Here is a screen print of my Internet search on www.google.com
These were the corresponding search results.
Logo Comparisons
Here, I will attempt to compare the logos of 4 important hotel firms, in order to produce a suitable logo for my company. The four logos shown here were extracted from the websites of the first four hits from the Internet search shown on the last page.
Designing my own logo
I will now begin to design my own ideas for a logo, as it will occur numerous times on other parts of the project, including the business cards and letterheads, and forms the central part of my company’s image.
My first idea was this.
It is a simple design, in red, based around the idea of the company name in simple writing, and then a simple graphic above, as demonstrated by the Hilton logo. Here is my second idea.
This logo is also simple, and does not involve a graphic. Instead, it uses the a different colour, green, and the company name in an elegant and sophisticated style that makes the company name into the focal point of the logo, as is the case of the Marriott.
I believe that the second logo, although it does not include a graphic, is much more appealing to the viewer than the first, which is less eye-catching and more simple. However, I prefer the colour red for my logo, and so I will combine this colour with the second logo for my final design.
Therefore this is my final logo design.
Business Cards
I will now use my own non-IT research to produce other parts of my welcome pack, starting with the business card.
With my logo design finalised, I then had to design a business card. For my research, I looked at a business card I acquired from my father’s company, Simrad, a yacht equipment engineering company. The business card included the company logo, the name and job title of the person to whom the card applied, and the contact details of that person, by address, telephone, fax and e-mail. I thus decided that I would include these features on my business card, as it is obviously a standard set of data.
My first design for the card was this
This design incorporates all of the main features of the two business cards I mentioned. The personal contact details are separate from the general contact details of the company, and the name of the person to whom the business card applies is in the centre, as it is meant to be the focal point of the card.
I also produced a second design
In this design, the centre of the card is the company logo, with the name of the person and their personal details at the top. The red company colour has been used in a border like style, which I believe gives the card a bit more of an aesthetically pleasing look.
I believe that the company logo is best suited to the top of the card, rather than the middle, with the name in the middle. I have altered the above designs and combined them to form this, my final design.
Designing a letterhead
As a research idea for this section, I used a letter I received from Fortek Computers, with reference to my successful work experience visit to them.
I decided that, for my letterhead, I would use a similar idea to my business card, except leaving out the personal contact details. This is to preserve continuity in the company literature. Therefore, my letterhead design was easy to produce. It looks like this.
To demonstrate the use of this letterhead, I have written an example letter to a prospective customer, which can be seen on the next page.
‘With Compliments’ Slips
It is customary in the business world to supply customers who request company literature that does not require a cover letter to include a small slip of company paper, giving them the compliments of the company. In most cases, this is the same as the letterhead, and this is also the case with my company. Here is my ‘With Compliments’ slip for Parker Hotels.
On the next pages, you can see my final project.
My work has been saved in my user area of my school server. The area of the server I have used is illustrated below.
The Use of IT in this project
The use of IT in the production of this project has been a great advantage to my purpose in many ways, and it would do so in a real life situation, but it does not come without its disadvantages.
The main reason why such a large percentage of businesses in the modern world use Information Technology to promote their business is because it provides a totally professional look. The way a computer can present information, such as an advertising poster or an official letter to a customer or to a potential investor, is so much more professional and almost to perfection that no human hands could match it. When, in the instance of this task, a new business wishes to promote itself as a new, efficient, modern company, but also with the touch of professionalism required to be successful in the hotel industry, it is necessary to be able to promote yourself in this image, by using modern means of communication, such as the computer, and in this way, the IT user gains the advantage of a more professional look to the item that the non-IT user can simply not attain.
Another disadvantage to the non-IT user is the question of the time it takes to mass-produce items. If 1000 copies of a flyer are required for a promotion of your company, and they must first be hand-designed, and then hand-written, it is going to take a very long time to complete. However, by designing the work on computer, that worker could have saved hours even days, by simply instructing the computer to print more copies, or maybe even using a photocopier to reproduce his work, as Information and Communication Technology is not just about computers, but also about the way humans interact with technology itself.
However, the IT user can have many troubles in his quest for a perfect piece of IT work that are encountered simply because he is using IT. A computer may be infallible in that it only computes what it is fed, but there are numerous ways in which information can be corrupted so that it is no longer useable. For instance, viruses are a major problem for computer users, especially those who are connected to the Internet. The virus can destroy the information stored on the computer totally; even destroy the computer itself. More about this has been written in a later section of this project, which relates directly to the production of my task, but it is obvious that this is not a problem the non-IT user is going to encounter.
For this task, I found that the use of IT provided me with many advantages, but it also proved to be a hindrance in other ways. The table below will outline these factors.
Copyright
There are many laws governing the misuse of data that is copyright protected.
Copyright is a protection that covers published and unpublished literary, scientific and artistic works, whatever the forms of expression, provided such works are fixed in a tangible or material form. This means that if you can see it, hear it or touch it - it may be protected. If it is an essay, a play, a song, a photograph, HTML coding or a computer graphic that can be set on paper, recorded on tape or saved to a hard drive, it may be protected. Copyright laws grant the creator the exclusive right to reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute, perform and display the work publicly. Exclusive means only the creator of such work, not anybody who has access to it and decides to grab it.
These laws mean that I am not allowed to copy anybody else’s work, nor give out any private details. I have been sure to that I have not used anybody else’s designs in my work, and I have asked the permission of the companies involved in my research. They are acknowledged here:
Error Handling and Virus Protection
I was fortunate to avoid most of the errors that could easily have been encountered in my coursework. For instance, I did not have any problems with files corrupting themselves, or any attacks of viruses. I did come across a few problems with file sharing violations when an unnamed individual also working on this project discovered my server access password and attempted to change my files. However, this problem was quickly averted from reoccurring by password protecting my files and changing my user account password.
I made numerous spelling mistakes in the course of this project, which I was able to avert with the use of a spelling checker, and then proof reading the work. I also asked my father to read the work, and he was able to help me correct a few spelling mistakes.
It was necessary for me to password protect my files during the course of the project, to avoid attacks from other users. I also decided to backup my files on my own floppy disk, so that I could retrieve my files even if they were destroyed for some reason.
A screen print of my spell check.
My floppy disk for backing up files.
Other errors I encountered included a faulty printer, which turned out to have no ink left, and also the program I was using telling me not to overwrite a file that I was currently accessing.
When using computers, it is vital to ensure that you use correct posture, to avoid giving yourself any unnecessary aches and pains because you sit incorrectly. You should take a break from computers every hour for at least 15 minutes, to avoid becoming transfixed by the computer screen and causing problems with your eyes, and to avoid over-exposure to computer radiation. Computer users should never turn a computer off while they are still working on it, by pressing emergency cut off switches, as it can damage the computers and also blow the fuses running them.
Computer users must be wary of viruses, especially when computers are connected to the Internet. It is very simple to do, as you must simply run a virus-checking program, such as Norton AntiVirus, which highlights any viruses, and have it constantly checking any downloaded files for errors.
