Post Production including Evaluation

Adding sound

After reviewing my completed website, my initial thought was to use the Godfather theme song. For a preview of this song follow this link: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=bPbmR4sK_gY

Although I am looking for a slow song to correspond with the sombre tone of my website, I feel that 'The Godfather' theme song is too slow.

I have decided to use a Michael Jackson song, Dirty Diana.
For a preview follow this link:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Myu0wZsNraM

This I feel has a mysterious element to it and works well with the visual aspects of my website. For example, the violins begin when my celebrity images are introduced and the electric guitar on the chorus is at it's peak when the word 'dangerous' begins flashing. This reinforces the horror element of my website.

I found the Michael Jackson song on you tube and converted it to an Mp3 file. However the original track had a screaming crowd in the background (at the intro to song and on end of second chorus). I decided to edit this out by cutting the beginng of the song out. I also added a fade to the song so that it faded in as opposed to just played abruptly, which could startle my viewers if volume is high.

Reflection on final piece and Evaluation

I am extremely happy with the end result of my product and feel that I fulfilled my aim. Which was to create a smokers prevention website based on the theory of Marshall McLuhan. My website portrays the fact that society has allowed the media to dictate how we behave. Mcluhan argued that perhaps modern technologies were becoming extensions of human features. My website supports his theory and portrays the fact that despite, smoking being so dangerous, society has allowed celebrities (who are presented to us in the media) to control the way we think and act, ultimately controlling us to smoke even though we know it's dangerous.

Independent Project Evaluation

My initial aim for my Independent project was to create a five page website. This website was to focus on encouraging people to stop smoking and to prevent people from starting to smoke, while basing my project on Marshall Mcluhan’s theory ‘the Medium is the Message’.

While creating my website, I decided that five pages would not be enough. Once my consumers had seen the ‘Splash page’ there would only be four pages left, so I felt it was necessary to include two more pages. After doing some research on different web pages and their content, I felt that as I am promoting a company, I should include contact details and a separate page that includes information on my company. These pages were created and entitled, the ‘Contact us page’ and the ‘About us page’. I initially planned to include the company information on my ‘Home page’; however my choices of design regarding the layout of each page, left me with very little space for this extra information. My website now contains seven pages, a ‘Splash page’, a ‘Home page’, a ‘Smoking Related Illnesses page’, a ‘Why Do We Start page’, a ‘Questions & Answers page’, an ‘About Us page’, and a ‘Contact Us page’.

In creating my website I felt that I had to be careful with regards to the information I researched and included in my project, particularly on my ‘Smoking Related Illnesses page’, which contains statistics regarding smoking and the deaths caused by it. While doing my research for this page I found lots of information on smokers in the United Kingdom, however my target audience is not restricted to consumers within the UK, my website is welcoming to consumers Worldwide. This meant that although the information was interesting and tempting to include in my project, I had to dismiss the information and only include information that was beneficial and relevant to consumers Worldwide.

One of the most challenging aspects of creating my website during the beginning stages was editing images in Photoshop. As I have not used this programme for a very long time, I was not as experienced in using the tools and making images look professional. I feel that the images presented in my project are quite amateur in their appearance and could definitely have been edited much better than they are. I decided to use a Michael Jackson instrumental for my website. The song I chose was ‘Dirty Diana’ which I feel has a sombre, melancholy tone to it. I am happy with my choice of song as I feel that it adds to the mysterious tone of my website. However, after adding my music, I felt that it would be necessary to add an ‘on/off’ button so that my consumers could control whether they wanted to listen to the music or not. As I am not extremely experienced in creating ‘on/off’ buttons for sounds in Flash, I was not very successful in creating these buttons perfectly. The music begins playing on my ‘Splash page’ however, when one enters another page, the sound stops and you are forced to press the ‘off’ button (although music isn’t playing) in order to get it playing again.

My favourite page on my website is my ‘Splash page’ I feel that if left to play, the different sounds incorporated in the soundtrack correspond nicely with the animations created and presented. For example, the violins begin playing when my images are introduced, and the electric guitar (on the chorus) is at its peak when the word ‘dangerous’ flashes in black and red (on ‘But are we aware of its dangerous effects?’ animation). I also enjoy my ‘Smoking Related Illnesses page’, I feel that at first sight it is quite attract with the use of bright contrasting colours which make certain sections stand out at first glance. I feel that my rollover images on this page will be appreciated by teenagers (my target audience) as interaction is key with regards to arresting ones attention.

Although I planned to include photographs that I had taken in my website, I felt that with the raw images I wanted to include, it was unnecessary for me to use my own photographs. For this project, internet images were more appropriate for my website, as I was able to find insightful images of people suffering from smoking related illnesses and diseases.

When I began the preparation for my website, I realised that too many animations on a website can become tedious. After asking some of my peers for their opinions on this, many stated that less is sometimes more. Also, after constructing research on many websites and animations used, I found that very few websites were saturated with dominating animations on each page. As a result of my research and feedback from my peers, I made the decision to limit the amount of animations included on each page. I felt that this was extremely effective as providing my consumers with information as opposed to entertaining them was my main priority within this project.

Web Address

http://studentnet.kingston.ac.uk/~k0608880

Production Stage

Production Stage

My first stage of developing my website is to create a smoke animation. I created this in Photoshop and Flash mx. As my website is based on smoking I want to have an animation incorporated in my website that represents the act of smoking. I want this animation to be fun, but not too distracting at the same time, as the information I intend to provide is more important than entertaining my viewers. However entertaining my viewers will not COMPLETELY dismissed!

The first thing I did was to create a cigarette in Photoshop. This took me a very long time, as I haven't used the programme for a while. I decided to create my own in photoshop as opposed to using a cigarette image from the Internet. As I will not be taking photographs of my own, I will use my own created images as a replacement.

This is a Cigarette I created. I began by creating a white rectangle, then by adding a brown rectangle at the end. I added some grey colouring (on the white section) and some darker brown colouring (on the brown section) at the bottom section of the Cigarette to create the effect of shadows. This makes the Cigarette appear 3-Dimensional, and makes the Cigarette look more realistic. I created 'ash' at the end of the Cigarette by adding reds, greys, yellows, oranges, and blacks. As a final touch I decided to draw a black line around the white section of the Cigarette to make it look like the manufacturer's label (company name).


This is the smoke I used in Photoshop. This will move up and down from the Cigarette. Making the whole image look real.

I am unable to blog the actual animation, so I have put the smoke and the cigarette together as an image with a black background (similar to what my website will look like).

This is what the two look like when put together!

My created Cigarette and created smoke.I have decided to do some research on the reasons why people start smoking for my 'Why Do We Start?' page! I have also been researching the effects of smoking - to present in my 'Smoking Related Illnesses page'. These are some of the useful sites I have been looking at:

http://www.helpwithsmoking.com/why-people-smoke.php

http://old.ash.org.uk/html/factsheets/html/fact02.html

http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/healthyliving/smokingandtobacco/whydopeoplesmoke/

http://www.wisegeek.com/why-do-people-smoke.html

http://www.champixinfo.co.uk/smoking-and-health.shtml

http://old.ash.org.uk/html/factsheets/html/fact02.html

Each of these websites have provided me with appropriate information, in which I will incorporate into my website.

Splash Page

My Splash page is going to be the most animated section of my website. It is now completed an opens with 'Smoking... We are aware that its glamorised...But are we aware of it's effects?' This is portrayed with a number of the images that I previously edited. These images are of celebrities, to reinforce the fact that they glamorise smoking.

These are the images I decided to use on my 'Splash' page!

The font of the text portrayed in the 'Splash' page is 'Stencil STD' I feel that this font is readable and fun at the same time. - I need a font that isn't too boring, the first page is the most important as it determines whether a consumer will continue to look through my website. As my target audience is teenagers, I will need an element of fun and animation to arrest their attention.

This is the first thing my viewers will see when they open my website. This is the first section of my 'Splash' page. The Stencil Std font stands out, it is large enough to gain attention and be read. The gradient colours black and white add to the sombre tone of the website. The little grey section behind the text is smoke, this moves up and down, it is presented as though coming from the Cigarette. The images above fade in and out one by one.

Home Page

I have started work on my 'Home' page - at the moment it is extremely simplistic. It has a black background, with a blue rectangle which has my page titles (buttons leading to those titled pages) on it.

My buttons are simply the titles of the pages - for example, the button for the 'Questions & Answers' page is 'Questions & Answers'.

This is the the first draft of my 'Home' page. At the moment it seems a little boring. Almost as though something is missing. I'm happy with the appearance of my title and the 'buttons section'. I feel that the blue stands out, this will prevent any confusion as to where my buttons are. The consumers eye will automatically be drawn to the button section! The text included on this page is a brief description of what each of my pages contain.

New Idea

While researching websites I've noticed that most organisations have 'About Us' and 'Contact Us' pages. As I am promoting an Organisation (Luxury LungZ), I think it will be appropriate for me to create these additional pages. I also feel that my website will be quite empty without them, as once my consumers have viewed my 'Splash' and 'Home'page they will be left with only three more pages with informative content. I don't feel this is enough, particularly as I am supposed to be providing a service (offering info on smoking). My consumers need to feel as though they can learn more of what is presented on my website, I will do this with the presentation of a 'Contact Us' page.

I will also provide information on what my company is and what it aims to achieve and who it is aimed at in my 'About Us' page.

About Us Page

This is my about us page. While designing it in Flash, I decided to add my logo to the page. This reinforces the identity of my organisation (Luxury LungZ). However before adding this I edited it. My original logo had very little smoke, which was almost unnoticable, however I have now edited the image making the smoke much more clearer.

My Logos - Old & New:

This is my first logo design.

This is my new (and improve) logo design. Smoke much more noticeable, making overall image more effective.

Contact Us Page

I've also created my 'Contact Us' Page.

This is my Contact Us page. It also contains the company (Luxury LungZ) logo in the background. These two pages are extremely simplistic and contain no animations. I feel that they are straight to the point, reinforceing the idea of the information being the most important aspect of the page.

Smoking Related Illnesses Page

This page will contain detailed information on the dangerous effects of smoking. It will also contain disturbing images of people who suffer from smoking related illnesses. The aim of this is to instill fear into my viewers, as according to Hans Wilhelm (2008) "…the sensation of fear is identical to the one we have when we are excited". This is the reaction I would like to evoke as excitement and anxiety are quite similar. I aim to excite my viewers into wanting to absorb more of the information presented on my website.


WilHelm, H. (2008) Facing The Winds Of Change. [Online]. Available at: http://www.hanswilhelm.com/hans-pages/pure-inspiration.html (Accessed: 29 Oct 2008).

This is my 'Smoking Related Illnesses' page so far. I'm aware that each page will follow a certain template, which is the buttons on the left side (as shown in image) with title of the page in large white 'Stencil Std' font, however I am unsure at the moment of what information I will include and how I will present it. While creating this page, I decided to work on what may make my pages more interesting. I decided to have my company name (Luxury LungZ) at the bottom right hand side of the page. This flashes so that it goes from being apparent to being invisble consistently. I feel that although I initially planned to have a theme of black and red the extra colours, white and green make the website appeal more to my target audience (teens).


Why Do We Start Page

This page will not contain any animations. As my organisation aims to prevent people from starting to smoke, this is in a sense the most important page! All the focus must be on the reasons why people start to smoke...

I feel that perhaps if people were aware of the reasons people started to smoke, they may not start themselves for example, many people start smoking as they hear it relieves stress. Perhaps if potential smokers were aware of this, they may make attempts to prevent themselves from becoming stressed, thus preventing them from needing to smoke to relieve their stress.

This is my 'Why Do We Start' page. Although there are no animations, the (large amount of) text in a sense makes up for it.


Questions & Answers page

The research for this particular section was the most tedious. I had to walk around my University and home area asking 13-21 year olds what they would like to know about smoking. I asked 40 different people the same question (and record the answers) to gain a range of answers in the hopes of presenting the most asked questions on my website.

This page I feel is also one of the most interesting (along with my splash page) the layout of the page is extremely attractive. I have added a similar animation(similar to splash page animation) of smoke rising up the page. This page appears motionless at first sight, however it is saturated with rollovers. The question is presented in red text and the answer is presented in white text once the viewer rolls over the question with their mouse. I have presented 13 questions on this page. Initially I was worried that my viewers wouldn't be able to find the answers to the questions presented and would ultimately become frustrated. However after showing the page to some of my peers, it appeared that in order to find the answers to questions, people naturally ran their mouse over the questions. Also due to the positioning of the buttons (which are on the left of the page), I learned that as most mouses require right hand use, most people feel more comfortable to move the (mouse) arrow to the right hand side of the screen after pressing the buttons (on the left). In doing this, they were ALL flashed with the answers before reading the questions.

The page is very busy and in correspondence obtains a simplistic theme. The animation of the smoke and the logo (Luxury LungZ), in a sense brings the page to life.

Back to the 'Smoking Related Illnesses' page

I've decided that this page will be similar to my 'Questions & Answers' page with the consistent use of rollovers. The page is categorised into four sections. Each section focuses on particular smoking related illnesses. There is A 'Cancer', 'Diseases of Cardiovascular system', 'Diseases of Respiratory System', and an 'Effects on Pregnacy' section. I have added images, to each section so that when readers rollover the text, they are presented with a visual version of what they have just read. For example, the Cancer section has a list of different Cancers that can be caused by smoking, when rolled over with the mouse a photograph of a man with a neck tumour is presented.

These are the images used for this page.

This is presented in my 'Cancer' section.

This is presented in my 'Diseases of the Respiratory System' section.

This is presented in my 'Diseases of the Cardiovascular System' section (represents idea of possible amputation).

This is presented in my 'Effects on Pregnancy' section.

This is my 'Smoking Related Illnesses' page. I feel that the extreme contrast in bright colours again reinforces the fact that my website is aimed at teenagers. It obtains a cartoon - like theme - the use of bright colours.

I've been reviewing my website before adding sound and I feel that the word 'dangerous' needs to be emphasized on my splash page (...But are we aware of it's dangerous effects?).

I've decided to make the word 'dangerous' flash from black to white quickly, adding an element of horror to my Splash page. This also reinforces how dangerous smoking is...

The word 'dangerous' starts on the colour black...

...and flashes to red. This continues until the words eventually fade out!

Image research and Editing

I have started researching the kinds of images I want to use in project and I have decided that I won't be taking pictures of my own within this project. I feel that internet images will be more appropriate for this particular assignment, as images of people suffering from smoke related illnesses are easier to gain access to. The first images I have been looking at are photographs of celebrities smoking, in films and programmes, celebrities smoking socially and simply celebrities smoking for photoshops in attempts to make the photgraph look more appealing to viewers. These are some of the images I have found and will potentially use in my website.

This is actor, Shahrukh Khan smoking a cigarette at an awards ceremony.

This is an actress (I'm unaware of her name) smoking in what appears to be a film.

This is Brad Pitt smoking in what appears to be a film.

This is a photo of Renee Zellweger smoking in a scene of 'The Brigette Jones Diary'.

This is Chalize Theron smoking in what appears to be a photoshoot. Looking seductive - this is what may appeal to teenage girls as they will naturally want to look as sexy and glamorous as their celebrity idols. This image will be used in my project as it reinforces the idea that smoking is glamorised by celebrities.

This Christina Aguilera in what appears to be a photoshoot. - She also looks extremely attractive in this photograph, the contrast of her blue eyes surrounded by low key lighting, evokes the idea of 'a rose that grew from concrete'. I will use this image in my project, as I feel that it will also be appropriate to prove my point that smoking is glamourised.

This is an image of Humphrey Bogart, as he was a film star who's career was at it's peak during the 1930's this image portrays the fact that smoking was even glamorised by celebrities years ago. However I'm not sure if I will use this image in my project as I feel that it doesn't particularly represent society now.

This is an image of Kiera Knightley in what appearsto be a scene of a film. As Knightley is an idoloised actress, this image might also be used in my project as it represents the fact that celebrities idolise smoking.

This is another photograph of actor Shahrukh Khan in what appears to be a movie role.

This is an image of Snoop Dog holding a Cigar, the positioning of his hand suggests that he is offering 'us' (the viewers) some of the cigar. One could assume that Snoop is suggesting that it is o.k to smoke, teenagers who see this may be negatively influenced. I will also use his image in my project as Snoop is one of the biggest and most idolised rappers in the world, this reinforces my argument that celebrities have a dominant power over the actons of society.

Editing Images

As the theme of my website will be red and black I have decided to add a red and black background to the images I found on the internet. They may appear tacky at first glance, however I feel that once incorporated into my website, they will correspond perfectly with theme I am trying to create. The black and red background on each image is consistent, this reinforces the ideas surrounding identity.

This image is currently my favourite as I feel it the most effect. The extreme contrast of colours, makes the image stand out.

I feel that my choice to use the colours red and black were successful in presenting and creating a theme that stands out.

Image (logo) Ideas

This image now contains a tear drop and automatically the image has become much more powerful than my first sketch. However as I drew this image without first doing the research, regarding how an oxygen mask actually looks, the oxygen mask looks quite unrealistic and denies the image of the powerful message that it should portray.

After researching what an oxygen mask looks like, I have now made the modifications to add some form of realistic aspect to the image. I have also made the tear drop look more effective, by simply adding more of a buldge to it. This cartoon-like feature makes the teardrop easier to understand, it also adds the exaggerated emotional theme that I want my logo to obtain. I decided against adding a nose and lips to the face as i felt that the most important features were the eyes, any other facial features would have clutered the image.



I want a logo that represents the idea of 'no smoking'. However I want to steer away from the conventional 'no smoking' logos and signs. I want to create and present something completely different which will, define and provide my project with it's own identity.

Although it is possible that these images aren't supposed to have thier own identity, they each are recognise by others as being the same. My logo must be different and should provoke a reaction from those who see it, as opposed to something that is just ignored like the logos and signs presented above. My logo must be different and should arrest the attention of viewers.

This is my new & final design for my logo.

My original design was a pencil drawing. I have simply made this image black and white using Photoshop, to mach the theme of my website project (which will black and red). As the colour black has negative connotations, this I feel corresponds with the idea of my project and it's logo (As shown above).

Image Idea2

This is an image of someone with an oxygen mask on their face. Within the oxygen mask is a cigarette with smoke coming from it. The existence of the smoke is to make clear the existence of the cigarette. The cigarette in a sense explains why the person is in need of the oxygen mask. The image is accompanied by the words 'No Smoking', which makes ie extremely clear that my project opposes the habit of smoking.

This image only contains the most important features of the human face in a time of crisis, the eyes. Rouse (2008) states "emotions like sadness, excitement, joy and anger show up in the eyes." I feel although this image is quite powerful with the use of the oxygen mask and cigarette, more emotion needs to be expressed through the eyes. This emotion can possibly be depicted with a tear drop.