27 October 2009
Critique: Aftermath
The outcome of the website could have been better. Lightbox may have been a bit overused, but I feel the design itself is good. I will probably in the near future revamp the layout without a fireworks slice dependency. I am still more satisfied with this layout though then the previous.
Website Rationale
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In the beginning of the process of designing my website, I solely focused on the aesthetic presence of it. The idea was to make an interface that reflected my personality as a designer. My first batch of templates did not seem to fit the scheme. Although some were aesthetically pleasing, they each lacked an element to complete my ideal design.
The first template I made, to my surprise, had really positive feedbacks. There were some portions of the pages that could’ve been fixed, such as the thumbnail sizes that appeared a bit too long; however, I scratched this template because initially it felt it advertised me excessively as an illustrator. On my second template, my design emphasis fell on the information of the site, and as a result it felt like a corporate blog template.
The third, fourth and fifth templates were variants of the same design. To be honest, it seem like I was stuck on this seesaw of providing clean information or maintaining an aesthetic presence. As a result, I took a break from the project due to unexpected illness and a bit of frustration.
Coming back to it a few weeks later, I combined my targeted goals and started from scratch again. When returning to my research and wireframes, I discovered that by combining the “contact” and “about me” pages I could save the user from having to browse further to find more information. A self-brief was developed to make a site in which a user would not have to click more than two or three times and provide a template for easy updating. To fit in with this design concept, lightbox was utilized and further explored to allow images that were not displayed on the page to appear as part a collection when clicking on a thumbnail. Consequently, the html coding for most of the images on the site are actually hidden within “a href” tags that are not attached to any viewable object.
Other design elements of my final layout include a grey and black tone finish with colour rollovers. The reason I chose this was to make each thumbnail a focal point upon interaction from the rest of the site.
Layout Images
The idea is to have the user to find my work or anything in a maximum amount of two clicks. I also combined the about me and contact me into one page, as I feel dedicating a page for contact information is a bit redundant and may be a bit frustrating for the user.
Folio template:
About / Contact Me template
Folio template:
About / Contact Me template
Wire frames and flowchart for new layout
11 October 2009
Experimenting with Light & Type
I saw a concept for type that Lee was experimenting with (click on his link!), so I decided to adopt it for experimental purposes.
Animation - a new challenge
I have been dissecting my ant into various limbs to be able to animate it. I will let you know if I am successful sometime in the near future. In the meantime, here's a preview:
08 October 2009
01 October 2009
The Irrelevant Post: Mouse Rant
WTB a wired mouse. Every time, I am at the peak of doing something creative...my mouse dies.
25 September 2009
Digital Imagery
Something I put together last year during the holidays.
Ingredients: Photograph in newcastle, acrylic skyscrapers from sketchbook, photo of car in vegas.
Ingredients: Photograph in newcastle, acrylic skyscrapers from sketchbook, photo of car in vegas.
Wildstyle Concept: Cameron (Color Forms)
Taking it back old school circa 1980's with flourishes, pink and abusing liquifying effects... well... not so old school... I'll let you be the judge.
Wildstyle Concept: Scott
Inspired by one of my favorite villains, Venom (credit to Todd MacFarlane; I know, sometimes I am sad)
Wildstyle Concept: ?
This is one of those moments where I like to deconstruct and disregard legibility. However, there are some hints here and there. Nonetheless, if you can read it, I would be really impress because sometimes even I struggle.
24 September 2009
22 September 2009
Photograph Collection - DE1005 Introduction to Imagemaking
The exposures are dedicatory benches from Whitley Bay to Tynemouth. Some are purchased from the council as a remembrance to love ones who have passed on or to mark an anniversary; and then there are those of the adolescent who made their marks as a tribute to love, an indication of friendship, or simply an act of personal commemoration. What I found surprising is that the benches with plaque memorials were predominately left unmarked from carvings or graffiti. Perhaps it is from some sense of respect or an unwritten rule of compassion - morals.
Each photograph's caption reveals what text was found on the bench whether it was a memorial plaque, a carving or a permanent marker. They are listed in coastline order towards Tynemouth.
"Retro" (Marker)
"Mary Dodd, in loving memory of Mum and Nanna." (Plaque)
”POWA" (Marker)
"Scott [Heart Shape] Charlotte" (Marker)
"McKenzie, Setch, Alex, AA" (Carved)
"In memory of Elsie Wright, April 1920 - May 2005, will be lovingly remembered by family and friends forever." (Plaque)
"In loving memory of Hugh Campell, returned to Cullercoats the village of his birth." (Plaque)
"Rita & Dic Lamb, remembering family Sundays on Tynemouth longsands, 'Happy Days' always in our hears." (Plaque)
"To Joe & Ann Dunn on their 40th wedding anniversary, from Imelda, Ruth, Shiela, 15th June 2003." (Plaque)
"In loving memory of Lawrence Sinclair, loved husband, dad & granddad, 14.5.93 Aged 72." (Plaque)
Study: St. Mary's Lighthouse
I am obsessed with lighthouses. This one is located along the coast near Whitley Bay, Northeast England. Here are a few at different times of the day (tide), year and a variety of post-processing techniques in photoshop:
Stimulating infrared on a cloudy afternoon during the spring.
Up close and personal using wide angle distortion during spring with a duo-tone finish.
From further distance during an early summer morning shooting towards the sun.
A very cold winter evening with very long exposures.
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