Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Random Design Fun: Project Runway inspriation....
You Can't Miss: Project Runway websites
I know everyone is working on their website this week, and I have found a great source for inspiration from the Project Runway crew!
If anyone else is having trouble creating a visually interesting and dynamic splash page, go check out the designers' websites. I found most through this PR blog. All the links are on the side of the page, and you can see how Daniel V. plays with typography or how Kara has a really cool flash intro that leads into her site. Those two were my favorite, but check them all out.
Looking at other websites made me realize my splash page was WAY too busy, which is a great lead-in for my response this week...
Response on simplicity
I am writing a general response this week about simplicity. This ties in to earlier in the semester when Heather and I talked about how we had the bad habit of pulling a 'Santino' on our designs by constantly adding more and more embellishments or colors or whatever to our pages until it was just TOO MUCH. I now believe simplicity is the answer 90 percent of the time-- it's what readers respond to the best, and what they understand the most.
Especially with regards to our websites, I believe simplicity is important. When you are browsing the Internet, you are bombarded with busy sites like Yahoo or MSN, both of which try to put as many images, links, sidebars, etc. on the page...but in reality all you want is the simple answer...which is why Google is the browser everyone uses now ... look at it's main page, all that is there is the name and the search bar....it's so clean!
Our websites will showcase our design portfolios, but what will get employers attention more than our design samples is how our website looks. We can't say we are a great designer, and then direct them to something that looks like crappy design. Because so much stuff is usually on the web, I think viewers will respond better to that simple, clean look because it is so different than everything else on there!
So I've said it... SIMPLIFY! If only I could follow it..
I know everyone is working on their website this week, and I have found a great source for inspiration from the Project Runway crew!
If anyone else is having trouble creating a visually interesting and dynamic splash page, go check out the designers' websites. I found most through this PR blog. All the links are on the side of the page, and you can see how Daniel V. plays with typography or how Kara has a really cool flash intro that leads into her site. Those two were my favorite, but check them all out.
Looking at other websites made me realize my splash page was WAY too busy, which is a great lead-in for my response this week...
Response on simplicity
I am writing a general response this week about simplicity. This ties in to earlier in the semester when Heather and I talked about how we had the bad habit of pulling a 'Santino' on our designs by constantly adding more and more embellishments or colors or whatever to our pages until it was just TOO MUCH. I now believe simplicity is the answer 90 percent of the time-- it's what readers respond to the best, and what they understand the most.
Especially with regards to our websites, I believe simplicity is important. When you are browsing the Internet, you are bombarded with busy sites like Yahoo or MSN, both of which try to put as many images, links, sidebars, etc. on the page...but in reality all you want is the simple answer...which is why Google is the browser everyone uses now ... look at it's main page, all that is there is the name and the search bar....it's so clean!
Our websites will showcase our design portfolios, but what will get employers attention more than our design samples is how our website looks. We can't say we are a great designer, and then direct them to something that looks like crappy design. Because so much stuff is usually on the web, I think viewers will respond better to that simple, clean look because it is so different than everything else on there!
So I've said it... SIMPLIFY! If only I could follow it..
Critique: March Department pages
Short Talk: 3/16 Critique
I haven't done a lot for Short Talk in a while, mostly because I'm scheduled at the end of the semester, but anyway this weekend I was able to be creative on both of my pages!
I was in charge of the Think Tank's matching game for scientists....which was fun because it allows me to not follow the grid, and sharpen my web-grabbing skills.
The editors initially gave me three photos, but I decided I wanted to use images of all ten scientists so 1. people knew who these people were and 2. to make the page more visual. Because I was playing the images so small, I had a little leeway about the size of the photo I used, they could be smaller than normal. The hardest photo to find was Doc Brown from 'Back to the Future,' there are no images of him on the web, probably because it's copyrighted or something.
I played around with spacing, and found if I staggered the photos I could fit all ten images on the page without reducing their sizes. I am happy with the spread, and will probably put it on my portfolio to show my mad formatting skills.
The second page I did was the Scene & Heard narrative, which initially was pretty boring. That entire page puts me to sleep, because it's ALWAYS a horizontal photo with text, and possibly a pull-quote.
This week I had an illustration to work with, which spiced things up a bit. Debbie found me after I had turned in the same old S&H grid and gave me more leeway with the design by letting me text wrap the story around the image. I love how it looks, it really connects the illustration to the story, making them seem connected. Text wrapping also gave me more space, so I could play the image larger on the page, and it turned a really boring grid into something exciting. This will also prol make it in my portfolio.
I haven't done a lot for Short Talk in a while, mostly because I'm scheduled at the end of the semester, but anyway this weekend I was able to be creative on both of my pages!
I was in charge of the Think Tank's matching game for scientists....which was fun because it allows me to not follow the grid, and sharpen my web-grabbing skills.
The editors initially gave me three photos, but I decided I wanted to use images of all ten scientists so 1. people knew who these people were and 2. to make the page more visual. Because I was playing the images so small, I had a little leeway about the size of the photo I used, they could be smaller than normal. The hardest photo to find was Doc Brown from 'Back to the Future,' there are no images of him on the web, probably because it's copyrighted or something.
I played around with spacing, and found if I staggered the photos I could fit all ten images on the page without reducing their sizes. I am happy with the spread, and will probably put it on my portfolio to show my mad formatting skills.
The second page I did was the Scene & Heard narrative, which initially was pretty boring. That entire page puts me to sleep, because it's ALWAYS a horizontal photo with text, and possibly a pull-quote.
This week I had an illustration to work with, which spiced things up a bit. Debbie found me after I had turned in the same old S&H grid and gave me more leeway with the design by letting me text wrap the story around the image. I love how it looks, it really connects the illustration to the story, making them seem connected. Text wrapping also gave me more space, so I could play the image larger on the page, and it turned a really boring grid into something exciting. This will also prol make it in my portfolio.
