some visuals for my presentation.

this is just an example of how the site would look like, obviously these are just initial desgins and do need alot of work and tweaking. The colour theme is still questionable and only time and research will clarify any other problems.

Linkedin in depth! diffrence between facebook and linkedin.

The two are designed to be very, very different things. LinkedIn is built on social-networking concepts and principles, but it is a professional-networking site. It’s totally conceivable for people to have profiles on both LinkedIn and Facebook, but they just happen to be using them for very different purposes.

The whole interview

Linked in

Chris Ryan showed me an article that he found in this week’s NMA It is an intresting article as it shows that some social networking are thinking of new branches to cover other areas, such as “professional networking”. the social network Linkedin have revealed to open UK offices, this network site specialises in connecting professionals, it uses the same principle of social networking but it is a social network that is for business contacts only.
there is more about linkedin joing Googleopen social that you might find intresting!

Just a design frame!

even though I might not necessary use this design frame i would like to display it on this blog anyway… it will just show the process of developing my idea.

Rethinking Online Professional Networking

The purpose is to build one’s own center of influence while reducing the time wasted now by not using one’s communities effectively.

I mention the relatively obvious way in which it strikes one differently according to one’s interests, purpose, values, needs, desires, age, etc.

Collaborative Concentric Networking keeps the promise of maximizing one’s results with minimum investment in time; I’m not suggesting that if you are new to networking that the amount of time you’ll have to invest in building several networks will be minimal, but rather over time, the amount of time to get things done, will increase once you have your own Collaborative Concentric Network.

So the question becomes, “Where to begin?”

The following model works for beginners as well as veterans of networking.

I will use my own experience to demonstrate how to build a Collaborative Concentric Network with the following characteristics:

It’s easily manageable
Allows for overlapping between networks
Provides a steady stream of new friends, colleagues, business associates,etc.
Your connections are connected with you because of common interests
The ability to build a unique Collaborative Concentric Network while maintaining a connection to the networks to which you choose to belong
You’ll focus your energy on one networking site that will act as your main home for your Collaborative Concentric Network instead of trying to maintain all of your networks at the same time
It’s your choice as to which network will be your home base
The ability to build trusted friends over time that you will know intimately
The ability to interact with these friends on a deeper level because you know what they’re doing and what their needs and desires are
The ability to create dynamic relationships with people who actually know who you are
The Collaborative Concentric Network you build is actually a sub-set of the totality of all your connections on all networks combined.
You drive your own network and draw from the database of all your other networks to add to you own Collaborative Concentric Network…. to read more about this article visit Dave Taylor’s blog.

Introducing my audience

Right now I am thinking of all the topics that I need to cover for my presentation.

The most important section of this presentation, its my audience, without a potential audience your Idea would be a failure. I have sub-ideas for my main idea but I have to carry out my research into my audience and establish the benefit of those ideas for my audience. But then again as Edward de Bono says;

” It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all”

Since I have chosen the AIB as my prime target I have been doing some research on the institute and its students.

The Arts Institute at Bournemouth, established in 1885 as a specialist institute, is now a leading university sector institution offering high quality specialist education in arts, design and media across the creative industries
(Arts-inst-bournemouth.ac.uk)

The institute has been highly recognised both regional and nationally and it has been making connection with business organisations for number of years now.
The institute has its own gallery but at the moment there are no online galleries except few displayed works through out the AIB website.
Having talked to students and researching the organisation I have learnt that there is a need of professional networking within the organisations.
From the research I found out that students from different course have a strong social connection but there is no professional networking between them, as they have not got an online space targeting AIB students.
One of the important information that I gathered from my research was that students from different courses would like to collaborate throughout their degree and specially their final year project. The research suggests that they would find it more comfortable and beneficial if they could see a selection of individual’s work and contact them for possible collaboration rather then direct contact.
From my own personal point of view students should be pushed and motivated! Just like the “science theory if there is no force there would be no motion” and this theory applies to students.
Through out our degree we learn new softwares, we spend limited amount of time, and then we use our gathered knowledge to complete a project brief.
This is where the problem comes along… we don’t necessary go back and try to improve our skills and try to take further steps.
That’s why I found professional placement so useful as I had to complete a project and meet deadlines so I was forced to learn and improve my skills.
So if it was compulsory for students to create a profile and then spend two hours every week to display there works or update their page.

So what would be the benefit of “Connect”?

• It would create competition between individuals and the result is that students will be motivated to learn new programs and improve their skills, even the weaker students will have the opportunity to improve their skills and be more focused. Some might disagree that it would not necessary force people to learn but the research shows that students do compete and are willing to take further steps. Student who are
• Most important aspect is that at the end of the 3 years the students will have a colourful portfolio. My main reason for doing this project was because during my preparation to finding a placement I had problems putting a portfolio together. First I did not have any sources and examples to look at, secondly I had problem putting my works together as I had to look for any previous works that I have had done and finally its hard to breakdown your achievements or any other information that you might think that your think your employer would find interesting. But by having an online space you could go back and look at your works and pick selected works or just send the URL of your page to the company that you are intending to work for.
• AIB opened an enterprise LTD in 2003 in order to create a connection with local businesses for possible commissioned projects, since then the institute has made a strong connection with local and regional businesses, so if there is a link of CONNECT on AIB website it is more likely that your work will be looked at by outsiders who are looking for possible employees.
• AIB will also be seen as a very committed and focused institute and will help them to raise their profile as an organisation.
• As this website will be a space focused on students, companies would see it as a perfect opportunity to advertise their products. As there are many creative courses the site will be able to offer advertising space to wide range of businesses and companies. E.g photography: “Cannon” could advertise their new cameras or special offers. Fashion: “brother” could advertise their affordable sewing range for students.
• This online space will be also used for updating students with important messages, such as competition or guest speeches.
• By having an online space, students will also be able to discuss ideas. Project or criticise each other wok, as effective criticising is the best solution for improvement.

The benefits of typical existing professional networking!

• Be found for business opportunities
• Search for possible work placement
• Get introduced to other professionals through the people you know
• Discover inside connections that can help you

The outline of my brief!

After a comment by Thomas Gooday I decided to review the brief of my project, from my understanding the outline of the brief represents my website as a “social networking site” but the fact is my intention are to create a “professional networking” where designers and professional from all different areas contribute contents to an online space and by building connection between designers they can actively maintain and develop their profession.

I managed to find a comprehensive definition of the word “professional networking”,
“It’s not WHAT you know, it’s WHO you know that counts.” Maybe that sounds unfair or calculating, but think of it another way: If no one knows about your skills, talents, and projects, who’s going to help you make the best of them?

In today’s world, where people often need to work together in loose partnerships to achieve their goals quickly, “knowing the right people” is more important than ever. So the ability to develop and maintain a broad network of “business friendships” is a critical skill for every career professional. 

People with strong networks get more things done more effectively; they learn from others with different knowledge or experience; and are able to use their network as they seek to move on in their careers, whether in a planned way or if a crisis looms.

Final Logo

finaly after playing around with some of the designs that i created i managed to create something that i belive would represent my “professional Network”.

About the logo:
the font is a very simple round shape(Arial Round MT), it looks modern and that is what i am intending to represent!
the plug in the “o” represents connection, connecting professionals from diffrent creative fields.
finaly you may ask why are the letters all diffrent colours?? thats because i am creating a space for professional from diffrent creative courses so all diffrent colours represent diffrent colours! Plus my audience are all creative and unique in terms of fashion and self representation so the brightful colours represent that individuality.

Itunes screensaver look

As I mentioned before in my project brief, I am intending to create an online showcase that is different to other existing sites, to put it simple I want the front page of the site to be a massive visual art! each course will have their own visual art,Something similar to itunes screensaver.
Once you click on a thumbnail, it will zoom in and then the user has the option had the option to view that person’s profile where they can access other information such as CV and other works that they have uploaded into their profile.
At this moment I am still researching on the technical side of this idea but from my existing knowledge I believe that this idea can be done by using XML and PHP coding

the idea getting shaped!

here i just some logo design that i did for my project, im quite please with them but there is still room for improvement!

logos.pdf