Hi. So I did the artefact for my EPQ. At my sixth form I was the only person that did an artefact so it was kinda difficult to do with no actual example of how to do it. My topic was "How can I best demonstrate Chromaesthesia to non-synaesthetes". Chromaesthesia is a neurological disorder (of sorts) where you people can see shapes, colours and landscapes when they listen to music. For the artefact, I made a machine (from one of the ready made machines on amazon with a xylophone on it) and linked it up to specific LED bulbs that light up when a note is played e.g. red for C, orange for D, yellow for E, etc.
It is correct that for the artefact you have to do a 2000 word essay afterwards but unlike the 5000 academic essay, the artefact version explains what research you did into to making your artefact and the research that relates to the project with references throughout the essay. You also have to do a powerpoint on: your EPQ topic, the aims for the project, the research behind the topic, the development of the project, the artefact and an evaluation of the pros and cons of the whole EPQ (these are personally what I did as slides).
As for the process, you have something called Project Q which is all online and helps break down the EPQ into different sections so that examiners (both internal and external) are able to access the EPQ to see your progress (it is for AQA). This is where the "logbooks" is. You can upload ideas like I did and create some sort of a digital diary of ideas like I uploaded pictures of my artefact plans and how I made it and sources that I used. Your college should teach you skills like how to create a bibliography, how to create your question from the topic that you thought of, how to use different sources, how to reference, etc. That will help you get a basic understanding on how to do things. The periods where it gets marked by the exam board in November and June so if you miss the November deadline you can still work on it until June. Unlike GCSE this project is something that the teachers don't help with because it is meant to be an independent research project. At least that is something.
I think I summarised everything at a surface level but don't hesitate to ask anymore questions. BTW the screenshot is the sections on the website of the different EPQ sections for the "logbook" that you have to fill out overtime. The other screenshots are from the journal section of the Project Q website.