A Test Run

Putting My Strategy Into Practice

After developing an alternate strategy I decided to put it to the test and see if it would really improve my time and project management skills. I earmarked two projects to be used as test cases, they were:

• To design a logo for the upcoming CSU Anime Club.

• To create an introduction sequence for my personal showreel.

Creating Anime Club Logo:

Step one was to do a brief pre-production, this entailed some quick research into various anime movies/TV shows especially their title sequences. As my client is an anime buff this research was quite easy. After the research I create a page and a half of thumbnail sketches which provided the building blocks for the direction and feel of the project.

Step 2 was creating an inventory of the tasks required to complete the project. Each task was given an estimated time frame. Here is the list:

1. Create rough designs, 1.5 hours
2. Show client, discuss next direction, half hour
3. Refine roughs with clients opinions in mind, 2 hours
4. Show client, discuss further refinement, half hour
5. Create the final design, 2 hours
6. Show client, discuss if there are more than one final design, half hour
7. Apply any final tweaks to design and send to client

The time frame for this project was five days, Monday to Friday. The total estimated time for the project equalled around 7.5 hours. However in terms of my workload it was not a high priority project. Therefore I scheduled it over the first three days of the week to complete it in small chunks.

The Schedule: 

The GANTT Chart: 

Thoughts on the process:

I found the process to be quite helpful. By writing down all the tasks and allocation them times I could much easier map out the project and keep it to a much tighter schedule. By only allocating small portions of time to the individual tasks I found my procrastination was limited greatly. By having meetings with my client each day I found it forced me to make full use of the time I had allocated.

I found that for a small project like this the GANTT chart was largely unnecessary. The schedule and my diary covered all the information in the GANTT chart adequately. The GANTT chart was good in that it combined my schedule and diary into one diagram, however for a project this size it was not really necessary.

I was happy with how the project progressed, the schedule ran on time. One thing I learned is to never show a client work you as a designer are not happy with, invariably they will choose the worst piece. Only show them what is good.

The Final Designs:

Advertisement