The Plan

For my mini/sub site I would like a subtle on-going theme, I decided I like this wallpaper effect background. I will have an interactive room, perhaps looking through a window, this window will be the clickable part of the page, all still objects will be static html while some features will need to stand out. On the side of the window will be a banner to link back to my main portfolio page. Inside this room will be some nice flock wallpaper, myself, a television and perhaps an object of value to me, maybe a photograph. Most objects will link to other pages with information about myself but the television will be something else. The television will be a sort of image gallery viewer with a static effect when you change image, This can be achieved using an updateable xml file using a flash component I got from flashotaku.com. I will post some concept drawings soon.

OEP Assignment

Our first OEP assignment is to produce a 3 page html website featuring several flash elements. Over the summer I had a unique opportunity to build websites for several clients and while immersed in the multimedia world I had to learn quickly. I have since produced several sites with included flash elements such as teamtrimite.com and gamersoc.co.uk. Although this task may appear like it could be done in an evening, I like to think of it more as an opportunity to experiment and try more ambitious themes as I was never presented with this opportunity with client projects. Last year we we're asked to build an interactive flash piece that we felt represented us. I felt like I missed out on a good project last year as I was too wrapped up in 3DS Max to focus on the idea of self. I would like to produce a mini/sub site for my personal portfolio erebusstyx.co.uk about myself, a more personal approach than my portfolio.

Another thing I would like to experiment with is how I approach a client project. Before I have always inadvertently wire framed my ideas, first sketching on a white board, then building up an image in photoshop, then buidling up simple bordered divs in HTML/CSS to build an idea of how things will look. From this point it's almost a case of fill in the divs, making everything a lot easier from a web developer standpoint. As opposed to an alternative to wire framing, this time I plan on using card sorting to improve the usability of my mini site.

"Interface design is the physical expression of the interaction design: the skin over the muscles and bone. Interaction design says, 'We need a button to turn on the siren.' Interface design says, 'The button should be here and it should be red.' They are deeply intertwined, since you cannot have one without the other."

-Dan Saffer.

Clearly interface design is an essential aspect of web design and although I have considered it before, it has never been the driving force behind my design ideas. This time I hope to pay increased attention to interface design using card sorting to help improve the ease of use of the mini site. Card sorting presents a sample of potential users with several cards representing content, users are then asked to arrange these cards into groups as they would expect to find the content they represent on a website.

"Identifying trends in users’ mental models about a particular subject; that is, learning how users think about something."

- Joshua Kaufman

Hail To The Chief

For my friend Fergus' birthday I brought a Luke Skywalker Mighty Mugg and painted it to look like Master Chief, as he is a huge fan of the Halo video game series. I worked from a mighty mugg that had already been painted like master chief that I found on google, using it as a rough guide. So here is the finished piece...

Pixilated Nostalgia

When ever I see a pixilated stop motion film I always think back to that first project last year and because of that appreciate it so much more... Especially when it's video game related! Enjoy.


Found on Kotaku.com

Webreview Part 2:

Birdman

Birdman tries to do a lot, some would say to much and I would agree as it took what felt like a life time to load, most people looking for a portfolio would have given up after a minute of loading time but I'm looking to review so I stuck with it, with a loading time like this it has to be good right? ...right?

I was introduced by a very poorly preloaded opening cinematic that kept jumping so I skipped it only to be shown another lengthy loading screen. After another lifetime I was shown another pointless cinematic and finally a pretty basic looking interface. I clicked on a link and surprise surprise another load screen, it wasn't worth it. The portfolio is technically very impressive but very unnecessary, 3D panels float around representing clients and projects and I felt like it was almost a challenge to click on the one I wanted because they kept moving around so much. Finally I chose to turn the sound off, although this stopped the music the links still made clicking and popping noises which were very annoying. A classic example of interesting design ruined by an over ambitious team thinking perhaps too far from the box.

Samsung Music

Initially the samsung music website shows off its phone and MP3 player in a very clear and simple fashion, choose a device and simple relevant information is presented to you. If you want more information you are redirected to a html page, capable of dealing with more info; the flash page is left clean and uncluttered. After you've looked at their wears the website presents you to play around with a bizarre musical sound scape where the user drags different shapes onto a 3D plane to create sounds and loops. It all seems very pointless but charming none the less.

Webreview Part 1:

Ideo: "We help companies innovate. We design products, services, environments and interactions."

First thing I thought when I saw the Ideo website is why should I trust them to design for other companies when their own homepage is stifled by images and bizarrely structured menus? A harsh first impression, after a while there was some method to their madness, the constant menus at the bottom made things easier to navigate even if the options had pretentious sub titles like focus, thinking and approach. The most appealing thing about the Ideo website is this subtle blending of HTML and what appears to be flash or Java to create a strange interactive hybrid. Ultimately Ideo's design is flawed by at its attempt of originality by presenting a lack of consistency, ease of navigation and negative space.

Sony.co.uk

Initially I quite liked the look of the Sony site, a nice clear simple uncluttered presentation but it all went a bit pear shaped when I clicked on any of the three main links at the top. Clicking on said link would not change the page, instead it would pull down a small page over the top of the original page and presented you with new information. This function serves no benefit what so ever, the information underneath is no longer useful as it is almost completely obscured and the new window is compressed into a small space for no reason. I felt they really shot themselves in the foot with that one. The Sony.com website on the otherhand, while the initial display was a little bit almost "coverflow" (but that seems to be where design is heading), the navigation was simple and straight forward.

Apple.com

The apple is a classic example of effective website design, everything is clear, consistent and easy to navigate. The website has a connecting theme through out, although there is no default template there is a clear connection between each page making them familiar and non-threatening. A clear menu at the top defines and categorizes content effectively making it easy to find what your looking for. The apple website appears to adequately sum up the apple design ethos of simple yet effective design. Although I don't like the look of the new Mac books... but that's just me.

NTU Online Workspace - NOW

To be brutally honest, I really hope that there is some kind of long term plan for now because presently NOW is step backwards from VLP. All the information the average student is looking to find is hardest to find, i.e email and time tables are in tiny font above the website header, when they would be far more suited on the front page as expandable widgets in the sidebars, like before in the VLP. Visually speaking, NOW does look a lot more presentable but it's the functionality that students are looking for, not the presentation. Facebook is never going to win a beauty contest but it's probably the most viewed website by students today.

Joel Schafer: 'I'm into minimalistic clean design'

You can Schafer is into minimalism by the brief concise answers he gives during his interview with designinterviews.com. Unlike the interview with Saffer I didn't find much to take away with me from this interview, Schafers answers are almost all a given for example look at the work of others (although he does give a nice list of specific sites). Apart from that I agree that its worth pre-planning a site before you get stuck in and I've already had issues with photography. Schafer states its always good to know a photographer and to use your own source imagery. While working for Lydney containers I was taken around their manufacturing plant to take photos for the site, I had brought my first camera tripod the day before...

How Can Personal Contact Effect Our Success In The Industry?

I was asked this last week, I believe all of my success so far has come from personal contacts. For starters direct contacts with my old school teachers, lecturers and peers and indirect contact through the work of people I aspire to be more like within the multimedia industry. Clearly these are a given, more direct responsibility for my current standing lie with my dad who got me loads of web developing opportunities over the summer. A colleague of his at work needed a simple website and my old man suggested I take up the job (this was HR Business Dynamics). From there the interest snow balled and Hexademic New Media was born. If it wasn't for my dad getting interest through his company I wouldn't have four work experience projects underway and quite frankly would be a bit worried by now if I didn't. Since Hexademic, I've had a lot more contact with clients and have since gained more client interest and job opportunities through my business partner Phil.

Something To Get Us Thinking...

The essential point of networking is human contact; business has killed networking by making it something for the career orientated. Discuss.
First thing I thought of this statement is even if networking has become no more than a business tool it still exists so It hasn't been killed, rather it has taken on a new role. Of course networking has become an invaluable part of the business world but social networking is currently at it's peak with the worldwide success of websites such as myspace and facebook. It appears there are two sides to the networking coin and they appear to co-exists quite comfortably.

Gears 2 Teaser Trailer

100 posts. Anyway, video games in my opinion are possibly the best example of multimedia, fusing interactives, sound and visuals. The next few weeks will prove very fruitful for the gaming enthusiast presenting such titles as Fallout 3, Fable 2, Dead Space and Little Big Planet to name a few. One title that has particularly caught my eye is Gears of War 2, so I thought I'd share this trailer with you all...

An Interview With Dan Saffer

Dan Saffer, an experienced design director at the design consultancy Adaptive Path, was interviewed by designinterviews.com mid August. The interview starts by discussing the benefits of self directed study and learning under tuition. "You need a (for lack of a better word) Master standing over you while you do your apprentice work." I found this to be the case last year whilst learning 3DS MAX with Andy Love but as do I Saffer finds value in learning things on your own. I learned a lot of the summer teaching myself HTML and CSS but as Saffer says "he doing is important; you can read every book in the field and be a terrible designer. You have to practice it, live, preferably with a client and (eventually) with users." As Theodore Roethke noted, "I learn by going where I have to go." As well as reading about HTML and CSS, I really put it to work and worked on a few sites for companies such as hrbusinessdynamics.com.

One thing Saffer mentions I have been coming across ever more frequently, understanding Interface design. I have helped build a message board forum for the gamer society website (Which I also built) and have received some concerns about interface design by the users. "Interface design is the physical expression of the interaction design: the skin over the muscles and bone. Interaction design says, 'We need a button to turn on the siren.' Interface design says, 'The button should be here and it should be red.' They are deeply intertwined, since you cannot have one without the other." Although a client/user has hired you/uses your UI, you can still learn a great deal from them.

Another issue I empathised with Saffer is getting to attached with your creations. "I'd say there are two mistakes that new designers make: one is not coming up with enough variations—or, more accurately, not being able to come up with more alternatives. Which is to say, falling in love with one direction and not being able to see others. Often, this is direction is something familiar, that the designer is comfortable with. It is hard to kill your babies, but sometimes you have to." Last year I felt like I missed the chance to create something great by hanging on to some 3DS Max animation just because it took me a ridiculous amount of time to make.

This interview also made me reconsider interactive design. I initially thought only of web design but technology appears to be ever leaning towards touch screen, motion sensor or more anthropomorhphic methods of interaction. "If you don't already, you'll probably own a touchscreen device or a Wii or at a minimum have used a public restroom where you put your hands under a sink to turn it on. Learning about how these work and how you could design them might make you a better designer." Even if I do focus on web design it appears interactive design will be unavoidable, I think this is a good thing.

'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.'