Multimedia - Alex Mitchell

Artefact 1 Results + Evaluation

2012-01-24T02:32:00.000-08:00

I surveyed 10 people when conducting my questionnaire as I believed this would be sufficient to get the results that I was after.

The first question aimed to see what the first thing that stood out to the viewer was when viewing the initial homepage of e-commerce websites:

Amazon – Shows that even when the call to action button is altered, the majority of people are initially drawn to the product image. Maybe due to the positioning of the ‘add to basket’ button, which will be researched through Artefact 2.

HMV – With the original homepage, many people first noticed a promotion offer of ‘DVDs for £2.99’. Maybe this is something that HMV wanted to attract the users’ attention in order to encourage more sales. However when the call to action button was changed to a blue colour, contrasting to everything else on the page, this gained more people’s attention than the original.

Play – The majority of people were initially drawn to the call to action button, even with the original colours. Changing the colour still managed to draw a few people’s attention away from the product image and to the ‘buy’ button.

Question 2 shows that the original homepages from the three websites are the most visually attractive. Perhaps the company put aesthetics before trying to grab the customers’ attention.

Question 3 shows that very few people find the original call to action button to stand out most effectively and that this button is most attention grabbing when changed to a completely contrasting colour that is not found elsewhere on the page.

Artefact 1

2012-01-18T04:17:00.000-08:00

The following three images show the initial screen as the user enters the item description page in order to purchase the item. I used the same DVD product page so not to get biased results when conducting the survey. For the first artefact, I aim to look at just the colour of the 'Call to action' buttons in order to find what looks better on both an aesthetic level as well as which colour encourages the button to stand out from the surrounding content.

Original Images

By using Adobe Kuler to create colour swatches, I altered the call to action button in 2 different ways for each of the 3 websites. From the original colour of the button, I used the opposing colour to create a complimentary hue and a triad colour, at right angles on the colour wheel. By doing this it gives two completely different colour combinations in which I will create a short questionairre to find out which of these creates a better impression on the user.

Alternate 1

Alternate 2

Splash Page idea

2012-01-16T14:09:00.001-08:00

Another Mock-up idea.

2012-01-16T13:52:00.000-08:00

Really quite happy with this idea of combining a summary of the shop alongside a jquery image slider makes the homepage feel a lot fuller, but with not too overwhelming. This idea would still have an 'about' page for more information on the store.

Research Project - Artefact 1

2012-01-16T12:18:00.000-08:00

For the first artefact, I aim to look at the 'call to action' buttons over a series of e-commerce websites and look at how different colours could be used in order to make the buttons more effective and what encourages these to stand out from surrounding content.

I will look at the same item on 3 sites, Amazon, Play.com and HMV.co.uk and experiment with different colours and conduct a questionairre to conclude what provides for the most effective call to action design.

New Mock-Up

2012-01-11T04:20:00.000-08:00

Gantt Chart

2012-01-10T03:14:00.000-08:00

Mock-Ups

2012-01-09T12:26:00.000-08:00

More recent quick mock-ups. Both would contain a jQuery image changer as the main feature of the page containing striking images to draw the attention of the user. Both have a different style of navigation, personally I prefer the vertical one, which could then be used to include a vertical scrolling to certain points when a link is clicked.

Mock-Ups

2012-01-09T12:24:00.000-08:00

Couple of mock-ups I did a while ago before a logo had been decided on, not really too keen on them anymore. .

Wordpress

2012-01-05T04:04:00.001-08:00

After what should have apparently taken 5 minutes, I have managed to install Wordpress onto my website in just under 2 hours. I have done this for the client project in order to provide a way of blogging for the client to easily upload images of new stock and provide users with updates on the store. I have created it using a responsive theme, which will hopefully not be too difficult to personalise, but I will work that out at a later date. Finally when I have it how I want it all to look on my server, I will be able to copy all the files over to the current server. Now to work on homepage mock-ups and wireframes.

Final Design

2011-12-29T15:25:00.000-08:00

Here is the final design which will provide a new brand for the store, and used throughout the website and to create flyers and leaflets etc to advertise the store. The client has also said she will hope to use this logo to create stickers for the carrier bags in the shop.

Overall I am really happy with the outcome of the logo.

Logo Development

2011-12-29T15:19:00.000-08:00

Although I was quite happy with the previous logo designs, I decided to go for something completely different and I came up with this. . .

I generally liked the idea of this logo and in order to give it a more unique and professional feel, I experimented with textured brushes in photoshop to create a more dynamic design which I think worked really well.

After showing this design to my client, we were both really happy with the outcome, however the client suggested using a pink and orange colour scheme, which i then further experimented with and came up with the final design found in the next post.

Logo Ideas

2011-12-29T15:13:00.000-08:00

Here are a few of the ideas I came up with when creating a logo for the client project. I tried to incorporate the idea of a vixen within them as well as providing a vintage feel.

Context 3 - Exhibition Images

2011-12-14T09:47:00.000-08:00

I may as well upload these now. .

Cow Website

2011-12-05T08:27:00.001-08:00

Cow Vintage

Really like the new Cow website. It does have quite a contemporary feel even though it is a vintage shop, but this may be a direction to go down. I think the way the images are displayed is really effective on the home page + the links are pretty cool.

Client Project Research

2011-11-27T11:52:00.000-08:00

Thought I should do a bit of research into existing vintage clothes shops for the live client project. .

Beyond Retro

Really like this website.

Pop Boutique

Like the colourful links and changing backgrounds and the image on the homepage. Nice use of polaroid pictures to give a more vintage feel.

Blue Rinse

Like the simplicity and clean design of this website, displays the images of clothes nicely in a way that I could incorporate with it not being an e-commerce site.

Vintage Fair

Not a great website, but I really like the logo design.

Project Updates

2011-11-13T12:23:00.000-08:00

Client Project - Finally confirmed my live client. A vintage shop based in Newark www.vintagevixen.net Not entirely sure where I will be going with this project yet, but with the possibility of making a shop/blog site which is something I am looking to familiarise myself with a bit more.

Context 3 - I have been concentrating mainly on this project over the past week and have now very nearly finished it. Just not 100% sure on whether I am happy with my chosen images as yet. At least it is finished in plenty of time to ponder over if I change my mind.

Research Project - Compiled a large list of sources and begin to write my essay. I have written an introduction and jumped straight into the discussion section as I'm still not 100% sure about the sections in the brief, but it won't be a problem to go back and do in different stages.

Bibliography so far. .

Parker, R C. (1997) Roger C. Parker's Guide to Web Content and Design, New York NY: Hungry Minds Inc.

Carlton, K. (2000) Webworks: e-commerce, Gloucester MA: Rockport Publishers Inc.

Wiedemann, J. (2006) Web Design: e-commerce (Icons Series), Taschen GmbH.

Charlotte (August 2009) http://www.onextrapixel.com/2009/08/19/5-tips-and-tricks-for-an-effective-ecommerce-site-with-10-brilliant-examples/ [Accessed:07/11/11]

SmartCompany (December 2007) http://www.smartcompany.com.au/advertising-and-marketing/why-do-people-shop-online.html [Accessed:07/11/11]

DotdigitalGroup plc. (no date) http://www.dotcommerce.co.uk/articles/the_top_five_must_haves_for_ecommerce_ websites.aspx/ [Accessed:07/11/11]

May, J. (January 2010) http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/01/22/35-beautiful-and-effective-ecommerce-websites/ [Accessed:07/11/11]

McPhee, T. (May 2011) http://retailresistance.com/retail-news/so-why-do-people-shop-online/ [Accessed:07/11/11]

WebCredible (2010) http://www.webcredible.co.uk/user-friendly-resources/white-papers/ecommerce-accessibility-2010.pdf [Accessed:07/11/11]

IMRG (2010) http://www.imrg.org/IMRGWebSite/user/pages/homepage.aspx [Accessed:09/11/11]

Moradi, M. (July 2011) http://sixrevisions.com/user-interface/e-commerce-website-features-tips-examples/ [Accessed:09/11/11]

Attitude Design (September 2011) http://www.attitudedesign.co.uk/hicks-clicks-the-secret-of-top-e-commerce-websites/ [Accessed:09/11/11]

Research Project + Context Assignment 2

2011-11-07T03:04:00.000-08:00

So far today I have put together a bibliography for my Research Project of articles I will read to help when writing the Research Project. Found a really useful article on webcredible.co.uk, which is a survey looking at e-commerce accessibility. Pretty much perfect information for my Project, I'm sure I'll be referencing it everywhere. Going to start writing the document when I've had a read through all the articles, hoping to get maybe 2000 words by the end of this week.

With the Context assignment, I have had a few ideas for the 5 exhibition images. .

- Home page logo from my portfolio.

- Websites Photoshopped into images of Laptops and Mobiles to show responsive web design.

- Logo and Graphic design ideas imported onto posters.

- Typography based coding image.

I don't particularly feel the need to create any new designs, rather I intend to develop and improve my current work in a way that makes it visually appealing when exhibited as an image.

Research Project

2011-10-28T11:33:00.000-07:00

How does the design and accessibility of e-commerce websites encourage people to shop online?

I will start by introducing the topic and giving a brief outline and background information into ecommerce and online shopping. During the esssay I will look at analysing individual features of the websites, showing what is effective throughout different sites and through research and surveys, I will see what could be improved. Features such as the Navigation, Search functions, Images etc.

I will also look at how these websites are designed to promote the sales of certain items through advertising and marketing, as well as investigating how the websites themselves are promoted through advertising.

Other things that I will look at, are those specific to ecommerce sites, such as customer product reviews, and evaluating how reliable these are and whether people take notice of them. Also, the 'try before you buy' functions, which enable the user to either listen to a preview of a piece of music, or look through the first few pages of a book and how this compares to actually being in a shop and doing this. Also, the feature that shows a viewer potential items that they might like, related to what they have previously bought.

Overall I will be looking at how effective the design and accessibility is, and whether this makes online shopping a more pleasant experience for the user.

As well as any information that I will find on the internet as I am doing the project, this is a list of books that I will use. .

Webworks: e-Commerce (Web Works) - Katherine Carlton

Roger C.Parker's Guide to Web Content and Design - Roger C. Parker

Web Design: E-commerce (Icons Series) - Julius Wiedemann

Over the next week, I will attempt to plan and start writing my project, as well as starting the next context project.

Simulated Client Design Report.

2011-10-26T02:32:00.000-07:00

Initially, I set out to design a 6 or 7 page website to outline the things that could be bought to help the NTU Alumni Cancer Research fund. I wanted it to be a microsite that would be used separately to the current website, mainly focussed on current students or recent graduates encouraging them to give money to the fund.

I wanted it to be a visually striking site, that got straight to the point with minimal, or no images that distracted the user. To do this, the website would have to focus on the design, colours and typography to make it an eye catching website that would entice the viewer.

One of the main focal points that is obvious throughout the website is the 'GIVE NOW' link. This is because this is the main aim of the product and having this visible throughout would encourage more visitors to click on it than if the link was hidden right at the end and they had to look through the whole site before coming to it.

The colours I have used on each individual page, I wanted to be vivid, however not so much that it clashes with the other colours on the site and I think that the ones I have used work quite well.

Overall I am pleased with the website I have made and I think the introduction of media queries so that the site works well on lower resolutions works well and if the timescale had been larger I would want to use this so that it works on mobile devices aswell. Another thing I would look at doing given more time; that would be to create a sliding jQuery transition between pages, this would give the site a sense of interactivity that is maybe missing, however this could take attention away from the information on the page.

Testing with Media Queries

2011-10-24T08:11:00.000-07:00

So, having finished my client site, I thought i'd have a play round with media queries as I had never tried to incorporate it into my designs before. My site encountered a problem when it got to a certain size in which the 'Where does your money go' heading got in the way of the nav, causing everything to move.

I thought about changing all the font sizes, however this would have been a lot of hassle and the simplest way of correcting the error was to remove the header altogether, just leaving the nav. By doing this, the site still functions and it doesn't feel as if anything is missing.

I also made it so, when the screen gets to 600px wide, the width of the content on the homepage also decreases.

As a result my site works down to resolutions of about 500px wide and if the time scale of the project was slightly longer I would attempt to create a version that would work on mobile devices, however I believe this would be too much work given that there's only 2 days left and I don't want to mess up the whole site by trying this. Overall, I am very pleased with what I have produced as I have included Media Queries which is something that I haven't used before.

Here are the screenshots of the site at certain sizes. .

Wireframes - bit late

2011-10-19T03:58:00.000-07:00

Here's the wireframes I meant to upload a while ago for the 2 mock-ups i made.

Context 3

2011-10-19T03:05:00.000-07:00

1,200 words down, 800 to go. . if only I could think of something else to write about.

Simulated Client Project Progress

2011-10-12T12:49:00.000-07:00

Couple of screenshots from my NTU Cancer Research site. Very nearly finished coding it all now, then just to work backwards and do the proposal and then move on to the Context 3 project, which I have quite a good idea of what I will write about now. .

2 ideas for Simulated Client Project

2011-10-06T03:06:00.000-07:00

Here are 2 ideas, both aimed to encourage people to give money to help aid cancer research within NTU.

This idea would be a one page website that scrolls down giving more information and consisting of 3 different sections.

This site would consist of a few pages, each explaining the different things that your money can be put towards with a 'Give Now' link at the top no matter which page you're on. This is probably the more effective design as it would mean the user wouldn't have to scroll all the way down, which could be quite a bore. They could just skip between pages depending what they wanted to look at.

Portfolio + Client Idea

2011-10-05T06:58:00.001-07:00

I have now finished my portfolio and have put it up live. There are a few bits that still need touching up, but I am generally happy with it now.

http://www.amitchelldesign.com

For the initial client project, I think I am going to create a one page, advertising/marketing campaign for supporting the NTU Alumni, giving more information on how to help out and explaining what can be done with your support.

Back at Uni

2011-10-04T12:47:00.001-07:00

So, after 2 days back at uni, I have found out that we have 2 projects in for the end of October, an essay and a practice client project. As well as many other projects over the course of the year. All seems a bit overwhelming at the minute; definitely chose a bad time to redo my Portfolio. Anyway, I hope to get that finished tomorrow and then move on to thinking about the other projects.

Website Update

2011-09-28T03:32:00.000-07:00

Home + About pages finished, just to finish the My Work and Contact page, with fully validated contact form done, then I will put my site up live.

New Website Screenshot

2011-09-21T08:47:00.001-07:00

Screenshot of the Splash Page of what will be my new website.

Website Idea

2011-09-15T16:42:00.001-07:00

With this idea, the web page could either consist of a few post-it notes, each containing different information, such as my work, contact, navigation etc. Or there could be just one, with a navigation underneath, and each different page is shown within the one centralised post-it note.

amitchelldesign redesign

2011-09-15T16:03:00.000-07:00

So, as the start of uni is drawing nearer and I haven't done much work over the holiday, I thought I would start by completely redesigning my personal website as I'm still not overly happy with it. I have made a few quick logos in Illustrator, going for a much cleaner feel, focussing mainly on just one main colour and I would make the rest of the site in black and white, with just my work and the logo in colour.

Folkwit Project

2011-04-14T06:03:00.000-07:00

For the group project i will be blogging on our group's posterous website which can be viewed here

andrewmitchellphotography

2011-04-01T04:59:00.001-07:00

Screenshot from a website i have started to create for my brother's photography website. .

DP3 Evaluation

2011-03-17T12:43:00.001-07:00

The artist i decided to do my project on was Leetabix, a beatboxer from Nottingham. I thought this would be good as I could keep in touch via email and get the best of what the client wanted, however this turned out to be a problem when i didn't recieve much back and time was running out so I just went for it and did things the way i believe worked best.

I started by designing the logo as this is probably the main focal point of any website. I wanted to include a microphone somewhere within it. I initially used the microphone as the 'I' in 'Leetabix', however that seemed to be a bit blocky and didn't work as well as having the microphone wire emerging from the 'X'. This created a sense of freedom to the main layout of each page, breaking up the content.

The background i initially used was a subtle one of condensation, which i edited in Photoshop, to give it a touch of blue colour. This seemed very apt at the time, however after working on the site for sometime, it did seem to make the text somewhat hard to read, and also, with the file size being over 6mb, it occasionally took a while to load, which would be a pain when viewing with slower internet connections. So, i went in search of another image and chose this black, scratched effect one, which was small in file size, and i believe worked even better than the original, giving the site a somewhat urban, graffiti-like effect.

For the navigation, i decided to use fixed postioned items, so that as the page scrolled down, they stayed in place, overlapping any content but without being too distracting. I believe this is helpful for the user, so they don't have to bother scrolling all the way back up to the top to go to another page, agreeing with the Constantine and Lockwood simplicity principle.

The homepage consists of a news section, which could have been done as a wordpress blog if the site was going live, however time was a constraint with this, but it would be something i would seriously consider looking at in future projects. Alongside this, is a few images in a separate box, so not to overwhelm the user of too much information. This follows the Constantine and Lockwood visibility principle.

Having got this structure sorted, i thought the page was missing something and it didnt seem quite right. So i added a footer, which rounded off the page nicely, and was something that i didnt include in my previous project. Instead of piling it up with text, i just added 3 simple icons, instantly recognisable to the viewer, acting as links to the artists social media pages.

The 'Bio' page, consists of a small bit of text which would explain who the artist is and basic information about him. I believe people would only go on this page should they want to actually read about him, so using too much text wasn't really an issue as this is all that is really expected to be on a biography/about page.

Due to the lack of content given to me by the client, the 'Media' page was quite difficult to do, however i searched the internet and found a few videos and songs, and using HTML5, embedded these in boxes side by side, with the option to view more underneath, by visiting outside webpages.

Instead of using jQuery, I attempted to use a pure CSS3 image gallery, which turned out to be a lot simpler than initially anticipated, and could just about do the same things. Testing this was a problem, due to different browsers being capable of different things, however i managed to get it to a point where everything was functional in every browser, although IE and Firefox did not have the same fading effects as was available in Chrome.

As the brief required the use of a PHP database, I decided to include this in the 'Contact' page, in the form of a comment box, and list of comments. I believe this was quite effective, as it gives the fans a chance to share their views and comments, sort of like a forum or a Facebook wall.

Also on the brief was the inclusion of a mobile site. For this, i included a redirect from the main site that took the user to the mobile version, should their screen size be a certain size. On the mobile site, I decided to strip the site of any music, videos or images as these would cause very long loading times on a mobile phone, and would be quite unecessary on such a small screen. The only pages that i thought were really necessary to include were the Home page, in which i took out the images and just stuck with the news feed. The Bio page, which i kept almost the same, except the changing of font sizes and the Contact page, which i took out the PHP comment board, and used a simple contact form in which you can email the artist with any queries, as this could be something that could be done on the go, on your phone.

Overall I am very impressed with only my second go at making a website, and believe that my skills have vastly improved since my first project.

Portfolio, Complete.

2011-03-15T11:34:00.000-07:00

So, after having more negative feedback than positive on the backgrounds of my website, i decided to change them, however to stick with the idea of them changing at different times of day. I have gone with a much more simple, sort of abstract design, that is still visually effective, however doesn't take your attention away from the website content.

Also, i have extended the about me section, and included an intro section that makes an impact on the viewer without piling them with unecessary information on the first page. The about me section is moved to later on, so that if the user wants to read more, they can.

Screenshots. . .

New Backgrounds?

2011-03-14T08:34:00.000-07:00

Due to my other image being over 6mb, and it causing some of the text to be slightly hard to read, i decided to look for a new image that fitted the style of the page. Here are 2 that i was most happy with. .

Pure CSS Image Gallery

2011-03-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

So, for my site's image gallery, i decided to use an entirely CSS3 image gallery, with which i created a fading in and out effect when the images are hovered over. I was very impressed with what could be done just using CSS3 and am overall happier with this image gallery than the previous one i did using jQuery.

Mobile Website. .

2011-03-09T11:36:00.001-08:00

Minus the content and the one minor issue of it actually fitting on my phone screen, it is complete. For some reason when viewing it on my phone, it gives it a slight outside padding around the container, causing it to not fit and require a slight horizontal scroll. Not sure why this is. .

Anyway, screenshots. .

I decided just to stick to these 3 pages, as these are the only ones that will really be of any use when viewing on a mobile, without having to wait a long time for videos and images to actually load up.

First Mobile Website Attempt

2011-03-09T03:46:00.000-08:00

So as this will be the first time i've designed for a mobile device, i thought i should look around for some things that i would need to keep in mind, and i came across this pretty useful site. .

http://labs.thesedays.com/2010/07/16/10-tips-for-designing-mobile-websites/

DP3 Layout Rejig

2011-03-03T10:22:00.001-08:00

Couple of screenshots from my new layout, which involves a fixed navigation bar, so it stays in the same place wherever you are scrolled to on the page. Also i have decided to add a footer in order to round of the page and make it look generally neater.

DP3 Update

2011-03-01T04:39:00.001-08:00

Red borders? Microphone wire overlapping the content box? I think this works quite well, however i am not struck on the default scrollbars, so i am going to look into CSS3 custom scroll bars to hopefully make them seem a bit more attractive.

Portfolio Complete.

2011-02-24T09:53:00.001-08:00

www.amitchelldesign.com

Finished the My Work section, just need to make each of the thumbnails so you can click on it to view larger images, or the website itself.

Final portfolio update for the day.

2011-02-23T08:38:00.000-08:00

A logo i and layout i am finally happy with.

New Logo Idea.

2011-02-23T05:37:00.000-08:00

maybe? comments?

Portfolio - My Work Section

2011-02-23T04:38:00.000-08:00

Finally got a working jQuery carousel which i have added to the My Work section of my website to display images of projects i have done. .

I have also updated the Contact section. Now just to add some actual images to the My Work section, and improve the next and previous arrows and it should finally be complete.

Finished Home Page. . for now

2011-02-22T04:07:00.000-08:00

New Portfolio Layout

2011-02-17T05:48:00.001-08:00

Changed the layout of my personal website and used percentage widths in order to have less empty space around the page. I am pretty happy with it now. May change the logo again, and finish the 'Work' section and then it will be done.

DP3 Update

2011-02-16T08:30:00.000-08:00

Screenshot with background and trans boxes included. .

Still need to change the navigation bar to have images for each button so that the %widths work completely, and i'm not 100% struck on the background yet.

For the personal portfolio, i have been trying to find a simple jquery image slider to show thumbnails of the work i've done, however i have been unsucessful so far, as they are either unecessarily complicated, or just don't seem to work within my website. If anyone has a simple horizontal image carousel they want to give me, it would be much appreciated.

Design Project, First Coding Attempt. .

2011-02-15T09:17:00.000-08:00

So i decided to start coding my website today as time is beginning to run out. I decided to use %widths for all my divs and images in order to make the website look the same on all browsers (also meaning it will become easier when i come to making my mobile site). Here are some screenshots of how it looks in 2 different sized windows. . .

I am pretty pleased with the outcome, however i am going to have to change the navigation buttons to be images, in order for them to change accordingly, as i couldn't seem to be able to find a way to get text to change with the screen size.

Design Project - Mock Up 2

2011-02-10T06:25:00.001-08:00

I think i prefer the background to this and i am finally happy with the logo as i think it accompanies the however the background pretty well, however the layout i am less keen on, plus i don't think the 'event' section will be necessary so having 3 columns will probably not be appropriate for the home page.

Design Project - Mock-Up 1

2011-02-09T03:40:00.000-08:00

1st mock-up for my artist's website. Overall i am pretty happy with the general layout. I had to flip the 'X' in the title, in order to not have quite a lot of empty space, however i think it is more effective this way anyway. The only thing i am not 100% sure on is the background, so i will have a few more attempts until i come up with something i am happy with.

Design Project, Logo idea 2

2011-02-03T07:16:00.001-08:00

Another logo idea, not as happy with this one as I was with the first.

Design Project, Logo idea 1

2011-02-02T13:00:00.000-08:00

First idea for a logo for the website I am creating for a beatboxer. I am pretty happy with it, but will maybe attempt a few more ideas before I decide on something i am completely happy with.

Website Update, again.

2011-02-02T07:46:00.000-08:00

So, i have decided to change my portfolio slightly, as i managed to work out how to fit the background to any screen size as well as working with my javascript background changer. I also decided to change all the backgrounds to slightly cleaner similar versions, but still sticking with the 4 times of day. . .

The background will now fit in whichever screen size with the content staying in the same place. .

. .and yes, i have changed the logo slightly again.

Portfolio Website Update

2011-02-01T08:22:00.000-08:00

Added a few more bits to my website, including a bit more in the about me section, and a working contact form which i managed to do with a bit of help. Found a few useful sites for editing the css on it.

For the design project, i have a few ideas about people to do a website for, thanks to Simon and his abundance of contacts.

Contact Forms

2011-01-25T09:01:00.000-08:00

Just been looking at putting a contact form on my website, but have found out that it is not as simple as i initially thought. If anyone would be willing to give me a link to a good tutorial, or help in anyway, it would be appreciated.

First Week Back

2011-01-18T08:03:00.001-08:00

First of all, i have updated my website, there's a bit more on it now but it's still very 'under construction'. I have changed the logo so it doesnt require the white background and still stands out on the landscape.

www.amitchelldesign.com

I have recently had a job interview for the redesigning and upkeeping of the Nuthall Parish Council website, so hopefully that went well. As well as that, I have been looking at potential work i could be doing from the www.freelancer.co.uk website which we discussed on thursday, though no luck so far.

Not really thought much about the design project yet, however i'm sure i will come up with an idea at some point.

First Project - Complete

2010-12-09T04:22:00.001-08:00

For my project I chose to redesign the website for the Bodega Social Club in Nottingham. This was down to the reasons that it is somewhere I visit quite regularly, and I believe their current site is quite poor.

I decided to stick to a quite simple and organised layout, using only shades of grey, and a shade of purple throughout so not to be too distracting and drawing the attention away from the content of the site.

I wanted to make the title the real stand out part of the website as it is something that is included on every page. I kept the same shape outline as the current one, however, I have used a slightly different font and arranged the text in what I believe to be a more effective way. Due to the only image of the logo I could get being very small, I decided to make it slightly transparent and put it behind the text in a way where it can still be seen and not be too confusing to the user, but still keeping the branding.

The Home page is made up of a short introductory paragraph, along with a javascript image rotator that catches the user's eye and lets them know the upcoming events in a hope to draw them in and continue viewing the rest of the website.

Initially I used a block colour as the background for my site, but by adding a slight texture, it gives the container a sense of depth and provides the content to stand out.

The 'about' page is made up of one box with all the information about the venue, with a image in the bottom corner to break up the text and not to be too overwhelming for the viewer.

I used the same layout for both the 'gigs' and 'club nights' pages. Both pages were required to contain a lot of information, so I used a jQuery accordion technique so that the text is broken up and only certain bits can be viewed at a time. By doing this it doesn't come as too much and risk the user missing certain bits of information, they can easily find the section they want and quickly get the necessary information.

On the 'contact' page, I have kept the amount of text to a bare minimum, as this is the last thing you want when looking for certain contact details. I have used bold headings so the user can see exactly what they need. I have also embedded a Google Map onto the page so the user can get a visual idea of how to find the venue, without having to exit the site and go elsewhere.

The 3rd element of javascript I used was on my gallery page. I created a simple image change when the mouse is hovered over the images to make them appear in colour and when they are clicked on, a small caption comes up telling the user what the picture is of.

I am now going to attempt to validate my site to WC3 standards before submitting it.

Portfolio Update

2010-11-29T13:43:00.000-08:00

I have updated my personal website, with a description, and changing backgrounds depending on the time of day.

I have gone for a cartoony, hand drawn theme which i will continue throughout the site when i add more pages.
Also, the div boxes on my site are meant to have curved corners, but the border-radius doesn't seem to work on IE, only firefox. So if someone can help me with this problem it would be appreciated.

Portfoliogo 2

2010-11-21T12:36:00.000-08:00

I have slightly redesigned my portfolio logo with a new font and slightly different colours, as the old one could have been seen as slightly rustic which isn't really the image i was going for, and i believe the new, slightly darker colours i have used make it seem a bit more subtle and refined.

Colours in Design

2010-11-19T02:17:00.001-08:00

http://www.amitchelldesign.com

2010-11-17T11:27:00.000-08:00

. . .is mine, keep an eye out for when i actually put something on it.

Portfoliogo

2010-11-17T06:23:00.000-08:00

I have finally come up with a design for a logo for my portfolio website that i am actually pretty happy with. . .

Seymour Chwast

2010-11-11T03:29:00.000-08:00

Seymour Chwast is a designer, illustrator and art director. His innovative designs have resulted in being awarded the AIGA medal, as well as being inducted into the Art Directors Club hall of fame. He was the co-founder of Pushpin studios in 1954, along with Milton Glaser and Edward Sorel. The company quickly gained a reputation due to its amusing and cuturally relevant, eye-catching design and illustrations.

His designs and illustrations have been used for such things as, animated films, graphics, record covers and children's books, package designs, posters and magazines.
He has created his own unique style that show off creativity and innovative aspects of graphic art and design. It is his child friendly, comic book style branding and illustrations that really stand out to me, along with the use of bold and vivid colours, i think these really make an impact as well as having a light-hearted, slightly comical feel.

Interaction Design Review - Goodmans TV Remote

2010-11-04T08:57:00.000-07:00

This is the closest image i could find to my personal TV remote.
- As with many TV remotes, the amount of buttons seems very over the top, with the only buttons i use being the numbers, standby and the volume, however i'm sure they all serve a purpose.
- The buttons are spaced a good distance apart, so not to get in the way, but also so the controller doesn't seem overly large.
- The smooth, plastic provides it to sit nicely in the hand, however the large battery pack on the back gets in the way slightly, taking away from the comfort.
- The black text used to show the function of the buttons is very clear, however there are a few bits of green text, which is very hard to read at first glance, luckily this is mainly for buttons that don't really have much use.
- Occasionally the buttons can be quite irresponsive, meaning you have to press them quite hard before the TV actually recognises them being pressed.
- Overall, not a very good remote. I would recommend standing up to use the buttons on the actual television set.

Interaction Design Review - Xbox 360 Controller

2010-11-04T08:33:00.000-07:00

- Extremely comfortable to hold, which is one of the main purposes of the product. The hand prongs are molded in a way that fit perfectly into the hand, and the smooth plastic texture of the controller accompany this nicely.
- The buttons are all positioned in a way so that the hand doesn't need to be moved too far in order to press them, apart from the start and back buttons which are towards the centre as these don't need to be used as often.
- The vivid colours of the four main buttons make them easily distinguishable, however the plastic used for the buttons is quite hard and may cause some finger pain after a while.
- The fact that the controller is wireless provides the user with the freedom to sit where and how they want, even if they were to face backwards there would be no loss in signal.

Interaction Design Review - Nokia E5

2010-11-04T08:06:00.000-07:00

I have chosen my own phone to review as i understand it well enough to be able to analyse it in detail.
- The phone is very slim meaning it can fit comfortably in your hand, with a silver metal backplate that provides the phone to be put in and out of your pocket easily (if that is where you keep your phone)
- The QWERTY keyboard means the buttons are very small, which you would assume to cause quite a problem when typing a text, but the phone's text prediction proves to be very helpful as it can work out what you're trying to type when you accidentally hit two keys.
- The phone also suffers from some slight slow down when typing on the keyboard, i'm not sure if this is down to the speed i type, but either way it can be quite irritating.
- The screen size can cause quite a problem when viewing large web pages that haven't been designed for the phone, however it is very bright and clear, and easy to scroll around the page.
- Overall, i believe it is a very good and reliable phone and does the jobs i need it to.

Wire Frame

2010-10-25T03:18:00.000-07:00

I have decided to do my first website design project for the Bodega Social club in Nottingham. I don't believe their existing website is very appealing (http://thebodegasocialclub.co.uk/ )

I have created a wire frame using Illustrator CS5 to get an idea of the general layout of the home page. . .

I have kept the same general shape for the title/logo as I don't really want to change that too much, but as regards to the layout, I have tried to keep it quite basic so not to overwhelm the viewer. Each of the linked pages would be set out in a similar way, following the same theme. I am going to keep the colours to a simple black and white, with maybe one other colour to make things stand out.

Logos

2010-10-14T09:19:00.001-07:00

Recently got the CS5 Master Collection, so i thought i should put it to use, so i used Photoshop to put together a few ideas for a logo for any future website/portfolio. . .

Essay Started

2010-10-13T05:47:00.001-07:00

369 Words done. Hopefully i am heading in the right direction with it. I will look to extend it in the next couple of weeks and hopefully finish it with a few weeks to spare so i can get someone to look at it, giving me the time to make any changes needed and improve it.

Why Interactive Media?

2010-10-11T11:25:00.000-07:00

During my first year, i didnt really know which pathway i would want to choose, or which areas i would be most interested in. Since doing the 'Interactive Narrative' project, i really thought that this would be the pathway for me. I had not previously had any web design experience, but ever since using Flash, i've wanted to explore the world of web design even more, and believe that this is the direction i will want to pursue later on in life.

3 Website Analysis

2010-10-11T06:30:00.000-07:00

1. We Choose The Moon

This interactive website looks at the historical Apollo 11 mission to the moon and recreates it in a series of animations and photographs, sort of in the style of a movie, however the user has the option to use the 'mission tracker' in order to skip to any of the different 11 stages. Following it chronologically however gives the audience a sense of realism, brought together by the factual Mission Transmission audio. The layout is very simple, with all the required information down both sides, and the navigation bar, in this case, the 'mission tracker' at the bottom. However, I believe this website is so effective due to the great animations and collections of images.

2. Uniqlo Lucky Machine

This site is used to advertise the new UK online Uniqlo store. It is an interactive pinball game that encourages users to play and visit the Facebook page, in order to win prizes, like £1000 to spend at the online store. Somehow, this game did not make me want to visit the store. The game seemed very slow and boring, i didnt even stay on it long enough to use my 3 lives. The pinball machine seemed very unimaginative and amateurish, however i liked the simple use of just red and white colours. A good idea to encourage users to visit a website, however it just didn't really make an impact on me.

3. Costumize.me

With Halloween coming up, this website makes shopping for a costume much more fun, not that i've ever had this problem. Even if you don't care about dressing up, this site is well worth a visit to look at some of the comical costumes, and ridiculous prices that you could pay for things. The website provides a pumpkin lighting up game, which seems irrelevant to the rest of the website, but still provides a few minutes of fun. The layout is very simple, but effective, with the navigation bar popping up from the bottom with a scroll bar for all the different themes and sections of the website. Some good animations make for a visually effective website.

First Week Back - Year 2

2010-10-07T05:18:00.001-07:00

As i haven't posted anything for over 4 months, I thought i probably should do.
First week back in the 2nd year, after meeting all the new interactive media group, we've been put into pairs to produce a presentation demonstrating the features and content of 2 different websites. Also to update our blogs with a 200 word design evaluation of 3 other websites, which i will be doing in the next week.

Virtual Environments - Superhero's Lair

2010-05-25T06:22:00.001-07:00

The final project of the year was to create a superhero's lair using 3DS Max. The main problem occurred due to missing the first 2 seminars because of volcanoes in Iceland :/ I used online tutorials and seminar notes to try and teach myself how to use 3DS Max and toward the end of the project I became a bit better and more confident using it. Anyway, my lair includes many rocky based textures suggesting that it is set underground. The main feature is the 'Reactor Vessel' which i created a fiery atmosphere by using red lights and red stone textures around it. I used a mirror texture in 2 of the rooms to create a sense of space and eeriness. The most effective part of my lair, in my opinion, is the swimming pool. I created a water texture using reflection/refraction and raytrace maps and added lights, and a ball to the water to add a sense of depth and realism. The 3rd room consists of a sofa cause every superhero needs somewhere to sit, and semi transparent spheres representing planets. The song i used in the video is mewithoutyou - (A). I believe it fits the lair quite nicely.

Nike Write the Future Advert

2010-05-24T04:08:00.000-07:00

Finished Film - Figure

2010-04-03T01:57:00.001-07:00

Visual Essay

2010-03-24T13:13:00.001-07:00

The 3 Companies/Practitioners I have decided to base my virtual essay on are. .

Domani Studios - http://domanistudios.com/new/

North Kingdom - http://www.northkingdom.com/

Shane Mielke - http://www.shanemielke.com/

Finished Filming

2010-03-23T11:51:00.000-07:00

So, on monday we finished our filming for our script Figure, and when it came to editing it today we realised the 'workshop' scene and a few 'end of the world' scenes that we filmed the day before didnt work properly. A few of the group thought that the effect of the tape going wrong sort of gave the right idea for how we wanted to edit it anyway, the others wanted to film it all again, so this is what we will be doing tomorrow. I am going to have a go at editing myself to see which of these works best.

The Last Few Weeks.

2010-03-14T12:46:00.001-07:00

As i haven't posted anything for a while, i thought i should whilst i am quite bored. Basically, we recieved a script a couple of weeks back and we were put into groups and all given specific jobs in order to make a produce a film.

Last week, we met up twice as a group in order to discuss our own ideas and give ourselves individual jobs for the week. On Thursday, we went out with a camera in order to film possible ideas for our concluding 'end of the world' scene. We found a couple of deserted areas and took a few shots of each that we will edit and produce eventually.

This week we are planning up on meeting as a group again to film the 'award ceremony' scene.

As for the visual essay, i have began researching but that's about all, i will hopefully make some more progress with that this week.

Quiz

2010-02-17T12:26:00.000-08:00

Finally finished my quiz, however i can't upload it so that the video works on it. It works when it's on my computer in the original folder. If anyone knows how to do this please do tell me, it's driving me insane.

First Attempt at Animation on Flash

2010-01-18T09:38:00.000-08:00

Walking Man Animation by ~alexm1 on deviant ART

First Week Back

2010-01-17T09:13:00.000-08:00

Last tuesday, we were given the task to go online and play games and review them, finding a good one and a bad one, and put together a group presention on this. Seems like my kind of work.

Anyway, here's a few links i found. . .

http://www.notdoppler.com/theimpossiblequiz.php - The Impossible Quiz. Clever and quite funny, but doesn't provide much longevity and can be quite annoying.

http://www.mousebreaker.com/games/parking/playgame - Parking Perfection. Simple and effective game. Could provide a few hours of fun when bored.

http://www.helicopter-game.org/ - Helicopter Game. Remember playing this one when at school in IT lessons. Lots of fun, simply controlled by just the mouse button.

http://www.flashgames247.com/play/13628.html - Baggio's Magical Kicks - Good idea, similar to a game i have on my phone. However this one seems very difficult, as i struggled to even get past stage 2.

As further indivudial development, i have been looking through online tutorials in order to familarise myself a bit more with Flash CS3, as at this moment, i believe this is the pathway which i will take into my 2nd year. I have also been concentrating more on certain aspects of websites which have been created using Flash, looking at layout, links, aesthetics etc. to get a better idea of the things that can be done.

Hands Pixilation

2009-12-10T11:50:00.000-08:00

Finished my solo pixilation project today. Here it is...

I am very pleased with the outcome. I used a tripod in order to improve on the camera shakiness that caused a problem with the first pixilation piece. I found the idea of paper and writing to be very effective in the group piece, so i have concentrated wholly on this. I think the music in this piece compliments the animation nicely.

One problem i encountered was the bad lighting, however i have done my best to improve through the editing of the photos.

Paper Pixilation

2009-12-03T12:49:00.000-08:00

Here is my completed pixilation piece, done as a group, which i completed today by editing it and adding music. . .

I am very pleased with the overall outcome of the video. I think the music (Good Shoes - Nazanin) works very well and compliments the piece. I added a black and white, film grained effect on Photoshop that gives it a unique and somewhat old fashioned feel, however the animation itself gives it a modern twist.

To improve the piece, a tripod should have been used to hold the camera still as it is very shaky in parts. Also, there are parts where more pictures should have been taken as it seems all too quick and can get quite confusing as to what is happening. I will reflect on this when doing my solo pixilation project.

One Shot Take 2

2009-12-01T12:04:00.000-08:00

After reflecting on our first One Shot film, we decided as a group it would be best to redo it due to a very long and boring narrative, and bad lighting. Although filming it in a lift gave it some originality, it did bring up these problems. So we got together as a group today and decided to do it again, with a completely different storyline.

Here is the outcome...

I am reasonbly more pleased with this, however i feel with more time and knowledge it could have been edited to a higher standard, but compared to our first piece i think this one is much better.

Interactive Narrative - Evaluation

2009-11-26T12:37:00.001-08:00

Overall, i am very pleased with the way my interactive narrative turned out and on the whole i enjoyed making it, after finally working out how to use Flash. I now find it quite easy to use and for further work i would like to experiment by including sounds and animations.

Frightened Rabbit - Bright Pink Bookmark

2009-11-24T05:18:00.000-08:00

Frightened Rabbit - Bright Pink Bookmark (from The Midnight Organ Fight) Animated by Mark Charlton at Bluestar Animation.

I think this video is really cleverly done and well animated.

Frightened Rabbit - I Feel Better

2009-11-24T05:13:00.000-08:00

Directed and Animated by Sam Molleur Featuring Trevor Byrne Visual FX by Mike Humphrey.

A really cool video. I like the combination of the drawings crossed with the realistic animations.

Essay

2009-11-24T04:57:00.000-08:00

Finally got round to starting my design process essay today. I have written about 500 words and finally it's starting to make some sense.

Interactive Narrative - Finished

2009-11-22T15:12:00.000-08:00

Finished my interactive narrative project on friday afternoon.

Here it is..

http://alexm1.deviantart.com/art/Where-s-My-Wallet-144193344

I will post my personal evaluation on it at a later date.

Addictive

2009-11-08T13:15:00.000-08:00

After the first lecture on interactive narrative on friday, it reminded me of this game..

http://www.ig.ns.ac.yu/fun.html

After spending quite a while playing this, i have found it to be a very effective idea and i will hopefully make my own project something similar to this.

One Shot - Design Process

2009-11-04T13:53:00.001-08:00

Discovering. . .
This involved looking on youtube at existing videos of similar one shot films, which gave me inspiration and got me thinking about my own project.

Developing. . .
Making notes and brainstorming some of the best ideas. Meeting up as a group in order to put together some of the better storylines that were thought up.

Defining. . .
This involved piloting ideas with a video camera to get an idea of what worked well and what did not. It helped to get an idea of lighting and the way which the camera could be moved without removing it from the tripod.

Delivering. . .
Showing the film to others and getting a personal evaluation of how effective the film was.

Wasted?!

2009-10-29T10:54:00.000-07:00

One Shot Project

2009-10-29T09:51:00.000-07:00

The first project of the year required us to make a short film, in just one shot, without moving the tripod.

We got put into small groups, and started brainstorming ideas for the film. We thought up many ideas and eventually decided on the idea of putting the camera on a lift with different things happening on each floor as the lift goes up.

The problem was what the storyline could be from this though..

So we decided that the camera would be acting as a drunk student on the lift, and each floor would involve events that happened on a drunken night.

I will put the video on here when it decides to upload itself onto youtube. I don't know why the file is so big. Madness.

The Maccabees - Precious Time

2009-10-19T04:24:00.000-07:00

I like this video too.

Post-it Stop Motion

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

Saw this video on 'Rude Tube' the other night and thought it was really cleverly done. I thought i should post it on here so i have more than 1 post.

Week 1

2009-10-17T09:00:00.000-07:00

I have only just got round to writing my first post. This is the work that we did in the first week, looking at stop motion animation. I found it very interesting, however i realised it would be very hard work in order to create a successful piece of work.

I will upload something more interesting soon. maybe.