IDD 480 - Final Round

Welcome back into the spring 2007 semester, the final semester and edition of Golb Bew. IDD 480 is my Senior Seminar and Portfolio class where we will be worked for every ounce of creative juice that we have. On top of all of our creative juice being squeezed out of us, we will need to then organize it into a nice neat resume, portfolio, letterhead, business card, etc., and etc.

This weeks weekly reading opened my eyes and told me just about everything that I needed to do/be that I am not already. In fact, it raised my stress level just a couple notches. The books that I'm reading for the next few weeks are:

Designing a Digital Portfolio (Voices That Matter), by Cynthia L. Baron,

How To Be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul, by Adrian Shaughnessy, Stefan Sagmeister

Some of the things I learned in Shaughnessy's book were very interesting. Some of them might be common sense though, such as when showing the interviewer your portfolio, make sure that they are the ones looking at it. Often times graphic designers fail to turn the portfolio to make it easy to view for their interviewer. Another thing that I didn't think of that is more specific to the area that I'm going to go in to, is in addition to having a DVD with a demo reel of my work, is to include stills from different frames of the project on paper so that it makes it easier for them to view. Not all interviewers have time to watch DVDs and demo reels right away.

There were tons of useful bits of information in this book just in the first few chapters as far as how to go about all the important little things that get over looked. From how the letterhead should be simple and not vary too much with font. To requesting interviews at design studios instead of a job.

Baron's book discussed the different types of portfolios based on the different professions that require portfolios. For motion graphics, a "formal" portfolio may still be a videotape/DVD (aka. demo reel). Although a digital portfolio (website) is growing increasingly fast as another type of portfolio since some work is being designed explicitly for the Internet. Baron's book is going to go more in depth to each of the different purposes of a portfolio. Whether it is to get a full-time job, to gain clients, etc.

This semester has got a lot in store for us and we have a lot of work ahead of us. Here's to making it through the semester and getting a job in one piece!

Final Project

The mission of the Atlantic Freedom Tour web site is to bring up to date information during its voyage to the international locations during the tour. It will exhibit all of the planned port visits, history, relevance of each port, the events scheduled at each location and a map displaying the current position of the Freedom Schooner. The navigation system of the website will have a graphical interface for the port visits on an interactive map. The site will cater to the general public including the friends and family of the crew.

I will be working with Justin LeBlanc. We will both be taking an equal part in the creation of the web site. We will create a new mock up of the web site and re-work our navigation system.

Amistad Website

http://mywebspace.quinnipiac.edu/taanderson/amistad/index.htm

Ch 8. Site Seeing

-Static HTML web pages are only effective to a certain point. Updating web sites with static HTML pages takes a long time when adding new content for an entire web site. Not to mention the skill of editing the HTML, generating the new content, uploading it to the server, and more.

-Dynamic web publishing is finally getting the WWW closer to separating the content of the site with the formatting.

-XML (Extensible Mark-up Language) is one way to separate the content with the formatting. The tags in XML describe the type of content that they surround.

-HTML code carries disadvantages too. It will be come very complex and bury the content deep within the HTML code. Making it difficult to update.

-Dynamic content makes publishing new content very easy. That is all that will have to be updated and there is no need to update any code. There are also web applications and forms that make updating the content even easier.

-Information is what made the web popular to begin with. But making an income on content alone on a web site is very difficult. Many organizations have turned to different services with web applications. These can be very valuable to customers.

-The cost of web advertising is lower than ever these days. Advertisers are also offering less for ad space and users of the web are ignoring the ads more.

-The basic principle of dynamic publishing is for the data to sit in one location and the means for displaying it is in another location. When it comes time to display the page, the server side software grabs the appropriate data and displays it in the browser in the correct format.

-No dynamic content publishing system is effective without a proper visual template for the data. Templates take the content and arrange it into a web page with a navigation system, formatting rules, footer, etc. They make the content look like a real web page.

-When accommodating for different browsers, two things need to be taken into consideration. The cross compatibility with major browsers like Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox (Netscape). Older versions of browsers need to be taken into consideration. Not everyone is using the latest and greatest software.

Ch 7. Site Seeing

-The home page is an entrance to your site. It is the doorway to the content. It has some sort of navigation and includes some important features. It meets the specific needs of the user coming to the site for the first time.

-The introduction; this lets the audience know what your web site is going to be about. It helps establish an identity and is the most powerful for first time visitors.

-The announcements or news section is usually on the home page, to let people know of exciting information to let them know that you are an active site. For example, when I redo the Amistad Atlantic Freedom tour web site, there will be announcements showing where the ship is currently located as well as a main news entry as to what is happening in the ship's travels.

-The hierarchy of the page is very important. Users need to be able to quickly differentiate between things so they can get around the web site with ease.

-Avoid using too many boxes as a visual separator. It will result in a very cluttered and congested look. Visual boxes can be created without actually drawing a box on the screen with graphics. Text placement and other visual elements will help to create these invisible lines which are used to separate things visually.

Ch 6 Site Seeing

-The fundamental elements of web pages are: Page footers, body text, links, navigation systems, images, site IDs, forms. Not every web site needs to have all of the fundamental elements. Unique combinations of these common elements make the web useful an exciting.

-Site elements reinforce and help establish site personality. Even the amount of elements says something. Sites with a lot of information often have a lot of navigation, whereas some sites meant for entertainment, such as ones for movies, have less navigation.

-Navigation should be visually organized so the audience can expect certain types of behaviors from their selections.

-The minimalist button is current look for buttons. It provides a much cleaner look on the web site. 3-dimensional looking buttons were more common through out the history of the web, but now less is more.

-Having several different ways of navigation is a good idea as well. People like having alternatives for navigation so that they can move freely through the web site.

-The role of navigation is to get the user to their destination and then be out of the way so that the user can focus on the content. The best navigation systems are the ones that are barely visible.

-Body text carries a lot of visual weight and should be taken into consideration visually. Text on a monitor is also harder to read. With that said, text should be limited, or broken into smaller blocks so it is easier to read.

-Font size is also important, as well as line length, and font choice. It is about having easily readable text.

-Images elicit interest in a web page. They create visual interest by breaking up the text. They play a quick and effective role in communicating personality.

-Footers are common not just in web pages, but also books and TV. Footers give us information about the web site. Such as the designer, Site ID, a contact link, and copyright & privacy information. The date of the last updated information is important to have as well. I hate coming across a site that I think is current and find out that it hasn't been updated in 3 or 4 years, but at least the footer tells me that.

Revised Amistad Atlantic Freedom Tour Mission Statement

The mission of the Atlantic Freedom Tour web site for The Amistad Freedom Schooner is to bring up to date information during its voyage to the international locations during the tour. The design theme of the website will embrace the colors found on the schooner. It is also the goal to entice the user to make several return visits to this site by having these updates. These updates will include, but are not limited to, entries from the ship's crew, photos of the ports and events that have occured, and the current location of the Amistad during its tour. There will also be history and information about the importance of the original Amistad voyage with its captives along with resources and links. The audience for this web site will be not only the friends and family of the members aboard the ship, but school-aged children and anyone else who desires to follow their journey online.