Principals of Beautiful Web Design (chpt.3)

Jason is a fine communicator of design considerations and very optimistic when it comes to addressing the need for Texture.

Texture will continue to be a challenge for web designers  for years to come given the current state of technology.  But because it is difficult and limited does not mean that it should be ignored.

It appears to me that working with light and shadow is the only effective way at this time to address Texture on the Web and I will need to think this through as to how this might apply to our Banner project as a result.

Chapter 4 Book Exercise

Naxos look like a good place to spend this upcoming weekend.

Smart objects look like as though they will be very useful when dealing with a number of the same images but in different locations.   Still not quite sure of the trade off or the advantages of putting some photos in the foreground while others need to go into the background?  What is the design logic or constraints for that matter?

http://bcts-potomac.aacc.edu/CAT/cat18/Week4/naxos.html

Web Site Project

I plan to create a site to showcase my photographics, and hopefully some graphic images down the road.

AACC Logo Contest

For the Logo exercise…I plan on using an image ( a line drawing) of a hot air balloon along with a curved line stroke as my two key elements to suggest movement. The balloon image suggests “a lifting off …” or reaching for your aspirations at AACC via its educational programs. Hot air ballooning is typically a spring time activity – before summer storms move in making it a more dangerous adventure.

I personally elect not to have this work submitted for the ‘contest’. I intend to do the exercise for its educational value only – the same reason I enlisted for this class.

Let me dismiss two important assumptions up front before stating my reasons for not electing to submit the work. It certainly not because my work is too good, too precious or valuable. Assuming this work (my work) met the dubious distinction of being found average across this class of talented individuals (approximately 20 of us), then it would stand a 5% chance…of it being selected. Working against this is that I would rate myself at the bottom quartile of our class or any class in terms of owing the artistic gene or talent.

Secondly – I am new to the Tool (Fireworks software) at hand. It is like having to paint but not being familiar with brushes and their application with paints. These electronic tools feel more like hammers and screwdrivers rather than like electronic brushes at this stage. (But I realize that we all must start somewhere so I eagerly take on this excellent learning exercise.)

I am opting out for the contest for more practical or commercial reasons. I do not, and I may be alone in this, find it inspiring to compete for a trinket – the IPOD noted. From my perspective, AACC is not sending a positive message to potential professional designers. If the college wants to encourage students to pursue design as a professional career – then pay them for their effort. Let’s pretend this is the real world. Let’s not condition young students, especially as they are about to enter a world, that they will have to live hand to mouth, but rather can make a living in return for their highly regarded skills and training. This design in question must be worth at least $500…I would think. And if no one knows, I am sure that someone could contact a few local design firms and make an inquiry.

AACC is a non-profit, and surely its mission does not include having students perform its essential services for below market wages. Other options in the future could include waiving tuition for a future class or classes as an incentive if not cash, or asking students if they are interested in volunteering to do perform a similar exercise for some other non profit where conflict-of -interest may not appear to exists.

Students are very capable of purchasing their own IPODs with cash should they elect.

Week Four Assignment

I thought that this was a very useful and practical assignment.

After testing the photograph links via the View Browser command – I do not know if one is supposed to receive (the viewer) a visual clue that their cursor is riding over a hot Link?  My link does work, but is there or was their additional step needed to indicate to the viewer that a hot link exists?

Please check out the young and happy Halloween sisters:

<!– /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:”"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} –>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:”Table Normal”;
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:”";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:”Times New Roman”;}

http://bcts-potomac.aacc.edu/CAT/cat18/week4/mapexample.html

The Principles of Beautiful Design

This text is informative and visually well laid out as it covers fundamentals of design and represents good supplemental reading for our course.

Unfortunately – like most text books today, and as paperback – it is overpriced at a retail price that exceeds $40 with taxes.

Week Three Assigment

Attached is my link to Chapter Thee assignment file on the beautiful island of Santorini:

http://bcts-potomac.aacc.edu/CAT/cat18/Week3/santorini.html

A few years back, friends of ours experienced their romantic honeymoon on this Greek treasure…

This chapter is interesting,  but I am still not sure under which scenarios which option we are supposed to select among these four options when setting new rules

1) ID

2) Class

3) Tags

4) Comparison

It’s one thing to fill out the dots but another to understand the design of the program and its logic against real world applications.

Week 3 In-Class Project

I learned with this exercise or was reminded that it is important when making changes to your web site – that you are best off making changes first to the local and then uploading.  If you make changes to the remote – you could become out of sycn between the two and have real problems.

JPEG vs. GIF Article & Questions

This is an interesting article.  Yet it is not clearly stated if  you loose something right out of the box with JPEG when the file is first created.  Is this true.

Do you loose additional information every time a JPEG file is opened and saved over time?

Week 3 In-Class Project

http://bcts-potomac.aacc.edu/CAT/cat18/Week3/index.html

The above line should take you to my index page created in class…

Good exercise and practice.