Unit 13 Multimedia Design and Authoring

·   Unit aim

To help learners understand design processes including planning, iteration and prototyping, in the context of building a multimedia product.

·   Unit abstract

The interactive multimedia industry is one of the fastest moving sectors in the world. Those hoping to make a career in this sector will need to be able to produce high quality products. Creativity and imagination are key attributes of successful media designers, but learners must also acquire a firm grasp of the principles of interactive media design as well as good planning skills.

In this unit, learners will find out about the disciplines necessary to create a professional multimedia product. They will need to devise a design specification and build a prototype product. They will subsequently refine the product, further developing their initial ideas through an iterative process of development.

In completing this unit, learners will gain an understanding of how multimedia software applications can be used effectively as tools in a disciplined and structured design process aimed at producing a commercially usable prototype.

The unit will also teach learners how to focus on the needs of end users, to study who is likely to use the product they produce, and how to tailor what they are making to the user’s needs.

·   Summary of learning outcomes

On successful completion of this unit a learner will:

1. Understand the use of existing multimedia products
2. Know the importance of design discipline
3. Be able to apply design disciplines to a multimedia production
4. Be able to present a refined multimedia product prototype.

Unit content

1         Understand the use of existing multimedia products

Research: sources eg literature, publications, journals, electronic data, observation, questionnaire, interview, surveys

Products: types eg websites, interactive videos, DVDs, games, advertisements

2         Know the importance of design discipline

Sensitivity: cultural and contextual eg political, sexual, ethnic, minority groups, religious, cognitive and physical special needs, disabilities, discrimination awareness

Human Computer Interaction (HCI): testing eg formative, summative, quantitative, qualitative;

User’ needs: requirements eg content, existing systems, environmental issues, location, social context, tasks constraints of a system, delivery platform; input, output devices

3         Be able to apply design disciplines to a multimedia production

Task analysis: observations eg task being performed, difficulties encountered, hesitations, question user expectations, question user requirements and opinions, visual perception, attention span, dexterity, memory constraints

Prototype systems: user-centred design eg storyboards, flow diagrams, scripts, musical scores; structure map; design standards and guidelines; copyright laws

Develop: improvements eg amend, edit, rearrange, replace

Audio-visual: types eg sound samples, animation, video, interactive elements

Design: layout eg quantity of information presented, grouping and prioritising of information, highlighting techniques, standardisation of screen display; features eg text, use of typography, graphics, screen metaphors, navigation systems, video, guides or agents, animation, visual feedback; accessibility eg prioritising, drawing attention, use of colour, language, dynamics of screen design, innovation, creativity; intrinsic and extrinsic rewards, feedback and playback

Checking multimedia outcomes: considerations eg completeness, accuracy, layout, formatting, animation, sound, sequence; review against requirements

Editing multimedia outcomes: customisations eg size, crop and position, proportion, colour schemes, font schemes, border styles, use layout guides; existing styles and schemes for font (typeface), size, orientation, colour, alignment

Resolving problems: sound eg sound-noise ratio, volume, clarity, accessibility, codec support; images eg levels, contrast, file size, proportions, placement, unwanted content; text eg clarity, spelling, grammar, structure

4         Be able to present a refined multimedia product prototype

Originate: source materials eg copyright licensing laws, scanned material, digital photography, digital video; cultural sensitivity, political propriety

Presentation: considerations; eg file size, format; constraints eg bandwidth, compression techniques; stand-alone applications eg screen-based, point of sale, educational, entertainment, information kiosk; CD-ROM pressing techniques; world wide web publishing

Audience: evaluate eg target users, computer users, non-computer literate users.

Other considerations: cross-platform file compatibility eg Macintosh file formats, Windows file formats; cross-platform performance eg file size, file economy, file quality, file compression techniques; browser eg browser friendly palettes, frames (Java), browser compatibility; assessing eg evaluating, checking, requirements, usability, accuracy

Learning outcomes and assessment criteria

Learning outcomes   On successful completion of this unit a learner will:	Assessment criteria for pass   The learner can:
LO1 Understand the use of existing multimedia products	critically review examples of high and low quality multimedia productsdiscuss what makes a good quality multimedia product
LO2 Know the importance of design discipline	explain how the design process can be applied to a multimedia productplan an iterative design process
LO3 Be able to apply design disciplines to a multimedia production	use an appropriate combination of resources and techniques to achieve multimedia outcomescheck multimedia outcomes meet needsanalyse own use of design discipline
LO4 Be able to present a refined multimedia product prototype	produce a working multimedia product prototypepresent working multimedia product prototype to a multimedia professionalevaluate the prototype.

Guidance

Links to National Occupational Standards, other BTEC units, other BTEC qualifications and other relevant units and qualifications

The learning outcomes associated with this unit are closely linked with:

Level 3	Level 4	Level 5
Unit 43: Multimedia Design	Unit 11: Digital Media in Art and Design	Unit 37: Digital Image Creation and Development
Unit 10 Human computer interaction	Unit 12: 2D, 3D, and Time- based Digital Applications	Unit 38: 3D Computer Modelling and Animation
unit 11 Digital media in art and ddesign	Unit 15: Website Management	Unit 9 System analysis and design

This unit has links to the Level 4 and Level 5 National Occupational Standards for IT and Telecoms Professionals, particularly the areas of competence of:

• Human Computer Interaction/Interface (HCI) Design.

Essential requirements

Learners will need access to computer hardware with appropriate accessories such as scanners and printers, and to appropriate software such as Director, Flash, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Adobe PhotoShop/Image Ready etc.

Resources

Books

Andrews P – Adobe PhotoShop Elements (Adobe, 2009) ISBN 0321660323 Boyle T – Design for Multimedia Learning (Prentice Hall, 1996) ISBN 0132422158

Chapman Dr N and Chapman J – Digital Multimedia (John Wiley & Sons; 2009) ISBN 0470512164

Coupland K – Web Works Navigation (Rockport Publishers, 2000) ISBN 1564966623

Kalbach J – Designing Web Navigation: Optimizing the User Experience (O’Reilly Media, 2007) ISBN 0596528108

Gatter M – Software Essentials for Graphic Designers: Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, QuarkXPress, Dreamweaver, Flash and Acrobat (Laurence King, 2006) ISBN 1856694992

Kerman P – Sams Teach Yourself Macromedia Flash MX in 24 Hours (Sams, 2003) ISBN 0672325942

Maciuba-Koppel D – The Web Writer’s Guide (Focal Press, 2003) ISBN 0240804813

Sengstack J – Sams Teach Yourself Adobe Premiere in 24 hours (Sams, 2004) ISBN 0672326078