Wireframes

Some inital ideas for my layout

Wordpress Blog

So far i have managed to signup to Wordpress.com and changed the style of a template by changing such things as the CSS colours.

Screenshot of the template.

Waterfall VS Whirlpool Software Models

In the early stages of software development it was recognised as the main model for many systems. The solution offered steps early providing requirements early. Each of the various stages is approached, completed and signed off before moving onto the next step.

This model also was made with the intension of being able to ‘Freeze’. This allowed anyone to stop the process and move onto the next one. This in my opinion can cause allsorts of problems varying from design changes to time management errors e.g. imagine freezing a construction of a building and going back to it later with a different approach.

The ‘Whirlpool’ model has a much better system than the ‘Waterfall’ model as it allows changes over and over again. This holds no restrictions when it comes to the process which allows a more in-depth approach allowing such problems as expense and errors being notified before action.

In comparison the Whirlpool I think is a better approach if I were to use if for a website. This process would allow me to go back on designs and implement them as building blocks providing a more in-depth approach. This would provide me with the option of working on one stage at a time.

Whereas if I used the ‘Waterfall’ process, I would be able to get a good idea of my website process before any actions but doesn’t allow any options for major changes. Only the option to ‘Freeze’ my design, but the downside is I can’t change anything in the design.
The Whirlpool software development process can be used in Web Design.

Brief
Research
Development
Design
Implementation
Testing
Deploy
Maintenance

3 Influential Practitioners

We had to talk about three practitioners that influence us which are not Web Designers.

To choose 3 top designers that influence me is hard; I have so many designers which influence me in many different ways. Below are 3 of them and what aspects of their work inspire me.

Vitaly Alexius Illustrator

Vitaly Alexius is a Freelance Illustrator/Photographer. He was born in 1984 in an industrial city of Novokuznetsk in Siberian Russia. He had been interested in drawing since he was about 4. He did several courses in Traditional Drawing and Illustration. He wasn’t known until he found a programme called Photoshop which allowed him to express his talent.

Most of Vitaly’s work uses traditional art mixed in with illustration. I like his use of colours to represent/express different moods. I also like the way he uses past and futuristic elements to create a virtual world. But what inspires me most is that he is able to express himself freely. He has no limitations. I want to take this idea of no limitations and being able to push the boundaries of creativity of Web design.

Alan Becker Flash/Animator

Alan Becker is a Flash Animator was born in Ohio, he first started out just simply drawing at home and coming up with ideas for animation. He started at an early age and studied Flash and other software before he was discovered over the internet through a website called Deviantart.

The below animation; which was the animation which first caught my eye is the animation which allowed me to discover his works. I like the unusual idea of his work and the idea of how simplistic it is. One of the most inspiring things that I like is the thought of being discovered online; which is one of many new opportunities. I hope to use this idea by creating a portfolio website and publishing it to the web.

http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs13/f/2007/077/2/e/Animator_vs__Animation_by_alanbecker.swf.

Nina Matsumoto Cartoonist

Nina Matsumoto is a Japanese-Canadian comic book artist and writer, also known as space coyote, and most known for creating the comic book series Yōkaiden for Del Rey Manga. She created the webcomic Saturnalia and has also done work as a penciller for Bongo Comics.

What I like most about Nina’s work is she uses her own imagination rather than sticking to a list of rules.. One of my favourite pieces of work is her manga stylized parody (below). She has took the cast of the Simpsons and created a unusual concept. What attracts me most about her work is she is able to take current/existing ideas and put her mark on it through re-creation. I want to build on my web skills by re-designing current websites and making them my own style.

Validation errors - FIXED!

Finally i managed to fix all my HTML and CSS errors.

Validation Errors

I have finally come round to validating my website!. I have encounted 28 errors! im going to attempt to fix them now.

Browser Testing

Before validating my website I'm going to test my website in different browsers using (www.brosershots.org) and on my own computer. The screenshot below proves my website works in the following browsers.

Internet Explorer 8 (working)

Firefox v 3.5.5 (working)

Safari v 4.0.4 (working)

Colour blind - Vis Check

Vischeck is a program that shows what a webpage looks like in a browser to a person that is colour blind. You can select from different types of colour blindness and preview in a few seconds!

I plan on testing my website in this.

http://www.vischeck.com/

My 3 Website Mockups

My 3 Website Mock-ups.

Research - Colour Blind - useful Tools

Today i found a useful tool which is a plugin for Photoshop that stimulates red/green colour blindness . I plan on using it in my website.

Example:

Website Research

Website - www.magicsocket.com

Type of site – Portfolio website

About – The online portfolio of magicsocket, an interactive agency from Turin (Italy) specialised in the creation of Digital Products based on Adobe Flash technology.

I think this website is very well laid out keeping the navigation simple and easy to follow. The use of contrasting colours makes the website more eye-catching and easy to read.

For the opening of the website they have a loading screen using scalextrics tracks which they put together to make up the numbers.

On the homepage of the website they have used and Scalextric tracks as their main theme incorporated into the site. Magicsoket have used Flash to create a Scalextric game which the user gets to select a car and race around the track. Once the viewer races around the track the page starts to navigate around with you.

Javascript - Breaking down the code!

Below is the original code to change the font size using Javascript

Breaking down the code. The yellow boxes are the javascript and html. The red text is my comments.

Website update

Some more pics i might use for my website...

Wireframe

Here is a basic wireframe for my website.

Traingle Rule

The picture below shows one the main hotspots where the majority of viewers eyes are drawn onto the screen first. Ive based my design around this as a way of experimenting with design structures.

Colour Wheel - Contrasting Colours

Below is an few examples of contrasting colours.

Colour Wheel

Today we looked at Colour wheels and how certain colour an compliment and contrast with each other.

Below the colour wheel is an exmple of my favorite analogous colour combination. Both colours work well together because they are easy on the eye.

Rule of Thirds

What my website wireframe looks like with the rule of thirds applied.

Networking Map

Gantt Chart - Website

A Gantt Chart created for my website.

Journal Task – 3 user based websites

For our journal task we were asked to find 3 websites providing user generated content

http://www.photobucket.com/

Photobucket is an image hosting website allowing users upload photo content varying from personal to professional photography photos. Over time the website has broadened their content allowing users to upload videos too. The website structure is very simplistic with the simple navigation bar at the top and sub categories to the left, thus allows more space for user generated content to be listed. The use of colour has been kept minimalistic using blue and cream as the centralised colours plain against the varied content uploaded.

http://www.cafepress.co.uk/

Cafepress is a template and user driven website offering users to purchased custom made t-shirts. Users can either upload photos to templates or upload their own designs to share. This also offers fan bases e.g. Twlight to generate content and share their passion for the film. The website uses the top-down navigation keeping it simple; also using bright clean colours making it look busy.















http://www.dailymotion.com/

Dailymotion is about finding new ways to see, share and engage your world through the power of online video. You can find/upload videos about your interests and hobbies, eyewitness accounts of recent news and distant places. The website is very self explanatory with the simple navigation bar and big headings showing where you are. The use of a star rating allows the users to view categories in a different way, allowing them to view comments from other users.

Final Identities Package

Identities Project by ~creativeblur20 on deviantART

Avatar Element - Head

I'm finding it quite difficult to create an avatar because I still don't understand where half the buttons are!

Here's the first stages where I'm currently modeling the head first so it gives me enough time to make it perfect. I have modeled some of the body but I'm just posting the head part.

Using front and side pictures I have constructed some sort of a base model to sculpt later on.

Showcase Ideas

I've been trying out various tutorials over the past few weeks which i why i haven't posted much.

I have started to create my room for my showcase and thought i will post it up.

I have created a base model of what my room looks like and now I'm going to start to create objects and lighting.

Logo

Here's my progress so far with my logo element...

I have done several other pages of ideas but i thought i would post one to show where I'm at.

Tutorial - Sword

Another tutorial i followed to help improve my skills in 3D Studio Max.

Avatar - Body

A render of my Avatars body which i currently at the first stage. I have yet to edit the hands and arms but I just wanted to create a base model to work with.

Avatar - Leg

I've attempted to start my Avatars body and I'm currently creating the legs.

Box/Showcase Element Ideas

Just thought i would post my ideas on my element ideas and what stage I'm at.

AV Element - Thinking of remixing a song or doing a pixilation of myself.

Logo - Done a few designs but still needs allot of work.

Avatar - Currently creating my Avatars head, still need to do the body

Website - I'm still designing the website but Ive purchased a webspace and Ive got to wait a few days until i can upload anything.

Other Element - Still thinking about what to do for this.

Showcase Ideas

Various sketches of ideas for my Showcase/Elements.

Biped Man

Today with Andy Love we had to rig a Biped man using 3D Studio Max. Im going to edit it later but for now im going to post my first attempt.

Tutorial - Computer Monitor

To get used to 3D Studio Max I decided to find a random easy tutorial to see if I could do a low poly model.

Tutorial - Computer Monitor

Website: http://www.cglearn.com/tutorials/max5/harnessing_03.21_lowpoly.html

A Screenshot of the finished PC Monitor

Car Modding - UVW Editor

Today we were given a model of a car which we had to customise in own own way. We were given the body but with Andys guide we were shown how to use Photoshop to make better textures for our models.

Basic Human Model

Today we had to create a basic model of a human using Low Poly blocks. Once we had been shown how to go about it I could believe how simple it was to do.

My Mood Board

I Quickly came up with a mood board which isnt the mood board for my Box/Showcase but is just for pure inspiration. I am goin to do do a uptodate version containing fewer images and trying to get some sort of a theme going.

On this mood board I have alot of varied content including games, comedy, football, cars, food and girls.

I havent yet got an idea for my Box.Showcase but am going to come up with another mood board and brainstorm some ideas.