My DA on Kpop was inspired by my love with kpop and fascination for how groups promoted themselves. Before I knew of the companies, I had assumed every group was with a different company. I was shocked to find that most groups belonged to a select few companies, and from then I was interested in how the companies differentiated them, either in demographics, design or music. I chose JYP as my focus for this DA as I am most familiar with their groups, and they have the most active roster right now out of the “Big 3”. So, I set out to find what differs each group from each other, using social media.
Ethnographic Resources
For ethnographic resources, the easiest way to collate differences was to go through their social media profiles and see their accounts. I chose Social media accounts because thought it would be a quick and effective way of seeing the difference between each group. Seeing the comment reactions was also a priority, and I aimed to be informed by these comments for my ethnographic research. The groups each have their own social media accounts on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube, which I could use to see differences.
Going on Reddit is where I got my information about people’s thoughts on the Division structure and concerns they had about individual groups. They had more detailed and in-depth discussions than throwaway comments on Twitter
Secondary Resources
For secondary resources, I used a clip of JYP speaking at a conference about the Division structure to inform me. I also got all the album sale and tour information from sites, to add extra detail to the differences in JYP groups. The secondary resources outline the relative popularity of each group and provide a basis of difference between the two groups.
I also used myself as a loose resource, as I have been to two JYP group concerts, Stray Kids and DAY6 and follow the groups casually.
Conclusion
In concluding this DA, I found that Social Media was a boring way to show differences between idol groups. In hindsight, I could have used a different distinctive metric for observation, such as Music Videos, which could showcase the different music and video styles of each group better. In observing social media, I instead found the opposite of difference within groups, I found unity in the company structure. It was only through observing my secondary sources of album sales and tours could we see the difference in groups. The comments for each group were also just people endlessly praising them. It was a missed opportunity to do this DA but not look at their music. Though I was more focused on visual aesthetical differences, I barely found any on social media like I was expecting.
So, I found no significant information to support my difference though the ethnographic research.
First, I will explain what Kpop is. It is a genre of music from South Korea and has grown into a popular genre over the years. Drawing inspiration from US Pop culture and Japanese Idol groups, South Korea tried their hand at creating a modern musical genre following these trends. It was an eventual success, and today we see the results of Kpop as a soft export, also known as a ‘Hallyu Wave’.
Kpop has done much to distinguish itself from its inspirations, focusing primarily on visual aesthetics of music, like cinematic Music Videos, choreography incorporated into songs, fashion choices and artists picked for how good they look. Many kpop idols are thus stunningly attractive, because Korea also places a high cultural emphasis on looking good, going so far as to require a picture for any job applications.
In Kpop, there are several company conglomerates that control the majority of the kpop scene. These kpop conglomerates are a record label and production house rolled into one. These big companies also take care of housing their idols. The biggest companies currently are SM, YG, and JYP, also colloquially known as the ‘Big 3’
JYP is an idol company created by Park Jin Young. The company has a history of acts such as the Wonder Girls, Rain, 2PM and Miss A. But for this Artefact my focus is going to be on the current JYP line-up, with artists like TWICE, Day6, ITZY, GOT7 and Stray Kids. Each artist is a part of JYP and promote their albums and songs for the company. As the company has complete creative control, they control when they release albums, the choreography and the looks of each idol.
TWICE
Stray Kids
ITZY
GOT7
DAY6
Section 2 – JYP Divisions and Big 3
A typical Kpop company would have all of its employees work on the material for all groups, and producing the teasers, album covers and marketing together.
In 2018, JYP announced that they were changing the structure of their teams, after conducting an ‘experiment’ on TWICE’s management. There were a small team of employees that were dispatched to TWICE so they could streamline the process and focus on groups. Instead of a separate Marketing or Sales Department, they would be added into a ‘Division’ that would work only on one or two groups. According to JYP it was a ‘success’ and they adopted this format for all of their current groups. Instead of one big group, JYP is essentially split into four Divisions, that look after certain artists, and have no overlap. This video is JYP talking about this structure at a presentation.
Division 1 is Stray Kids with 25 staff
Division 2 is GOT7 and ITZY with 23 staff
Division 3 is TWICE with 22 staff
Studio J is Day6 with 19 staff
The divisions also take care of some other acts and individual artists under the company, but these groups are the divisions biggest focus. The Division structure divides JYP from other Kpop companies, as none of them use this structure and JYP is the first to implement something like this. This structure was noted because it plays a big part in the difference of group promotions, as they have different employees that are familiar with the workings of the group they are assigned to.
The current Division Structure and their groups
I looked for people’s reactions online to the Division System and found people dissatisfied, even if most noted it a positive change for kpop on the whole, as it is a more streamlined process. Opinions included were that the company was understaffed for what they do, and thought they were unorganised for large scale activities, and that if they were American, there would be more employees. Division 2 was regarded as being particularly understaffed since they had to deal with two major groups, GOT7 and ITZY. Some were also unhappy with Division 3, saying that the teasers for TWICE’s album release, Fancy, looked bad and amateurish.
The ‘Fancy’ Teaser in question
Especially since Division 3 only has TWICE to look after. They felt that the promotions weren’t utilized properly, such as Vlive, a Korean video streaming service that kpop groups use for interaction or audience interactions like fansigns. Division 4 was regarded as more ‘creative’ and is also a sub-label of JYP. People were also dissatisfied with Studio J, as kpop fans expected more consistent marketing or teasers for a Day6 release. They noticed a difference between Divisions, as some groups get a lot of online promotion and no physical, while other groups get a lot of physical promotion and no online presence. For example, Stray Kids has a lot of YouTube content to explore, while ITZY doesn’t have any of that. They said than from this it seems like the Divisions don’t talk to each other and calculate the best promotional approach.
Section 3- Kpop and Social Media Accounts
For my ethnographic research, I wanted to see if the social media accounts for each group were different in any way. I summarised my findings with each group and their content.
When I visited TWICE’s Instagram profile, I saw that all the photos were selfies of the members and very well shot. They all had a light pastel aesthetic and were posing happily. They usually had short captions in Korean about their day or thanking ONCE’s (The fanbase for TWICE).
The comments underneath the posts were all overwhelmingly positive. The fans would spam hearts and sparkles. Some comments were in foreign languages like Indonesian and Arabic, and I didn’t see many in Korean. There were a few rude comments to be seen, most amounting to ‘Blackpink is better!”. Blackpink is another girl group made by YG that has four members, and some of their fans take ‘kpop rivalry’ seriously, to the point where Kpop is known for its ‘fanwars’. TWICE’s other social media accounts followed a similar route. Their YouTube is full of music videos, dance practices and content. The comments are all talking about comeback goals and improving streaming numbers, showing how focused Kpop fans can be on numbers and ‘winning’.
GOT7 have social media accounts, the most interesting of which is Twitter. They have the standard promotional material, but the comments are different. The fans are asking JYP for ‘fair treatment’ of the members and have a copy and pasted list of issues they want JYP to address. They are angry about substandard promotion, like not producing enough album prints, and that JYP doesn’t care about their international audience by not providing English translations on GOT7 videos, when other JYP artists usually have subtitles for content. Their other accounts are standard, with Instagram posting selfies and their YouTube having dance practices and music videos.
These were repeated by multiple people underneath GOT7’s AccountThis was also repeated
Day6 has the least number of followers out of all of them, and their media accounts are largely the same, with Twitter being promotional content and retweets, and YouTube having music videos. In the comments section in Instagram though, there were quite a few responses asking them to come back to their country. Day6 is known for touring a lot, which is why there are responses asking them to come back.
Stray Kids has a similar vibe to all of the other accounts, on Twitter they have promotional material and retweets, their YouTube has alot of their online content like dance practices, Music Videos and a lot of behind the scenes content, more than other groups. There ae also a lot of foreign comments and memes about the group. There is also a push to stream music so they can get better sales and results.
ITZY are the newest JYP group and have the most praise I’ve seen in the comments. On Instagram they post selfies and dancing content. The comments on Instagram are all positive and talking about how they like their singing and dancing. There are also a lot of foreign comments, specifically Arabic. On Twitter they have retweets and promotional content like other groups. Twitter is also known for its ‘fancams’ of idol stars and groups and ITZY is no exception.
While looking through all of JYP’s groups, the formula for each social media was apparent. On Twitter JYP artists only use it for promotional material. There are other kpop artists that don’t use the platform that way, like BTS, and use it to post tweets that they themselves composed. Instagram is also used for selfies a lot of the time. Though most kpop groups do this as it is a format used for pictures and people want to see the idols. Their YouTube is also structured, with music video and dance practice content. This isn’t exclusive to JYP either and most kpop groups follow the same structure with their channels.
What the ethnography of the social media channels has taught me is that kpop groups have a very tight and distinct online presence to appeal to an international audience, such as releasing Music Videos on YouTube and additional content. Most kpop groups promote online in the same way because it is easier for people to access.
Section 4- Kpop and Statistics
List of sales in 2019 on Gaon
In this chart of 2019 of Gaon Physical Album Sales, we can see the distribution for JYP groups and how this correlates with their popularity.
Out of all JYP groups, TWICE is the biggest, being the current ‘nations girl group’ and the highest selling Kpop girl group in 2019. As such, they have the most fans and most sales in JYP. TWICE is a big outlier in kpop, as boy groups are usually a lot more popular than girl groups in terms of sales, occupying 35% of sales.
GOT7 is second on this chart with 31% of sales. As they are the most senior boy group, it makes sense they would be so high. However, they are the oldest JYP group that he has on its current roster, which could contribute to the lack of sales, since the kpop industry move very quickly and new Kpop groups are constantly debuting.
In third, we have the junior boy group Stray Kids, which debuted in February 2018. In only around 2 years they managed to grab 22% of album sales and have a dedicated fanbase. In a far away fourth, we have ITZY, which debuted that year. With only a mini album under their belt for the year, it is impressive they managed to get 5% of the chart and narrowly beat out DAY6. ITZY had an explosive debut in 2019 and hyped comebacks, making them the new ‘it girl’ on the kpop that year. Day6 is the second oldest group on this list, debuting in 2015. Being a band and not marketed as a mass pop sensation, they occupy the niche of a kpop band, attracting fans of rock and other genres. They have steady but small sales.
But the biggest indicator of money is tours. Over the years all the groups have gone on tours, with the most recent tours being Day6’s European Leg of the ‘Gravity’ Tour, ITZY’s Showcase Tour and Stray Kids ‘Unlock’ Tour, which were all done in January 2020. Due to the explosion of popularity in the West of kpop, groups have been touring there more often. Being the biggest group, TWICE got big arenas to perform in, while acts like Day6 got smaller venues of around 8,000 people. JYP aims groups at different demographics and also books different venues according to size.
Conclusion
On the surface of social media, it might seem that they groups have no difference in promotion, with the formula being the same for each group, but it is readily apparent that JYP knows the limits of each group. Each are tailored to a different demographic, with changes in musical style, group members and popularity. They adjust this to what they believe is their audience and then book venues appropriate for that. Day6 is not a huge group, but TWICE is, so it wouldn’t be feasible for them to perform the same venues. Kpop is very structured and so is JYP.
I commented on Chelsea’s DA about Breath of the Wild. I have played Breath of the Wild and was able to relate to her post of artistic beauty and design significance. I asked Chelsea if she could check out another game called ‘Genshin Impact’, which has a similar art style of lush grass and cel-shaded characters. I drew on Nintendo being a very influential company headed by Miyamoto. In the Week 6 Lecture we hear about how Miyamoto influenced the switch from programming to game designers, who were typically more traditionally trained visual artists. Through all of Nintendo’s games we have seen clear visual influences, especially Breath of the Wild, which Chelsea notes in her DA, and are a staple of Nintendo. Mario, Pikachu and Zelda are all worldwide icons with recognisable designs.
I offered a link to an article comparing Genshin Impact’s design aesthetics to Breath of the Wild’s. I think it was a very useful article, as I have played both games and can definitely see the visual similarities of both games. I learned that even though both games can have a clear visual image, they can still be very different in terms of mechanics and progression. BoTW and Genshin have very different goals in the end.
Easter Eggs
I commented on Jono Low’s Beta about Easter Eggs and their history. I commented on how Easter Eggs made parts of the gaming community feel more like a shared space to communicate and become friends. I suggested an article that promoted this viewpoint and wanted him to consider the community around Easter Eggs. There are already several YouTube communities that thousands of people watch and enjoy. Easter Eggs are a part of ‘Participatory Media Culture’, where players actively seek out the details within the game and provides an engaging way to interact with the game through the lens of discovery. I learned that Easter Eggs are an important point of gaming culture.
I wanted to show Jono that some Easter Eggs wouldn’t have been found without a community dedicated to recording and finding them, just as he is doing.
Women in Video Games
Lorena’s DA is about Women in video games and how they are represented. I wrote the comment of being interested in the public responses that she got. I recommended that she check out a general media article about representation in video games. I learned that through her public polls, many people felt ambivalent to gender representation and were happy with what they got. She analysed figures such as Lara Croft and how her design was impractical and servicing male members of the audience. She also noted that Peach was a damsel in distress for her role in Mario. It was also interesting exploring the lack of gender in video games with Animal Crossing, where you don’t have to choose. I also learned that sometimes gender plays a bigger role than I think with stereotypes, like Peach. Some people might unconsciously associate it with women being lesser.
My DA has gone through a lot of a change. I started my Digital Artefact as a Witcher 3 Gwent exploration. I enjoyed exploring Gwent and battling people in game, but I had to discard it as it was taking too much time. Gwent was a side quest and the main questline took up too much time to open the area forced me to do main quests. I had also found a new and interesting game to play with in the form of Fall Guys. Each round of Fall Guys was quick and easy, and I was curious about how some aspects worked. Mainly the communication aspects as there was no voice or text chat, only emotes. I also didn’t receive any feedback for my DA Pitch so there is no direction for me to consider since I changed the concept entirely.
My only social media post was a Reddit Post with 4 likes, which you can see here. But there was one comment that said, “Mine too”, meaning that there are other fans of the game that like emoting and communicating with other beans.
I analysed this Digital Artefact through the framework of communication, especially non-verbal. I was analysing the emotes as a human desire for communication, however limited. I used some journal articles to help me understand this. One article was ‘Supporting visual elements of non-verbal communication in computer game avatars’, by Kujanpaa & Manninen. In it they explored Non-verbal communication with online avatars, and Fall Guys is a perfect example of this. Fall Guys uses several non-verbal communication forms, such as Kinesics, which is body gestures and movements. Another article was called ‘Enhancing the Believability of Character Behaviours Using Non-Verbal Cues’ by Desai & Szafron, who explored background characters and how they can make them distinct by identifying them with non-verbal emotions. It means using physical and visual language to make them distinct. Each of the Fall Guys can have a distinct language based on costume or emote choices.
Gwent is also a separate stand-alone digital card game made in 2018. That is not the version that I am doing, I am only focusing on Gwent inside the Witcher 3, which released in 2015. Gwent was originally intended as a mini card game within the Witcher 3, but they expanded to a digital card game in 2018 after positive reception. The standalone Gwent even has its own single player mode.
There are other mini games in previous Witcher titles, such as Dice Poker, but it relied mostly on luck and the CD Project Red team wanted to push it further for the sequel. Thus Gwent was born. The idea of a card game within a game was nearly shelved several times but made it. There The team had to create most Gwent on their downtime as there wasn’t enough budget and had to get help from other…
JYP is one of the ‘Big 3’ companies in Kpop, the others being SM and YG. They are the biggest Kpop companies with revenue and groups.
Kpop is part of the Hallyu Wave, exporting Korean popular culture overseas. This is aided by better communication, such as internet and mobile phones. This has allowed Kpop to be one of the biggest ‘soft exports’ out of South Korea, and inciting interest in people coming here.
Social Media sites such as YouTube are crucial for this spread, as it allowed Kpop to be viewed freely, rather than traditional mediums like TV. Kpop also has very concept driven and visually stimulating music videos that are entertaining to watch. Combine this with the use of choreography in a song (called a ‘point dance’) and you have an interesting format for a visual as well as an audio hook.
Kpop has spread far with this method, with people resharing these catching videos and gathering a large fanbase. Kpop also has organised ‘official’ fanbases, called “Fan Clubs” where people can pay for membership and get perks in fansigns, and get access to their ‘fancafes’, which is where members post and talk. Another big part in drawing fans to this medium is ‘fandom names’. Each group has an official fanbase name, for example Twice fans are called Onces (like ‘this only happens once’), Day6 fans are called MyDays and Stray Kids fans are called Stays. Not to mention lightsticks, which are personalised sticks for each group. All of this allows fans to become loyal to their group and create strong fanbases.
My experience with BCM212 has been encouraging and positive. From taking interesting surveys from my peers to reading about new perceptions from their completed works, it was a journey.
From starting this subject, one thing that stood out to me the most was morality and ethics in research. I began to see how easy it could be to toe over the line in the name of ‘research’ like a crazed scientist. The rules and a 6 months ethics approval system that was in place at some universities was surprising, but understandable. The topic of key to avoiding harm was a good look at systems in place, such as HREC and MEAA, and how they protect us on the integrity of research and how an interviewer must not pose a risk of harm. The legal jargon used in questionnaires and surveys made more sense and I became less wary of them. I was also fascinated at the system of academia, while also being a bit horrified. The concept of agile research could easily be abused and the need to pump out surveys without real thought behind the answers.
Talking about the difference between an opinion piece and an academic article really drove home how an academic article wasn’t accessible to the public with its jargon. The opinion piece on a public website managed to condense and explain it better with much less words. I asked myself (and the tutor asked us), what is the point then, if a long-winded academic article isn’t fully understood by the public? Is academia only benefiting the system of academia and not the larger population? As a subject, I liked how BCM212 expored both positive and negative points about research and asked people to consider all of the facts.
I found focus groups to be a fascinating topic, and even though I didn’t conduct one myself, as I felt online was awkward. I was watching several Louis Theroux documentaries at the time, and I liked how he approached people. After watching them I noticed that he can slowly tease answers out of his participants without them realising by asking specific questions. It made me respect interviewers and group interviewers emotional intelligence. There was even a video that I shared, showing how Theroux does it so well.
This video about Louis Theroux made me interested in interviews
It was an interesting experience overall, and seeing what other students were asking with their surveys helped me a lot and made me engage with the content.
The topic that I have come up with relating to the ‘University Experience’ is the Commute. Hundreds of Uni students travel near and far to attend University and get an education. My goal is to evaluate how this affects students’ routines, stress levels and time management while at uni. This can be all forms of transport; train, car, bus etc.
Some questions I would delve into are:
-How long is your commute?
-Is commuting better than living on campus?
-How do you organise assignments, work or family commitments around commuting?
-Do you feel connected to your uni peers?
I have personal experience with this, as I commute to uni via train for all of my subjects. It takes on average around an hour and 10 minutes. For a round trip, that’s over 2 hours. For myself personally, it is hard getting up for early classes, but on the commute I either draw or listen to music to relax.
Asking students about their commute is achievable on campus/ twitter as there are people bound to have different experiences with commuting, and as the semester has started, there are people that have to reflect on starting up their schedules again. For this particular semester, I can enquire on how the lack of a commute has changed their feelings about commuting.
I polled other students on Twitter about their mode of transport to uni, and how long their trip was.
From the results of the poll, it seems most people live close to uni and mostly commute by car. However from the 66 people that responded to my first poll, around 15 people have to endure a commute longer than an hour, which is tough. What surprised me was that most people used a car, I thought more students would be inclined to use public transport but almost 50% of the 35 people use a car. It would be interesting to study how much extra time the car people use up for traffic and trying to find parking on campus.
I found some resources to back up my point that this topic is worth exploring.
Commuter Students
Students commute because they have different responsibilities, such as family, job commitments or housing status. First year students that commute can also have a hard time ‘fitting in’ to campus life, as they are not around their peers 24/7 and don’t enjoy extra-curricular benefits due to other responsibilities. As a result of the lack of socialisation on campus leads to less development as a whole. Commuters often find stress in scheduled classes, as they need larger blocks of classes at certain times, to free them up for other responsibilities they need to attend to. Commuter students also have lower retention rates that people living on campus, owing to the fact that there is less interaction with social and academic systems on campus. They therefore have less connection and drop out easier. This study was done in the US, but is relevant to Australian universities as well.
Happiness and Satisfaction with Commute
People satisfied with their work commute has a big effect on their outlook, making it positive. Some factors including having a short commute, biking or walking. These provide a small but necessary buffer from private life. However, commutes are still mostly stressful for people, owing to the travel time involved. Long commutes and congested traffic, cause stress in the workplace. But for longer commutes either social interaction or entertainment can counteract the negative feelings of a commute. It’s important to note that this study took in Sweden and may not be reflective of Australian commuting habits.
Stress Doesn’t Pay- Commuting Paradox
It discusses the effects commuting has on the person, in which the article describes how it can generate out of pocket costs (For train, tolls, parking etc.) and can put a divide between family, as there is less time to see them. Commuting is also a salient and boring activity that is needed to go to uni. Financial insecurity of commuting can also be a big risk, especially for studying uni students with just a part time job. Commuting also has other stressors, such as crowds, noises, traffic congestion and so forth.
How the commute is changing who we are
This article thinks about the commute as an experience that we live though, silently shaping us as we go through it. We have so many experiences with other people in a commute and how we react that it changes us. The commute is full of activities, though constrained by the transportation. If people are repeatedly exposed to negative situations on a commute, that can change a persons desires on commuting. Likewise, if they have a strong social commute group, they might like the act of commuting more.
The issues on commuting have definitely been talked about before, but I feel confident enough about gathering resources and having my own perspective on events. Commuting is also not specifically related to uni, as many people also commute to work. These areas have lots of overlap between them, as no travelling strictly relates to uni or work, and I can use these related resources for psychological impacts.
Olsson et al, (2012) ‘Happiness and Satisfaction with Work Commute’ Social Indicators Research, 111 (255-263) DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-012-0003-2, Accessed 29/03/20
Stress doesn’t pay- Commuter paradox-
Stutzer A. & Frey B. (2004) ‘Stress that doesn’t pay: The commuting paradox’ IZA 1278 Accessed 29/03/20
The topic that I have come up with relating to the ‘University Experience’ is the Commute. Hundreds of Uni students travel near and far to attend University and get an education. My goal is to evaluate how this affects students’ routines, stress levels and time management while at uni. This can be all forms of transport; train, car, bus etc. Some questions I would ask are- Is commuting better than living on campus? How do you organise assignments, work or family commitments around commuting?
I have personal experience with this, as I commute to uni via train for all of my subjects. From Engadine Station to North Wollongong Station, it takes on average around an hour and 10 minutes. That’s not counting the train line switches that can be a 20-minute wait (Thanks Waterfall Station…). For me that means a 2 hour and 20-minute round trip at least. I have experienced stress with the commute relating to uni, such as not getting the tutorial I wanted, and having a class that finished on campus at 6:30pm, leading me to only be home at 8pm after being at uni all day.
The commute can have disadvantages, such as not being able to access the internet and do research for a subject. It can also be hard studying on the train since there are people around. If I have an 8:30 tutorial I will have to be up at 6am and out of the house at 6:30 just to make the train. My reasons to like the commute are that I get time to draw or catch up on lectures I downloaded, or just relax before I get into class. In this academic resource, entitled “Stress that doesn’t pay” they found that people with longer commuting time report systematically lower subjective well-being. Another resource on commuter students states that first-years have trouble fitting in to the campus community, and commuter students miss the chance to connect with others in the way that campus students do.
The issues on commuting have definitely been talked about before, but I feel confident enough about gathering resources and having my own perspective on events. Commuting is also not specifically related to uni, as many people also commute to work. These areas have lots of overlap between them, and I can use these related resources for psychological impacts.
My rationale states that it will “encourage children to be invested in mythical animals and encourage creativity“. At the moment, it is lacking in creativity as it is on a solid grid formation and is a simple point and click to get to your destination. There’s no exciting interactivity or spectacle for kids to ‘latch’ on to. I would need to create more interesting pages for kids.
Do I need to improve some points of my rationale?
However, I also note in the rationale that “I want to make people feel grounded and organised- much like a museum.“. This also ties in with the grid formation, and the museum is organised well enough for people of all ages to scroll through. I can easily access different sections of the website because of its simplicity.
Issues of usability and structure/ concept
My issue of is now is to have the site simple enough to use
but also attract kids that may be using it to want to go to the museum. The
concepts can clash together, but they can be made to work by only making
certain pages have eye-catching features, like a screen-wide image of one of
the exhibits to introduce it, instead of just text and details.
What did I underdevelop?
I underdeveloped the actual site structure, and the theme of the site itself seems messy, so it needs refinement in terms of layout and adding/altering colours in it. I didn’t put much thought into the headings for the website, and some terms might seem different from what is expected of those pages. I also wasn’t very good at coming up with variations of layouts for both the mobile and website design, and I needed to create more sketches to flesh out the idea better.
My website layout
What did I do well?
For my Major Project, I was very happy about the concept, and I had a clear idea of how the physical location looked in my mind. In the design process, I was happy that I used a grid structure for my website, as it fits the theme of museums, as every museum I had referenced has had simple navigation and accessibility to find when that person needs. Unlike other types of websites promising to sell a grand experience or event, museums are relatively structured and organised more factually.
The logo has been one of my favourites that I have created. I created two logos- A full version showcasing heraldry, and a simple version for websites, and they complement each other well, and are distinctive.
Simple Logo
‘Heraldry’ Logo
What I didn’t do well
My tutor wasn’t impressed by the way that I drew the wireframe, which is the borders around the website and images to give it a drawn and drafted look. The templates and frames were all made in Autodesk Sketchbook, when it was recommended to be made in Illustrator or another Adobe program.
The templates in Autodesk Sketchbook
It is also a hassle to go back and forth between programs to resize or redo something if it goes wrong. It’s also hard to place when resizing the page, as everything underneath it, like text and colour effects, have to be moved according to the size of the wire frame.
Amely Koenig's Blog and Art 
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