Overall I am unhappy with this card, as I didn’t give the image I had hoped to give. I think this card would look much better with a coloured background as it would be more noticeable and look more professional.
BUSINESS CARD 2
I decided to keep the same layout as on the last card. The same fonts and font sizes remained the same.
The only thing that I changed was the background. Instead of having a boring white background I used a yellow swirl background. This gave the card a much better look from the last one and it looked much more professional.
Overall I am happy with this card but it’s not as good as I had hoped. It gives a better image from the last card because it is not so boring and will make people notice it much better.
I will continue using the same background for the next card as I feel it worked well. I am going to try out a different layout though.
BUSINESS CARD 3
I have used the same background, font and font sizes for this card.
The layout has changed in a number of different places. The name “Jane” has been centralised at the top of the card, in a black box to help it stand out. Three coloured squares are on the left hand side of the box to add some character to the card. I have placed the address in the bottom left hand corner with the phone and fax numbers to the right.
I am unpleased with the outcome of this card. The background is ideal for the purpose as it was on the last card. I thought it looked very tacky.
Again I will use the same background but I am going to change formation.
BUSINESS CARD 4
I have used the same background, font and font sizes for this card.
On the previous three cards I used white text over a black background for the word Jane. On this card I have decided to completely scrap that idea, as it was not working as I had hoped. Instead I used black text on the yellow background. It was placed on the left hand side about half way down the card.
The address and phone numbers are on the right hand side. In the top left hand corner there is a wavy line to give a relaxed feel. I felt this would look good, as this is the image I wanted to portray.
Overall I am extremely pleased with this card as it gives the perfect image for a hairdresser. The background is very good and the wavy line adds to the effect. The font is also very good.
FINAL DECISION
After analysing all four business cards it seems business card four was the most pleasing to look at and gave the image of a hairdresser the best.
I think the card was well balanced with the name neatly placed on the left hand side and the address and phone numbers on the right hand side. It is very well structured compared with the other three.
ANALYSING THE LETTERHEADS
The main purpose of letterheads is to attract attention to the readers and provide them with the relevant information. It is very important that the purpose is clear because otherwise the reader will not be interested in the document.
When designing my letterheads I will take into account:
- Colour scheme
- Writing style
- Page layout
- Information to go on the document
All of the letterheads were A4. I will do mine this size as well for the simple reason it will be recognised as a letterhead more easily. This size would also be accepted in all printer companies to avoid potential problems in the future.
Each letterhead had the orientation of portrait. The margins are as below.
I am going to use the same margins on my letterheads.
These are the main items that must be placed on my letterhead.
- Name and address
- Telephone/Mobile numbers
- Fax number
LETTERHEAD 1
I decided to use a plain white background for this business card after considering a few Ides. I did ponder with the idea of using the background that I used on the business cards but I thought the images might not stand out as well so it wouldn’t give the right effect.
For the word ‘Jane’ I used text size 22 and the font Bradley Hand, as I did on the business cards. It was placed in a black box in the top left hand corner. The text was white to make it stand out.
The address was placed next to the black box at the top in a line font size 8. I put them there as it needs to be noticed easily so the reader can see where it’s from and also so they can return a letter to that address.
The phone and fax numbers are in a line in the centre at the bottom of the page. This is because they are the last things you need to know in case you need to ring concerning the letter.
Overall I am unpleased with this letterhead because it looks tacky and unprofessional. It doesn’t give the right image for a hairdresser, as it isn’t smooth enough. The address looks a bit lost at the top and would look better in some sort of box.
I am going to completely redo the layout for the next letterhead.
LETTERHEAD 2
I have completely reworked the layout for this letterhead as I thought the last one did not give the right effect.
I decided to add some colour to this letterhead, as the last one was black and white, and looked very boring.
I added a yellow margin on the left hand side of the letterhead as I thought it would give a more professional look. This idea worked very well although I’m not sure about the colour.
The yellow border contrasted with an orange strip, which ran along the top of the letterhead. This idea was also very successful although the colour needs rethinking.
The word ‘Jane’ remained in the top left hand corner, in the same size and font, as this needs to be noticed easily.
I decided to move the address into the orange strip, in white text as I thought black would ruin the image. This worked well.
The phone and fax numbers remained in the same place.
I am pleased with this letterhead as it gives a much better image than the last one and also looks very professional.
In the next letterhead I need the reconsider the colours and try placing the phone and fax numbers in a different place to see if I can improve it.
LETTERHEAD 3
As I was pleased with the layout of the last card, I kept the same layout.
The word ‘Jane’ and the address remained in the same place.
I was having trouble thinking of the ideal colour for the border before I thought of using the yellow effect I used on the business card. I did and was very pleased with the outcome. This also added consistency to the different documents, which makes it even better.
I changed the strip at the top of the document from orange to black, as I thought this would produce a good contrast and make the address stand out better. I was pleased with this.
Even though I was fairly pleased with the positioning of the telephone and fax numbers on the previous letterhead I tried moving them to see if it looked better any where else. I moved them inside the margin, in the bottom left hand corner.
Overall I am pleased with this letterhead and I have improved on the last one by changing the colour scheme. One disappointment is the new positioning of the phone and fax numbers. It looks slightly unbalanced because of this change. Other than this I feel I have produced a very good letterhead that projects the image I hoped for.
LETTERHEAD 4
This letterhead has remained almost the same as the last one. I have kept the name and address in the same places. The colour scheme has remained the same, as I was very pleased with this on the last letterhead.
The phone and fax numbers have moved back to the original location for two reasons. They didn’t stand out very well in the margin. The letterhead looks much more balanced with it at the bottom.
The address has changed from font size 7 to font size 8. This makes it stand out slightly more and it looks much better.
I am extremely pleased with this letterhead because it projects a very calm relaxed image like I wanted to, and doesn’t look messy.
FINAL DECISION
I have decided to use letterhead four. This was the only letterhead that shows a good colour scheme and has a nice balance to it.
I was pleased with some features from letterhead two and was pleased with features from letterhead three. I did a compromise between the two keeping only the good features. This was very successful and I am pleased with the outcome.
The margin is the same colour as the business card so it shows consistency.
I feel this gives ‘Jane’ a good image and looks very professional.
ANALYSING THE COMPLIMENT SLIPS
The compliment slip is a useful document as it can be used to make short comments without the need to write a letter.
All of the compliments were of similar sizes, around 21cm by 9.9cm. This is the size that I shall use.
Information that needs to go on the slip is similar to what I put on the letterhead. It needs to be organised very well otherwise it could look untidy and unprofessional. Things that I will put on are as follows:
- Telephone/Fax numbers
- Text saying ‘With Compliments’
- Space for writing in
COMPLIMENT SLIP 1
I used the same font as in the previous documents as I wanted to keep the consistency.
I wanted to make it very clear that this document was a with compliments slip from ‘Jane’. Therefore I clearly labelled these two pieces of information in boxes at the top. I put a yellow background inside the boxes to help braw your eye towards them.
I also wanted to keep all the information together so I put the address and numbers in the bottom left hand corner. I was pleased with the way it turned out.
In the large gap at the side of the address and numbers I placed a large box for any notes to go in.
Overall I am unpleased with this card. The boxes look tacky and don’t project a professional image.
For the next card I am going to scrap the boxes and try a different layout. I am also going to try and make it look more like the other documents.
COMPLIMENT SLIP 2
This card has been completely rearranged from the last one.
The address and numbers remained in the same place because I was pleased with the positioning of them in the first compliment slip. As I wanted to make this document look more like the other ones I decided to add a yellow background, which was used before.
I put Jane, in white text, in the top left hand corner, in a black box as I thought this would make it stand out well. I was fairly pleased with this although it does dominate the card a bit to much.
The ‘with compliments’ has been moved to the bottom right hand corner as this gives the card much better balance. I used capitals to project a more professional image.
This card is a huge improvement from the last one although it is still not quite right. I feel it would look much better with the yellow covering background covering the whole card. This is something I will experiment with on the next one.
COMPIMENT SLIP 3
This compliment slip is similar to the last one. The background, which went behind the address in the last slip, covers the whole area.
The word ‘Jane’ has remained in the black box but has been moved slightly more into the corner to get it out of the way.
The address and numbers have remained in the same place but are now more spaced out to prevent them from looking a bit cramped and messy.
I was very pleased with the positioning of ‘with compliments’ on the last slip so this has stayed as it was.
Once again this card is an improvement on the last one but it is still not quite right. The ‘with compliments’ text looks superb in the bottom right hand corner. The background is also very good as it looks very modern and also adds consistency as it was used it the other documents. One disadvantage however is the black box in the top corner. It is two overpowering and doesn’t project a calm image like I wanted to.
COMPLIMENT SLIP 4
I decided to scrap the black box in the corner but I still wanted ‘Jane’ to stand out. To do this I created a white margin on the left hand side in which went the word ‘Jane’. I also placed the address and numbers in this as well. The effect was very successful and split the information from the writing space very well.
The used the same background as before on the right hand side. I also kept the ‘with compliments’ bit the same, as I was very pleased with this anyway.
Overall I am very pleased with this slip. I feel it portrays a very calm image that represents a hairdresser very well.
FINAL DECISION
I have decided to use compliment slip four, as it is the most well thought out one. It looks much more modern than the others and projects a more professional image.
The name and address are easy to see and look neat and tidy inside the margin on the left hand side. It was a problem with them not looking good on the other documents.
There is lots of space for writing in due to the careful arrangement of the other features.
ANALYSIS OF THE APPLICATION FORM
To do this task I have redesigned the current application form, as it is not very good. It looks very old and messy. I am going to give it a more modern look and make it more interesting.
The original application form got strait to the point and didn’t have an introduction. I decided to do the same, as I didn’t think it would be relevant.
I have put the information into different sections so it is structured well. All the information is in a table as I thought this would be the best format because it looks neat.
I printed off the application form and analysed it. I then changed what needed changing and printed off my final copy. These can be seen on the next page.
ANALYSING THE COMPANY BOOKLET
As Jane is a hairdresser I decided to do a booklet on one her main hair styling suppliers ‘Sebastian Collection’. I thought this could give people who use her salon an idea of what styles they could have and would encourage people to buy.
I used various websites to find pictures of the different gels and styles. I also got some useful information about them and about the company.
I decided to use A4 as this seemed to be the most practical paper size.
I wanted to keep the design simple like the other documents I have done. I haven’t put in any pointless detail as it gives a fresh approach to the people reading the booklet.
I wanted it to be similar to the other documents so I used the same font, ‘Bradley Hand ICT’. This gave a professional image as it has uniformity.
I included a contents page to add good navigation to the booklet. This could take away a lot of stress, as it is easy to find everything.
I printed off the company booklet and analysed it. I then changed what needed changing and printed off my final copy. These can be seen on the next page.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
I used many sources in order to complete this section.
- The Internet proved to be very useful as I could look at the set up and styles of many different companies. This helped me to come up with some ideas and designs for my documents. It was also very useful when I was searching for a background. I went on to a website called ‘yourwallpaper.com’. There was a wide range to choose from and I managed to find one that looked perfect for the company.
- I used various packages to produce my documentation including, ‘Microsoft Word’, ‘Microsoft Publisher’ and ‘Microsoft Paint’ when designing the six types of document. They allowed me to import and export images and text, which could be resized and formatted to suit the purpose of the document. This was important, as there had to be a commonality between the documents so as to achieve an “in House” style.
- I also used the ‘Heinemann AVCE Advanced Information and Communication Technology’ textbook. It was written by Alastair de Watteville and Lester Gilbert and was published in 2000. It gave me a good idea of the purposes of documents. It told me how to attract attention by using the correct balance between the textual style and colour.
All of the above have helped me greatly during task one.
I took a letterhead and a business card from three different organisations that I am going to evaluate in this section.
Task in this section is to…
- Produce a formal report describing, comparing and evaluating three different organisations.
THE FORMAL REPORT
The three companies that I am evaluating are Tinfish Interiors, Eurolanguage LTD and Base two technologie, LTD. I have collected a business card and a letterhead from each of these. The business cards can be seen below.
Business Cards:
Tin fish interiors used a blue fading to white background with the logo placed on the left hand side. This gave a very relaxed feel and made the company look fresh. The text style was ‘Bradley Hand ICT’, which looked modern.
Eurolanguage used a textured yellow background for the card. This looked very good and gave a slightly more professional look from the tin fish one. The format was portrait, which makes it stand out from the other cards. This was a very good idea as it stands out better than the tin fish one. The text was ‘Times new Roman’. This looked good as it went with the textured background.
There was no colour used in the Base two-technology card. Although it looks fresh and tidy it doesn’t stand out like the other cards, which is a major down point. The background is white, which is a bit dull and boring.
Of the three the best card in my opinion is the Eurolanguage one because it stands out by far the most due to the format. It looks the most professional with the textured paper.
The base two technology card is the worst because it is dull, boring and doesn’t look very professional.
Letterheads:
The Tin fish interiors letterhead has a white background with all the information neatly arranged in the top left hand corner. It includes the logo clearly stating what it is for. It looks very professional and gives the company a very promising image.
The Eurolanguage letterhead uses the same textured paper as on the business card. This looked good. The information is neatly arranged in the centre with some at the top and some at the bottom.
Like the business card, the Base two-technology letterhead was very dull. Information on the other two letters was well balanced but the information on this looks out of place. No colour has been used so it doesn’t stand out as well as the others and this also brings down peoples view of the company.
I think the Tin fish interiors letterhead was the best as it projects a very good image for the company. It is very neat and doesn’t spread bits of information all over the page.
Again the Base two technology letterhead was the worst because it looks no way near as professional as the others.
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Chris Blundell
