Longest day of my life..

So this happens to me all the time.

I'm sitting over here thinking that I have nothing to do for Halloween. People ask me,"Hey Marcie what are you doing for Halloween?" And I'm like, "I don't know of anything going on."  The next day I sign into my Facebook/ e-mail and I have like forty million even invitations. I always think to myself What is this!?!?! These people need to STOP inviting me to crap!! And OF COURSE it's Halloween parties. I always instantly dismiss things because of a preconceived notion. It kind of sucks at times. I mean I just got genuinely annoyed when I saw that I had two event invitations. I have ignored a lot of them. GEEZE. I really need to stop doing that.

RANDOMNESS
I was in class the other day and this girl seriously said to my TEACHER, "Hey I need some ideas for this project." My teacher looked at her like "did you really just ask me that question?" She did say, "That's not my job to give you ideas."
But like seriously WHO asks that sort of question when it's a project. Brain dead much? The teacher isn't going to give you the ideas, as a design student.

Project 3

           We are doing a type specimen poster. I choose Futura (Std Light). For obvious reasons, a. its a GORGEOUS font, b. it's used on the LOUIS VUITTON website, c. it's also used by ULTA, my favorite makeup store of all time. It's also  used by Shutterfly, a website where you can upload your digital photographs and then get them printed off; you can photobook etc. the possibilities there are endless. I decided to Google Futura, just that word, and one of the results was a website where there are tshirts for it! O M G I almost ordered one but the one I really wanted was going to be like 40$ and I don't see spending money like that for a shirt. It was a nice shirt, but I'm broke. :) It was such a cute t-shirt too! I need to stop talking about it.... It makes me WANT it.

   The requirements of the project are that you have to have at least 150 words of body copy, max. 300 (it'd be a novel otherwise, & who wants to read that much body copy on a poster?) It has to include Upper & Lower case alphabets, and all of the #'s. It doesn't HAVE to include anything about the designer because the main focus is on the typeface but I decided to make it noticeable.


               I didn't use color because I read in a book that Paul Renner believed that color was a way to cover up a flaw in the composition. So that is why I decided to only use Black Whites & Grays. The whole layout is at a 55 degree angle. I am just in love with this typefaceeee. It's amazing to me how often it is used but how little the majority of people know about it. I really like the simplicity of the typeface as well.

         During class, mind you we had to have our first drafts completed at the beginning of class, this guy asked me if we had to have our body copy done. REALLY? How can you do a design if you don't have body copy? The design should reflect what you say in your body copy so how could he even have any drafts? Maybe I'm just weird but I don't think that his process is being done correctly, but HEY it's his grade not mine.

Typography by Herb Lubalin

Coolest thing ever... By Herb Lubalin.
In my VIS113 Typography class we are doing Type Specimen Posters. I choose Futura because I really like the geometric look to it, but this girl in my class choose Avant Garde and my teacher was talking so passionately about Herb Lubalin and encouraged all of us to look at his work .. I want to be Herb Lubalin. He is amazing.

Defining design, usability, and accessibility on the web.

    Design on the web is making a site that isn't boring but isn't too busy. As web designers we are limited to certain parameters and good design on the web is using those parameters to your advantage. Simplicity is an important thing to consider when designing. As stated in an article I read, too much or too busy of color can drain out/ ruin your design.

   Design and usability are not the same thing. Usability refers to the ease of access of the site. Site maps are good for commercial type websites. Wal-Mart, for example, has so many products and other things on their website a site map is almost required. I agree with Derek Powazek when he said that your links should never take you to the same page you are currently on. I personally get really frustrated when a link takes me to the current loaded page. On the Yfactorstudio site I got so frustrated trying to find a gallery or SOMETHING besides that ONE link of questions. Finally, I found one to her contact information, but if we weren't doing it for a project I would have immediately been annoyed and gone elsewhere.

   Accessibility is important to users. It should also be important to designers. In the video about Bruce Sexton suing Target for lack of vital tools for people with disabilities on their website, I thought that it was warranted. If a website as big as Target's doesn't have those kinds of things for those with disabilities how do they expect those users will respond? If I was using tools such as the ones mentioned and all it read back to me was HTML jibberish I would be pretty annoyed. I feel like its a bit disrespectful in a sense. I would feel almost like Target didn't care enough to make it easily usable for those types of tools.

Web Typography.

     Web Typography history basically starts when the first websites came out & designers were not able to control which font was displayed on their page. In 1995, Netscape introduced the font tag. It allows the designer to choose a font to be displayed on the designed site. Also, it allows the designer to have fall back fonts (Wikipedia, 2009). Which are fonts that are in the font-family list that if for some reason the viewer didn't have the listed font installed the computer would go to the next font on the list. This happens until there is a compatible font to display that the viewer has installed.
   I do agree that there is an issue with legality. Designers could possibly use fonts that they do not have the license to. There is really no way to determine whether or not they do have the license without a thorough investigation of the computer itself.  The font legality issue is same throughout not only web design but print design as well.
  I think that web typography technology can only increase. I believe that one day the font that is specified by the designer is the font that will be displayed with no fall back fonts. Obviously, that is a while away considering that are umpteen amount of fonts out there and to have ALL of them on a computer is an unrealistic standard with a minimum a terabyte of memory. I can just see a time when a designer specifies a font and that's it. Considering how far we have come in other means of web typography such as the font tag in 1995; when previously there was no way to even specify a font. I will stress it one more time so I don't sound stupid for stating this, it is YEARS away until this POSSIBLY could happen.

Designing with Color.

The psychology of color, it usually doesn't mean different things to different people, here in the United States that is. The color blue means tranquility, peace, trust, loyalty, and faith. Those are just a few that I believe describe blue the best. In an article I read called "Color Psychology and Marketing" on precisionmarketing.com they said that people tend to be more productive in a blue room because they are more calm and focused on the task at hand.

The color Red is associated with fire, energy, anger, power, and danger. Red is also an attention grabber. Pink is the most calming color in the whole palette. It is associated with romance, love and gentle feelings. "To be in pink is to be soothed."- precisionmarketing.com Purple is usually associated with luxury, royalty, and nobility. Yellow associates with laughter, and happiness. In one article yellow was associated with creativity but in another creativity was associated with white, so in that respect it depends on who you’re talking to. Yellow was considered a temper aggravator for some people and others it was a mood enhancer, be careful with it. A helpful hint I came across was that the more golden the yellow the better chances for a happy response.

When I tried out the palette tools I really didn't like ColorBlender.com. It was like this big long list, it was not divided up at all and it was difficult to envision how the schemes would be used. I really liked www.colourlovers.com it was really easy to use, there were categories and everything. I didn't like how I had to sign up but I did anyways because I found the palettes to be useful. The color scheme designer site seemed really difficult. It was a really cool site but I didn't understand how to change some colors and not others. It was like if you changed one color you HAD to change ALL of them. I didn't like that aspect about it.

Art Directing The Web

    Art Directing the Web is basically giving web designers more freedom to create really cool designs. I think it's a great idea. I think that it leads the way for more print designers to integrate to web design. With this idea print and web aren't as different as previously thought.

      I was really glad to see that Jason Santa Maria ( http://www.vimeo.com/4394152 ) pointed out that when articles go from print to the web it becomes a 'content dump.' Where did the cool design go that was on the print version? I like the way he lays out his sites and adds in pictures that would normally be thought of for printed design. Also, the compositions he uses would also be thought of more for printed design and I really like that he incorporated those elements.

      On the site where there were really long pictures of scrolls, I believe this is applicable. In all honesty, it's a bit trite. When I think of a website I know that at some point I am going to have to 'scroll' through content a page whatever it may be. The pictures were cool but that's about it. I appreciate the work but I just personally believe that it is kind of understood by all that a webpage is more like a 'scroll'.

Web Hosting

1. Describe your process in selecting a domain name.
Well first I want something with my name in it. Also, I want something that corresponds with my career. I want a domain name that is easy for me to remember as well.

2. Which initial domain names did you attempt to obtain before finding an available domian name?
I first tried to do marciedesigns.com.  Just my first name and designs on the end. Unfortunately that was already taken. So I just added my last initial to it.

3. What features of a web hosting plan seem most important to you?
The features that are most important to me are accessibility and 24/7 tech support. If something went wrong in the middle of the night I need to be able to fix it as soon as possible. 


 4. Why did you decided to go with the hosting plan you chose?
I decided to go with this one because it seems the most reliable. 



www.marcierdesigns.com

Web Tutorials, Pros and Cons.

   The first tutorial I completed was the one titled, "Urban Layout Perfect for Web Design Company." Overall, I thought the concept was phenomenal that's why I originally chose this one. There were definitely some things I found confusing and annoying. There were no size specifications on anything. They provided the photograph they used on the dashboard, but didn't specify what size it needed to be to fit the upcoming format. Also, I didn't like that I had to download three different brushes, some of which the creator didn't even use. The creator also didn't specify which brushes they used for different parts. I understood why the author said they couldn't show the way they used the brushes but it would've been nice to know which brushes they used. 
   I ran into a lot of problems with the format and placement of objects. To the left is my finished product. I really like the idea and the concept, but when I tried to enter the body information it was so tight in the format it did not look right. Although, I did like how open-ended it was, it made it infinitely easier to personalize it.
  

   The second tutorial I completed was the one titled, "3d Design Studio in photoshop." I absolutely loved this tutorial. It was really similar to the Urban tutorial. 

I liked this one so much better because I only had to download ONE brush. Instead of three. 

  In addition to, they explained in detail parts that NEEDED to be explained in detail. 

  I also liked that they didn't include the image. At first, it annoyed me, but after searching for images i realized how much I liked that aspect. 

  Once again, I just really liked how much room they left for personalization.    

   The third tutorial I completed was the one titled, "Design a Cool Portfolio Web Layout." As I was going through the steps I ran into similar problems as mentioned in the first one. Although they gave specific parameters as to the document size, I was lost on the size of the shapes.  

  I am big on personlization if you haven't noticed, this one didn't leave much on personlization for coloring. I became very confusing to me after I started to change the colors to the ones that I wanted. 

  The specifications I thought, were not in the right places. What I mean by that is, the author specified colors but not sizes or placement on the shape. They also didn't specify the font size. 

  I really liked the idea of displaying recent work done with the circles. I think that it helps the viewer to get a quick glance of what I have done as a designer without having to click through pages of work. 

Overall, I liked all of the tutorials. They are really great design ideas.

Goals for this class.

After I get my degree in design, I hope to work for a firm and do freelance work. I want to focus mainly on print design, but I also want to be well-rounded. I would like to have the capibility to be good at both web designing and print designing.  The aspects that interest me the most about web design is how many people, including myself, get on the internet on a daily basis. As I have continued down this path as a designer I can go to website and find the flaws of navigation and usability. I would like to be able to make websites that are very user-friendly and very visually pleasing.

I can find people with similar interests in web design and print design by putting in my information that I am pursuing that career. On facebook and MySpace, it creates a link you can follow where there are people that have listed similar information to yours. Another way I can connect to people with similar interests is to create a public listing on facebook and in this blog. My facebook public listing actually shows up on Google searches. It's not one of the first links, but I am not complaining too much. :)