Wrapping it up

Well the challenge is over now and we all took some deserved time off.
But design waits for no one and we were quickly alerted to a problem in our project

The bebo skin as well as the photo albums contained images of an expedition of students in a gorge. This, we are told, is not acceptable because of an accident some three months ago and its related deaths that scar the memory of these fun activities.

It was a shared fault between our minimal research and a neglection of their marketing team to layout guidelines relating to these sensitivities. Needless to say we jumped into action to correct all issues surrounding this tragedy. So here it is, the new bebo skin:


With these changes in place we can now look to getting our project live and OPC marketing will be assisting in directing the kids into the Groups. As for our poster and competition campaign...
Only time will tell.

The video review

Finale from Ian Loveridge on Vimeo.

The aftermath! - Project summary

Hey, guess what? WE HAVE DONE IT! Team ignite has created a Bebo and Facebook group for OPC and a competition to promote the two social networking sites. A lot of what we have done is still in the process of being uploaded but we have created all the tools that OPC will need to get everything going and allow for continuos maintenance.

The bebo/facebook profiles we set up:



With these we will present them with a PDF document they can print out and staple to the wall, to explain the basic steps in editing and using the groups.

This is a demo for the client to add a banner to their web page - we set it up so all they would have to do was paste the code in and our css and html will do the rest:



Another Part of our efforts for Sir Eds OPC was to create the media for a competition from web banners to posters to terms and conditions to easily layout the process for them to use when they are ready

Mid-Challenge Review

We are now at the end of week one.

We are pretty happy with where we are at: We have finalised and got approval of our project strategy and setup the necessary digital spaces (Facebook and Bebo groups) to complete it. On our visit to the OPC we got a really good feel for what they are about and what they need. Once we met with the OPC marketing team we were able to clarify what we needed to achieve to best help them reach their goals. We got to talk to the students, getting direct and uncadid feedback, which helped to ensure we weren't going down a path that they would want to follow.

In the coming week we aim to get the aesthetic side of our project refined and completed. We have also decided to divide and conqure as a team, with Nicola and Liz working on the visual and creative aspects of the project while Ian tackles the techincal and communications issues to make sure everything works synergisically at the finish line.

It has been a big learning curve for us. A major hurdle has been figuring out how to work within our constraints (aka, our lack of resources and time as final year students).

It has been great and we are hoping for another productive and fun week to come.

Road Trip!

Yesterday Ignite returned from our daring travels to the OPC at Tongariro National Park.



We left Wellington while listening to storm warnings (that were recommending that people stay in thier homes and avoid all 'non-essential' travel!), and while dodging fallen trees on the road in Levin we thought we may have to turn back, but we toughed it out and made it to our destination!

When we got to the centre we were given a tour (which exceeding all expectations). Later we meet up with the OPC marketing team (who were awesomely helpful and excited about what we've got planned for them) and then chatted to staff and kids over dinner. We got heaps of juicy insights and more importantly a really good feel for what OPC is about. Plus we took some cool photos and video footage (to be uploaded shortly).

It was a brilliant experience (and a great excuse to ditch uni work and have some fun!). We can now continue with our project with reinforced gusto and excitement about sorting something that will really help the OPC to achive goals!

The brief Brief

Team ignite aims to get students involved in continuous communication with OPC. We will attempt to do this by gathering email addresses from some of the current participants. We will create forms for this purpose. We will then set up a Bebo and a Facebook network that will be able to connect alumni and possible future participants of OPC. The social network groups will link to a blog that will most likely have a photo based competition for anyone aged 13-18 to enter. This competition will relate in some manner to the sort of things OPC is known for (for example outdoor activities). This way the people can look through the photographs and get excited about the outdoors and possibly and hopefully want to get involved with OPC. 

There will be posters created for schools also advertising this competition so it wont be limited to people who have already been involved with OPC. The prize for the winner of the competition will be an adventure with OPC (Ipods and cameras may also be prizes for runners up).

The social networks will be constantly updated with news by the people from OPC and the wall will allow people to make comments about what is happening and / or coming up in the future for OPC. We intend to make a guide that can be followed for the sustainability of the communication platforms we have created that can be used by the staff.

The Big Meet

Thursday 25th July 2008... a beautiful relationship is born. 

It was an awesome collision of the young and the young at heart when ignite and the Outdoor Pursuits Centre (represented by Grant Davidson and Iain Morrison) were brought together at the yMedia Brief workshop yesterday afternoon. 

OPC's willingness to make the plunge into the third space and let us run wild with our ideas was awesome and heaps of exciting possibilities were discussed. Sparks flew! 

Keep posted for a summary of our solutions and plan. coming soon...