A new development within contemporary professional practice is breaking the grid. The grid has been a long running foundation for design, which ensures consistency, balance and order. The grid consists of invisible lines which your design elements can be placed.  Because of the rigid structure and consistency the grid also allows the user to navigate easily through a website or app. Although the grid is important, it can also be restrictive and limit what designers can do. Many web and UI designers are now experimenting with breaking the grid to achieve digital experiences and to break away from tradition.

By breaking the grid and moving away from rigid structures, it is giving designers the possibility to create real life statement pieces through layering and obvious focal points. It can also make interfaces and applications more intriguing to the user. The flexibility that is enables creates a sense of freedom which designers would previously be without. Although it gives you freedom with layouts you have to make sure that it is still user friendly and not become confusing. For example moving off the grid to create more white space and more emphasis on the right places can make your website more appealing to the user.

Continuous Professional Development is a combination of ideas, techniques and approaches that will help to manage your own learning and growth. It is a good idea to keep a record of all of your certificates and qualifications. One route you can take is do online courses. There are many different places where you can do courses for upgrading your IT and design skills. The courses come in different methods such as lectures, discussions and lab based practical exercises. There are also updated techniques on programs such as adobe photoshop, flash, illustrator and fireworks which can be accessed from the help section in the programme or on their websites. There are many different certificates you can gain at a cost. For example you can do a course on the latest version of dreamweaver to gain your knowledge. There are also courses for different programmes such as illustrator essential training and photoshop essentials. There courses can be anything from 1 day to a week and you will sit in a class while someone goes through everything in the course. You will have different tutorials and practice exercises to complete. At the end of the course you will receive a certificate.

Agreeing the scope of work to be undertaken

This is where you list and describe the services which you will be providing. It will include work which needs to be completed and specifications which need to be met throughout the project.

Key deliverables

Key deliverables are stages throughout the project which need to be completed and shown to the company you are creating the website for. You would start with the brief, you then move on to have a content outline which defines the content which will be on the website. You then have a site map which shows the structure and navigation of the website. Wireframes are created to show the content of each page of the website. This can change later if needed but should have the basic layout for the website. Once the wireframes are completed you can go onto making mockups to show fully how the website and webpages will look. Finally you create your website as a prototype open to any changes which might be requested once viewed by the company.

Project milestones and service levels

Project milestones are significant events over the course of a project. These could be the marks of the start and end date of a project or if there have been any need for external or internal reviews. Another milestone is once you have created your website you can test it to make sure there are no faults throughout the site.

Two different approaches to project management are spiral and waterfall.  The waterfall lifecycle is very simple to follow. Once the first step has been completed you move onto the next and so on. You complete each step in sequence. The spiral lifecycle allows you to start from a prototype and work forwards or backwards as many times as you like throughout the project.

Waterfall Lifecycle

One advantage is that it is suitable for small projects because it is simple and easy to understand. Each step of the lifecycle is completed before you start on the next one. They do not overlap. Another advantage is that it is easy to manage, each stage has specific deliverables and a review process.

A disadvantage is it takes a lot of time to change and update things as each step is completed in sequence so you cannot go back because of this it is not suitable if there is a high risk of changes. Another disadvantage is that no working software will be created until late on in the lifecycle.

Spiral Lifecycle

Two advantages of the spiral lifecycle is that software is produced early on in the cycle and there is strong approval and documentation control throughout. A disadvantage is that because of the risk analysis there is a need for persons with highly specific expertise to suggest a solution if any risks be found. There is also a risk that that project will not meet the schedule or budget as the flow of the project can change many times.

The copyright law was first introduced in 1790 and the current act is the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988.

Copyright protects your works and stops anyone else using it without your permission. There is no fee or application for copyright; you get it automatically when you create:

• Sound and music recordings
• Film and television recordings
• Broadcasts
• Original dramatic, musical and artistic work including illustration and photography.
• Original written software, web content and databases

Copyright is usually marked with the copyright symbol © your name and the year of creation but if you do not have this on your work it does not affect the level of protection.

Copyright protects you from someone

• reproducing your work and distributing copies of it whether it is free of charge or sold
• Copying  your work
• Putting your work on the internet
• Showing, playing or performing your work in public
• Renting of lending copies of your work

The length of time your copyright lasts for depends on the country but most countries lasts a minimum of life plus 50 years for written work, dramatic and artistic work and at least 25 years for photographs overseas. In the UK it is 70 years after death for the majority of work and 25 years from when it was first published for written, dramatic or musical works.

 

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The Patents Act 1977 allows you to patent your invention and give you the right to take legal action against anyone who makes, sells, uses or imports it without your permission.

In order for your invention to be granted a patent it must comply with all of the following:

• New
• Something that can be made or used
• It cant be a slight change to something which already exists.

Patents are not cheap and can be difficult to get as they are the most difficult protection you can get. It is a complicated process with only 1 in 20 applicants getting a patent without professional help. It is also expensive with a typical cost of £4,000 and can take on average 5 years. You also need to renew it every year and cover any costs of legal action if you need to defend it. You are also recommended to not make your invention public before you apply as this could stop it being patented.

 

Intellectual Property

Intellectual Property protection allows you to stop people from stealing or copying

• The names of your products/brands
• Your inventions
• Your designs or looks or your products
• Things you have written, made or produced

There are different types of intellectual property protection such as copyright, patents and trade marks. Some protection is given automatically whereas others you have to apply for.

Intellectual property is something you have created and not an idea. If you have thought of a good design for a website it is not intellectual property until you have drawn the design and you have physical evidence of this.

Different ways in which you own intellectual property is if

• You have created it and it meets the requirements of copyright or patent.
• You have bought intellectual property rights from the previous owner.
• You have a brand which could be a trade mark such as a well known product name.

Intellectual property can also belong to more than one person, a business and be sold or transferred.

If you protect your property through copyright or design rights it makes it easier to take legal action should anything happen to breach this. You are given copyright and design rights automatically but you have to apply for trade marks, registered designs and patents.

The Data Protection Act was first created in 1984 and was updated in 1998. It is an act of the UK which allows peoples personal information to be protected. It was introduced to protect individual information from abuse.

The Data Protection Act is important to web developers, digital designs, and content creation because they are keeping peoples personal information and it needs to ensure that it is used lawfully and the content is safe.

Many companies and organisations use computers to store information about their customers, clients and staff.

• Name
• Address
• Contact information
• Employment history
• Medical conditions
• Credit history
• Criminal convictions

The main points of the data protection act are:

• The information which is collected must be used in a lawfully way and not be used in any incriminating way.
• The information should be up to date and not used for longer than stated. For example, if the person has moved address it should be updated to their current one.
• Information should not be sold or passed on to any third parties without the user’s knowledge.
• No personal information should be transferred outside the European Economic Area unless that country protects the rights of the Data Protection Act.
• The information must be kept safe and secure. Having the information backed up and out of reach from unauthorised persons as the data should not be accessible for anyone to view.

 

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Computer Misuse

The computer Misuse act is important to web designers to ensure their documents, files etc are safe and anyone who tries to steal them can be prosecuted.

The Computer Misuse Act 1990 was passed by Parliament and included three new offences:

• Accessing computer files without the owner’s permission.
• Accessing computer files without permission with the intent to use them illegally.
• Altering computer data without permission.

The misuse of computers and systems come in many different ways:

• This is when an unauthorised person connects to a network, internet or modem connection to gain access to private information such as passwords, bank details or any other private information which should not be shared publicly.
• People can use large storage devices such as hard disks, USB sticks, and CD’s to illegally transfer information and pass on to other people and companies.
• Copying music and movies with computer equipment is another way which people worldwide misuse computers and the internet. This also breaching copyrighting.
• Chat rooms and emails allow people to make up their identity and trick people into thinking they are someone else. This allows people to be subject of abuse and can be used to gain private information about a person which they wouldn’t usually give. For example, emails are used to scam people into transferring money.
• Financial abuse. This includes stealing credit and bank card information to be used illegally and using colour printers to print counterfeit money.

 

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Consumer Protection

The Consumer Protection Act 1987 (UK) is designed to protect customers and give them rights when they are buying goods and services.

There are different aspects protected by The Consumer Protection Act:

• The manufacture and supply of unsafe goods is not allowed.
• Local councils are allowed to seize any goods which are unsafe and are allowed to stop the sale of good which are suspected to be unsafe.
• Prices cannot be misleading.

The CPA does not only cover goods and services being bought, it also gives rights on digital content. This is important to web designers as it gives consumers the right to have any faulty images, films or any other digital content repaired or replaced.