~Senior Seminar Agenda~

In Senior Seminar we've been looking over everyone's work to make our portfolios top knotch! (long process by the way!) After my work was looked over, I got an idea about what I should use in certain interviews and what I should not use. I have a lot of work to do on all of my stuff though (no surprise there). I think that I will pace myself by working on at least one project a week. If they seem pretty simple to fix, then I'll make it two a week. I want to get all of my projects to where I am 100% pleased with them (I think that's possible..haha). While I'm working on everything, I also want to make sure I know how to talk about them. Some of my projects I feel comfortable presenting while others are not so easy for me to present. I want to make sure when I'm in a interview I can just speak about them naturally, so I don't get suck and have that awkward moment of silence!!! But if I stick to doing this with at least one project a week I feel that my portfolio will be pretty strong in the end.

Word it!

This month's Word It word was "Back." Being a graphic designer and all I've learned the hard way that you should always back up your work! ALWAYS!!! So for the word "back" I decided to represent my life! ....the USB, aka: my back up!

Unsuccessful Websites.....

Soooo....it was interesting to look for unsuccessful websites.  Some of the ones that I found to be pretty bad are....

MYSPACE!!! I absolutely hate myspace!  It used to be pretty cool when it was simple.  Now they have added every little application that they possibly could think of.  It is so overwhelming, and I do not like to use it anymore.  It also annoys me that there is so much stuff that people can add to their pages to make them look so cluttered!! The site is not very easy to use either when it should be.  For example....if I want to find a friend, I can't just type in their name like I can on Facebook.  Their "username," or how they have it listed on their page has to be typed in or their email....I usually do not know that stuff!! So it makes it impossible to find.

Wikipedia is another site that I just do not understand.  It is supposed to me an online encyclopedia, but I don't understand why it allows users to add or make changes to the information.  It is nice, however, that this site is offered in so many languages, but that is pretty much (in my opinion) they only good thing about it.  There is so much going on on this site....and its stuff that I really don't care to know about.  The site is also kind of confusing and frustrating to use.  I just don't like this site.

So I know I wasn't supposed to but I googled "badly designed websites."  After looking around for a bit, I found Tyra Banks' website.  This site drives me nuts with all of the flashy animation mess!  Everywhere you click there is something going on.  I don't enjoy so much motion picture stuff on one page....especially if I don't want to watch it to start with! 

WORD IT!

So underconsideration.com has a thing called "Word It" where designers can send in something that represents the the monthly word they have given. The word for August was "hairy"....here's what I came up with:I was inspired by one of my friends who always jokes that he has hair...just in the wrong places!! hahaha (he doesn't have much where he needs it...on top of his head!)

Reading Assignment #2...

Homework assignment was to read pages 22-37 in The Principles of Beautiful Web Design and pages 20-29 in Don't Make Me Think.  Here are the questions I came up with after doing the readings....

1. What is the difference between "fixed-width" and "liquid-width" layouts?

2. What are some things that should be considered, or things that the client should be asked, before starting to design a website?

3. What are the three most common kinds of layouts used when referring to navigation placement?

Answers:

1. Fixed-Width: Can appear to be small/dwarfed in larger browser windows, does not have a horizontal scroll bar, the designer has more control over how an image floated within the content will look, allows for planned white space, narrower text blocks improve readability.  Liquid-Width: Has a horizontal scroll bar, adapts to most screen resolutions and devices, reduces scrolling, text spanning a wide distance is more difficult to read, more difficult to execute successfully, can cause a lack of (or awkward) white space.

2. What kinds of content do they want to provide on the site? How much content do they want to provide? Do they have a consistent logo that brands their company?

3. Left-column navigation, Right-column navigation, Three-column navigation.

Exploring Successful Websites....

After learning some rules and techniques of what a successful website looks like, I did some exploring to see exactly what they look like....

The Cupcake Shoppe's website is my favorite of the three I chose to talk about. This website is very pleasing to look at with its pastel colors. The site follows several of the good aesthetic rules. It clearly follows a grid and is very organized. There is a lot of white space too, which doesn't make it look cluttered. The site is repetitive as you look through all of the different pages with they layout. This site is really fun, and easy to use......it doesn't make me think!

The second site I looked at was for students & and other youth in the "Open Door" ministry. I found this site through our reading. The colors and design are what caught my eye. After looking through the website, I noticed it seem to be repetitive like the cupcake site. The colors, the font, and the majority of the layout was the same throughout the site. It follows the rule-of-thirds and it has a lot of white space to help make it look clean and organized. It is very easy to learn!

The last website I looked at was the Camelbak website. I was just curious to see what this site looked like since they have such popular products. There is a lot of white space on this site and it does not scroll; meaning it is only shown "above the fold." It definitely follows the rule-of-thirds because the grid is clearly shown by the boxes they use to organize everything. It is extremely easy to use and follows the 3-click rule.

Questions from the first reading!!

Hi all,

Here's the questions I came up with from our reading assignment (from pages 1-22 in Principles of Beautiful Web Design Layout and Composition).

1. What are the two main standpoints from which most people determine whether a website design is "good" or "bad"?

2. Where should all main navigation items appear on a site's layout? (HINT: Think about the newspaper metaphor).

3. What rule is used to help designers create a well-balanced and proportional layout?


Answers:
1. There is a usability standpoint (focuses on functionality, effectiveness, and efficiency) and an aesthetic perspective (focuses on presentation, animation, and graphics).

2. Above the fold

3. The Rule of Thirds (aka: the grid)