Sam's Blog

Goodbye blogger!

2010-07-14T15:44:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

Thank you ALL for taking the time to read my blog!

I'm not going anywhere though, don't worry!

I'm simply moving homes. My blog is now accessible on my own personal website which you can find here.

Thanks for reading and I'll see you over at the other side!

http://www.samuelmarshall.com

KIACS Online - New Design

2010-07-04T15:31:00.000-07:00

Here is the latest design for my website.

If you compare the new design with the current design, it's clear to see how much my design ideas and quality of design as developed in just under a year.

Originally, my logo had 4 different colours and the font wasn't very modern looking. I've decided to stay with the layout of the logo (the words under each other) but I've decided to use a clear, funky font and just the green because it looks more slick, more fun and less rough.

The logo on the far right is my official logo, the arrow with a blue circle underneath, reflects the cycle of design, development and deliverance. By crossing it over with an arrow, this connotates a different "direction" in my work, and reflects my approach to design being clear, simple and effective.

I've continued to use the green and blue as the main colours for the website, dropping the red and white as these offered too much variation and detracted from the website development as I was trying to work with too many colours.

In terms of content, the website will house my graphic and website design work I've created over the last 2 or 3 years. Not only will there be a portfolio section with live previews of my work, but the blog will serve the purpose that this blog currently does. This will all be backed up by my twitter page, where users will be able to access my latest tweets, straight into the website.

I will be using HTML, CSS, PHP, MySql and probably (hopefully) jQuery where I can.

Overall, this new website design is sleek, modern, clean and effective. It will serve its purpose to a great standard and will be a design I am happy to keep for years to come hopefully.

NTU Pride - Committee Interviews and Outtakes

2010-06-13T07:54:00.001-07:00

For the NTU Pride website, I went out and filmed the committee members to get their feedback on the year so far.

I've spent a few hours editing the videos alone and with my fellow committee member, Mikey and we've finally finished and released the videos.

They will be going on the promotional DVDs ready for fresher's fayre in October.

NTU Pride Promotional Trailor - Sex and the City style!

2010-06-07T17:27:00.000-07:00

I've been working for just a couple of hours on the promotional material I'm creating for the NTU Pride Freshers Fayre Promotional DVDs (try saying that again!) and so far I've managed to remake the Sex and the City 2 trailor!

Check out what we're got so far!

Beautiful Interior + Shit Food + Crap Knives = Zizzi

2010-05-26T15:01:00.000-07:00

So me and my two friends thought we'd catch a bite to eat before we went to see comedian, Shappi Khorsandi and Jon Richardson at the Nottingham Playhouse.

Various places were tossed around but we settled on Zizzi's after I remember going while I was in London a few years back.

What a mistake that was!

Zizzi, if you've never been, looks nice and modern on the outside, very very beautiful inside and very comfortable too. The furnishings are clean, cream and bright with a very expensive twist (such as trees growing in the restaurant and various alcoves and, I counted, three seperate stair cases). The staff were very welcoming and inviting, maybe this was their downfall.

Now when I go out for a meal with my friends, I like to think I'll have a good time, so when the waitress asked if we would like bread or olives to begin with, I eagerly said yes. Having just placed my order for a refreshing lemonade.

Conversation flowed, innuendos galore, lots of gorping at the men... the waitress brought over the beginnings of our meal. This is where things went pairshaped.

My glass of lemonade was the size of a small mobile phone, the bread that came was fairly dry and bland, of which only had two of each type of bread, not much use for three of us. The olives came too, I promptly found out that my two other friends don't like olives, great! More for me!... Not so great when they tasted like they'd been sat in vinager all their lives and you had about 20 to eat before your main course.

After discarding the "starters", our main courses arrived fairly soon after!

Whilst ordering my Sophia pizza, I was asked if I wanted the thinner but slightly larger base, I said yes, thinking the price would probably be the same, considering they're using the same if not less dough...

Looking around at my friend's food options I thought I had a pretty good choice, their food came with rather small and bland looking salads, I thought my rather massive pizza would just be enough to fill a rather average sized appetite.

5 minutes later and I'm still sawing away at my pizza with the worlds bluntest knife. My two friends are happily gobbling away at their lasagne and calzone... I'm still here, sawing into my pizza. Eventually, my calzone friend had finished and I was no further into ingesting my pizza, I signaled for the waitress to come over. Still in fairly high spirits (mainly due to the dehydration and good conversation) I asked the waitress for a new knife, but in doing so, in fact said "Do you have another knife? Something like a steak knife, because this knife is crap." A slip of the tounge, but none the less, completely acurate! To kick my mood down several pegs, she said "No sorry" and smiled a concerning smile. I had already gone around my friends and tried their knives, so once she brought back a knife of the same cutting ability, I was less than impressed.
I proceeded to tear off the cold, tasteless pizza with my teeth to try and ingest some of the money I had paid to get this pizza.

Finished my "meal" and asked for the bill. £41.50 for three people. Fair enough. But once I totalled my meal's price it came to £20! What on!?
Well, the pizza on it's own was £9.50, plus another £1.50 for the extra thin, slightly wider pizza. My drink was £2.00, £3.00 for the bread and a staggering £4.00 for the olives!

Dissheartened at the terrible meal, I was in too lower spirits to give Zizzi's more than a hard pushed 5 / 10, and maybe the interior helped push it towards a 6, but half those points are probably made up from the conversation we had and the fairly average talent available across the other few tables.

Think I'll stick to at food Trent Kebabs or Food Factory for a good night out!

I've Won an Award!

2010-04-29T01:24:00.000-07:00

During my time on the NTU Pride committee as publicity officer, I've been given the opportunity to rebrand the society and create their new website.

Incredibly, my efforts have been recognised and I have been awarded with "Best Website" from the Societies awards.

This has been an incredible acheivement for me and I couldn't be happier!

Tribe Scuba - Photoshop Mock Up

2010-04-20T14:14:00.000-07:00

My first and second computer mock up design. More to come!

Tribe Scuba - Initial Designs

2010-04-20T14:13:00.000-07:00

These are my first few initial designs for the layout and colour schemes for the new Scuba Diving website. I've also created a mind-map to get some of my ideas down on paper before going about implementing any sort of initial design, either drawn or photoshopped.

PRIDE: Tweeks and alterations

2010-03-22T11:58:00.000-07:00

The NTU Pride website has been playing on my mind a bit recently due to some little flaws in design and it not being graphically professional enough for my perfective nature!

So, I decided to do a bit of editing!

I've changed, on every page, the navigation menu from individual pictures to a simple text navigation, which has cut back on LOADS and LOADS of code but looks identical. The sub-menus still need converting, but it's starting to come together.

To make the NTU Pride brand more accessible, I decided to create the "badges" branding concept. This is where there are individual "badges" or "tiles" which indicate each sexuality or each different minority. These are refelected through the NTU Pride logo and pick up on each individual colour. This has also enabled me to create continuity throughout the website and printed media, especially as next year's fresher's fayre flyers encorporate this design.

In the realm of cleaning up code, I've also made the background image MUCH smaller and just repeated it on the Y axis, so that it loads much more quickly and can be repeated, meaning that text no longer over runs the end of the website, an issue I've been meaning to change for quite some time.

The auto-image changer has also been on my mind due it the images being quite old and dated, I've decided to remove those images and replace them with the "badges" idea to maintain continuity and it also gives the space to promote that NTU Pride is now officially sponsored by Propaganda.

To come: redesign of the committee section and ideas to cut down text.

LUCY: Website tweeks and development

2010-03-22T11:51:00.000-07:00

I have gone through and tweeked various things throughout Lucy's website and added in a more secure login system to prevent hacking of the blog and gig updates etc.

Fixed various design flaws - including too much inconsistancy between headings and colours etc. Things are a lot more structured and userfriendly now, including headings, possitioning and other TINY little things in the code that usually wouldn't go noticed, but make a massive difference to the professional quality such as padding etc.

I've also made the add, edit and delete forms for the blog and gigs MUCH more user friendly by changing the text boxes to drop down menus.

You can now upload photos up the 3MB and the system will automatically downsize it to fit within the constraints of the website WITHOUT distortion, however the file size will remain the same.

The login procedure is now MUCH more secure. People can't edit the blog or gigs by accessing the individual pages, they MUST log in. (Which was previously a flaw in the last log in design)

I've added in a random image selecter on the home page so that it will randomly choose an image to display which is a photo of Lucy and a comment that someone has said about her. (Refresh the home page to see this working)

The alignment of the text is now justified so that it spreads evenly accross the page. (Small minor change, big difference!)

And finally, the MP3 player begins playing the first track when you load up each page.

I'm handing in my work on Thursday and doing my presentation on Friday... I think we're almost finished!!

I've talked to my brother about getting the website online at Lucy's own domain, and I hope to get that online by the end of March. Fingers crossed!

LUCY: Website complete!

2010-03-08T09:37:00.000-08:00

Lucy's website has been one of the most exciting, rewarding and challenging projects I've worked on to date.

Not only has it been a great chance for me to express myself and my skills, it's also been great to create a website for someone I care a lot about and deliver something of high quality to the end user.

I've managed to create 2 flash MP3 players, video content, a banner, a gallery and an interactive side bar with links to twitter, facebook and myspace. Along side this, I've developed two databases where Lucy can update her own personal blog and a space where she can post up all her upcoming gigs. Not only can she do this, but she can also edit and delete every post and add a photograph alongside her blog entries - quite a brilliant accessory to keep herself and her fans up-to-date on her progress.

I've also included a Twitter feed onto her home page where fans can access the site and get an instant update without having to access her blog first.

This is the first website I've created which uses Flash AND PHP, MySql together. They have worked very well together and their seamless interaction benefits are going to be very beneficial to Lucy's promotion.

Overall, I'm overly happy with how this project has gone and I'd rate it the best website I've made, so far.

The next step is to create the login page and get Lucy to check over it all to make sure everything is how she wants it.

http://www.kidinacandystore.co.uk/lucyward/index.html

LUCY: Flash MP3, Banner and Photos

2010-02-27T10:58:00.000-08:00

If you click on the photo, you'll be able to see the latest design ideas I have for Lucy's website.

The MP3 player was entirely made by myself using photoshop and flash with action script.

I've created a DIV with a background image which includes the pins, and then created a DIV inside that with the Flash content, making it look as though it's a single image. I've also done this with the "Lucy Ward" title banner.

By using action script 3, I've been able to create a simple music player that can player up to 4 external songs, with skip feature, play/pause and volume control.

Where the photographs are on the right hand side, it is infact a flash banner, where the user rolls over each photo and some information is displayed about Lucy herself.

Future design ideas:
I want to create another box above or below the main content text area in the centre to include either a regular twitter feed or her latest video news. This may be an area where I can include my PHP database.

2010-02-26T02:00:00.000-08:00

I created an interactive banner for the LG phone, GW520. I used the current advertising promotional colours and branding to create a banner in-line with their promotion.

It's fairly standard and some of the design decisions I made look ok, but there's too much going on, too quickly.

Not bad for a quick exercise.

Original promotional video:

PRIDE: Finally online and active

2010-02-22T11:45:00.000-08:00

After working on the new NTU Pride website for several months, the new website, logo and brand image was launched on 15th February 2010 and it went off to a roaring success.

To celebrate the new branding, we had a massive house party where guests could watch a firework display, let off Chinese lanterns and enjoy cake and music.

I really wanted to bring a brand new image to NTU Pride, making it much more professional looking and making it stand out from the crowd, not blending in at all.

Through using the bright colours against the dark background, this has really worked well and will continue to look fresh and bright for years to come.

To see the website online now, check out http://www.ntupride.org.uk

In addition to the website, 2 large new banners were printed and various t-shirts were made too. As I'm on the committee for NTU Pride, I've been working closely with the bar, Propaganda to create a strong sponsorship and NTU Pride is now pleased to be officially sponsored by them.

LUCY: Project application and design

2010-02-22T11:38:00.000-08:00

Brief 2 states that we need to create a website for an artist or organisation. This is no more than the perfect opportunity for me to finish off the website I started creating for Lucy as a project.

This way I'll get marked on work I produced outside of Uni and I can get feedback and create the site as professionally as possible.

I have to include 3 interactive Flash elements and a PHP MySQL database profile page.

At the moment, I've managed to get the whole basic template of the site online and the first flash element included. However, as the flash has to be interactive, I am unsure as to whether or not this is possible to use.

I am currently going to start designing the flash MP3 music player that will set in the menu section. I'm also hoping to have the side pictures revolving and use video through Flash as well.

Social Network Integration

2010-02-19T03:35:00.001-08:00

There's no getting away from social networks when you're online now. Even the most standard sites such as the BBC are all over social networks like a house on fire.

Why is this?

Well it's all about free promotion and creating a presence when you're online. By various websites being connected to a social network, they're instantly accessible to a world of over 50 Million users (Facebook) and a growing Tweety generation through Twitter. With almost the equivelant of the entire UK population online through Facebook across the world, there's a massive potential to gain access to an endless array of people from all sorts of backgrounds, enableing advertisers to target specific groups and get maximum benefits.

As more and more users post up their details to Facebook to share with their "friends", advertisers are now able to pick out specific infomation and change their displayed adverts according to your preferences. For example, if you're single, you'll gain many adverts for dating agencies, if you're itnerested in fish, you may get scooba diveing ads.

My current project is to create and produce a website for my friend Lucy. As I was never able to finish the site I began for her, I will now use this project to complete it for her, including links to social networks. But which social network is best to use?

Well Lucy already had a facebook and Myspace so it would make sense to utilise these. However, Myspace doesn't really make it very easy to post that content on other pages in the same way you can run your RSS Tweets from Twitter across multiple platforms. Therefore, I'm going to try and steer clear of Myspace due to it's inaccessibility. However, I will use Myspace's idea of being able to broadcast music to your listeners. I'll be creating a mini music device in flash for Lucy to show off her work.

To keep her site up-to-date and relevent, I would like to create a blog feature, but I am unsure as to how I'll do this as of yet. Instead, I will deffinatley try to incorporate her facebook updates and twitter feed as this will keep users up to date, even if the website isn't kept on top of.

By utilising the social network industry, I'll be able to keep Lucy's fan on top of what's happening as they'll have easy access to her reguarly updated sites. This will keep her fans interested and continue their support and come see her when she's off to do a gig.

Displaying her updates directly onto the front page is important as it's current and instant, however I will not be making it a massive element, due to the temptation from users to click off her site and visit Facebook, rather than exploring her website.

NG1 Logo Design

2010-02-07T11:37:00.000-08:00

Here are some logo's I've designed for the gay club in Nottingham, NG1. I've chosen quite a few variations depending on the client's requirements.

Digital Mash - What would you do?

2010-02-05T02:52:00.000-08:00

So, Digital Mash is a portfolio and an online resource for web designers to gain inspiration and ideas from designer, Rob Morris.

His website consists of his own work, a journal, biography, photos, contact page and even a client login area. The structure has been thought out around then content. The text and photos sit happily next to each other, using a lot of "white space" to distance the information apart from themselves. In doing so, the site feels light and "breezey", enabling the user to "fly" through the website without having to concentrate hard on the content and to understand the layout.

I really like the use of the bold text, block of colour and thin dark line for the navigation. This design removes any "fat" from the site, keeping it streamlined, visible and airy. In otherwords, there's not big thick buttons or fancy fonts that are either too small or too excentric.

What I like about his journal is that the audience (other designers) for his site can comment and ask questions about his work, which is then responded to as you would a blog, but it's catagorised to keep things organised and relevant.

His simple organisational design in itself is something to admire. In his archive of previous posts, he's used small images to illustrate his post, but kept them simple and frequent enough to create an identity between each post that's most pleasing. However, he hasn't gone too far by adding too many images. One per post is enough to keep it eye catching, yet clean and simple.

Rob's style is to use text as a way of communication. Instead of having bright, over-powering images, he's kept them very small and minimal and used text, varying in size to keep the content structured and visual. He's kept a large word or phrase to title each page, an image to illustrate and then a simple small paragraph to explain the section you've entered.

His chatty sense of vocabulary in his design keeps the site friendly, personal and accessible. By saying "Say Hey" or "I'm the guy" makes you want to read on as the lack of formality in his choice of words makes the reader smile and feel a connection between designer and a real person.

I personally love his navigation design. I think navigation should be the main thought when it comes to web design. If the navigation looks great and works well, you should design your site around that. If the user can't understand how to use the site or the menu is too complex to understand, you've got no hope of anyone staying on your site or exploring further. Good navigation is essential, and I feel Rob has hit the nail on the head here.

Not too sure about his use of colour.. the bluey gray is a tad dull..

Using less images is another design technique I'd like to experiment with. Currently, I use a lot of colour and imagery in my designs, I'd like to try using soft gradiants and just text to see if I can create a site that connects the user with the content, because at the end of the day, text is alternative symbols and symbols can be logos right? And we all need a logo...

http://www.digitalmash.com

DESIGNS: Portfolio

2010-02-03T08:20:00.000-08:00

Portfolio designs:

DESIGNS: NTU Pride

2010-02-03T08:17:00.001-08:00

Banner design:
Web design:

DESIGNS: Kid In A Candy Store .co.uk

2010-02-03T08:12:00.000-08:00

Web design:

DESIGNS: CV

2010-02-03T08:02:00.001-08:00

Graphic CV design:

iPad and Beyond..

2010-02-03T07:25:00.001-08:00

To discuss the ways designers have to think cross-platform, I've chosen design for magazine, digital billboards and buses. I feel each one offers a different complication and solution in the design and advertising world.

For example, design for magazine is very common. As you can see from the cover on the left, various codes and conventions will look familiar to you. For example, there is a main image and the title of the magazine is large and behind the main focus. The magazine cover provides the consumer with quick puffs of information, explaining that they can get "bigger pecs now" and that there's just "5 steps to the perfect body". All these techniques are to engage the consumer and get them drawn into the magazine. Politically, by producing a magazine cover using these codes and conventions the designers can use these guide lines to their ability, making their magazine sell to the consumer and therefore gaining profit.

The layout between this magazine cover and many others are very similar as they follow these strict rules. Even just using the direct mode of address in the main photo is enough to draw in an audience. Socially, the consumer feels as though they can gain something from owning this magazine, they will feel empowered as this book has the answers they need to get that perfect look.

The content can easily be replicated through scanning (as I have done here) or even reproduced on a half decent editing application on most computers, such as Photoshop. Scanning each individual page however, may not be an attractive option to those individuals wanting to steal the content and distribute it illegally, instead they may be more inclined to take the content and design their own media from it.

Design across other platforms, such as on this bus for example is where designers have to think more strategically about how they promote.

With each bus having similar but possibly different sizes to promote their products on, the design of the advert has to be flexible. Being able to scale the advert to fit different dimensions is important, and the main content should fit into the constraints of the bus architecture.

On many buses with this style of advertising, the main title or most important information is usually stuck on the horrizontal section between the two floors, quite often a picture or logo is then placed in the vertical section and the smaller, legal details are pushed to the end where space is limited. Designers have to consider this when desigining across different platforms. For example, the same layout of an advert would be useless on a magazine if it were taken from a design for a bus.

Design for a bus is an interesting concept politically, as designers need to think creatively, getting their point across very quickly as a bus can roar by in just a few seconds. In those few seconds the consumer has to see the advert, recognise what it's for and be convinced that they need to buy into it. Therefore, keeping the design simple and short (to the point) is a crucial technique that should be deployed here, like in the image above.

Digital billboard design is an area that is high for competition. Take this photo for example, in a place like New York or London where there can be up to 20 or 30 different digital billboards, getting the consumer's attention is always a difficult task.

Here, the main advert is of a woman and underneath is stats about the weather over the next few days and a news feed. By having data displayed that is of public interest, the community will be drawn in as they may want to know the temperature, in the process, noticing the advert for Garnier above. Using public interest as a technique, Garnier have drawn in the attention of the public subconciously, and are being fed these advertising ploys without realising. Through this, the consumer doesn't get as infuriated with annoying adverts, as they feel as though they're being informed of matters that are important to them, and are therefore more open to the subconcious advertising.

As far as having content stolen by using digital billboards, the effect of having a massive billboard that grabs people's attention is more important if it manages to sell your product. Stealing other designer's work, would only have an adverse effect in this situation, as having multiple billboards looking the same would only turn the consumer off and result in your advert being missed or unnoticed. Instead, the more creative and different the design, the better it will work in this situation.

It is hard to predict what the major digital platform in one year's time will be for design, technology is developing and advancing all the time. However, I do think with things the way they are at the moment, the internet is going to become a necessity of life, and having it portable and with you all the time will slowly become something you can't live without. Therefore, design for small media such as mobile phones and netbooks may become a requirement over the coming year.

I predict that desktop computers may start to dissapear and laptops will take over, due to their portability and size over this decade. Consequences for designers are important to consider. I feel that you'll be able to get the same performance from a laptop as you can from a computer within the next couple of years. I currently use a laptop to do all my design work, which includes design for big platforms such as banners and posters as well as web design and other mediums. Designers will need to consider how to use as little content as possible to get across their message as quickly as possible if mobile phone sized screens are the way forward, this will make design harder, especially as we're seeing many websites designed for the browser, but when it comes to the phone, they have cut down versions. Facebook is a good example of this.

One thing is for sure though, this decade is going to be very exciting in terms of development and standards are concerned.

Carphone Warehouse - UNI Mobile

2010-02-02T10:23:00.000-08:00

I've finally finished my website project.

Here's the website I've made for UNI Mobile as part of a promotional offer from the Carphone Warehouse store in Nottingham.

UNI Mobile is a fictional company I've made as an illustration purpose. The Carphone Warehouse store in Nottingham, however, is real and therefore fits in with the retail establishment as stated in the brief.

I have used CSS, Flash, Javascript and HTML to create the website. I'm very pleased with how it's turned out. The colours are very eye catching and the site is simple to use and serves its purpose.

Project: Carphone Warehouse - UNI Mobile

2010-02-01T04:49:00.000-08:00

I've finally settled on a brand new idea for my website project!

I decided not to do Saltwater, but instead the carphone warehouse. I didn't want to redesign their website, but instead offer a website that is promotion for the store in Nottingham AND as a promotion to a unique mobile phone network.

This is my initial design idea. The section with "Calla Texta Surfa" written on it is goingto be flash content.

Mini-Project - Saltwater Initial Design 2

2010-01-22T04:05:00.000-08:00

Mini-Project - Saltwater Initial Design

2010-01-22T03:35:00.000-08:00

Here's my first design for my Saltwater project.

I've really been struggling for inspiration on this project, so this is the best I've made so far.

I'm going to continue playing with designs over the weekend and hopefully be settled on an idea early next week, so I can build it in HTML and CSS for hand in on Friday.

Mini-Project - Saltwater

2010-01-17T11:14:00.000-08:00

For our first project back, we have two weeks to create and develop a website for a retail establishment, which includes restaurants, bars, shops, pawnbrokers and dry cleaners!

I decided to create a website for the bar/restaurant - Saltwater. I've been in quite a few times so I know the environment well, it's one of my favourite bars and I think I'll be able to do the company justice through their new web design.

Their current website is online at: http://www.saltwater-restaurant.com/
As you can see, it's very basic and uses a multitude of Flash and HTML/CSS. I currently don't like their website as the design of it covers the text in some cases and the colours don't contrast enough, making it hard to read and not very user friendly.

I've looked through their website and image gallery and have begun my research for the project. These are the two files I have so far. The logo I created (first image) takes into account their current logo, but for this project, I thought I'd replicate it and produce the website around it.

Trent Barton Review

2009-12-30T06:22:00.001-08:00

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

2009-12-11T03:40:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-11T02:45:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-08T14:02:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-02T15:55:00.000-08:00

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.

Christmas is here!

2009-11-30T09:51:00.001-08:00

For some, Christmas is a dreaded time of year, for others, it's the best time of year!

For me, this year is set to be one of the best yet. (About damn time!)

One thing that always, and will always, get me in the mood is this fantastic advert by Coca-Cola. What it, enjoy it, and get that warm fuzzy feeling, knowing its the season to be festive with your family and friends.

Markeaton Park Website: First Product

2009-11-30T09:45:00.000-08:00

Here is the first version of my Markeaton Park website online and fully functioning!

To say I have never done ANY HTML, CSS or Javascript before, I think I've done fairly well! Just don't look at my coding, it's a bit of a mess! ;)

It's not EXACTLY the same as my initial ideas that I produced in Photoshop as the opacity effects across different browers is occasionally quite tricky. I managed to get around this in IE by creating a seperate CSS file and removing the opacity, and just maknig a plane white box instead. Not a big issue really, but none the less, a bit annoying.

Almost everything else is exactly as I wanted it, except the links, but I quite like it layed out how it is at the moment. If I had longer to work on it, I would spend longer adapting the code and being really perfective over the whole design.

Boosting your career with social media

2009-11-21T11:02:00.000-08:00

Check out this great article I found on the .net magazine website.

It talks about the importance of being up-to-date online when it comes to finding employment, especially in this tough economical climate.

It's becoming rapidly clear that if you don't have an online presence, it will be so much more difficult to find work and be involved with your network, especially in the field I'm wanting to enter, Interactive Media.

Being accessible online, gives potential employers the ability to quickly access information about you and contact you instantly, resulting in work hopefully!

Of course, being in the web industry, it'll be very important to have a professional online presence, and therefore the way you conduct yourself online will be very important to consider.

OFF-TOPIC: La Roux Concert

2009-11-21T10:31:00.000-08:00

Me and my friends, Andrew, Jodie and Dan went to go see La Roux on 17th November 2009.
I just thought I'd share with you these couple of videos I have found on YouTube.

They're really interesting to watch even if you don't like La Roux as the visual effects on the backscreen really brought an amazing atmosphere to the song.

The back of the stage had 5 strips of LED lights, which were lit up and from a distance you could see LA ROUX scrolling across the back wall. Really effective and very 80's.

Concert on the whole: 7/10

CSS Fixed and Floating - Reviewing Websites

2009-11-21T10:16:00.000-08:00

Landau Forte
Derby Yamaha Music School
The Sims 3
Facebook
BBC

I've been looking across the Internet at how websites act and respond when the user resizes the window or maximises etc.

I looked at some mainstream sites such as Facebook and BBC and Sims 3, as well as more niche sites such as Landau Forte and Derby Yamaha Music School. My research can conclude that the way most of the sites move around are relative to a position. For example, the Landau Forte and BBC websites are positioned to be central to the screen and when the window is made larger, nothing happens, other than all the content staying central to the window.

Some sites, such as Facebook and Sims 3 are still central, but having moving objects. For example, on Facebook, if you resize the window the blue bar at the top will resize to fill all the way along the top of the site, however the whole website is still centrally positioned. The Sims 3 site also works in the same way, with the Sims 3 logo staying positioned absolutely top left, making it always visible.

Having done this research, I've decided that I am going to create my Markeaton Park website in the same style, using CSS to configure the site to be central, and remain central on resized windows.

Ill aim to keep the site's dimensions with in 800x600 to keep it accessible to a lot of monitors and screens.

Fluid or Fixed?

2009-11-20T03:11:00.000-08:00

There's no doubt that creating a website in photoshop, sliceing it up and plonking it into a table is the easiest possible way to creating a website. However, in terms of accessibility this makes things more difficult.

My vision for the site is to be able to change text size, but I'm worried about the navigation at the top of the page. Originally I was going to use images as the links and then the image changes once you roll over to change the background colour.

To talk about these problems more and get a better understanding, I've arranged to talk to my brother who works in web design and uses CSS and HTML every day. Hopefully he'll be able guide on what would be best to do for my website.

At the moment, I'm using a fluid design which looks fixed. Once you resize the window, the whole website stays centred and the same size. I am unsure as to how to change this at the moment.

Logo Color Change

2009-11-13T02:48:00.000-08:00

Here's the changed Coca-Cola logo I've adapted. I think it makes it look more like a logo for orange juice.

Markeaton Park: 5 Website Design Ideas

2009-11-12T15:00:00.000-08:00

Here are all 5 of my designs for the Markeaton Park website.

I've drawn inspiration from quite a variety of different websites and images across the internet and this is what I've managed to create.

Each front-end design is accompanied with its own wireframe to show the progression of ideas.

I think the second and third website designs are the worst and don't show enough dynamic design, where as the first and fifth designs are my favourite as they look the most technically and pleasing to the eye.

Each design is different and offers something unique to the website. I will be focusing my work from now on on either the first or fifth design, as they are my favourite and I think they look the most professional and easy to use.

Placement: Let's begin with the companies

2009-11-10T10:07:00.000-08:00

I've finally put together a list of 24 different companies to contact regarding getting a work experience placement. I've found 6 out of these companies to be really interesting and exciting, hopefully I'll be accepted for one of these places.

I will be arranging an interview with our careers and CV adviser to get my CV checked over, then I'll need to put together a portfolio and write a covering letter, before sending it all out to prospective companies.

I think a few all nighters will be in order shortly!

Markeaton Park Website: Initial Designs

2009-11-09T10:16:00.001-08:00

This is the second design I've created for the Markeaton Park website.

The wireframe is on the left and shows how the generic website will look.

The new design incorporates the autumnal colours of reds, oranges and browns without the use of too much photography.

I'm not as keen on this site design as it looks very flat and basic, which wouldn't apeal to those of a more technical background.

The dual navigation bar may also be confusing, however the top bar is used to navigation across the main pages and the secondary bar is to navigate between each section of the site.

The image taken is a very good representation of autumn, however I feel I can either find another image that would represent Markeaton park better or at least show something that the user would recognise about the park. I may also include some sort of revolving gallery here.

Markeaton Park Website: Research and Theory Work

2009-11-09T08:22:00.000-08:00

Here are a few photographs I took today after going on site to Markeaton Park to get some of my own research done.

I thought it was necessary for me to do a site visit so that I could really remember the essence of what Markeaton Park means to me and to get a real view of how it looks in Autumn/Winter.

I took approximately 150 photos of which I will probably use some in my project to add visuals to the site.

Here is some data that I've gathered that may be useful in producing the site:
Buses to the park:

Park & Ride
Notts + Derby
Unibus 4
Unibus 5

Amenities close to the park:

Derby University
McDonalds
Esso Petrol Station
Easy access to the town centre

Park's amenities:

24/7 Pay & Display Parking
Pitch and Putt
Craft Village
The Orangery Cafe

Selling:

Hot Food
Baguettes
Panini
Homemade Cakes

Lilac Joinery
Paint a Pot
Matthew Morris Furniture
Basket Ball Courts
Tennis Courts
Rowing Boats
Child's play areas
Half Pipe
Crazy Golf
Bouncy Castle
Steam Train
Donkeys
Paddling Pool
Road Train
Ice Cream Stall

Selling:

Magnums
5-Ice
Cornetto (Mint and Strawberry)
Festival (Original and Mint)
Screwball
ZAP
99
Sunny Ice (Blackcurrant, Orange and Cola)
Rainbow Lolly
Strawberry Lolly
Ices Lollies (Cherry, Lemonade, Banana, Choc-o-Lic, Lager & Lime

I've also completed the forms we were given in our first lecture about our chosen space, building or environment. Here's my responses:

Physical Environment
Who is the environment for?
Everyone. Couples, families, friends, singles, students, children, adults, pets.
What is the environment for?
A space to come enjoy the outdoors and get involved with the park. Very interactive without being over powering.
How is the environment organised?
There's no strong structure to it and that gives the park a more natural feel. Doesn't conform to any specific rules. Mundy Place centre keeps all the children together which enables to parents to keep an eye on their kids.
How is the space signposted/negotiated?
Fairly well sign posted where necessary, use Derby City Council style boards and their own Victorian style sign posts too.
How do you feel about the space?
Relaxing, friendly and a place to think. Good for families to come to relax or enjoy some time together doing activities.
What problems can you see/predict?
As it's so open and varied, creating a website with a strong structure may be challenging as there's many different feelings and emotions that may come across to different people when walking through the park, the park benches for example often have plaques on them saying "In loving memory". It'll be important to include a picture gallery that captures the park in its autumn/winter state.

The Online Environment Equivalent
Who will the online environment be aimed at?
Families and those who are looking for things to do over the winter months.
What is the online environment for?
Promotion of Markeaton Park. A place to find out about the park and what it has to offer.
How is the online environment organised?
Split into 5 main areas. Home, What's On, Map, Kids and Gallery. Some pages will have more to it than just these 5 things. I'll have to come up with a site map.
How will the online environment be updated/managed?
The pictures in the gallery will be changed easily by uploading different pictures with the same file name, in effect, over writing the original source files. The text will simply be changed through a normal website editor.
How do you feeling about the online environment?
I think if I focus the site around families and what's on offer, it'll be a good product. I am very excited to get started on the site and create a space accessible to those who want to find out more.
What problems can you see/predict for an online representation of this environment?
Creating an online environment will be challenging as the park is so diverse and varied and means all sorts for different people. Creating a single site with one focus could prove quite a task. I'll have to keep it focused on what's available to do there.

Markeaton Park Website: Initial Designs

2009-11-05T15:08:00.000-08:00

Here is the initial design idea I have for my Markeaton Park website.

I wanted the website to feel very much fresh and clean without over-loading the user into a frantic mess of information. To do this, I've made the background image a very clear desaturated image, not to distract from the main content of the page.

I've then used a white box overlay to create an area for the content to be based inside. This is then made slightly transparent to give the effect of glass.

On each page, there will be one main focus picture to give the user an instant preview of what the park is for and what section of the website they're in. For example, on the front page there's the main picture of the girls on the grass, then 3 photos of the places to visit at the park. The map page obviously has a map at the focal point on the page to show the visitors where things are around Markeaton.

I've used a bold thick soft font for the header so that it's clear and dominating, giving a clear introduction to each page, then the font continues to be large and clear to make it accessible to as many different people as possible.

The navigation bar at the top works as though they've cascaded out from Derby City Council logo, then the Markeaton Park logo, across ontop of the page content. Each link is the same colour, until the user hovers over one of the links and selects it. Once you're on a certain page, the colour of that link shall remain. This makes it really clear for the user to see what page they're on and also gives the website a bit more dynamic colour use, rather than having plain and flat looking buttons. I've also made these slightly more transparent to keep the weight of the website light and airy. In addition, I've included a drop shaddow to stop the site looking totally flat and dull. The effect of adding in the drop shaddow creates a feeling of distance between the main content box and the links. Therefore a flow of air could pass between the two, reflecting the air in the park and the freedom for users to travel around quickly and easily to the places they want to.

For an inital design, I'm very pleased with it and I will probably keep it.
As the project is about creating some sort of content with accessibility involve through the use of javascript, I want to create some sort of device that will either englarge the photos once clicked, enlarge the font, play a voice over or play a video. These ideas may chance one I've received the official breif.

Network: Network Map

2009-11-05T13:37:00.000-08:00

Here's my network to gain work experience in my pathway, Interactive Media.

As I am currently unsure as to the area I want to focus my career, I've split up the network into various subsections.
For example, as I come from Derby and that's very close to Nottingham, I'm using both cities as my network as it's easy to commute between the two. Within each city, I've split it down further into two sections "Web Design Companies" and "Promotions and Branding Companies". By doing this, it gives me a clear view of different companies that are available within the two areas of the media I'm most interested in.

I've also included the names and a screenshot of the website for each individual company to show a mini preview and to create it more visually apealing.

On the other side, I've included various environmental factors that contribute to my network. These include my Employers, various Organisations, Peers, Friends & Family and Academics. Each catagory is split down further into more specific atributes. Various nodes on the map link together and create a more circular link as there as many over lapping factors to consider.

By creating this Network Map, I can now see where I feel I can progress to find out more about getting work experience placements. Each node at its most extreme (last in the chain) is a starting point for me to research a place for work experience.

4 Web Design Principles

2009-11-04T07:11:00.001-08:00

Just found this interesting website. Thought those doing Interactive Media would find it quite useful for design principles.

http://www.myinkblog.com/2009/03/21/4-principles-of-good-design-for-websites/

Inspiration Music: Mr Scruff - Ninja Tuna

2009-10-29T04:48:00.000-07:00

I bought this album yesterday after only hearing the song "Music Takes Me Up" on YouTube and I thought it was hilarious.

Very occasionally, I'll invest in some music that I've only ever heard one song of in hope that the rest of the album will be as to the same high quality.

I was pleaseantly surprised that this album is actually quite so good! I found it in the dance section at HMV, but as I'm listening to it, most of the songs actually make me smile while I'm sitting here typing.

Music Takes Me Up is track two, and is actually longer than the single version which is great! The video features dancing singing fruit, and the main singer is a singing lemon! For some reason, I found this rather amusing and proceeded to show all my friends!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ojl2KLCGT4I

The rest of the album is fairly upbeat and sound quite experimental, it's almost drum and base, but it's got quite a latin salsa vibe going on with some cool base lines and a scratch from the DJ through out.

Overall, it's a great album to put you in that "classy London" mood or excellent music for a more upmarket style party where people may network in the background. Or a fashion show come to think of it!

Quite a diverse album and some great sounds!
8/10

Code me a calendar

2009-10-29T04:45:00.000-07:00

Here's a screenshot of the code I've written to make an onscrean calendar, however, it doesn't work exactly!

So far, I've managed to get it to print out January, then put the days from 1-31 beneath it and then it's listed all the other months, without dates.

Not exactly what I wanted but I think I'm gonna get there eventually!

If I was going on the cruise this weekend, I'd have liked to have spent some time over next week sorting it out.

Why Markeaton?

2009-10-26T14:34:00.000-07:00

Other than the photo speaking for itself, why did I choose Markeaton Park for my interactive space project?

Well Markeaton Park is the place where I spent a lot of my younger years growing up. It was the park we used to go to and every time I go back I get a strong sense of memories of people I've been with and things we've done there.

Having all those fond memories has fueled me on to create a website that's accessible to children and adults so that both age groups can get the most out of the park. I want to create an environment that is useable by people with partial sight, who are deaf and those with learning dissabilities. As well, of course, as for people who are able in all those factors.

I'm going to be going back to Markeaton over the next few weeks to take photographs and pick up some information about the coming events over the winter season, so I can create this website suitable for the project.

Building :: Structure :: Environment

2009-10-26T14:11:00.000-07:00

Here are two scans of some paper based work I've just completed.

The wire frame shows the vision I have for the website, it's layed out in the style I would like to create for it, however, as expected, the design may change as I become more confident with Javascript and Dreamweaver.

The brain storm shows my ideas and how I'm going to research around the actual practice of making the website.

I've thought about different target audience's and their requirements, along with various different accessbility options I have for using javascript, such as changing the font size, using voice over and enlarging photographs.

Brand Spanking New CV Design

2009-10-25T16:50:00.001-07:00

This 4-page design is my brand new CV.

I think it speaks for itself. Bright, vibrant and informative. What else could you need?

3 Sites with User Content

2009-10-19T08:57:00.000-07:00

1. DenDen
This website offers users a forum to share their views and opinions about the music industry, focusing mainly on the Spice Girls, this forum has been the central location for the latest goings on and rumours for the band for the last 7 or 8 years.
The site has strict copyright rules and so therefore a lot of it is fan made content where a fan has found a rare piece of music, video or created a remix or video to share within the community.
There's a lot of support and loyalty on the site which is reflected through sharing the content with each other. Overall, quite a nice site to keep in the know and get frustrated by all the rumours.

2. Mod The Sims
A great social networking and sharing site where users can upload their own Sims objects and skins to the server and other users can download and add it to their games.
Users are able to search for specific items to add to their game or they can submit their own. It's also a place for people to chat and share their own stories of the game and get help and advice.
The site design is quite bad, with adverts overcrowding the website and various design aspects such as the very square like features make the website look flat and unbalanced.

3. Share My Lyrics
This site is soley based around lyrics and poetry. Users can sign up to the website and submit their lyrics for other users to read and rate at their leasure. It's an interesting alternative to making a music video or writing an actual song as the user only needs the access to the internet and some creative flow. Useful for people who need some inspiration when writing music or just want to get their stuff seen. The website looks quite simple to use and fairly colourful. There is also a forum for users to log in and talk about collaborations, writing songs and getting noticed. An interesting concept, however I'm unsure as to how successful this site can get due to its text based nature.

PRIDE: Sketch Book Design

2009-10-19T05:38:00.001-07:00

The same concept as the designs I made for Lucy, this design is to get an idea of what the new NTU Pride website could look like.

It's very similar to the final one I made as I liked the design quite a lot and it works.

LUCY: Sketch Book Design

2009-10-19T05:35:00.001-07:00

All designers should have a "working space" where they can experiment with ideas and designs to truely get their best potential for the project their about to embark on.

These are 3 of my 6 sketches I drew while designing for Lucy's website.

They show a variety of different designs. They're done for my reference so if they don't make 100% sense, then that's why, they're working documents.

GFSN Winter Tournament Logo Design

2009-10-19T04:28:00.000-07:00

I was approached by an friend to create a logo for his football club who are having a gay winter football tournament.

I created a very basic outline for a website and this is one of the logos I made to go along side it. He wanted something that incorporated football, winter and the gay scene.

Burger Van Man Design

2009-10-19T04:25:00.000-07:00

Through one of my business cards, I was called by a man who wanted me to make a website for his burger van on the A60.

I got to work straight away and came up with a design that I thought was Unisex, fresh, inviting and simplistic all rolled into one.

The man, dubbed Steve, said he would email me regarding his requirements but never got back in touch and considering the pending work load at Uni, I thought it would be best to let him to the chaseing as I have 3 other non-uni projects to work. It's all about time management. :-)

Whiteboard: Map of the Internet

2009-10-19T04:20:00.000-07:00

This horrendous quality photo is what is left of the whiteboard we made for our internet map.

If you click the picture, you can almost make everything out. The ones at the top are what we found the most popular as of October 2009 and the ones at the bottom are the least popular. The ones at the very very bottom are sites that used to be very popular but are now no longer used as much.

Joel Schafer: 'I'm into minimalistic clean design' January 15, 2008

2009-10-19T03:58:00.000-07:00

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

Love it, love it, love it!
Joel Schafer has pretty much captured my vision when it comes to design. Just like Joel, I love the simplistic but effective design. Using just a couple of colours and adapting space is one of the best ways to design as it keeps things minimal and the information and data you need is right infront of you where you need it.

Even though Joel's interview was short and to the point, I liked that. He told you what you wanted to know but kept you wanting more, which is another great design aspect.. keep the user coming back for more!

Dan Saffer: 'Interaction design is an applied art' August 13, 2008

2009-10-19T03:14:00.000-07:00

http://www.designinterviews.com/interviews/interaction-design-is-an-applied-art

Reading this interview with Dan Saffer was really interesting to see how someone who works as an Interactive Designer thinks and uses his time.

What I thought was just as interesting is how similar Dan Saffer is to myself. I found myself agreeing with almost everything he said. On comments I hadn't thought about on my own, I read what he had to say and found myself understanding and wanting to know more about what he had to say. For example,

"What are the core elements of an interaction that web designers measure during the creating process?

Usefulness, usability, and desirability. If your design fills a need in people's lives, works well, and looks beautiful, you've got design gold. There are lots of secondary characteristics that fall under these headings, like efficiency and balance and trustworthiness and a whole host of other traits, most of which can only be fuzzily measured but are important nonetheless."

This was really interesting for me as its gives you 3 main aspects to try and work towards when designing for interaction and general application of creative skill. Usefulness, usability and desirability are the essence of design within the industry and can be applied to almost any interactive content. Even on something such as an electric hand dryer. Usefulness as the user has wet hands and doesn't need to press the button. Usability is simple as the user only has to place their hands under the dry and desirability is there too as it's novel and makes us feel ever so slightly more technically advanced, life's simple pleasures comes to mind.

I also found Dan Saffer quite inspiring in terms of his principles he follows in his work,

'The Way you know is not The Way.' –Tao Te Ching

'A body in motion tends to stay in motion.' Newton's First Law

'If it was easy, then everyone would do it.'

Reading these three really struck a cord with me. Recently in my personal life the first of the three has been quite a prominent feature and something I will have to work on to change, so it was refreshing to see it written by someone else completely unrelated. Also, I think that all 3 of the statements are very true. At the end of the day, if you're working hard and pushing yourself continually with the ability to critically analyse yourself, you're going to go far and develop as a designer and that's why were at University, to learn, change and advance.

OFF-TOPIC: Sky Dive and Tower Jump

2009-08-24T03:33:00.000-07:00

Just an off-topic blog post which I thought would be quite intersting for people to read!

Last Friday, my friend and I went to Bedford to take part in a Sky Diving experience day. We were taken into the worlds largest wind tunnel and floated around for a while, learning the basics in Sky Diving before being taken up a 120 foot building, to jump off the top and land on our feet at the bottom.

It was such an amazing experience, to feel weighlessness was nothing I've ever felt before really and jumping off the side of a building with nothing but a small cable to save you felt very strange.

The hardest part was actually stepping off the building into nothing, because you know the only way forward is down!

I was made to be the first one to jump, great!

The Onion

2009-08-20T05:33:00.000-07:00

Taking Unencyclopedia and spinning it on its head, this fantastic website gives the citizens of America (and the rest of the world) a good laugh at almost anything you could imagine in the news.
From the war on terror to Google's dominance, the Onion website is a great place to log on to for a quick laugh.

The site has been made very well and the content passes a very high standard, looking very professional with the use of video clips and it's strong branding.

One of the best video's I've seen on this site was about Google taking over the world, and the only way to get out of Google's tracking is to join an opt-out scheme, where people who don't want Google to get them can be placed in a mini village where there's no computers or hospitals etc. A brilliant spoof idea that works very well in convincing the audience that Google really are taking over and it's getting beyond a joke now.

The Onion website will not only make you laugh, but make you think, and I believe that's one of the most important aspects of web design.

The Onion website

8/10

Gone In 60 Seconds

2009-08-03T03:08:00.000-07:00

Watched this film for the first time last night.

I was expecting a lot of car chases, guns and sex... what I got was lots of guns, a couple of car chases and not much sex, but that, for me, was a good thing.

Not being into action films that much, it was quite refreshing that the story line wasn't too in depth and complicated, it was simply "Steal 50 cars and your brother lives". Easy enough to follow.

The car chase at the end was a great sequence, if not a tad over done but I enjoyed watching it and actually found myself quite intently watching it.

The relationship between the main character and his love for cars is frequently refered to, especially at the end when his brother buys him the car he loves just as a thank you for saving his life. A very warm and pleasent ending to an emotional and comic film.

There are various stereotypes that are fulfilled, what with the token black man saying stuff like "my black ass" and "what up?", and of course, the pin-up Angelina Jole working as the bad girl and sex interest.

Over all, I enjoyed the film and found it not too much to take in on a Sunday night with your mum.

6/10

WEBSITE: Completed

2009-08-01T04:48:00.000-07:00

Finally my website is complete!

It has taken several months to design, redesign, edit, adjust and complete this site what with my other projects and being busy enjoying my time off, but it's finally here!

Check it out now at kidinacandystore.co.uk

Loose Women

2009-07-31T14:18:00.000-07:00

Having been introduced to Loose Women from my boyfriend, I've become some what intrigued and interested by it.

It's interesting to me to see a program that's so successful being shown as day time entertainment. Maybe this is opening a new slot for a peak time or the show appeals as it's light hearted comedy that could be shown in waiting rooms in places such as Doctor's surgeries and hair salons for example.

A differing panel on each day of the week offers a fresh and appealing show that is always unpredictable and often takes the viewer by surprise.

I think the heart of the success in the show is that ITV have selected female celebrities that are not incredibly famous, and are therefore more like the average UK citizen. Through this, we as an audience are able to identify ourselves with them through the universal issues they talk about by giving candid opinions on subject matters that would occasionally be taken too far on an evening show, but kept to a good humorous level at lunch time.

Would the success of the show be the same with equally famous men? I highly doubt it. For some reason, I don't think this time slot would accommodate 4 middle aged men talking about their life experiences including the humorous sexual innuendos as the women manage to pull off. Instead, the show may come across as a dirtier show simply because it's men talking about their experiences and I can imagine a lot of middle aged men finding it hard to talk about similar subjects of interest in the same way, creating light hearted lunch time entertainment.

Overall, Loose Women attracts a massive audience and a good following with their ITV website which includes a forum for the audience members to get involved with and various competitions to keep the show uplifting and fun.

There's no doubt in my mind this show will go from strength to strength, it's just a shame they don't offer a Catch-Up service for the show on the ITV website.

9/10

PRIDE: Design Progression

2009-07-30T23:59:00.000-07:00

I have continued working on the NTU Pride website and here is my latest design idea.

I've removed the reflection effect in the menu as it distracts a lot from the links, making it all look a bit cluttered.

The boxes down the left hand side will house images in a more fun way, at the moment this is just representational.

It has taken me a bit longer to get this website design underway due to permission and codeing issues, but hopefully the new site will be up and online before the end of the year.

High School Musical

2009-07-13T16:15:00.000-07:00

After watching High School Musical for the first time today, I have to admit it was quite watchable in places.

Clearly, from my first statement, that doesn't mean I thought it was a good film. Maybe because I'm probably the wrong target audience, I couldn't appreciate it's full glory, but I can see why there's a massive following with children in secondary schools wild about the films.

The film did offer a nice light hearted and typical love story about a typical popular sports Jockey and the geeky scientist girl falling in love through their differences, finding a common interest in the arts, with necessary intervention from the "stuck up" popular girl and her male sideshow, less intelligent, brother.

What was nice about this film however, was the inclusion of more flamboyant characters being closer to the main roles, with various hints towards a gay character for those older than the demographic. A refreshing change for films targeted at a younger audience.

The plot itself was fairly basic, using the typical strict female drama teacher and the goal-focused sports coach.

Modern twists on old stories were also included, such as the moment where Troy gets up onto the balcony after being told to leave by her mother, very Romeo and Juliet.

Overall, a nice film for a rainy day.. we'll see what the second and third films are like.. if I actually make the effort to add them to my rental list.

5/10

WEBSITE: Progression

2009-07-10T10:13:00.001-07:00

I have been working on my own website quite a bit recently to try and get it finished and uploaded to the main address as soon as possible.

I've now managed to create the site with some basic animation to make it more dynamic.

The video features multiple videos and audio content which is available to view now.

Hopefully the website should be completed and online within the next few weeks.

To check the progress so far, please visit:
http://www.kidinacandystore.co.uk

DAN: Website Design Temp Site

2009-07-10T10:06:00.001-07:00

Having retrieved the information for Dan's new website off his old website, I was able to adapt it to my new design for him.

This new website is a lot more bright and vibrant and creates an instant impression.

The colours connotate possitivity and success which are great when designing a website for a young artist.

To check out the website's progress, visit:
http://www.kidinacandystore.co.uk/dansmith

LUCY: Website Design Refine

2009-07-10T10:02:00.000-07:00

Taking the first and second design for Lucy's website, I worked with Lucy to bring together the ideas and here is the first design I've compiled from the first meeting.

We really wanted to keep the earthy and industrial feel but twist it to keep it still inkeeping with her style.

The bright raspberry purples and reds reflect her hair and her personality which is a great way to combine the two.

In the Menu section, I've left a gap to include some sort of music player to stream some of Lucy's music so the viewer can hear instantly her style.

DAN: Website Design

2009-06-23T12:30:00.000-07:00

Here's the first website design I've made for Dan.

Dan asked me if I could produce him a website for him to front all his work.
I feel it represents his personality and the yellow colour is perfect for him and his work.
The dark black lines that border the white box and underline the text represent the designs of an architect and the structures of buildings.

LUCY: Website Design 2

2009-06-23T12:28:00.000-07:00

Here's the second design for Lucy's website.
It is a lot more modern and cleaner. I wanted to create two that are quite opposite to show her the variety of sites available to her.
This design offers a more sleek and professional feel, however it may not fully represent her as a musician.

Hopefully we'll be able to discuss her requirements further once we've met up.

LUCY: Website Design

2009-06-08T07:20:00.000-07:00

Here's the first website design for Lucy's website.

The website will either be created in flash or dreamweaver depending on the requirements.

The background of the website gives the whole site the industrial and rusty feel I was aiming for and the sellotaped and pinned notes fulfil the requirement set by the client and are inkeeping with the site design.

Using two fonts enables the industrial features to stand out which makes Lucy's name striking and bold, contrasting with the website content which will be easier to read where smaller text is required.

PRIDE: Promotion Ideas

2009-06-08T07:14:00.000-07:00

This is a poster design to promote the NTU Pride society.

I feel that the poster gives the society a brand new image that's not only eye-catching but also provides a new view on the LGBT way of life.

The use of colours isn't typical of how the original pride flag is generally used, but uses the idea of multiple colours to create brand awareness of the pride flag.

The explosion of colour connotates the vibrant attitude and diverse way of living which is reflected through the members of the society.

WEBSITE: Page design

2009-06-03T10:28:00.001-07:00

This is the final design for my new website page.

It has been made in flash and will feature a sample of the work I've produced over the last few years.

This website will also include some information of the current projects I am working on and my qualifications gained so far.

Hopefully the website will profile me and what I do when it comes to designing and producing Multimedia content.

PRIDE: Design Ideas

2009-06-03T10:22:00.001-07:00

Here are some design ideas for a logo and website banner.

These two images are to just a test to rebrand the website and the image that NTU Pride has. I wanted the soceity to be taken more seriously and I think these images create a fun and lively appraoch but still keeping the image of the society fun and interesting.

A website design layout will be online soon.

LUCY: Moodboard

2009-06-03T10:16:00.000-07:00

Here's the first moodboard design for Lucy's website.

She said she wanted an industrial feel to it, and when I said the word "rusty" she loved the idea.

Here's the first moodboard I've created to help design and generate web design ideas.

Points to ponder over would be that she told me she liked stitching and scelotape ideas with a lot of things stuck all over the place with it looking very busy. I'll be including these elements as much as possible. Another thing she said she wanted was attitude. She's coming out as a new artist but doesn't want to be branded as a typical "folk" artist as she's not just about that genre of music and her website MUST reflect this.

3 Massive Projects for the summer!

2009-06-03T10:13:00.000-07:00

Hey hey!

You thought I would leave 1st year without doing anything over the summer didn't you?
Well your all wrong! haha!

I've decided to channel my spare time (5 months off!) into doing something productive!

Firstly, I've been approached by one of my best friends who's currently trying to kickstart her music career and she's asked me to design a website for her.

Secondly, I am currently the publicity officer for Nottingham Trent's Society, NTU Pride. Therefore, they've asked if I can redesign their current website into something a lot more professional and user friendly.

Thirdly, I am designing my own website to front www.kidinacandystore.co.uk as the current website is just a place to hold my Identities project from year 1.

I have various design and ideas in the pipe line! So keep checking back to see what becomes of my time off...

My Own Website Online!

2009-04-26T08:37:00.000-07:00

Well it's finally here! The first upload to my own website!
www.kidinacandystore.co.u k went online today with my Uni project to front the website.

Eventually the website will be re-designed and actually be relevent to me. At the moment, it's just a holding place until I know exactly the design I want.

Take a look and let me know what you think!

Avatar Video

2009-04-23T03:47:00.000-07:00

Now, I was unsure how to present my avatar. I didn't really wanna just plonk a picture of him down as my showcase already has 2 print based elements. So I decided to create a sort of mini music videoy thing.

I think it showcases my avatar quite well. It shows the detail I went into to make it look as realistic as possible.

I'd like to point out now that I detest 3Ds Max and as I'm not going to be doing virtual environments next year, I've probably not given as much time to this object as necessary. However, it has taken me weeks and weeks constant work to get to this point, so even though it looks fairly basic, it's actually taken a lot of man hours! haha.

The Audio Visual Object

2009-04-22T03:46:00.000-07:00

Here it is! The first version of my audio/visual.

The video represents an ideal view of what New York could be like. The voice over helps to create an atmosphere of the heat, the fun, activities and the friendly citizens.

The song I've backed to the video is Alphabeat's Fascination as the song works really well with the theme as I'm trying to portray New York as being an incredible place to be.. or you could say, a fascinating place to be!

Showcase - Flash

2009-04-08T04:04:00.000-07:00

Showcase by ~sammarshall20 on deviant ART

Here's the Showcase as it stands at the moment. The buttons will become clickable once all the content has been assigned to them.

Audio maybe edited to sound a bit more New Yorky, but this is the idea at the moment.

Showcase - New York - Render

2009-04-07T09:14:00.001-07:00

Here's the latest render of my showcase, as you can see I've added some signs, cars, lampposts and widened the street a bit.

Website Reviews

2009-04-07T07:40:00.000-07:00

It's time for my few website reviews.

You would've thought that with all the pressure on countries to expand their broadband connectivity that the whole world would be using a pretty speedy connection. This is the case in a lot of countries, however, some major website are still fairly basic. Let's take Google and Facebook for example.

Google is probably the most common and used website in the world, yet it's front end design is very very basic. The website literally is comprised of just the logo "Google" which changes very occasionally and then the search box beneath it. Google has been running for years and year yet it's main search engine's website is still very basic.

Facebook, another world-wide accessed website is also very simple, with a blue banner across the top and a very simple picture below to show the connectivity Facebook has with it's users. Each of these websites have to be accessible across the whole world and on many platforms such as iPhones and other mobile technology, and even games consoles. Therefore, the designs have to stay fairly simple to allow for that adaptation between devices.

As they are both world-wide websites, it could be said that as they reach countries that are less developed, they have to keep their website sizes down to make it accessable to places with lower speed internet connections.

Contrasting these sites to the BBC UK website, we can see some differences.

The BBC website has been created with the UK in mind. Before stating your location on the BBC homepage, its pressumes your in London and displays the weather for that location.

As we look at the website, there's a massive increase in colour and photography. This website has been created for a standard browser and for the UK population. As a developed country it is taken as standard that most UK citizens who are accessing the website will have a fast broadband connection and therefore will be able to see the entire website very quickly, and therefore the site size and loading times haven't been considered as much as the other two websites with larger circulation numbers.

The bright colours on the BBC website will attract all users and the colours change, depending upon what time of day, season or the main headlines are. All in all, the BBC website is made with the UK in mind, considering the standard broadband speed of each household, where as Google and Facebook have had to consider the entire world in their design and have adapted their size and imagery accordingly.

Website Completed

2009-04-07T02:56:00.000-07:00

Website by ~sammarshall20 on deviant ART
Here's the final version of my website! It's fully complete however the videos and audio don't work through DeviantArt so you'll have to just imagine what it'll be like when i load it onto my own website.

5th Object Design

2009-03-31T09:28:00.000-07:00

I decided to create a "visual CV" to show what I would be taking with me to New York, and to promote myself as a media supplier when I get there, as it were.

This is the first draft of the print based advertisement. I may also be taking more photos for different ad ideas and I may accompany it with a video ad as well.

This is finally becoming a reality!!!

2009-03-26T02:56:00.000-07:00

This is what I've been aiming for ever since the beginning of the project. You can finally see my little avatar walking down the street. Watch the video and focus at the end of the street and you'll see him bobbing along.

I'm thinking of adding in some lampposts, cars and other people walking along... not sure yet tho!

Latest Avatar Render

2009-03-24T05:33:00.000-07:00

FINALY! I've got skin and clothes on my poor little naked dude! It's taken me hours and hours to get to this stage. Next step is making him walk!

I hate 3Ds Max so im quite proud i've come this far! lol!

My concept for the Identities project.

2009-03-17T10:42:00.000-07:00

I’m using the New York City street as an idealistic world I would love to live in and my elements will reflect this in one way or another.

Each element will directly link to the idealistic dream and identity I’m trying to create.

Showcase – New York, where I’d love to live.

Avatar – Me, now.

Website – Shows a history of what I’ve done, taking experience with me.

Audio/Visual – Up-tempo music video, showing best bits of New York, creates an ideal image of what New York should be like, which may not be true in reality.

Logo – Speech bubble emphasises the friends and family I’ll be leaving behind.

Latest Showcase Render

2009-03-17T10:26:00.000-07:00

The video shows my latest render of my New York City street.

The camera zooms down right to the end of the street and looks up slightly. My avatar will walk down the street and wave, until a user clicks on him or clicks on a window to load another interactive object.

Greatest Day of Our Lives

2009-03-16T13:55:00.000-07:00

Here's a video I made to remember my friends and my trip to Liverpool. It was a reunion and great to be back together. We've been friends for what seems like forever, and what better way to remember each other than through a great video like this. Hope you like!

Let me know. :)

Online Environment Essay Help

2009-03-02T08:45:00.000-08:00

For those of you doing your essay on online environments, I found that www.thefwa.com was incredible useful!!

In particular, www.bigspaceship.com and www.in2media.com are excellent to look at!!

Two websites I love by Big Space Ship would have to be www.epsonality.com and www.prettyloaded.com

Take a look! They're really helping me with my essay, no doubt they'll help you too!

Walking Avatar

2009-02-27T02:57:00.000-08:00

Here he is! Me! Bobbing along, shuffling around his own little world.

Obviously, there's no camera movement or textures yet, they're to come!

Online Environments

2009-02-26T04:19:00.001-08:00

I think I'll most probably do online environments for my pathway.

I mean, if you need any sort of push into it, this website will pretty much do that for you!
http://www.normann-copenhagen.com/

It's the most clean, modern and classy piece of... well... I would called it art work I've seen in a long time! It runs very smoothly, the ambiance sounds great, the smooth moves between links looks brilliant, and the fact you can make it full screen adds a more cinematic presence to it.

Very creative, very cool! Not completely original though.

Website and Final Ideas

2009-02-23T13:55:00.001-08:00

Here's the initial idea I have for a website.

After deciding to choose the online environments pathway, I thought it would be a good idea to experiment with making a website on photoshop.

The website will feature a timeline in the portfolio section for all the work i've done, under the year's I did them and then include a preview of each piece and my thoughts about it.

Having done this first idea, I think i'll use it as my 5th and final identities object.

So here's my final list:

AV -40 Min D-GEM Radio Clip

Logo -Speach Bubble

Avatar - Myself, now

MY CHOICE - "Bolt" Soda Can

MY CHOICE - Profile Website

Car Render

2009-02-20T02:32:00.000-08:00

This will be so useful if I choose to do the New York city scape as I will be able to import various versions of the car into the city scape to create a more realistic looking street. Here's a quick example.

Interactive Showcase Idea

2009-02-18T07:03:00.001-08:00

Here's an idea I had for my interactive showcase. Basicly, its the beginning of a club. I thought this would be really cool, especially to add lighting effects and stuff.

It's something i'll play around with I think.

SPP Research Task

2009-02-18T06:31:00.000-08:00

Over the last few years, my creativity has been mainly for myself. I have created a lot of music videos of general things, such as going out clubbing and using the photos and videos with a song to make the event a memorable one. I have also used pictures and photos of when my friends have visited and put them into a music video for us all when we’re not together to watch and reminisce. I’ve also used my creativity in a theatre production for school where I created the entire backing video which was a prominent part of our show. I had to create a powerful and expressive video that was effective but simple enough for the audience to watch without getting too distracted. I’ve obviously also used my creativity in the work I’ve done. I devised a fruit juice advertising campaign, a mobile phone campaign and various other things such as a music video about a girl who’s abused in the relationship and nearly overdoses on drugs. I also managed to create an online radio station, but this was more business related as I not only had to choose between various website templates, I also had to organise and timetable the DJing times. I even created a video for my Mum as she had a party to commemorate the building of her new summer house. She asked me to film the day and then create a video for her, which I did. Not only that, I managed to create a stunning video of her garden in the summer, with extreme close –ups of plants and nature in her garden.My creativity has been done this way as I think it’s important to get other people’s views on things, such as the online station and the theatre production video. I like to take in other people’s points of view and then edit it to make a more dynamic production.In the future, I’d love to continue my hobby of making videos and taking photos as it’s what I’m really interested in. But as far as jobs go, I think I’ll have to go into something where I don’t take too much of a main role as a lot of media based professions require collaboration and once I have an idea, I like to roll with it, so therefore I don’t think doing AV for a career would be the best aspect for me. However, I do enjoy online environments; I just don’t know enough about it. I’d like to work for big companies such as Pixar in the virtual department but I’m not sure I have the right creative spark when it comes to character design. Therefore, I think online environments would be a good route to go down as I can still experiment with Flash, Photoshop and learn Dreamweaver
Research is going to help me get to where I want to go as I think it’s important to make an informed decision. Looking at how the internet is progressing, especially with Web 2.0 will be interesting to see. I also need to research how companies use their websites to promote themselves. The SmartCar website I reference below is a good example of this. I think I’m most drawn to the “Behind” aspect of researching. It’s a good idea to see what influenced the work at the time it was made, if we look at this we can probably tell why the website was made in a specific way. For example, websites made way back in 1997 would look very dated and simple, with a lot of “bad design” by today’s standards due to the advances in technology and the invention of Flash etc. I feel quite wary of the “In front of” aspect of research as it’s quite difficult to find out how people reacted to a website when it was made and put online as there’s so many websites and online environments that not all of them will be documented, unless you look at larger sites such as Google and creative sites such as The SmartCar one and social sites such as Facebook. “In/Through” seems the most irrelevant of the research aspects as I don’t really think it’s important to look at how it comes together. In a lot of creative mediums, it can be very experimental and there’s no logic to why it’s done the way it is, it just works because it looks good and is functional.

D-GEM Radio Clip

2009-02-18T05:53:00.001-08:00

Here's the first draft for the radio clip I'm creating as part of the identities module. This will construct the audio/visual aspect.

It's only 1 song long so far as I've just been playing around with it. Hope you like it!

D-GEM Radio came about in 2004 when I owned the station and created an online environment for users to listen to their favourite music, as well as requesting their own tracks. Unfortunately, the station was closed down as I had other commitments such as GCSE's and then A Levels.

I wanted to pick up the station and give it a new spin with this opportunity I couldn't miss! Each song reflects something in my life. The songs lyrics tell you something about me as I chose songs for their lyrics, not their fame value.

Press play below to listen.

Essay Research

2009-02-18T04:42:00.000-08:00

Having NO idea what pathway I want to do next year, I've been on http://www.thefwa.com/ to look at a few flash animations. I LOVE this site. http://www.truthaboutsmart.co.uk/ Probably because I'm a massive fan of smart cars, but I also love the interactivity of it and the way it gets you to challenge your own personal views of Smart Cars. I must say, I'm very tempted!