Final Major Project Year 1.

 Introduction

In this project, I was tasked with making use of my skills, knowledge, and understanding developed in previous units to complete a concept prototype product related to the digital technology industry. The given project was required to be based on the theme “DAVE”, with several examples provided to help generate ideas on what to build. These examples included a new esports league, a new brand of energy drink, a new photography company, a new music studio, an e-learning solution for a local college or school, and a location-based web application used to track or store data.

For this project, I was required to complete three  tasks. Task 1 focused on research and idea generation, where I was expected to showcase my understanding of different research methods and skills, conduct  research, and produce a set of ideas for a proposed project. Task 2 focused on planning and design, where I was required to select one of my ideas from the conducted  research  and create a design document that expanded and developed the chosen idea. This included elements such as mind maps, mood boards, site maps, colour palettes, storyboards, wireframes, UI and UX considerations, flow diagrams, pseudocode, and code samples from existing sources to aim to show the final version of the project design.

Lastly, Task 3 focused on the build stage, where I had to create a working prototype with functional features that had been discussed in Task 2. The final prototype needed to be completed to the best of my ability and be as bug-free as possible.

This project allowed me to apply my research, planning, design, and coding skills to create a prototype that reflects the given theme while also helping me further improve my technical and project management abilities.

Task 1: Research

In Task 1, I focused on research and idea generation. I created a Gantt chart to produce a visual project management map that helped me track timelines and break down the project into actionable tasks with clear start and end dates.

I wrote about what contextual research is, how it is conducted, and the advantages and disadvantages of using contextual research. I then conducted contextual research based on the given theme “Dave.” During this research, I explored the origin of the name Dave, the different variations of the name, and common nicknames associated with it.

I also conducted research on different famous people named David, ranging from the Renaissance sculpture created by Italian artist Michelangelo, to actors, comedians, football players, magicians and illusionists, rock musicians, and television show hosts.

I then looked into famous people with variations of the name Dave, particularly “Davy,” which is a variation of the name Dave. I researched different famous people named Davy, ranging from American folk heroes, politicians, band members, and football players.

I also conducted research on famous people named Dave. This included American stand-up comedians, actors, voice actors, and musicians. Additionally, I researched famous cartoon characters named Dave. This included characters from the Disney animated show Dave the Barbarian, characters from television shows and movies such as Alvin and the Chipmunks, a villain in the television show Madagascar, a character in SpongeBob SquarePants, the lead character in The Rubbish World of Dave Spud, and a character in the television show Total Drama, where Dave appears as the deuteragonist turned final antagonist of Pahkitew Island.

I also conducted research on famous people named David who voiced characters in cartoons and animated series. This included research into the projects that voice actors such as David Kaye, Keith David, David Kaufman, David Lodge, David Sobolov, David Errigo Jr., and David Tennant had taken part in.

Furthermore, I researched different places around the world named David. This included the City of David in Jerusalem, located south of the Old City walls, the city of David in Panama, which is the capital of Chiriquí Province and serves as a commercial hub near the Costa Rican border, and a city named David in Butler County, Nebraska, USA, which was named in honour of the father of a local landowner.

I also conducted research on restaurants named Dave. This included Dave’s Wine Bar located in Aldgate, London, Dave’s Hot Chicken, which has locations in different areas, Famous Dave’s Bar-B-Que, and Deckhand Dave’s, located in Juneau, Alaska.After conducting research on the name Dave, I came up with three ideas based on my contextual research.

My first idea was a dating and friendship app where users would upload images of their pets instead of pictures of themselves. Rather than writing descriptions about themselves, the pets would “speak” in third person, describing what the owner is like, including their hobbies and interests. The goal of the app would be to connect pet owners with one another, either for pet playmates or for single people with pets to meet others with similar interests.

I came up with this idea by creating a mind map of different famous people named Dave. I listed their relationship status, spouses, jobs, and whether they had pets. Through this research, I noticed that many of them had pets and several were not in relationships. I planned to implement the given theme into this idea by naming the dating app “DAVE.”

After developing this idea, I conducted further research into how many people in the UK own pets, the features commonly found in dating apps, what makes a dating app successful, and how many people use dating apps. I carried out this research to assess whether the idea would be successful and potentially lucrative

My second idea was an app that scans the user’s local area or an area they plan to visit. The app would identify restaurants and cafés that cater to people with restricted dietary needs, whether due to allergies or religious dietary requirements, such as halal food or food cooked without certain ingredients like beef dripping.The goal of this idea was to create an app that would help build a bridge between restaurants and people with dietary restrictions without requiring phone interaction between users and restaurants.

I came up with this idea after reading an article about actor David Henrie, whose son suffered a life-threatening allergic reaction. During my contextual research on famous people named David, I came across an article discussing his son’s severe allergy reaction while travelling in Italy. This inspired me to think about how technology could help people with food allergies feel safer when eating out.

Following this, I conducted secondary research into food allergies, including what food allergies are, their symptoms, common allergens, available treatments, and ways to avoid allergic reactions.

My third idea was a web application that could be used across different platforms to help people prepare for job interviews through a virtual chat system that acts as an interviewer. The virtual interviewer would ask questions based on the job role the user plans to apply for. The application would also include a feature that scans, creates, or improves a user’s CV to better suit the specific role they are applying for.

The goal of this idea was to help people who struggle with interviews by providing a chat API that asks realistic interview questions tailored to different careers and job sectors.

I came up with this idea after realising during my contextual research that many people named Dave or variations of the name Dave worked in completely different industries and professions. This inspired me to create something related to careers and job opportunities.

I then conducted primary research into what a web application is, how it works, the steps involved in creating a functioning web application, the coding languages commonly used, the advantages and disadvantages of web applications, what makes them successful, and what an API is, how it works, and how one can be created.

I also conducted a survey to gather opinions on which of the three ideas people would be most likely to use. I included questions about respondents’ ages to gather demographic data, whether they owned pets, had allergies, had jobs, and whether they had ever been rejected from a job interview.

With the results I received, I chose the third idea. This decision was based on the findings that 67% of respondents did not currently have jobs, 50% had been rejected from a job due to a failed interview or lack of preparation, and 58% said they did not know what to expect during interviews. Additionally, respondents rated the likelihood of downloading the app at an average of 3.25, with most respondents selecting a rating of 4.

The reasons respondents gave for their ratings included that they often prefer to “go with the flow,” meaning they would likely use the app in the future. Some respondents mentioned that they dislike searching through YouTube for interview advice or paying for interview preparation resources, making the app useful as it could provide tailored interview questions based on their career path.

However, some respondents expressed concerns that the app relied too heavily on AI and questioned whether it was necessary when free interview advice is already available online.

After this, I conducted competitive research into companies such as REED and Indeed. I researched how these platforms work for job seekers and employers, who uses them, how they generate revenue, and the UI features they provide. I also gave my opinion on what I believe these companies are doing well, areas they could improve, and features I planned to implement into my final idea based on their strengths and weaknesses.

Task 2: Planning and Development

In Task 2, the planning and development stage, I selected my final idea from the research stage, which was a web application that can be used across different platforms to help people prepare for job interviews through a virtual chat system that acts as an interviewer. The virtual interviewer would ask users questions based on the job role they plan on applying for. The application would also include a feature that scans, creates, or improves a user’s CV to better suit the specific role they want to apply for.

The goal of this idea was to help people who struggle with interviews by providing a chat API that would help users prepare by asking them questions they may expect based on the job they are applying for.

To help bring my idea to life, I created a layout mood board to show how I envisioned the overall appearance and structure of my website. This included different font styles such as Unispace, Saudagar, and Capsula, as well as different image styles showing the types of horizontal and side navigation bars I envisioned the website having. I also included images of sign-up page layouts and examples of how I wanted the website content to be structured. These included magazine layouts, block layouts, and F-shaped layouts. Furthermore, I added images of job boards from websites such as Indeed and wireframes showing several responsive device layouts to help visualise the final product.

I also created a login mood board, which included images of different login page styles featuring various shades of green. Alongside this, I created a green colour palette, showing the colour names and RGB values that I planned to use throughout the website.

Additionally, I created an about page mood board with several examples of job-related website layouts. These images showed elements such as a navigation bar, headlines featuring logos and taglines, services offered, portfolio images, testimonials, an “About Us” section, frequently asked questions (FAQs), and a call-to-action section in the footer. I also included examples of responsive layouts to help visualise how the website would adapt across different devices.

I also created a job board mood board, where I added screenshots from job platforms such as Indeed, Reed, and LinkedIn. These screenshots displayed features such as job location, job field, job position, yearly salary, job search bars, and job radius or distance filters. This helped me understand how professional job board websites structure their information and what features users may expect.

Following this, I created a site map, which consisted of five webpages, represented using blue block backgrounds. One of these webpages was the About Us page, which would contain information about the company mission, the team, client testimonials, and contact information including an email address, social media links, and phone number.

Another webpage was the Search webpage, which would include job sectors, a job dashboard, and job search functionality showing information such as job location, hourly pay rate, and job actions including Apply and Favourite buttons. It would also include a job description page containing company information and details about the role.

For the Home page, I planned to include a user section containing account information, including the user profile, account details, applied jobs, saved jobs, favourite jobs, job alerts, a résumé and CV generator, and an AI interview preparation tutor.

I also added an Employer page, which would include a company profile section with branding, a job dashboard, messaging features, and job management options. These options included creating jobs, removing jobs, showing all candidates, interview management, and reports and analysis. I also planned for the employer page to contain a billing and subscription section, where employers could choose pricing plans.

After this, I created wireframes based on my site map. I designed a login page containing a logo and two information input sections inside a container block. I drew both desktop and mobile versions of the login page using Canva’s pencil tool.

I also created wireframes for the About Us page, which included a top navigation bar, side navigation bar, a header image, four text blocks, an “Our Mission” section, four image blocks, an “Our Core Values” section, and mobile-responsive layouts. I designed two completely different mobile layout versions to explore different arrangements of text and images.I then designed the Job Board page, which included job sector images that users could click to navigate to separate pages, a search bar, and job search sections.I also designed the User page, where I included features such as a job application button, AI assistant button, job alerts button, and a virtual interview AI preparation tutor.

Additionally, I created wireframes for the Employer page, where the main page included a top navigation bar, company profile section, text box, and three buttons. The first button would lead to a job description input page, the second button would lead to a subscription page, and the third button would lead to a messaging page.

I also created a logo mood board, where I researched the branding of websites such as Indeed and LinkedIn. I explored their colour palettes, fonts, and how their branding is visually represented.

To help me decide on a suitable website name, I created a mind map based on my three logo name ideas: Search, Achieve, and Dave. I wrote down words and associations that came to mind with each name to help narrow down the most suitable option.

I also created a questionnaire asking respondents which of the three names they preferred and requested reasons for their answers. The responses showed that many participants believed the name “Search” was strongly associated with job searching and employment websites. The majority of responses towards the name were positive, showing high favourability, which led me to conclude that Search would be the most suitable name for the website.

Following this, I created several mind maps for different webpages, including the Home page, Jobs page, User page, Employer page, Login page, and Footer page. These mind maps helped me visualise the content and functionality of each page.

For my initial idea, I created green, blue, and black colour mood boards, which included several colour inspirations and visual examples. I then created mock-up designs for the login page, home page, jobs page, about page, footer page, user page, and employer profile page based on my wireframes and mind maps.

I later created a neon green and black colour mood board, then duplicated all the webpage designs in Canva and adjusted the colours to match the chosen colour palettes.I also created a blue colour theme, where I copied all the webpage designs and changed the colours to align with the blue colour palette. During the creation of these mock designs, I gathered peer feedback to determine which colour theme users preferred. This helped me come to a final decision regarding the overall appearance of my website.

Skills and Learning

During this project, my research skills improved immensely, as I learnt how to properly quote research, structure information, and word my research in a clearer and more professional way.My coding skills also improved significantly. This project helped me learn how to create a page loader, how to create and implement an API that works, how to make a website responsive across different devices, and how to debug errors more effectively.

I also learnt how to use PHP and MySQL to create a semi-working login system and CV generation feature, which helped improve my understanding of backend development and databases. In addition, I developed a better understanding of how to follow a structured plan and successfully turn a mock design into a working website.

Throughout this project, I learnt the importance of time management and how crucial it is when working on a large project. Creating and following a Gantt chart helped me visually plan my tasks and manage my time more effectively, which contributed towards achieving better results.

I also improved my problem-solving and debugging skills, as I learnt how to overcome challenges such as blocks not aligning properly, images not being responsive, and design elements not displaying as intended. Through this process, I gained a better understanding of how to troubleshoot problems and make improvements to my website.

Additionally, I learnt how to create a more professional-looking website and gained a stronger understanding of how colour choices can affect both the appearance of a design and the emotions or reactions of users. This helped me make more informed design decisions throughout the project.

Overall, this project has helped improve my research, technical, coding, planning, time management, and problem-solving skills, while also allowing me to learn new programming languages and technologies such as JavaScript, PHP, and MySQL.

Future Improvements

During my build, I initially planned for my final design to include a feature that would allow users to switch between three different themes, which were the neon green, pastel, and blue colour themes. However, while planning how I would approach the build, I realised that implementing a colour theme selection feature would take a significant amount of time and may have affected my ability to complete other important features, such as the chat API and additional webpages.

I also realised that the project contained many separate webpages, meaning I would have needed to ensure that all images, colours, and design elements aligned correctly with each theme throughout the website. Since I had not previously completed a project with a custom theme-changing feature, I understood that it would take additional time to learn how to properly implement it.

Therefore, if I had more time, I would add a choose your own colour theme feature, allowing users to personalise the website based on their preferences. During the peer review, some respondents raised concerns regarding accessibility, particularly for people with visual impairments, while others felt that the website was too green. Therefore, adding multiple colour themes would improve both the accessibility and overall user experience of the website.I would also improve the job board functionality by making the “Browse by Sector” images on the homepage interactive. When users click on a specific sector image, it would take them to a dedicated page containing job listings related to that particular industry or sector.

Additionally, I would make the search bar on the About page functional, as it is currently non-operational. I would also add more backend functionality to the messaging page, allowing users to see whether messages have been sent, delivered, or read.

Another improvement I would implement is a job alerts system, where users could receive notifications about newly posted jobs that match their interests or career path.

I would also further develop the job board backend, allowing users to save jobs, apply directly, and access interview preparation support through the platform.

One of the main improvements I would make would be enhancing the virtual AI interview preparation system. I would create a human-like avatar that changes depending on the career sector the user is applying for. For example, if a user were applying for a healthcare role, the AI avatar could wear medical scrubs and a stethoscope to make the interview feel more realistic and immersive. The avatar would also be able to speak, and users would be able to ask questions to the Dave API through text interaction.

I would also improve the CV builder by adding both front-end and back-end functionality that allows users to customise the style, colour, and font of their CVs to better match their preferences and professional image.

To help promote the website, I would create social media accounts on platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat. These platforms would help advertise the website, attract more users, and increase awareness of the services offered. I would also add social media icons to the footer section of the website to improve accessibility and navigation.

Furthermore, I would add a feature where the API could analyse users’ CVs and provide suggestions on how they could improve them, making the CV-building process more personalised and useful.

For the Employer page, I would improve the subscription system by adding backend functionality that would allow employers or administrators to subscribe to pricing plans and manage monthly payment subscriptions.

I would also improve the candidate browsing system by implementing a feature that shows candidate names alongside a percentage ranking system, which would indicate how suitable a candidate is for a specific job role. This feature would help employers quickly identify the strongest applicants and make the recruitment process more efficient

Overall, if I had more time, I would continue improving both the front-end and back-end functionality of the website to create a more interactive, accessible, and realistic experience for both job seekers and employers.

Conclusion

Overall, the research and pre-production stages helped make the overal building of the website more achievable and organised. The research conducted throughout the project helped me develop ideas, understand user needs, and create a stronger final product. The planning and development stage also helped guide the overall build, as the wireframes, mood boards, site maps, and mock designs gave me a clear direction on how I wanted the final website to look and function.

The website successfully matches the given project theme of “Dave”, as the website includes an API named Dave, which reflects the theme while also supporting the main purpose of helping users prepare for interviews.

Although the build stage took longer than expected, the project was completed in a timely manner. The final website reflects the research and planning conducted throughout the project and closely matches the original mock design. In particular, the final build successfully resembles the green mock-up design, with the colour palette matching the planned design consistently throughout the website.

Throughout this project, I developed and improved a range of important skills, including time management, research, planning, coding, problem-solving, and technical skills. The project helped me follow a structured plan that I had created and allowed me to apply my ideas in a practical way

Additionally, this project helped me learn and improve my understanding of JavaScript, PHP, and MySQL, while also increasing my confidence in areas such as debugging, website responsiveness, and creating more professional-looking websites.

Overall, this project has been valuable in helping me improve both my technical abilities and project management skills, while also allowing me to learn new skills that will help me in future projects and within the digital technology industry.

BELOW IS THE SUBMISSION OF MY TASKS.

TASK 1 :Research Project.

Here's a link to the Power Point :FINAL MAJOR PROJECT TASK 1 BY NELISIWE NYONI.pptx

TASK 2 :Pre production.

Here's a link to the Power Point :FINAL MAJOR PROJECT TASK 2 BY NELISIWE NYONI

TASK 2 :Build.

Here's a link to the Power Point :BUILD PORTFOLIO SEARCH [Auto-saved].pptx

 Here's a link to the UAL :......

 Here's a link to the Youtube channel :

 Here's a link to a word document with all my development blogs :