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Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
P3 Project Statement
Client:
Margaret Atwood - Oryx and Crake
Background:
Oryx and Crake deals with an apocalyptic narrative in which bio-engineering and medical experimentation have led to the almost complete annihilation of the human race. Many of the science experiments remain in the form of strange animals or plants. The story focuses on a single surviving human who is trying to deal with his situation as best he can without dwelling on the past events that brought him here.
Objective:
Create a website to promote the book, the styling of the cover, and to be informative. The website should capture the design of the book so there is no question of their relation.
Target Audience:
20's and up. The book deals with some serious and mature issues.
Obstacles:
The book was first published in 2003 and has had multiple cover designs published since. They are very different from each other, and the story is very dynamic, which makes it difficult to choose a style for the website. The cover chosen for this is a collage and unconventional, which is not friendly to web coding.
Tone:
Moody, colorful, serious
Media:
Web, option of responsive design
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
P3 Research
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The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Seraphina by Rachel Hartman
And just because I really want to do this book because it’s one of my favorites, but it wasn’t published in the last year.
Existing Promotional Websites:
Possible Book Choices:
The Elephant Keeper’s Children by Peter Hoeg
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Seraphina by Rachel Hartman
And just because I really want to do this book because it’s one of my favorites, but it wasn’t published in the last year.
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
Existing Promotional Websites:
And just for Scott again…
Unit 6 Reading
Web design is like designing for function A but really you
want it to do function B. Websites are meant to do A, but you have to design
them to do B, which is what people expect them to do. Somewhere along the lines
you have to sacrifice purpose to expectation or toss expectation out the window
and say here is what you get. As of right now web is more impersonal than many
mediums so it is tough to cater to those without certain abilities, such as
sight or hearing.
The Steve Krug brought up a point that I found rather
amusing as I have experienced it first hand. Designers or developers or whoever
is working on a website designs it in such a way that they prefer thinking that
everyone prefers it that way. In class small details like drop-down menus or logos
going to home have been debated, but each side was adamant that their opinion
was the most common. But there was really no basis other than personal
preference. I think it’s easy to gloss over details under false impressions
that one’s own opinions are common across the board.
I think this site has a lot to offer you just have to dig
around a bit through the many navigation tabs.
Do I need to justify this? It’s like a never-ending pot of
useful information.
I haven’t used it, but I’ve used other html testing
websites. I would assume they work the same. I’ll have to check it out someday.
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Unit 5 Reading
What I have come across while learning the basics of web
design is not to design for the user but the client. Now, of course you should
design for the user, but I mean that you shouldn’t design completely based on
the user’s navigation and expectations. Conventions are useful tools for
usability but not always the best choice design wise. The book brought up a
great point that everyone creates what he or she prefers thinking everyone is
like that. Last time I did a website redesign in a group of both web and graphic
design students there was a lot of conflict initially because the web students
wanted it to be all about function, but it didn’t look good enough to the
graphic students’ standards.
I have also learned that testing is your best friend as a
student and as a designer. I did that project that I spent hours and hours on
and was the proudest person in the world, but it wasn’t actually that great of
a web design. It had a lot of issues that were plain and obvious to another
eye. Let’s just say it was a painful end, but I learned a lot form that
project.
These are a couple sites with testing tips and good
reminders.
These are a couple sites on designing usability in general.
(This is not the prettiest site, but it makes some good
points.)
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
P2 Project Statement
Client:
Background:
Fireworks Gallery began in 1985 in Pioneer Square, Seattle
featuring the work of local artists. It has since grown to have several
galleries in the area that features work from over 300 artists and studios.
Their motto is “Celebrating art in life.”
Objective:
Redesign the website to match the creative atmosphere of the
physical gallery as well as simplify the online shopping process by
reorganizing the products and cleaning up the design.
Target Audience:
Obstacles:
The large product line could make organization and simple
navigation tricky. It will also need to be tailored to a large audience.
Tone:
Trendy, quirky, and creative.
Media:
Web, option of mobile responsive design.
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Unit 4 Reading
The part that caught my attention the most was the four
questions in mind when entering a site for the first time. What is this? What
can I do here? What do they have here? Why should I be here—and not somewhere else?
They are like little hints on how to design the homepage and what should be
there.
Yes, this link is kind of a repeat of what we’ve been
reading, but from my experience it’s handy to have a shortened or list version
of the important bits, and since I didn’t take notes I feel this will come in
handy someday down the road.
I picked this one because I think it’s a great example of a
homepage. The illustration style is immediately engaging, and their purpose is
stated quickly and simply as well as being visually prominent. The navigation
is clean and simple, although a couple of the drop-downs could be shorter. The
donate button is very clear as well, which also tells you that is an option and
what kind of group they are.
This is an interesting homepage because it offers the who,
why, and navigation immediately, but it also offers a short biography without
it being too loud and in your face. It’s there but you don’t have to concern
yourself with it first thing since you have to scroll to see the whole thing.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Unit 3 Reading
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Unit 3 Reading
There are so many small details that shouldn’t be small
details is what I got out of this weeks reading. Krug says to pay attention to
the small details but don’t overblow them…or wait overblow these ones but not
others. Like any form of design, there are a number of perfect balances to
strive for. Navigation is a beast to work on, but I feel like it’s a good place
to start when designing a website. It’s the skeletal structure in my mind for
which everything else, the information, to latch on to and grow upon.
So this is a terrible website, clearly, but I bring it here
as an example of navigation failure. There is link after link after link, some
of them dead and some of them leading to a dead end. I felt like I could go
miles and miles deep into website intergalactic space and then there was no
hope of return or every finding that again if you did somehow escape.
This may not be the world’s best example, but I love how
distinct the tabs are for navigation. The unselected tabs are hard to see if
not rolled over, but there is no question which tab you are on.
http://jepcoministorage.com/
This is a good reference link for beginning to design a website's navigation.
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/web-design-navigation-showcases/
This is a good reference link for beginning to design a website's navigation.
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/web-design-navigation-showcases/
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Concept Statement
.
Create a list of all users that may visit your
site (not from the WWW but those you’d invite).
Friends
Family
Employers
.
What will each of those users want to see in
order to enjoy their visit to your site?
Friends: the portfolio or body of work out of interest
Family: the portfolio or body of work out of personal interest
Employers: the portfolio or body of work for future employment interest
.
Name your intended audience (the person(s) you
need to persuade.)
Future Employers
.
Describe what you need to inform and persuade
them of:
Promote
my: body of work and capabilities as a designer
Goals
of the site are: to properly showcase my
portfolio as well as presentation skills, convince and entice a possible future
employer to be convinced of my fit with their company
My
ultimate message/philosophy (about who you are): visual
communication
What
is the story you are telling? my love and
commitment for design and the ability to produce good, working design
.
List the assets you need to persuade the user:
Which 7 projects?
Identity: Victor's Martinis
Ad Campaign: Duct Tape
Ad Campaign: Suicide PSA
Editorial Illustration: Doomsday Virus
Interactive PDF: BMW
Newsletter: Kimber
Book Cover: Dexter
.
What projects which do not exist yet will you
want to show?
Annual Report: BMW
Event Promotion: Muse Laser Show
.
What categories will you depict in your
mockup? - even if you don’t have examples of them.
Identity
Print
Packaging
Illustration
Web
.
Write a 200 word concept statement based on
the user, your persuasion, navigation and the assets.
Concept Statement:
The
basic purpose of this website is to showcase and present my personal portfolio
and body of work. I would invite many people to visit this site with different
intentions in mind. The primary visitors would consist of friends, family, and
potential employers. Of course for all three the reason for visiting would be
to see the work, but the most important would be future employers in terms of
getting a job and forming a career. The hope would be that the design and
presentation of the website would entice a future employer to delve deeper and
take serious consideration of my fit in their company or workplace.
So in order to do this, my goals for the site include showing my
best body of work that covers a range of techniques and media, a message about
who I am, and my commitment to design. Hopefully my work will show versatility
and creativity across mediums and styles as well as my unique personality
traits. This will give a potential employer indication on who I am as a
designer and of my technical abilities. Apart from presenting who I am, this
site will become an archive of my work for reference and any other interest.
Monday, October 15, 2012
Unit 2 Reading
It’s funny how with information design; we strive to make
things clear and understandable. The layout and design should be recognized
immediately for fast retrieval and navigation. Yet, on the other hand, it is
that thinking that hinders certain aspects of great design. Designs that are
expected and have been seen many times before are boring and uninteresting.
Layout is one area where design can be really set apart, and yet it needs to
have particular characteristics in order for it to be considered successful.
Sometimes I wonder if keeping the word count down is more a
product of our shortening attention spans or visual hierarchy. I’m sure it
comes from both of course. Besides seeming intimidating or busy, lines and
lines of words are just confusing in general because attention is pulled here
and here and over here. But why is it intimidating in the first place? Part of
it seems like it’s because we don’t want to commit that much time or energy. I
don’t think it’s too much to handle, we just don’t want to deal with it.
I’m not sure I agree with everything said in here, but it’s
a list of conventions to keep in mind.
I myself dislike drop down menus on many sites because they
are ugly and confusing. When I am designing I love drop down menus because they
clear space and organize simultaneously.
Mobile web design intimidates me because there is much less
space and breathing room to work with. Visual hierarchy is extremely important.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Unit 1 Reading Response
Designing a website presented itself as
an extremely daunting task until I really dove into the process. After spending
hours and hours working on a site and presenting it to a few people, it was
very dismaying at how little attention was given to certain details that I
spent what seemed like hours of frustrations and thought on.
It dawned on me while reading that even
a website that I find extremely interesting or well designed I will blast
through it from page to page scanning its menu bars and information. That is no
way to appreciate a well-designed piece, and yet that is how I have learned to
appreciate things. Funny since being on the design people, that attitude is
frustrating to me.
When it comes to user experience and
how to design a product to be easily understood it seems like there are too
many factors to really build the perfect website. It makes me curious if there
are certain cultural characteristics that could be observed when comparing
different parts of the globe. Are there unique tendencies and expectations on
how links and buttons are going to operate? I’m also curious how many of those
tendencies were learned out of ease or out of design.
Inspiring Designers:
http://blog.wanken.com/portfolio/
http://russellwalks.com/
http://hugsformonsters.com/
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