate your performance in this task including the following

1. Were you well organised?
2. What went badly?
3. What you would do differently if you had to do a similar task in future?

 

Update your commentary and bibliography
Complete the self review and ask your teacher to sign it off

 

 

AO6 Create a CD Case

This task requires you to design and create the artwork for a CD case.

You will have to design a covering booklet and the back of the case that contains the track listings.
 
Part A - Planning your CD Case 
When designing your case you will first need to decide on an artist to use.

You will have to design a four page booklet that includes

1. Your CD cover
2. Information about the album
3. Information about the artist
4. Information about the record label
5. Record label name
6. Address
7. Website address
8. Track listings
9. Remember your company style and stick to it.

 
Part B - Create Your CD Case 
To create your CD case you will use Microsoft Publisher.

Use the CD templates on online learning.

You should get a few test users to give your feedback about the design/content of your brochure to get you ideas on how to improve it.

Part C - Improve Your CD Case 
Once you have received feedback about your CD Case identify improvements you could make and then make any necessary changes and improvements

Part D - Evaluating Your CD Case
 
You need to evaluate your CD Case stating the following

1. What is the purpose of the CD Case?
2. What is good about it, what worked well?
3. What is not so good, what did not work?
4. How well it meets its purpose?
5. What could be improved if you produced it again?
6. How you refined your draft copies to meet the purpose more closely?

 
Part E - Evaluating Your CD Case 
You now need to evaluate your performance in this task including the following

1. Were you well organised?
2. What went badly?
3. What you would do differently if you had to do a similar task in future?

 
Update your commentary and bibliography

Complete the self review and ask your teacher to sign it off

 

 

AO7 Create Artwork for a CD

Your now need to create the artwork for the CD to go in your case.

Your design must represent your company style and contain some basic requirements.
 
Part A - Planning the Artwork for a CD 

The CD Artwork must hold the following details

• Artist name
• Artist logo
• Track listings
• Copyright information
• Remember your company style and stick to it

 
Part B - Creating the Artwork for a CD 
Once you have designed your CD artwork you should create it on the computer.

Your fist draft should be as close as possible to your original design, you can improve it after.

Part C - Improve your Artwork for a CD 
You now have a copy of your flyer on the computer, print it out and annotate it with the changes you plan to make. Make the suggested changes.

Part D - Evaluating your Artwork for a CD
 
You need to evaluate your flyer stating the following

1. What is the purpose of the artwork for the CD?
2. What is good about it, what worked well?
3. What is not so good, what did not work?
4. How well it meets its purpose?
5. What could be improved if you produced it again?
6. How you refined your draft copies to meet the purpose more closely?

 
Part E - Evaluating your Artwork for a CD 

You now need to evaluate your performance in this task including the following

1. Were you well organised?
2. What went badly?
3. What you would do differently if you had to do a similar task in future?

 

Update your commentary and bibliography
Complete the self review and ask your teacher to sign it off

 

 

AO8 Create a website for your new record label

Part A - Designing your website
 
Just like with the other documents you have produced you should design it by hand first.

Use the design template found on online learning.

Remember your company style and stick to it

You should produce a website that has no more than 3 web pages.

Page One:

• This page should be the ‘homepage’ introducing your record label

Pages Two:

• Artist of the week feature page
• Introduction to the artist
• Image of the artist
• Concert information
• The artist’s latest video

Page Three:

• This should show examples of artists you have attracted so far
• Image of the artist
• Brief background of the artists
• Link to artist website
• You may wish to include a short video clip or sound file on the artist’s page. There are a number of music videos on Learning NI that you could use.

Part B - Creating First Draft
Your website should be made within Microsoft FrontPage/Macromedia Dreamweaver.

Your first draft should be as close as possible to your original design, your can improve it after.

Part C - Annotating Your Website 
Once you have done your first draft, screen dump the page and annotate your website with features you like and how you will improve your website.
 
Part D - Improving your website 
Create the improvements you have suggested.
Ensure your changes stay within your company style.

Part D - Evaluating Your Website
 
You need to evaluate your flyer stating the following

1. What is the purpose of the website?
2. What is good about it, what worked well?
3. What is not so good, what did not work?
4. How well it meets its purpose?
5. What could be improved if you produced it again?
6. How you refined your draft copies to meet the purpose more closely?

 
Part E - Evaluating Your Website 

You now need to evaluate your performance in this task including the following

1. Were you well organised?
2. What went badly?
3. What you would do differently if you had to do a similar task in future?

 

Update your commentary and bibliography
Complete the self review and ask your teacher to sign it off

 

 

AO9 Promotional Poster

You need to make an A3 poster that can be used to promote your artists new album. This will be displayed in record shops.

You should ensure that it sticks to your company theme.

It should include:

1. Your artist’s logo
2. Your artist’s new album cover
3. The date it is available
4. Your record label logo and contact details
5. Information about the album launch event

      
Part A - Planning your Poster
When designing your poster you need to ensure that your keep it clear to read from a distance.

A poster should not bombard the reader with information but give them key facts that can direct the user to further information (such as a website address or contact number).

Design it on paper first. Make it clear what colours, fonts, borders, images etc. you are going to use.

Remember your company style and stick to it
 
Part B - Create Your Poster 
To create your poster you can use Microsoft Word/Publisher

Make your poster as close to your design as possible, it does not matter if you like it or not as you will get an opportunity to change it later.

You should get a few test users to give your feedback about the design/content of your brochure to get you ideas on how to improve it.

Part C - Improve Your Poster 
Once you have received feedback about your poster identify improvements (annotate these on your printout) you could make and then make any necessary changes and improvements

Part D - Evaluating Your Poster
 
You need to evaluate your poster stating the following

1. What is the purpose of the poster?
2. What is good about it, what worked well?
3. What is not so good, what did not work?
4. How well it meets its purpose?
5. What could be improved if you produced it again?
6. How you refined your draft copies to meet the purpose more closely?

 Part E - Evaluating Your Poster 

You now need to evaluate your performance in this task including the following

1. Were you well organised?
2. What went badly?
3. What you would do differently if you had to do a similar task in future?

 

Update your commentary and bibliography
Complete the self review and ask your teacher to sign it off

AO10 Newsletter

You need to produce a newsletter that will be used to inform customers about your record label.

The newsletter should be A5 sized and consist of four pages.

These pages could include

1. Front page
2. Record label name
3. Record label logo
4. News story of the month

• Inside page 1

Information about all your artists (how many singles have they sold, how many number ones have they had this year etc). Use graphs and charts as well as text to show this data.

• Inside page 2

You need to come up with your own idea

• Back page

Feedback form (this would allow people that do not have Internet access to complete the form and send it to using via post)

You may be able to use some of the information that your have used on your website - this could be a way of providing the same information to those that do not have Internet access.

Part A - Planning your Newsletter / Flyer 
Design your leaflet on paper first.

Remember your company style and stick to it.
 
Part B - Create Your Newsletter / Flyer 
To create your newsletter you should use Microsoft Publisher.

You should get a few test users to give your feedback about the design/content of your brochure to get you ideas on how to improve it.

Part C - Improve Your Newsletter / Flyer 
Once you have received feedback about your newsletter identify improvements you could make and then make any necessary changes and improvements

Part D - Evaluating Your Newsletter / Flyer
 
You need to evaluate your Newsletter stating the following

1. What was the purpose of the newsletter?
2. What is good about it, what worked well?
3. What is not so good, what did not work?
4. How well it meets its purpose?
5. What could be improved if you produced it again?
6. How you refined your draft copies to meet the purpose more closely?

 
Part E - Evaluating your performance when producing the Newsletter / Flyer 

You now need to evaluate your performance in this task including the following

1. Were you well organised?
2. What went badly?
3. What you would do differently if you had to do a similar task in future?

 

Update your commentary and bibliography
Complete the self review and ask your teacher to sign it off

 

 

Appendix 1 Commentary Layout

• Section 1: Audience and purpose
  • Needs to be a clear statement of the purpose and audience of the document you are creating,
• Section 2: Developing to suit purpose and audience
  • Strengths and weaknesses of each draft,
  • How each draft has been refined to suit the audience and purpose.
• Section 3: Final Version
  • Strengths and weaknesses of final version,
  • How does the document meet audience and purpose (screen shot readability statistics as evidence),
  • How can the document be improve
  • Software features used (may be appropriate to include screen shots).
• Section 4: Your performance
  • How could you improve the way you worked whilst completing this task.
• Section 5: Bibliography
  • A detailed list of sources used – needs to include both electronic and non electronic documents,
    Notes about how each source is used – if any have been adapted this is very useful perhaps include before and after screen shots.

Appendix 2 Annotating documents

 

 

 

 

 

 

Appendix 3 Self review template

Appendix 4 Sample Document Evaluation Report Layout

Introduction - You need to write an introduction saying what the six documents are and that you are going to write a Document Evaluation Report based on them.

Document Set 1 Description

Description of Content: Document 1

Description of Layout: Document 1

Description of Purpose: Document 1

Suitability for the Purpose of: Document 1

 

Description of Content: Document 2

Description of Layout: Document 2

Description of Purpose: Document 2

Suitability for the Purpose of: Document 2

 

Description of Content: Document 3

Description of Layout: Document 3

Description of Purpose: Document 3

Suitability for the Purpose of: Document 3

Document Set 1 Presentation Style Summary

Presentation Style		Document 1	Document 2	Document 3
Page Layout
Graphical Images
Textual Styles
Special Features
Paragraph Formats
Common Item Position

Document Set 1 Evaluation

Evaluation of Good and bad points: Writing style of Document 1 and Document 2 and Document 3

Evaluation of Good and bad points: Presentational style of Document 1 and Document 2 and Document 3

Identify common elements of: Document 1 and Document 2 and Document 3

Suggest improvements to: Document 1 and Document 2 and Document 3

Document Set 2 Description

Description of Content: Document 4

Description of Layout: Document 4

Description of Purpose: Document 4

Suitability for the Purpose of: Document 4

 

Description of Content: Document 5

Description of Layout: Document 5

Description of Purpose: Document 5

Suitability for the Purpose of: Document 5

 

Description of Content: Document 6

Description of Layout: Document 6
           
Description of Purpose: Document 6

Suitability for the Purpose of: Document 6

Document Set 1 Presentation Style Summary

Presentation Style		Document 1	Document 2	Document 3
Page Layout
Graphical Images
Textual Styles
Special Features
Paragraph Formats
Common Item Position

Document Set 2 Evaluation

Evaluation of Good and bad points: Writing style of Document 5 and Document 5 and Document 6

Evaluation of Good and bad points: Presentational style of Document 5 and Document 5 and Document 6

Identify common elements of: Document 5 and Document 5 and Document 6
Suggest improvements to: Document 5 and Document 5 and Document 6

House Style

Write some comments here about the house styles used by the different companies whose documents you have analysed.

Appendix – your 6 original documents will be in this section label them.