Trent Barton Review

Well well well! It's about time Trent Barton revamped their website!
Their old site was very outdated and was quite unfriendly to use, it felt as though it was stuck in the mid 00's with their simple drop down menus and confusing bus time tables, however the story is different now.

Their new site offers the user a modern soft design, with the use of sliding menus and databases to remove unwanted clutter. Their new features removed all the excessive and unrequired data, and presents the user with options to find what they're really looking for.

Diverse menus that are simple to use and easy to understand have turned this website around. Their graphics have been improved a sense of strong brand has been created through their graphic design and web management. Check it out!

10/10

http://www.trentbarton.co.uk/

3 Designers - Non-Web Design Specific

Joel Schafer

As stated before, I really like Joel Schafer's work as he uses very simple, minimal design which is effective and usable. It appeals to me as I try to design sites that are simplistic and accessible. This sounds like an easy way out, but in fact it's probably more difficult. Creating a site with a reduced quantity of text and imagery makes it more difficult to portray exactly what you're trying to get across. It's like writing an essay in just 1,000 words, when you really need 2,000. It's about being selective and creative - which is what Joel Schafer designs like. Only the relevant information is there, but uses layout and creative design to portray his messages.

http://www.designinterviews.com/interviews/599

Saatchi & Saatchi

Creating alternative advertising campaigns, Saatchi & Saatchi have worked with companies varying from Cadburys to T-Mobile. They've produced adverts for Cadbury where a choir walk over a hill, emerging dress up in Christmas costumes. This was sure to grab attention in the summer of 2009. Along side this was their powerful T-Mobile campaigns that utilised the flash-mob culture by getting thousands of people to sing various songs in London's Trafalgar Square and New York's Grand Central Station. Huge crowds formed and performed a song, before disbanding and continuing their daily routine. Those not involved with the event were confused as to what was happening and watch in surprise at vast hoard of people performing in routine together. I like design that surprises people too, the use of shock tactics or clever design usually sticks in the viewers mind and in turn convince the consumer to invest.

http://www.saatchi.co.uk/

3 Designers - Non-Web Design Specific

David Airey

A brilliant graphic designer, he works mainly in brand and print design. I'm really excited by his work as he is very open about the way he designs. By visiting his website, it's clear to see how he works, mainly on graph paper so he can plan new logo designs and develop his ideas through mind-maps etc. His outcomes are usually great logos and simplistic but strong design. Using very specific brand colours, layout and fonts - he has created brand identities for many companies. His simplistic design is similar to Joel's as states above, however David is more methodical and strategic when it comes to design, which is an approach I would like to follow - having specific things you do to create new media items is a good way to get ideas flowing and design created.

http://www.davidairey.com/portfolio/

Designers Republic

I love designers who aren't afraid to push the boundaries and create something really off the wall. Designer's Republic's own website is very much it's own style. With unclear links which do what you'd expect, this website becomes strangely usable. You'd think with such a confusing design it would be confusing, but in reality it works with a bit of concentration. They've also used constantly changing image files which can be quite frustrating, but at the same time it's intriguing as you have to sit and watch the pictures cycle through of and over to see what's being shown. Designer's Republic have also done various advertising campaigns such as projecting words and phrases onto the sides of buildings. Having companies out there who perform these sorts of stunts is important as it keeps designers thinking of new and innovative ways to promote a brand, which keeps the industry moving forwards. No doubt I will think of Designer's Republic when thinking about creating something a bit off the wall.

http://www.pho-ku.com/

Daniel Libeskind

This is an architectural designer who likes to challenge the view of buildings and how they're used. For example, Libeskind's design of the Jewish Holocaust Museum in Berlin isn't what you'd think a normal design for a building would be, he's managed to represent the contents of the building with the exterior design, using metallic materials and sharp diagonal edges creates a very industrial and uncomfortable feeling to the building. I love design that evokes feeling and is intrinsically linked to the focus of the project, by combining the two, design really comes to life and the projects can become more successful from that point forward.

http://www.daniel-libeskind.com/projects/show-all/jewish-museum-berlin/

Waterfall and Whirlpool Software Models

1. Describe, compare and contrast the "waterfall" and "whirlpool" software development models

The waterfall model as described by Tecademy (Unknown date) is where
"all stages were defined by a set of deliverables, each one of which would be agreed and signed off before proceeding to the next stage."
In other words, each step of the cycle would be done one at a time, signed off and moved to the next step. Once this process was completed, the project would be finished. See diagram below.

Figure 1 - Waterfall Model
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e2/Waterfall_model.svg

On completion of the development model, the project would come to an end. Each step would be looked at and worked on until everything was finished and acurate, in essence "freezing" the development of each stage. The whirlpool model, on the other hand is similar but more diverse.

The whirlpool model is designed with the intention that the cycle will never end. Once the project has begun, the user proceeds through each task to the best of their ability, once the cycle has been through once, it begins again to constantly keep the development of the system up to date and accurate to advances in technology and society. The image belows is an example of the cycle.

Figure 2 - Whirlpool Model
http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/InfoKits/implementing-elearning/sfc-toolkit-lifecycle

As you can see, projects developed under the Whirlpool model are intended to be a continuously developed and enhanced as the cycle will never end.

Let's compare the two. The waterfall model would be great to use for short, quick-fire projects that need to be completed and tested under a short period of time. This is because each stage of the model is done step by step, completed and signed off. As there's no plan to return back to the beginning of the project, if this model is used for on-going systems or a system that will take a long time, the data could become out of date or irrelevant.

The whirlpool model is used for projects that are either longer in length or will require extensive updating due to its nature of being cyclic. Starting with the Analysis, the development of the system if first looked at and then the cycle is stepped through one at a time. Once the cycle returns to the start, it is expect to go around again. By doing so, this ensures all data, technologies and information is relevent, current and accessible across multiple platforms.


2. Describe how the "whirlpool" software development model can be applied to WEB page design.

Bearing the previous question in mind, the whirlpool software model is a great development tool to use as websites are generally constantly required to be up to date and accessible on many platforms. Using the whirlpool development model, you can proceed through the cycle, analysing the current state of the solution to solve, plan out a design for the website to meet the requirements, deploy the website and then review the website making sure it works and functions as neccessary. If not, the cycle can be repeated to make sure all these aspects are adhered to. This cycle will be continuous and enables the site to be maintained and fully updated reguarly.

References

TECADEMY, Unknown. [online]. Waterfall vs. Whirlpool. Available from: http://www.puffinonline.com/Tecademy/003%20Waterfall%20vs%20Whirlpool.pdf Accessed: 11th December 2009.

Coffee Date: Review

Coffee Date is a brilliant film!!

It's obviously been filmed on a fairly small budget, but the acting is fine and the camera work is great enough for this sort of film.

It's like a gay guy's chick flick. A lot of "in" jokes that are quite frankly, hilarious! It's a must see film for anyone with a fun sense of humour, especially the LGBT communities.

The film follows one man's journey from being single and is set up on a date with "Kelly". Only, when he gets there and meets up with them, he's actually male!

After much deliberation, he realises who he's on a date with and they end up seeing each other as friends. The word spreads that he's now gay and no one will believe him that he's infact straight. After trying out gay sex for the first time, he realises he's not gay. Unfortunatly, Kelly falls in love with him and this is where the emotion takes place.

Overall, a great narrative, great script and a must-see-feel-good movie!

9/10

KID IN A CANDY STORE: New site design

Well after having my current website online for about 6 or 7 months, I've decided it's time to give it a refresh to fit inline with my new portfolio, so that I create a new brand image and have business cards printed along the same lines.

Here is my new design for the site. It will be made in HTML and CSS as I feel my new skills in these areas will be able to create the site I want, which is an exciting opportunity for me to put my new skills into a design that will actually be used online. Also, producing the website in HTML and CSS will make it a lot easier to update and change when required, unlike using Flash, which takes a lot of time and concentration when adapting it to fit in new content.

However, I may still use Flash elements, depending on how the website forms over the coming months.