why couldn't i have discovered Mo Willems and his site before turning in my web piece? http://www.pigeonpresents.com/

eight hours later and i managed to win several battles with Dreamweaver and get six pages of a web site done. i'm sleepy. my eyes hurt. it's not that great of a site, (in truth, it's probably not that good of a site either) and of course, there are a million things i'd add and change if I had started this when I was suppose to, but it'll do. i have only myself to blame for this one. but, i guess i'm sorta happy with it. i'd never seen dreamweaver before this assignment, so i can honestly say this project was equally frustrating and educational.

Cast page

Home page

the black square at right and white rectangle at left contain Flash motion pieces.

Things that don't work

really struggling with this assignment. i have tonight to put together the whole thing. we'll see how it goes. i wish i would have started with something not so challenging from the beginning. really though, what was i thinking creating an entire web site and all the content for it? why couldn't i make a wise decision early on and create a web site about content that is already out there?i've been really discouraged and overwhelmed with this project and my other classes as well. i strongly recommend NOT taking four senior graphics courses at once.

Dreamweaver Web Site -- Final Assignment

For the last project of the semester we'll be using Dreamweaver (which I just met today) to create a Web site. The site's content can be anything we choose, and with four weeks left of the semester, I wanted to design a site for something that I'd really be interested in. As I was staring at my Web browser trying to think of my favorite sites, I realized the only ones I have bookmarked and visit daily are blogs and Webcomics. When I started getting into Webcomics a year or so ago, I toyed with the idea of having one of my own. I don't really consider myself skilled with drawing and I rarely have time to do it. Although, I do enjoy drawing, coloring, making jokes, and for a while I've wanted to hone the skills I do have so I can be more confident in them. So, why not create a Webcomic site?

It'll be fun, and it'll be a site I can expand and use after the class is over. This will be my first Web site ever created (never even designed one before!). It'll be a nice change in the semester because in my Applications class, our last project is also to design a Web site, but that's only designing three pages and not actually making it function.

Granted, maybe choosing to create a site based on currently non-existent content is doubling my workload, but it's something that I've wanted to do and have just been needing the motivation and tools to actually pursue it.

Now to figure out what sort of content areas the site will have. A typical Webcomic site has archives, a shop, artist bio page and, if the comic follows a story arch, a cast page. They usally have forums or other ways for readers to respond/discuss. And I've seen some that have sections covering other artwork from the artist. But I really want mine to not follow the same mold I've seen. While I think I'll probably try and incorporate most of those categories, I'd like the site to be more about communicating an idea (based on I have no idea yet), whether it's a personal design philosophy or outlook on life or other beliefs, using a weekly Webcomic to help illustrate it. I'd like to incorporate animations with the comics, and NO i do not mean I'd like to make cartoons. Think more like selective animations that are triggered by the viewer via button pressing or mouse hovering. Some Webcomic artists include how-to's on their sites or the process they go through. I really don't want the homepage to be the newest strip like every Webcomic I've seen.

I think I've decided on a name for the comic: Edited for Content. But I don't know. Still thinking.

Fable

Boo-yah! Here's my contemporary spin on The Three Little Pigs. There's sound with this one, so make sure you got the volume on. Compression took away some of the sharpness, so I'm afraid it appears a little dull.

Cooper Hewitt Process

I went through all my files and organized the creative/thought process to help you better understand the type of choices I considered when making the interface for the interactive, large-cellphone format piece that honors the work at the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum and explains what "design" is. The colors appear a little off, so click the images for larger views and accurate tones.

(Edited: When I clicked the images while in Firefox, the larger images did not show. Safari seemed to work fine with the exception of some random blurring. Not sure how they would appear in Internet Explorer. Let me know if you have trouble.)

The Intro


The Text Screen


The Image Screen


The Colors


The Arrows


The Buttons

Promise, promise, promise I'll update with process from Cooper Hewitt interactive piece tomorrow. Check back for it.

Type in Motion

Fable Notes

My process for making the Fable Flash assignment. As soon as I figure out YouTube, I'll post the two movies I've made so far this semester.






And here's some of the pieces I scanned in and then assembled in Photoshop to create the movie's characters/objects.

this little pigggy is hungry

After becoming completely overwhelmed, I changed my fable from Hansel and Gretel to the Three Little Pigs. As if I wasn't far behind enough, my free trial of Flash expired and left me at a stand-still for the weekend. But thanks to the UTA Computer Store, I'm back with a permanent version of Flash, Dreamweaver and other CS3 apps. Cutting out construction paper is fun, and these shapes will give my movie the childlike, clean, geometric look I like so much. Here's some sneak peeks:

Posty post

Honestly, I did not forget about the blog. The past couple times I tried to upload and post my Quicktime videos from class, but I think it's just too much for Blogger to handle. Really, though. It takes way to long to do nothing in the end.

As excited as I am about learning Flash, I really hope I don't end up hating this next project by making my ideas too complicated. I hope I can actually create what I have in mind without it looking like crap. And I hope I have enough time to get it to my satisfaction. As for the next assignment: Fables = Awesome. I'm a fan of fairy tales and fables (the Fables comic series by Bill Willingham are totally worth a read for anyone who's ever heard any fairy tale story, but that's just my opinion). I'm taking on Hansel and Gretel for this assignment. To give a contemporary spin on it, the witch tricks the kids into coming to "save and feed" her through a television "Just 21 cents a day" infomercial. So they travel to this 3rd world, poverty-stricken country, and instead of leaving bread crumbs, Hansel leaves a path of 21 cent coins only to be picked up by a soldier/George Bush/politician figure, who turns out to be in on the scam. Of course, it was immediately after I completed the storyboard that the idea of replacing all candy references with technology references hit. I'll pitch that tomorrow and see what's suggested.

I was afraid the storyboard would be such a daunting task, but I actually had a lot of fun putting it together and choosing which frames I wanted to include in it. I just hope it's up to the expected standards.

Like a bolt of lightning

I downloaded a trial version of Flash and mimicked the demo from class. I tried posting the video here, but Blogger was processing it for about 10 minutes after upload, I got impatient and canceled out. Tips on how to make it process faster? Maybe it needs to be a certain file format?

I really like the idea of paths to help guide someone through a floorplan (Jetsons anyone?), and yesterday someone brought up the idea of shapes creating the path as opposed to colors or lines for direction. I like that.

My group decided to pursue the mock-ups individually, so today I'll be working on signs that display a room number and discipline name (i.e. "Drawing"). Symbols are another element to add to them, but Robert brought up a good point about these symbols looking too generic or clip art-ish, so I'm thinking about a different approach to test. What if the room name looked to be created from the medium it represents? "Painting" looks like it's painted on. "Graphics" may look like a sticker. Symbolism isn't just the use of symbols. Besides, it's an art building. I think we can take the liberty of making these things have some personality.


I was also thinking about a general map/directory that's stylized to possibly resemble a maze, because, c'mon, who didn't get lost their first day? Of course my passion for video games brought that idea: Pac Man or that old-school mouse and cheese PC game, Rodent's Revenge. It may be fun to have Blinky and the Ms. or a block of cheese and rodent appear to be running through the hallways of that map.

This is a fun one

Communication Arts listed Sony's Now I Feel site as site of the week for Aug. 27. Anybody can create their own interactive feeling here with images, music, illustrations and text to choose from. It's a fun Flash site, though it does present the question of exactly how original are these artistic expressions. With so many presets to choose from, yeah, it's easy to create a unique design, but I wouldn't call them original.

The site's navigation works great, and everything is very fluid, though I'd prefer a tab close by clicking on it the same way I clicked it to open. And I'm not sure why, but every time I enter the site and then go away to another, my keyboard goes dead. I have to restart Firefox to get it going again. Not sure if that's a Flash in general thing or a conflict with Firefox thing.

Wednesday, Robert Hower showed us a presentation on "The Brand Gap" by Marty Neumeier, and it addressed how advertising has changed as far as "the message" from addressing the product and it's benefits to how the product makes the consumer feel or wants to be identified. I think Sony's site is a great example of advertising aiming to make the consumer feel good (or in this case, feel whatever they want to). I never felt like I was being shown or persuaded to buy a product while visiting the site.

Getting there

I was thinking about how I would give someone directions to a room on the second floor, and another idea came to me. Instead of telling someone to look for a marker like a sign, what if I told them to follow something? The person would be more confident they were heading the right direction. The idea: color-coded strips or lines (similar to tape?) along the floor or walls. "Follow the blue line to the Drawing classrooms." "Follow the green strip to the Art History rooms." And then make sure the room numbers were easy to find once the door was reached. Some of the numbers are currently on the door, which means if the door is open, then you have no clue what's the room number. And to give these paths more purpose and aesthetics they could be broken up with blocks of images, quotes or facts relevant to the department/area/subject the paths lead to. It's an art building, and it really needs some more personality in those hallways.

Navigation

After class Thursday I walked around the fine arts building's second floor and sketched a map of the floorplan. What were those architects thinking? In the past four years I've had six different classes on that floor, and I still managed to find a corner I didn't know existed. All in all, the floor seemed a bit abandoned, and I really feel sorry for all the profs who have those cell-sized offices. The room numbering system makes no sense. In the what I recently learned to be MFA section of rooms, I found room numbers 295a, 295b, 295c, 295d and 295f. I spent about five minutes looking for 295E in all the logical spots and even some illogical. Someone let me know if it's found.



I'd really like to see some color in the halls and hanging signs labeled "Offices," "Art History," "Drawing," "University Publications" and "MFA Program." But instead on writing ON these single-colored, metal signs, the type would be cut out (Is the word "laser cut"?) and below a dominant symbol for the area. Ex.: a graduation cap for MFA and pencil for Drawing.

Grr

I really don't like what template I landed on in the wee hours of this morning. And why is that apple not showing. I'm looking at it on a PC in IE, but really, though, it's a jpeg image. Why isn't it showing? Robert, let me know if you have trouble seeing it. The title should be "(Apple symbol) + S"

Hopefully I'll have time to tweak this stuff this weekend.

Linky links

While researching for my presentation in Ad Design about Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, I came across American Copywriters, "a blog about a podcast about advertising and other stuff people think about too much." I think this will be one I try to frequent. I like the humor.

Browser bashing

It took me forever to figure out Blogger doesn't like Safari. Here I was thinking something was wrong with my iMac because things were taking way to long to upload. The plus side, I suppose, is that the frustration moved me over to the PC to give it a try and I noticed my title wasn't showing right. The apple was a question mark or box indicating it was unrecognizable. So I popped in an image for the header to make sure it'd show. It really looks like crap, and I'll have to spend more time on it later. Just wanted to make sure the title got across ok. I'm also working on a better pic/avatar. Photobucket has this Meez beta avatar creator. Unfortunately its bugs aren't worked out yet, and I can't get it to upload.

Five fingers and no thumbdrive

Here's the five I planned to bring to class. First up are logos, then animal symbols for a zoo's way-finding system, then a magazine cover for Print magazine that illustrates "the state of design" (in this case, many are fishing for unique ideas), then is my spin on the famous cherry sours candy project, and last is one magazine ad from a campaign of five for Match.com.

This is a first

I've never had a class require me to keep a blog. Pretty neat idea. And I'm so thankful MySpace and Facebook were discouraged. I must be the only person I know who absolutely hates MySpace. Everything about it frustrates me.

Online Design. I'm looking forward to this class. I still feel like I haven't found an area of visual communication I want to specialize in, and I'm hoping this Web stuff will really grab me. Right now, I don't know enough about it to know whether I'll truly enjoy it yet, but I'm thinking I will. I got my first glimpse of Web work this summer by creating a daily Recipe of the Day newsletter for a newspaper using basic HTML coding, and after that, programming sounds a bit interesting. I'm really psyched about getting experience with Dreamweaver and Flash because I know nothing about them. The course as a whole defintely sounds more diverse in projects than what I've heard of it from previous semesters. Web sites, cell phones, motion, interactivity. It'll be a good mix.