Cocktail presentation design report - Assignment Example

? Cocktail presentation design report The cocktail presentation presents the ideas and information contained in the original cocktail design project visually by means of a presentation. This presentation was originally designed using the open source package Libre Office Impress and was later converted to the Microsoft Powerpoint (PPT) format for final delivery. Although the contents of the presentation were all designed from scratch, the built-in presentation wizard was used to see if any suitable template exists. A template designed for introducing a new product was deemed to be suitable so it was used for the overall background and style with modifications. This template had horizontal stripes which matched the way the cocktail mixtures have been depicted. The steps followed in using the wizard are shown in the figure below. Figure 1: The steps followed in using the presentation wizard In step 3 of the wizard, the basic slide transition effect was selected as Comb Horizontal which again was considered to be suitable because it matched both the cocktail depictions and the horizontally striped background. The speed was set as normal. This setting was applied to all the slides and all the slides except the ones showing the cocktails individually retained this setting. During step 4, the main title and the presenters name were entered. In step 5, the content pages suggested by the wizard were deselected because they were related to introducing a new product whereas I only used the background and style from this template. The cover or title slide of the presentation is shown below. Figure 2: Screenshot of the title slide of the presentation The presentation was then given an outline and ordering for the slides as shown in the table below. The initial duration of each slide is also stated in the third column and these timings were set according to the length of the time required to view or read the contents of each slide. The glasses sound effect was used for the main slide transitions besides the horizontal combing effect. Table 1: Organisation of the slides in the presentation Slide # Content Initial set duration (s) 1 Title slide showing the 4 parts 4 2 Shows the different cocktails 4 3 Relaxing Blue Hawaiian 2 4 Refreshing Daiquiri 2 5 Delicious Pina Colada 2 6 Tropical Mai Tai 2 7 Fruity Bahama Mama 2 8 Original Margarita 2 9 Cooling Rum Runner 2 10 Creamy White Russian 2 11 Shows the different cocktails 2 12 Common ingredients 6 13 Glasses used for serving I 6 14 Glasses used for serving II 6 15 Preparation times (Ready in) 6 16 Closing slide 4 It can be seen from the above outline that the presentation covers all four of the main ideas about the eight popular cocktails, i.e. (1) origin, (2) ingredients, (3) type of glass used and (4) preparation time which are introduced at the beginning in the first slide. Later, background music was also added to the presentation to give an impression of being in a place where cocktails are being served as far as possible. Also the same blind effect was used for all the transitions set at a duration of 2 seconds and the sound effect was removed so that the background music could be heard instead. Each slide was also made to display for the same duration of 5 seconds. The different cocktails are first shown together (in slide 2) as shown below, and then individually while being enlarged. Slides 3 to 10 have been made to behave as sub-slides by appearing between two slides both showing the complete range of cocktails. That is, to reinforce that this displying of the cocktails individually is a momentary divergence, the same picture of different cocktails in slide 11 appears as in slide 2. The flags above each cocktail show the origin of that cocktail and the preparation time is also marked inside a black circle besides each glass. Figure 3: Screenshot of the Different Cocktails slide The presentation then gives information on the common ingredients in slide 12. This information has been displayed in a table format as shown in the screenshot below because it makes it clearer which ingredients were found to be present in most/least of the eight selected cocktails. The table reveals itself horizontally from the left using the wipe effect. Light rum was present in more than half of the cocktails and is shown in the top row. The other common ingredients were pineapple juice, orange juice and coconut cream followed by lime juice. All other ingredients were less common and these were combined together generically and shown by the different coloured tick marks in the bottom half of the table. Figure 4: Screenshot of the Common Ingredients slide The 13th and 14th slides show the four common types of glasses used for serving the selected cocktails together with the names of the cocktails underneath. The same vector graphics of the glasses were used in the presentation as used in the poster. Figure 5: Screenshot of the Types of Glasses slides The 15th slide shows the preparation times, again in a table format. This slide (shown below) was related to time more directly than the other slides. It was therefore considered appropriate to reveal the table again using the same wipe effect and revealing itself from the left in line with the timeline. This shows that the greater the number of stars, the longer it takes to prepare the cocktail with Mai Tai taking the longest at 5 minutes. The cocktails were ordered by showing the quickest to prepare at the top of the table and the longest to prepare at the bottom. Figure 6: Screenshot of the Preparation Times slide After saving the presentation in Microsoft PowerPoint format, some modifications were made due to some effects not converting to a similar effect. The main transitions were changed to blinds and some durations were also adjusted as the presentation was running faster. The presentation complements the poster by presenting the same information in a more visually appealing manner with special moving as well as sound effects. Parts of the information are also displayed separately and in a different manner. For example, slides 12 and 15 contain the same information on ingredients and preparation times respectively but in way that makes it easier to compare between the cocktails. Essentially therefore, the information in both are the same and they both reinforce the same ideas. The poster too has its advantages in that the information can be read quickly without having to watch a time based explanation of the same. It is also possible to show the same comparative data as in the presentation. A poster is also much easier and quicker to produce than a presentation despite its limitations in terms of the information it can convey. However, the presentation was able to show the specific ideas in bits and sequentially. An improved presentation could also make it possible to show, for example, the ingredients being added one at a time and therefore also the time it takes to make each cocktail. This kind of dynamic presentation of the information would not be possible or explicit in a poster. A short movie could also present the information about these cocktails more realistically although it would have taken longer to make than a simple presentation. Cocktail Presentation Storyboard Read More