Testing Different Title Slide Designs

Something I've really enjoyed this semester has been coming up with the design elements of my work. And something I've always had a huge passion for is typography, so I loved getting to mess around with my font choices. You can see below all the variations I went through for each presentation's cover slide, before settling on the final designs (shown in the larger images).

Designing My Robot

This post shows my experimentation to come up with the design I've landed on for R4Y, the robot mascot of my KS3 presentation...

This is my final design. I really like the simplicity of him, and his bright eyes. I plan to keep this one image of him, and bring the intrigued and movement to my slides through a Tellytubby-esque screen on his stomach that is animated.

Social Media Policy - Ludlow CofE School

The first school I decided to contact was Ludlow CofE School. This was an easy choice for me, as - having attended this school - I feel I have a sense of rapport with them already. To start a conversation, I first look into the school's published E-Safety and Safeguarding policies. From here, I could potentially identify themes that are important to schools when discussing social media, as well as picking up on areas that they are potentially missing out on. Below is what I found...

In the grand scheme of their full policies, social media is only covering in a shockingly small section. There is not any detail on how these important things will be communicated to the students. While I understand that this is maybe expected from a policy document, I also feel like this is a little too vague, and could leave it too open to interpretation from teachers. 

Legality Stuff

Obviously, there are a lot of restrictions and things to be wary of when working with kids. I researched this at the start of the semester to ensure that my project was even viable. All research sources are casually referenced in the Useful Links post. Below is what I found...

- DBS checks are the general requirement when working with minors in the UK.
- They are simple checks that look for any criminal history to ensure you're safe to work around children.
- There are a few different types of DBS checks that cover different things (voluntary, age levels, different lengths of time, different levels of contact).
- School visitors without checks need to be supervised at all times when around children.
- DBS checks are not necessary for short, uncommon contact with children.
- If I decided to make this project into an official, long-term plan, I would need a DBS check (should cost around £40). But for this semester, I should be fine without a check.

Designing My Dinosaurs Pt. 5 - Fitting Them Together

Designing My Dinosaurs Pt. 4 - The Squad! TO FINISH

I want each of the figures to serve a role in my presentations and represent something. Below will show their designs and some initial thoughts on this side of things...

Name: Poppy

Species: Triceratops

Colour: Red

Theme: 

Name: Paddy

Species: Bracheosaurus

Colour: Orange

Theme: 

Name: Patsy

Species: Pleasiosaur

Colour: Yellow

Theme: 

Comments:

Name: Percy

Species: Pteranodon

Colour: Green

Theme:

Comments:

Name: Purdy

Species: Tyrannosaurus Rex

Colour: Blue

Theme:

Comments:

Name: Perry

Species: Stegosaurus

Colour: Purple

Theme:

Contacting Schools

My general idea for contacting the schools is to establish a relationship with them first, whilst also doing some research and finding out how the teach social media at their school. After we have a good communication going, it will feel more comfortable to propose the idea of me presenting my work to the students. Below is an example of the type of email I sent. The emailed varied slightly between the 5 schools I sent it to, but this is the jist...

UPDATE: As of 3/5/19, I am still yet to receive any responses from any of the school. It's a shame, but if I did it again, I would probably use a more direct for of communication - such as a phone call or hand delivered letter.