Method of organisation: Google Calendar (Entry #31)

Since the personal project lasts for almost one year, there are definitely a lot of events on top of the personal project. That's why time management is one of the most important skills to have especially towards to the end of the project. Other than the personal project, I have to work on summative assessments, attend extra curricular activities, attend club meetings and more. This is why using I thought using a Google Calendar would be the best method of keeping track and managing all the tasks I need to complete, this can be easily synced to my phone as well as give me notifications on days I need to be more alert on (eg. with more tasks). I also really enjoy the colour code function because this way, I can clearly distinguish how many tasks there are for each specific category.  

• Highlighted in:
• Blue - Summative Assessments (Homework not included)
• Yellow - Club meetings (Athletic Council and UNICEF Club which is not included)
• Green - ECAs (Tennis training/matches, others aren't listed such as piano, band, tutor... etc.)
• PURPLE - PERSONAL PROJECT TASKS AND GOALS 

Below are two screenshots from my Google Calendar, all of the months look really similar to this during the coarse of the personal project. 

Oct 7 - Terry Fox Run Meeting (Entry #30)

This has been the first meeting I've been to in a while, we discussed a lot of things since this is the last meeting the committee will have before the run. 

Notes:

• Revised agenda for the marathon day

• Revised run routes for 10km
• 3km and 5km remain the same

• Floor plan in RCHK for the day
• I'll be in charge of the hotdog stands 
• 2 grills

Fourth meeting with supervisor (Entry #29)

During our fourth meeting, we discussed about our progress and what is coming ahead of us, we looked over the resources Mr. Paetzold provided us with through email. We talked over:

• Progress
• Both Nicole and I are on track
• My "product" (the business report) will not be completed until after November 8th, since this is the day of the marathon and most of the content of the report will be added in after (eg. main findings)
• Ms. Nobert mentioned for us to begin writing the report, the parts that don't involve reflection and writing about the product
• Looked over all the resources Mr. Paetzold sent to us, and broke down all the notes on those documents, however, we still had questions after reading the documents so we sent an email to Mr. Paetzold:

Volunteers for the hotdog stand (Entry #28)

Since Mr. Lovegrove is the athletic director at CDNIS, and he is part of the Terry Fox Run council, he mentioned that the Athletic Council could volunteer during the day of the marathon so I made this sign up sheet so that the members can sign up on their preferred time and role on the day of the marathon.

Business Research #2 - How to estimate demand (Entry #27)

What I got out of this article and how I am going to apply it:

• Based on sales
• I am basing my demand for this year's Terry Fox Run based on last year's sales - taking the number of participants and the number of hotdogs sold and then making it into a ratio. There is an estimated participant number for this year since people sign up online. I will include all the calculations in my business report.
• Based on a survey
• I also created a google form for people who want to order a hotdog. This link is included on the digital version of the poster so I can refer to the number of people and the number of hotdogs they want. 

Business Research #1 - Business Reports (Entry #26)

Last year, I took the course "Introduction to Business", our final project of the year was create a business report - we have to apply the skills we learnt throughout the year into one big project. This gave me an idea of how a professional business report looks like and what it consists of. However, before I start my business report (the parts that don't require the actual results - that will be added in after the event), I will need to do research about lots of aspects such as the formatting, purpose... etc. Since this time, I'll be writing a business report based on an ACTUAL business, there will be a lot of differences from the one I wrote for class last year as it was imaginary.

http://sydney.edu.au/business/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/90359/Txt_business_reports.pdf

http://www.victoria.ac.nz/vbs/teaching/publications/VBS-report-writing-guide-2013-July.pdf

Here are 2 links I found that are both complete guides of business reports, from how to format, purpose, how to use headings and much more! I will be mainly using these 2 guides as a research tool for Criterion A: Research.

Why am I writing this report/what is the purpose?

• My ultimate goal for this report is to aid next year's run, as all the money made from my hot dog stand is to raise money for the run and charity, therefore, the business guide will help next year's organizers raise the most money possible
• Assist in decision making
• Will offer information, analysis and recommendations for next year 

What are the steps to completing a business report?

1. Planning, this includes constructing the basic outline of the report and determining target audience
2. Complete the sections that do not require any findings, which may include more researching and organizing
3. After the event, drafting of body section/main findings begin
4. Start conclusion and recommendations (final part to be completed in the report)
5. Proof-read and edit

Who is my target audience?

• Organizer of the hotdog stand for the marathon next year
• The Terry Fox Run committee - they will be interested in how much I raised, the demand... etc.

What is the format of the report I'll be using?

• Personally, I think this is the most important point be researching about since I will be basing my whole report with this format.
• There are two types of formatting that is common in a business report
• Indirect approach
• The conclusions and recommendations are at the end of the report
• Direct approach
• The conclusions and recommendations are at the beginning of the report 
• Usually for readers who aren't interested of what I have to say and have no time reading it
• I will be choosing the indirect approach, looking at my target audience, I'm pretty sure they will be reading everything in detail in order to make the marathon and the hot dog stand successful next year
• Business report formatting

1. Title page
2. Acknowledgements 
3. Table of contents
4. Executive summary
5. Introduction/background
6. Findings/discussion
7. Conclusion
8. Recommendations
9. References
10. Appendices 

Inspiration for Modern Business Reports (Entry #25)

"Pinterest is a web and mobile application company that offers a visual discovery, collection, sharing, and storage tool." I made a Pinterest board to store and keep track of all of the business brochures that I find visually and appealing, as well as it being suitable for my final business report I will be creating for the hotdog stand. I will be constantly adding to this board as I will be browsing through Pinterest so that I will have a better idea of how I want my final business report to look like. Later on, I will be looking at different brochures more in depth and analyse it, which they will be my sources of inspirtation just like a Design Cycle.

Source of Inspiration #4 (Entry #24)

Looking at the screenshot of a magazine I took above, I realized that they used a specific colour scheme for the whole thing. I really like how they incorporated different shades of the same colour just like they did in the chart. This is a good way to change up the variety of colours however not making it too messy to read. I will definitely consider this in my report since I will include bar graphs. I especially like how the layout is fairly simple with the most important numbers and data standing out. For example on the graph, only the most important numbers stand out (the price), they didn't include an x and y axis with numbers that will definitely make the whole page seem extremely messy and unorganised. I love the use of font in this design, each different font has a different purpose to it. The font with big capital letters is used for the titles and the important information, the slightly fancier font is only used once in however, it matches the overall theme and finally there is the smaller text which is used for descriptions and captions. Contrast is really evident in this design as they incorporated the use of bright colours, and for the "special design" (the part with circles), blue and orange (also the 2 main colours of the overall clover scheme) are complimentary colours.

Source of Inspiration #3 (Entry #23)

Looking at the screenshot of a magazine I took above, I realized that they used a specific colour scheme for the whole thing. I really like how they incorporated different shades of the same colour just like they did in the chart. This is a good way to change up the variety of colours however not making it too messy to read. I will definitely consider this in my report since I will include bar graphs. I especially like how the layout is fairly simple with the most important numbers and data standing out. For example on the graph, only the most important numbers stand out (the price), they didn't include an x and y axis with numbers that will definitely make the whole page seem extremely messy and unorganised. I love the use of font in this design, each different font has a different purpose to it. The font with big capital letters is used for the titles and the important information, the slightly fancier font is only used once in however, it matches the overall theme and finally there is the smaller text which is used for descriptions and captions. Contrast is really evident in this design as they incorporated the use of bright colours, and for the "special design" (the part with circles), blue and orange (also the 2 main colours of the overall clover scheme) are complimentary colours.

Source of Inspiration #2 (Entry #22)

Looking at the screenshot of a magazine I took above, I noticed that they are really consistent with the fonts they use, only using two different fonts throughout the magazine, that is what I am planning to do as well. The colour scheme is used throughout the magazine and is really consistent, even the line graph and the pie graphs follow the colour scheme. I realised that all of the images are in black and white, I think they did it to highlight the text, as the text is the most important part of the magazine, the images are just there to support the text. On the bottom left corner, I figured out they are comparing two different sets of data, and the one that is more important is in green, they added green to inform the audience which the 'winning number' is. Finally, contrast is included as the words stand out in the background. 

Source of Inspiration #1 (Entry #21)

In the magazine above, the two main colours are blue and yellow, and the colours are used throughout the whole magazine, which shows Repetition. With only two main colours used, it looks much more tidy and neat, and also really consistent. I really like the design, especially on the top picture where they lowered the opacity of the background (city skyline), and made the background black and white. They made the man in colour, and used the instant alpha effect to take the background off the image (of the man), this way, the man was much more noticeable than just a simple image. I realised that they used the same font throughout the magazine, just with different sizes and style (eg. Bold, italic), so that it doesn't look too messy; I am planning to use only 2-3 throughout my whole report. Finally, there is alignment in the magazine as it looks really tidy and everything is arranged really well.

Design Research #3 - Fonts (Entry #20)

Why is this source necessary?

This source is necessary since this website gave me 27 different classic and elegant serif fonts, I chose to look at serif fonts since I never use any serif fonts, I am used to using sans fonts when creating a poster or a product. This website gave me an overview of a lot of professional looking fonts that are available for download. 

How has it impacted your ideas for the creation of your professional report?

This source has impacted my ideas for the creation of my professional report since choosing a good font is one of the most important things to consider when designing the report. With such a large variety of fonts to choose from, choosing a good font is extremely important to make my report visually appealing to the audience.

What have you learned that you didn’t know already from this source?

I learnt that there are huge varieties of fonts out on the web available for free download, used for different purposes, with the large variety. I found out that the difference between sans and serif fonts is that serif fonts have "feet", or have curls. 

Design Research #2 - Design Layouts (Entry #19)

Why is this source necessary?

This source is necessary because it informs me on how to create a nicely designed magazine (this is the best source that I found that relates to what I'm creating, a magazine and a professional report kind of look alike). This website provided some tips of what to do and what not to include in a design of a professional looking report/magazine. They put on all sorts of information relating to fonts, cover photos, the layout and colours, giving a short description each referring to the the point.

How has it impacted your ideas for the creation of your professional report?

This definitely impacted my ideas for the creation of my professional report since one of the most important parts is the design and layout of the whole ting. In order for the report to look good, the layout has to be really visually appealing and organised to the audience. The website gave me a lot of information, tips and tricks about how to design a good and professional magazine/report. The website impacted my ideas by teaching me the basics of creating a good product.

What have you learned that you didn’t know already from this source?

I learnt that it might be really difficult to layout the report and make it look visually appealing and professional at first. I really liked the tips the website gave me, for example, it said not to use clip art, and thinking back to all the professional magazines I read, I hardly saw any clip arts in it as it makes the overall product look unprofessional and playful. Along with that, I learnt that leaving white space in the product may be better than filling up the space with words at times. 

Design Research #1 - Color Schemes (Entry #18)

Why is this source necessary?

I explored the website and it let me try out, experiment and create colour schemes, and each set contains 5 colours. I think this source is extremely important since after choosing 5 colours, it can be directly exported and used in applications such as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe InDesign, which for this design cycle, I will be using the two applications to create my final product. After creating the 5-colour colour scheme, it can be saved in your account, I am planning to create multiple different colour schemes and choose the best one at the end after creating them.

How has it impacted your ideas for the creation of your professional report?

The Adobe Kuler definitely impacted my ideas for the creation of my professional report, choosing the right colour scheme is one of the most important aspects of the professional report. This online program can help me decide and match the colours I'm going to consistently use for my report. Along with that, there are colour schemes other people have created and they want to share it - this is what the "explore" button on the top is. There are different themes that I can choose from, for example: If I search happy in the search bar, lots of "happy" colour schemes will show up and there, I can choose to use it, or just take a look at it.

What have you learned that you didn’t know already from this source?

I learnt that through this source, a lot of different colour combinations can be found. We can also edit someone else's colour schemes if there is a particular colour that doesn't match. The coolest discovery I made about this source is that there is an iPhone app to this as well, with a lot more functions - the one I like the most is that an image can be uploaded to the app, then Kuler will automatic generate a colour scheme based on the image's colours. I learnt that colour schemes are extremely easy to find and easy to generate by myself as well.