JimmysWorld

SPP: Job 4/4

2011-02-21T02:02:00.003Z

Junior Web Designer

Recruiter: Hot Prospects
Location: Northampton, Northamptonshire
Salary: £12,000 - £16,000 per annum, inc benefits
Sector Media: Digital & Creative - Web Design
Job Type: Permanent
Date: 20 Feb

Link

Description

Junior Web Designer - Northampton - £12,000 - £16,000 per annum

Key words: design, graphic, web, creative, HTML, CSS, Photoshop, Dreamweaver

Our cleint is a Northamptonshire based Graphic & Website design consultancy. Their web business is growing rapidly; to compliment this growth they are looking to grow their team with the addition of a Junior Web Designer. Our clients focus is on excellence and building websites that will achieve the desired results.

This is an immediate requirement for a creative web designer. You must have expert knowledge of Adobe Photoshop and Dreamweaver. You will be highly skilled in the coding of HTML and CSS for creative web design. . You will be responsible for the re-design of existing customers websites whilst also producing websites for new clients and internal uses.

Advantageous experience or skills include Adobe Illustrator; Adobe Flash; SEO (Google Webmaster, Analytics & Maps); Domain Management & Hosting. You must have a strong online portfolio and have a natural flair for design and creativity. It is important to be able to work from your own initiative and have an accurate and professional work ethic with excellent customer relationship skills.

Key words: design, graphic, web, creative, HTML, CSS, Photoshop, Dreamweaver

SPP: Job 3/4

2011-02-21T01:51:00.003Z

Junior Web Designer

Listed on: 8th February
Location: England
Salary/Rate: £14000 - £15999
Tags: junior | web designer | junior web designer | online marketing | marketing | photoshop | html | css | web design |
Type: Permanent Start
Date:
Reference: DM/198075
Recruiter: Evolution Recruitment Solutions Ltd

Link

Description

Junior Web Designer - Birmingham, West Midlands. I have an urgent requirement for a Junior Web Designer with exposure to HTML and CSS, my client will offer extensive training in all areas but a basic understanding will be highly beneficial. My client is looking for a talented, enthusiastic candidates to join our creative team in the role of Junior Web Designer. The role will focus on the design and development of online marketing materials from concept through to completion. Knowledge of creating graphics and a strong desire to work in web design is a must. Exposure to Photoshop or Illustrator will be highly advantageous. Please send CV's and portfolio/ examples of work for immediate interviews.

http://www.technojobs.co.uk/job.phtml/528386
Contact Name: David Macpherson

SPP: Job 2/4

2011-02-21T01:39:00.003Z

Graphic and Web Designer

Link

Graphic and Web Designer (up to 20k dependent upon experience)

This is a great opportunity to join a design led, family manufacturing business at Holme upon Spalding Moor, near York/Beverley which produces a range of standard and bespoke fireplaces, worktops and monumental stone products.

Reporting to the Design Director, the key function of the role is the design of product brochures and point of sale literature for trade and retail customers, to update and design new features for the web site, and has the potential to get involved in product design for candidates with the interest and aptitude.

To be considered candidates MUST have practical experience of Photoshop, Illustrator and Dream Weaver. Knowledge of MYSQL, .NET and CAD would be useful but not essential.

In addition to creative and technical expertise, the position will suit someone who can combine these skills with the ability to communicate effectively with production and marketing colleagues as well as clients.

Whilst previous experience is preferred, we are happy to look at someone of graduate level who has yet to gain the depth of experience but shows the potential to do so.

If you would like to be considered please send a CV and accompanying letter either by post or email to:

Anna Buckley, J. Rotherham Ltd, The Old Airfield, Skiff Lane, Holme-on-Spalding-Moor, East Yorkshire.
Email anna@jrotherham.co.uk

* Ad reference 74101719
* Posted 4 days ago

SPP: Job 1/4

2011-02-21T00:55:00.005Z

Graphic Designer / Website Designer - Nottingham

Recruiter Cordius Ltd
Location Nottingham, Nottinghamshire
Salary £16,000 - £20,000 per annum
Sector Media, Digital & Creative - Graphic Design
Job Type Permanent
Date 14 Feb

Link

Description

HTML, XHTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP (Desirable), Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Graphic Designer, Web Designer, Web Developer, Artworker, East Midlands, Nottinghamshire, Nottingham.

Salary: £16000 - £20000 per annum, plus 25 days holiday.

Location: Nottingham City Centre

Start Date: ASAP

Headquartered in Nottingham, we are a growing company with a fast moving and supportive environment! With a major rebrand of our web estate already underway (6 global sites) and plans to commence rebuilding them all in the next few months, we have a requirement for a Graphic Designer / Web Designer at our Nottingham office.

Key Responsibilities / Accountabilities:

To work as part of the marketing team providing graphics skills and experience. Your role will report to the PHP developer and assist in the re-design and evolvement of our current websites. You will be expected to contribute ideas in discussions, produce concept designs that fit within our brand guidelines and then work with our developer to deliver these as new online content. This online work is likely to include buttons, forms, icons and navigation for the website, Flash banner adverts for online marketing and HTML email campaigns.

You’ll also be responsible for providing offline content, working with designs and artwork suitable for print. Work will likely include corporate brochures, press advertisements and direct mail campaigns.

Key Skills:

Educated to degree level (or equivalent), you will have strong graphics skills and be keen to develop your coding capabilities. A sociable person with at least 12 months experience in a graphics related role.

You should be able to demonstrate the following;

* Strong graphic design skills, use of Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.
* Experience using Adobe Flash (animated banners)
* Creative flair and ideas
* HTML and CSS coding skills
* Understanding of Web standards
* Understanding of Print standards

Cordius is a recruitment business with over 20 years’ experience of the IT recruitment industry and we are confident we can help find your next career move. We recruit Permanent and Contract Development, Architect, Technical Team Lead, Senior Developer, Principal Software Engineer, Software Developer, Software Engineer, Analyst Programmer, Junior Developer, Junior Software Engineer, C#, .net, ASP.net, VB.net, SQL Server jobs across the East Midlands, South Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Derby and Nottingham areas. Please feel free to browse our latest opportunities and may we wish you every success in your search for the 'ideal role'.

SPP: Post graduate course 3/4

2011-02-20T22:57:00.005Z

MA DESIGN FOR INTERACTIVE MEDIA

MA DESIGN FOR INTERACTIVE MEDIA - Middlesex University in London

link

Overview & facilities
The MA Design for Interactive Media offers a unique opportunity to develop practical skills together with special insights into the nature of interaction design. It has recently absorbed the activities of the related MA Electronic Arts, enabling us to offer an even wider range of experience. We learned a long time ago that Interactive Media are not just about the conventional screens of the PC and the TV. They are everywhere in our pockets, on our wrists, on the walls of an exhibition, embedded in other devices. The way we experience them has expanded too. Interaction design includes websites and services of all kinds, television, virtual environments, installations and kiosk systems, games, CD and DVD, advanced educational technologies, ubiquitous computing, multi-sensory input, intelligent appliances and mobile technologies, interactive artworks and digital performances. Our students learn how to design and build everything that falls within the scope of interactive media. In the seventeen years since we launched this world-leading creative masters programme, we have helped to drive the three phases through which Interactive Media has grown first, CD-ROMs; then the Web; and now media which are ubiquitous, pervasive, physical, multi-modal. Whether you want to know how to design a crystal-clear website that communicates with perfect effectiveness, develop a pervasive game played on mobile phones or simply have an unrivalled opportunity to think about where interactive media are going, we can provide what you need. Our students learn to think in new, exciting and useful ways about interactivity - and acquire the skills to put these thoughts into practice.

Research Expertise
The masters programme is attached to the internationally important Lansdown Centre for Electronic Arts, a recognised Research Centre of the university. This multidisciplinary centre has expertise in interactive media, film, video, digital arts and sonic arts. While studying with us you will work with staff of all these disciplines and will also be able to undertake projects with students on related MA programmes if you wish. The range within the Centre's work is extraordinary in many ways art and science, fine art and industrial, visionary and practical, strong on ideas but grounded in real knowledge of our chosen media. Funded and personal research projects enable staff to be aware of, in fact ahead of, the latest developments. This expertise is fed directly into the teaching programme. However this is not a one-way process student-led investigations have been turned into funded research projects and internationally important publications.

What will you be able to do when you graduate
You will have specialist skills in designing and making interactive media. You will understand the range of interactive media systems, products and industries. You will be confident about coping with the constant change that characterises this area of work. You will be very well equipped to develop your working career, or to progress into further academic study such as a research degree.

Content & modules
You take three compulsory modules. Within these you have a great deal of freedom. The first two modules are taken in parallel, while the third and last comprises the final project and dissertation. With the agreement of staff you can develop a programme customised to your needs. The overriding aim is for you to acquire a deep insight into the special characteristics of interactive digital media. Your programme of creative and investigative activity is agreed in consultation with staff. Staff encourage you to identify the connections between the project or projects and theoretical and written work. They also assist you in planning and determining the scale of the project or projects.

Creative Practice
The core software tools, media and technologies required for interactive media are introduced, refocusing your existing skills and practice in the context of new tools and styles of production. The teaching is designed to support your work on projects, rather than as an end in itself. You study interactive media in both breadth and depth; you are particularly encouraged to look at interactive media beyond conventional displays and interaction devices. You have an open choice between blue-skies and market-ready projects, but in all cases you are helped to identify the benefit of interactivity to the user and the relationships between form, content and interaction. With this in mind you are introduced to usability and other human-computer interface issues and a variety of evaluation technologies and approaches. Opportunities are created for collaborative projects with students from other programmes in Media Arts; this is an option you are encouraged to pursue. You may wish to develop your creative practice projects around employed work, whether contracted or salaried. In this case, staff assist you in determining the relationship between the requirements of work and those of the academic programme.

Research and Context
You complete a practical assignment with a clear research goal which you document in a report. By research we mean that the emphasis is on discovery, through working on a project, rather than simply on the making in itself. This shared module runs in parallel with the Creative Practice module. Teaching introduces a variety of approaches to research and professional skills. It allows you to integrate theoretical, historical and critical skills with practical work. It also helps you prepare for the final module, the Dissertation Project. As a shared module, it provides the opportunity for students from the three programmes MA Moving Image, MA Design for Interactive Media and MA Sonic Arts to explore interdisciplinary themes, and this kind of cross-over is encouraged. In consultation with staff you plan work to suit your established and emerging special interests. This personal work is supported by a common series of lectures and seminars examining research methodologies; case studies of successful research work; thematic and contextual issues etc. The module culminates in a detailed proposal document for the major project to be pursued in the final Dissertation Project.

SPP: Post graduate course 4/4

2011-02-20T19:47:00.008Z

Web Design and Content Planning, MA

Web Design and Content Planning, MA - University of Greenwich

link

About
This programme takes graduates from many disciplines and provides them with the skills to plan, design, build and promote effective websites. It is aimed both at people who manage corporate websites and at those who wish to start their own web business. The design of excellent websites presents a notable intellectual challenge and, during the programme, students develop a modern, professional and 'real-world' approach. Our objective is to provide a balanced education in the three main aspects of web design and content management: technical, functional and aesthetic. The technical aspects of the teaching provide an understanding of the tools, technologies and principles used for the design and development of contemporary websites. This includes the creation of semantically correct markup, the separation of presentation from content (HTML and CSS) and compliance with web standards (W3C). The functional aspects focus on the creation of websites with good information architecture that are accessible, useable and findable as a result of effective search engine marketing and optimisation (SEM/SEO). Students learn how people use the web, how they navigate web content and how they search for information. The aesthetic aspects of web design are considered in relation to graphic, artistic, typographic and business objectives, including corporate identity and branding. Student competence in these three aspects of web design is demonstrated by their delivery of a fully-functioning website for their Web Thesis Project at the end of the programme. Typically, our students fall into three groups: those with web-related skills (often self-taught) who need a structured and balanced approach to further study; those who are involved with the web and need new skills to develop their present careers; those who have decided on a career change and see web design and content management as a new opportunity.

Aims of the programme
* To equip students with a professional level of competence in web design and content management
* To give non-designers an understanding and appreciation of design
* To provide students with the opportunity of creating a live website and to measure its success
* To help students become familiar with the growing and fast-evolving body of knowledge within this new design discipline

Content
* Webpage Design
* Website Planning
* Content Management
* Applied Art for the Web
* Web Thesis Project

Found though Postgraduate search - link

SPP: Post graduate course 2/4

2011-02-20T19:07:00.007Z

Web Design and Development PgCert

Web Design and Development PgCert - Birkbeck London

link

Course description
The course focuses on a user-based approach to designing websites and on implementation through standards-based, accessible code; targeted at people working in business; training; education; human resources; publishing; marketing or associated media development; it is also suitable for those wishing to develop a personal project; students learn the skills to evaluate; design; develop and maintain personal or business interactive projects.

About this course
* Targeted at people working in business, training, education, human resources, publishing, marketing or associated media development.
* Develop a thorough understanding of the practical and theoretical skills needed to plan and implement websites that work.
* Undertake a project, which can be work-based and supported by your employer. * Course materials available online.

The key theme of this programme is its focus on a user-based approach to designing websites and on implementation through standards-based, accessible code. It is also suitable for those wishing to develop a personal project. The programme offers practical workshops taught by commercial developers and users, encouraging students to work creatively within an online culture. By the time you start the final module, you will have acquired the skills needed to design and produce a professional website that is both usable and accessible, and that conforms to international standards and guidelines. Sessions focus on learning the skills to evaluate, design, develop and maintain personal or business interactive projects. You will have an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the medium and will use Internet tools to create web-based portfolios and projects. Documenting the process of development in your final assignment will demonstrate your progression during the course.

Modules
Take the following four compulsory modules:
* Module 1: Web Design and Development
* Module 2: User-Centred Design and Project Management
* Module 3: Images on the Web
* Module 4: Web Project.

Assement Coursework, evaluations and project work.

Found through Postgraduate search - link

SPP: Post graduate course 1/4

2011-02-20T18:55:00.008Z

Interaction Design, MA

Interaction Design, MA - Nottingham Trent

link

About this course
This degree provides you with an opportunity to push the boundaries of contemporary digital practice through the exploration of interaction between people, objects and environments using existing technologies, new developments and practices. This will provide exciting opportunities to combine live and digitally created media. The taught elements of the course encompass new media developments and human interfaces, information spaces and interaction as an art form. You will be given opportunities to develop content and unique audience experiences using the full capabilities of new technologies in truly interdisciplinary ways. We offer a great variety of MA titles, but best of all we give you the opportunity to work in a truly transdisciplinary environment. NTU gives MA students their own designated space, where you can meet students from different subject areas and obtain information and support from an MA coordinator and administrator. This makes it easy for you to work with your fellow students, learning the skills of collaborative and inter-cultural sensitivity.

Course content
* You will develop, demonstrate and apply autonomous skills in research, analysis and practice through a structured programme which integrates scholarly and creative perspectives and processes.
* Complete a new body of appropriately contextualised work that will display comprehensive knowledge and understanding of interaction design.
* Practical and managerial expertise in project management and advanced research will be explored in the context of global cultural and creative industries.

You will complete the work proposed in your Learning Agreement; this is most likely to be a significant new body of practice accompanied by documentation of your research and a reflective journal. You may have chosen to write a dissertation and, if so, the length will have been formally agreed previously. In every case you will present your work appropriately, to an audience, in a professional, effective manner. Importantly, you will be in an enabling environment and context that embraces, questions and explores the diverse fields contained with in interaction design. In particular, this course seeks to extend understanding of the ways in which practice works to incorporate cultural and technological developments.

Assessment
Assessment is carried out via coursework at the end of each phase, culminating in an exposition of student work towards the end of the course.

How do you study?
Lectures and seminars are delivered by NTU tutors and enhanced by the visiting lecture programme, which assists students in making professional contacts. Students will receive individual and group tutorials, and be given opportunities to undertake interdisciplinary work as well as regular peer-review presentations. Students will benefit greatly from the expertise of our teaching and supervisory staff, all of whom have exemplary knowledge and distinguished experience within their respective areas of practice. They will have ongoing contact with tutors, as well as 24-hour access to lecture notes and reading material via the University's virtual learning environment.

Research

2010-11-15T22:00:00.006Z

Other Websites Like City Farm

White Post Farm

White Post farm is very simialar too City Farm they both offer the same services etc. The Website for White Post has a hand drawn style to the headers and this works quite well most of the colours used in the website are greens, oranges, browns and blue very natural colours.

They also have a interactive map page where one can hover over parts of the map and it brings up information in the side bar.

More examples of farm websites

Conygree Farm

Butterfly Farm

Client Project

2010-11-15T21:22:00.002Z

City Farm

As for my client project next term i have argreed with Stone Bridge Farm 'City Farm' to create a new lively interesting website.

Our project is an inner ciy farm with animals and gardens growing food for the local community. We also open to the public as a visitors centre and attract around 10,000 visits a year. We undertake guided visits and childrens parties and have an education room in which we host a variety of groups including college courses.

Next the argreement form and client Proposal.

GameCity 5

2010-11-01T22:57:00.005Z

GameCity 5 i was there as a steward/head steward, got to meet alot of developers and people within the games industry. It worked out pretty good for me as i got to sit though most of the talks and meet the guest speakers at the end. Just to name a few people i met over the week;

Keita Takahashi
Game director, his most notable titles being Katamari Damacy and its sequel, We Love Katamari.

Tony Mines
Animator and director most notable work the Monty Python and the holy grail in lego.

Rebecca Mayes
Reviews games though the medium of song.

I hopefuly gained a few contacts out of the event and looking to promote my curriculum vitae though volunteering within the industry.

And i shall leave this post with a Flyer signed by Keita Takahashi.

Tilte Ideas

2010-10-11T23:53:00.002+01:00

Just playing around with a few ideas for titles for my website.

I like design #1 i think the colours and the font work really well together. I think the fourth design works very well too at definalty has a graffiti look to it but i'm not sure it will fit into my design concepts for the website.

Gnatt Chart

2010-10-11T22:47:00.002+01:00

Click on Image to view in full.

Changing Views

2010-10-10T15:44:00.001+01:00

Change Something

I know this is abit off track from websites but i wanted too look into other areas of how companies have been trying too change views. The two examples i have chosen demostrate this very well.

Firstly the Honda 'Change Something' Advert, portrays their new diesel engine as cleaner than the rest. And the second advert by the goverment looks at recycleing in a postive and comical way.

I think both these adverts are relevent to my Pro Piracy Campaign because they are changing opionions of the audience.

Research

2010-10-08T18:39:00.001+01:00

Piracy is Good?

Anti Piracy & Pro Piracy Videos
For this project i started by looking around Youtube for different anti piracy adverts i knew of a couple already so i thought that this would be a good place to start. Piracy adverts come in various forms from the serious to the comical/parody ones. One of my favorites is 'Don't copy that floppy' a anti piracy advert from the 90's aimed at high school audience informing them of the danger of copying games on floppy disks. The F.A.C.T (Federation Against Copyright Theft) anti piracy campaign has a much more seriousness too it and uses shock tactics to get the audience to listen. Unlike Don't copy that floppy Which is aimed at a young adult audience the F.A.C.T advert is aimed at all age groups.

Having seen a lot of Anti Piracy adverts i was pleased to find a pro piracy series of videos by Mark Pesce a Australian lecturer about the future of television distribution in the era of Bittorrent and YouTube. Broadcast in Australia in 2005 to Australian TV producers and executives, it gave a real insight to how filesharing is changing how we view televison, film & music. Mark Pesce goes on to explain how some televison shows have gained bigger audiences directly down to sharing shows via P2P and also ways producer could make money from distributing films in this way. A very insightful talk and worth watcing if you havent seen it.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7

Benefits From Piracy and Sharing

The entire first season of Battlestar Galactica the series was aired in by Sky One before a single American got a chance to watch it. Or so they hoped.

In reality, Battlestar Galactica episodes leapt onto the torrent networks at an unprecedented rate. Some merely minutes after the episodes had aired. Battlestar Galactica became a cult hit amongst the pirate society, and the elusive series’ rogue run contributed to a hype of unprecedented proportions.

Not only did Battlestar Galactica pirates gleefully boast about their score, they inadvertently served as walking, talking billboards for the show, contributing to anticipation that saw the new series received with some of the best ratings in Sci-Fi channel history.

Source

Bad Data Used To Produce Studies On The Effects Of Piracy
After searching online for a while i started to come across articles claiming Piracy figures arn't a accurate representation of money lost due to piracy. Comapnies conducted to carry out piracy research for the digital industry are using the methodology that piracy is destructive to their businesses.

You can't equate the number of pirated copies of software to lost sales.

And thats what the Digital Industry is doing alot of the times. The digital industry at the moment has the attitude that if someone downloads a film/song/tv show etc they are not going to buy it from a shop or online, and their not going to tell anyone about it.

I think the most valuable part of sharing is when people tell friends and other online users that what they downloaded is good and start to generate a intrest in it and becomes more popular when broadcast. So people who may never of heard about it watch it because a friend tells them too and the audience gets bigger.

Feds raise questions about big media's piracy claims
Piracy costs software industry $51 billion in '09
US government finally admits most piracy estimates are bogus

Downloads Appeal to 18-25 Demographic
Something which Televison had lost for sometime, rather than broadcasters schedule program slots more and more people (specifically the 18-25 age group) are choosing where, when and how they want to watch their films/tv and listen to music. The audience is now in control of distrubtion and the individual person has become a global distrubutor of digital media.

Piracy is a force to be harnesed.

Bittorrent and the other P2P services are the most efficient system for sharing digital data.

How Many Companies Have Gone Bust Due To Piracy?

The answer very few, and for the example i found Piracy doesn't seem like it was the main reason why the company went bust. 'Blockbuster Goes Bust In Portugal, Blames Internet/Piracy' is one clear example i could find where a comapany has gone bust and directly blames piracy. However i find it hard to belive that just because of piracy it went bust. I think its more likey that Blockbuster Portugal was using a out of date buisness model and failing to keep up with the times. There are many examples of film renting companies i can think of which are still in buisness e.g. Lovefilm.com and blink box if you want to rent & download films online. Even Amazon are getting in on the act. In many cases Piracy benefits consumers and retailer.

Make $$$ from piracy

The term Hyper distribution or Hyperdistribution is used to describe the distribution of content (Particularly Video) over the internet using technologies such as BitTorrent.
Source

This is how Production companies make money from digital media.

Producer ---> Distributor ---> Broadcaster ---> Advertiser

A new proposed chain aimed at branding digital media made ready for P2P.

Producer ---> Advertiser

The new chain will make more money for the production comapany

Other Link
http://www.ispreview.co.uk/story/2009/08/28/top-10-illegal-uk-broadband-file-sharing-piracy-tv-and-film-downloads.html

Simulated Client Brief/Ideas

2010-10-08T02:24:00.007+01:00

Its always more fun to share with everyone

The Brief:

Produce a short multimedia piece that informs about or illustrates Digital Piracy.

Intial Ideas for this brief is a pro piracy website, rather than discourage piracy i want to create a webste which can promote the benefits to piracy & sharing in the digital industry.

In the media today their are alot of articles, campaigns & adverts agianst piracy and none of them (or very few) address the benefits to sharing. Yet the Media Industry is always trying to get the biggest audience possible for their products, and sharing using P2P sharing services is a way to get a audience intrested in your product, even if not completely above board... however it will not stop word of mouth people using it and promoting films/music/tv etc if its good or bad.

I want to make my pro website interactive and engageing to the user and put sharing in a good colourful light rather than portray it in a negative way. I will hope to add a flash element to the homepage which is light-hearted and add a bit of humuor while informing the user.

And the sequel to that Anti Piracy classic!

Research to follow this post.

Internet Advertising

2010-10-04T20:07:00.012+01:00

I'D BUY THAT FOR A DOLLAR

A hunter shoots a bear is a viral ad campaign created by the Tipp-ex / BIC company to promote their range of products designed to fix spelling mistakes. Within a couple weeks, the video had over 5 million views and currently stands at 10 million views. The ads begin with a hunter and a bear and at the end of the first video you are asked to choose whether you'd like to see the hunter shoot the bear or whether you'd prefer to let it live. Your decision then diverts you to the next video, where you are asked to [literally] fill in the blanks.

In total there are 93 verbs you can type into the video and get a unique response.

This style of advert is nothing new and has be done before but what i liked about it was the interactivity and the way it has been incoparated into youtube very succesfully without the need to go to any external site. Its definatly something do if you find yourself with time on your hands, although once you've seen it once it i seemed to lose intrest in it but got my attention for some while.

Flash Image Gallery

2010-03-24T18:57:00.003Z

It should load...

Flash Image gallery finsihed, overall i am happy with the way it turned out and how it looks. Right now it all works and am happy with it also found a new host to directly hotlink my files to so no more waiting for deviant art to load.

Its been scaled down to fit on blogger so thats why its not so big and hard to view the text but if you look at the picture ones they work quite well.

Click on it to try it out.

Screenshot of it embeded into my website

There were a few issues with size but i think ive fixed most of them now, not looking foward to validating it though...

Page Turn 3D

2010-03-20T00:14:00.003Z

Page Turn Three D

http://www.digicrafts.com.hk/components/page-turn3d-cs

Taking a break from my website for a minute, i came across this really nice use of 3D using flash. PageTurn 3D is a flash component which allows you to build a book which like a real one. The user can turn the page when reading.

I think its a really intresting use of flash and 3D and just shows the potential of flash for the future. What is really good about it is how the user can interact with the book, Turning the pages like you would with a real book is great. The compent also allows the user to adjust the size of the book/pages increasing accessabilty. The user is also alowed to change the camera angle of how to read the book which is another nice feature.

The down side, This is how people make money with Flash, the website digicrafts sells lots of flash compents. This is alright for big buisness looking for new ways to promote there service/product. But makes it harder for others to learn and use these techniques, also i don't have money to waste on this. So i'll be learning the long way.

Which leads me on to one more point, that there are alot of websites now setup for making compents and then distrubuting them for either a small cost or very expensive. Theres definatly some money in making these compents and alot of the more expensive ones use and have 3D elements to them.

Rather than Drawing?

2010-03-19T23:31:00.008Z

Sketch Effect

Alot of Modern Toss creative work has very distinct hand draw style to it. However bad you may think it looks it is apprent throughout there work. I knew this from very early on and needed/wanted to include this within my website, if i had made a website similar to alot of websites nowadays i think i would of lost the character that comes with Modern Toss.

To do this i came to a very different soloution one might expect. I have used Google sketch up in the past and know it to be the easist 3d modeling program to use. I also know that Sketch Up allows the user to apply different styles to their work in real time and not have to wait for it to render. (examples below)

Image to the left just shows what can be achieved with very little editing.

Rather than draw the boxes out, on pen and paper or graphics tablet and waste time finding the right brushes. I saved alot of hassle by making it in Sketch Up very easy to edit and everything is porpotional to each other so no one side is bigger than the other or its not aligned.

I have not just used this technique just for the background of the content boxes, when i was thinking about creating the full flash website i wanted different buildings and structures to appear in my work and this is one of the main reasons i looked to Sketch Up. (more examples below)

Start off with a Sketch Up model which am hoping to use in my work.

Apply Style

Looks like its been Drawn!

The great thing about this method is the fact if you create any model you can point the camera at any point in the model, (the examples above arn't the best camera angles) and have the model any way you need it without the hassle of drawing and re-drawing the model everytime etc.

Colours can be added in photoshop, its also posible to texture the model in sketch up by playing around with the styles. I found this really useful when keeping within the style of Modern Toss. Also while browsing youtube i came across one of their videos i'm sure of which is done using Sketch up as well. The animation at the start can be very easily done in Sketch Up.

Sketch Book Designs

2010-03-19T22:32:00.005Z

Intial Sketches

These are some of my intital Sketches for designing my website,

Design Process 1 : Design

The first image was my intital Design for the website i wanted to make it a full flash interactive website where the user would be able to scroll across the screen and interact with different objects on screen, and each would expalin more about Modern Toss etc. However this plan was to fall short because i did not forsee the lack of tutorials on this idea, moving the screen with the mouse. I played about with some ideas i'll post them aswell soon but i felt by the time it would take me to learn some of them i'd have no time to make the website, so i choose to make a standard looking website keeping within a certain style of Modern Toss.

First ideas for my website, basic layout consisting of pages ive already mentioned in the previous post. This is the best example of the Modern Toss style i wanted to include in my website with the sketchy hand drawn style. The website all keeps in line with the same layout on each page, even though its the same, continuety is best in this case. (i don't think ive seen too many websites where every page looks different - food for thought).

Next page, got tired of drawing the layout so just drew what i would be putting in the main content areas on the other pages. I could write about more but the notes explain the pictures in you click open, and this is becoming more of an evalution.

Website Progress

2010-03-19T14:36:00.006Z

Havent updated the blog in about two weeks so this post and ones after it will probably flood it over the next week or so making up for the past two weeks.

Website Progress

Starting off with where i'm currently at and how i'm progressing with pictures.

Here is a screenshot of website progress currently the about page is nearly finished just lacking the flash banner at the top.

In the picture below, is basically my finshed layout for the all the website pages excluding the index page which is more of a portal.

Ive kept within the design style of Modern Toss by keeping the sketchy edges around the borders where content will be placed. On all the pages there are links to Modern Toss twitter and tumblr, with the two fly characters take from the show added just to make it more like modern toss.

Website layout without the fancy grapics, very simple and stuff not much to say about it. Except The footer and the navigation bars were 100px but they seem to big and in the later versions i changed it, to better suit the layout and not take up so much room.

The website currently has six pages or seven Index portal, About, News, Characters, Movies, Gallery.

Index Portal - Is the main page from when the user enters the URL which is mainly going to be a portal.

About - A page explaining about Modern Toss.

News - will be a PHP page which takes News articles from the database i have set up.

Characters - A interactive flash page displaying characters and information about them.

Movies - Embedded Youtube movies, with a list style view

Gallery - A flash gallery displaying extracts from the Modern Toss comics.

I hope to Make a indivdiual banner for each page, in flash either telling a small story about a character or just displaying different characters.

More to follow this post like sketches and wireFrame work! and everything else.

DESIGN EXERCISE 14 :: Social Network Integration

2010-03-01T17:37:00.003Z

Social Network Integration

Research and identify at least two uses of social network integration not given in lecture. This can include RSS feeds. (research twitter and rss feed scripts)

Social Network Inegration using Twitter, lots of people and buisnesses use Twitter to get their message out there, to promote themselfs. Twitter is becoming more and more popular not only by the celebrity endorsement...

One very intresting use of twitter i found out a few days ago, and could see it actually being used for something good was, twitter posts featuring in LIVE news coverage. With the earthquake in Chillie only a few days ago there was alot of talk from news coverage and scientists about a tsunami heading towards Hawaii.

With a potential Tsunami heading for Hawaii the Hawaiin news coverage was all warning the citizens of Hawaii to get to higher ground. Part of their news coverage was relying on Twitter posts by people from Hawaii telling them what shops were open, roads closed, information like that. The news broadcasters would then select Twitter posts and quote them.

I only know this because i was watching a live feed of the news being broadcast.

I guess with social networking interogration becoming more evident we'll see a lot more natural disasters being updated by Twitter, First hand accounts of the situation.

Identify relevant social networks for your project and discuss pros and cons

For my website, Modern Toss use alot of social networking websites and keep them up to date very regualry. It will be important for me to have these links within my website as they are a ideal form of promotion and allows all the followers of Modern Toss to access recent information.

Modern Toss on;
Twitter - http://twitter.com/modern_toss
Blogger - http://www.moderntoss.com/
Tumblr - http://moderntoss.tumblr.com/

And to finish it off a picture of Twitter.

Websites which don't look like websites but are websites

2010-02-28T22:54:00.005Z

Flash Websites Research

I'm looking to make my website in flash for the current project and here are some examples of flash built into websites.

http://www.dieantwoord.com/index.html

Dieantwoord is a website for the band Dieantwoord, the band is from South Africa and i don't know if i like their music yet? It was quite by chance i found this website after watching a video from one of their songs then doing a search on google i came across their website.

The website is all done in flash with a slideshow background which changes every couple of seconds and replaces the background with a new image of the band which is quite a nice feature, rather than featuring a gallery. The site also plays music on start up, and on the right hand side there is a tab which opens a menu and allows the user to change the song being played, with about 20 songs to choose from.

The Left hand menu is very simple and each item in the menu brings up a feature about the band. The video tab shows a list of band videos, once the user clicks the video the website then takes the user to a page where a video from youtube is embeded.

The website is very well laid out and very simple for the user to understand with the big menu on the left hand side. Overall i like this website as it breaks away from more traditional websites. Some of the background images are abit subject to question but it is in the style of the band.

One more thing

There website also includes another flash element the 'secert chamber' an extra bit of promtoional work, the secert chamber is a full screen flash version of a room which is take from a photograph and certain parts of the room have been animated. When the user moves the mouse over a certain part of the room a voice clip plays, probably some of the bands opionions i'm unsure. The user knows which part of the screen to move the mouse over to hear the sounds because the parts of the room which are animated play the sound.

I like the flash design of this part of the website and it is very different to the actual main website. Also nearly forgot every 10 seconds a member of the band will appear in the center of the room, they fade in then fade back out again.

http://www.yearcourse.org/landing/index.html

Year Course is a website for anyone wishing to take a gap year or something in Isreal. Enough about what the websites about i'll focus on the flash. This has to be one of the most interactive websites ive come across. From the screenshot the website is basically a landscape of an area i presume in Isreal (or the best bits all in one image). At either side there is a arrow which allows the user to pan across the landscape. I really like this feature as it gives the user the ability to explore the website. Once the website has loaded a person comes and greets you, this is a nice video embeded into the website.

The best thing about the website is you get to colour it in! its a real simple feature when you think about it, abit harder in flash to code. There is a selection of colours at the top and the user can click on them and then click the area on screen to colour that are like the paint bucket tool on MSpaint. While doing this there are lots of little sutil animations going on all the time on screen and if the user hovers the mouse over them then they play a sound bite varying from sounds of the sea to music and even the sounds of camels.

Overall this website is very interactive and kept my attention for quite sometime, one of the reasons i think this was because the landscape is quite big therefore i wanted to colour most of it in. The website is what i would like to design mine like for this present project.

Statement taken from YAal Herman's portfolio website, (the man behind the yearcourse website)

yaal herman is a freelance multimedia artist that focuses on the development of creative solutions for businesses, organizations and individuals who require professional class web applications without the media buying, commissions and overhead of a full service agency. With extensive experience in various media, a unique perspective on the marketing-web-art world and a wide professional network, our aim is to provide a creative service that refines and delivers your message in the most efficient, yet artistic way.

I feel this is relevent to our course.

http://www.mauriciostudio.com/

Mauricio portfolio is a good example of creativity. Instead of the ordinary menu, he uses a kind of parallax movieclip, where the user must interact with the stage to explore the site. The user explores the website by moving the mosue to the desired area in realtime and then their are certain buildings/areas the user can click to find out more information. Failing that there is a menu at the bottom which takes the user to that area on screen.

One of the first things which came to mind while browsing this website was how familar to me it looks like a landscape from the Worms games series. The website to me just has the same feel as from the Worms game the navigation and the way the screen moves are very similar, but thats just what i picked up on.

The only bad thing about the website i can think of is the lack of interactive content, it doesn't keep my attention like the Isreal website once you've explored everything thats it nothing new to see and it just becomes looking at the same thing over and over again.

Overall the website looks great and some of his work is very nice but the only downside is it doesn't keep the user fixed to the website, i spent maybe about 5minutes looking at it but i won't look back at it again because there is a lack of interactive content and information relevent to me. But it uses flash very nicely and is quite an original design again breaking away from alot of traditional web design.

Related Information
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/06/07/50-beautiful-flash-websites/

DESIGN EXERCISE: 13 :: FLASH BANNER

2010-02-28T01:11:00.004Z

Flash Banner

Scenario: You work for a web design company that has been commissioned to develop a new campaign for your mobile phone

The part of the site you will create is a simple FLASH animation that links to a main product website and is to be deployed across a variety of websites.

It should consist of at least 6-8 separate sections that include some animation and interaction.
Research your phone and its current advertisement and
build a new campaign banner

Finished Banner

Research
My phone can be found here along with the current exsisting flash advert.

Documentation
When designing my advert i did not want to waste the users time so i made all my flash pages relevent with only vital and important information. When designing my advert i allowed the user to skip to the next page with a button feature on each page so they could spend time watching the animation or not. My advert has few images and only close-ups of the mobile phone, i made the text bold and itatlic to give the impression that my phone is going places and by doing this i'm making bold statements with my advert. - 5 minutes writing this

All my animation in my advert is done using Actionscript.

Problems i encountered when using actionscript, the only reason i added the next button feature to my advert was becasue i couldn't get any of the code i found to move the the next frame after playing the animation it would all skip the animation and just jump to the next frame. I will learn how to fix this in my next animation, but for this advert i made the tactical descion just to include a button to go to the next frame and the user can control that.

I had a few problems with getting the buttons to work on each page, as Flash doesn't like duplicate pieces of code, very simple and easy soloution to this was just to add another character into the button code just changing part of the name and flash loves it.

Advantages i found to using action script to do the animation were i did not have to mess about with lots of frames on the timeline or make a lot of movie clips with actionscript it made it alot simpler in that respect. The only drawback i found using actionscript was i could not play the animation in flash beacuse it was only 1 frame long i could not see where objects would be at the end of the animation which meant alot of guessing and changes to the X & Y co-ords.

Overall i think it turned alright and will be looking to include flash within my main project, and will probably be doing more Actionscript in my flash.

Assignment Brief Two :: Project Design/Ideas 1

2010-02-25T15:19:00.003Z

Assignment Brief Two

Brief: Artist/Arts Organisation Website
Design and build a artist / arts organisation website. A site which acts as a promotional website for an individual/organisation and which will increase both profile and online traffic for the client.
The choice of artist is wide and could include musician, craftsperson, writer etc etc. These must be real individuals either known to the designer or if not known then with sufficient background material available (on or offline) to make an effective ‘mock’ website (not historical or dead artists!). They can be real ‘live’ commissions if available.

For this project i have chosen Modern Toss as my artist/artist organisation. Modern Toss is created by Mick Bunnage and Jon Link. Originally Modern Toss started off as a series of cartoon booklets and books aimed at adults they also feature quiet regulary as a comic in the Gurdian, and recently they designed the cover for the Gurdian tv times pieces doing the cover and serveral other images inside to promote the live episode of Eastenders for some annerversry or something.

There biggest fame came when channel 4 commissioned two television series of a comedy sketch show of the Modern Toss featuring characters which appeared in the books and comics. The cartoons feature low-quality drawing, offensive language, violence, and satire of mundane life.

The reasons for choosing Modern Toss, well for one i like the show and always laugh at the cartoons. A better reason for choosing Modern Toss is they currently do not have a website set up. The creators have a blog set up and twitter feed and all that but they do not have a website which is can showcases there animations and creations. I would like to design a website to showcase their creations and solely focus on promoting Modern Toss.

Modern Toss is ace. It started out as a series of comics, some of which were later compiled into proper books and finally culminating in the production of 2 series' of televisual crudeness. The drawings are shit, the animation is sketchy, the subject matter's mundane and the language is extremely offensive - perfect.

sourced - http://www.wednesdayblog.co.uk/post.php?id=13

[Front cover for the Gurdian]

Ideas to follow this post and everything else!

Star City :: Nottingham Contemporary

2010-02-24T22:33:00.005Z

Star City

So went to Nottingham Contemporary seen their latest exhibition 'Star city' with a pretty awesome tagline 'The Future Under Communism' The exhibition is showcasing art with a view to the future from a Communism viewpoint. Their are some quite intresting instatilation pieces. What i particuly like about it was the russian art from the cold war, which was basically propaganda art, to make help promote the soviet space program and to make people belive that this is the future and space travel is only a step away.

The art and instationation pieces showcased are from russian artists and designers, and i found it more intresting to see work from a different point of view rather than from the view of Capaitalism all the time. With Russia opening up more and more work is being displayed what the west would never have seen.

I like all the visonary images of what the cold war had planned for the future and see them as truely inspiring, and often wonder why we havent got a lot of the technology today, but i assume polotics has alot to do with it. Ideas from the Cold War era seemed to lack limititations and it seemed like anything was possible if they could beat America & vice verser.

Overall it was a intresting exibition piece and intresting seeing times and ideas from another point in the world i like it alot and in a way hope some of the pieces can help influence my work in the future.

Ive included some more photos;

[Valentina Petrovich Viktorov, Creative Forces of Socialism are Endless! 1959, poster]

[Soviet Poster]

[Images from the Russian space program.]

[One of the instilation pieces.]

[A model of Sputnik 1, 1957]

Twitter

2010-02-19T10:33:00.004Z

Twitter

Signed up on twitter, now i have twitter feeds straight to my blog which is on the right hand side. Unsure what i will use it for. Probably only say i'm watching Steven Seagal on youtube or things like that.

Never been a huge fan of Twitter but to conquer Twitter, you must first become Twitter! So i figure i'll learn and watch how Twitter works to better defeat it in the future.

Some Twitter Stats

The biggest changes are in the U.S., which accounted for 50.9% of unique Twitter users and 56.6% of total tweets, which suggests Twitter users in the U.S. are more active than many users around the world.

U.K. users accounted for 8.1% of total tweets, compared with 7.2% of unique users, while Brazilian users account for 6.73% of total tweets compared with 8.79% of unique users.

Modern Toss

2010-02-09T01:35:00.008Z

Modern Toss

"Modern Toss the stink of excellence in a world gone tits up!"

For a while now ive been thinking of how to write about Modern Toss and make it relevent to my work and practice and while rewatching old clips and finding more information about it i found a very nice application for Modern Toss in todays media.

I'll start by explaining what Modern Toss is and why it appeals to me. Modern Toss is a British series of cartoon booklets and books aimed at adults, and a television series based on them. It is the creation of Mick Bunnage and Jon Link. I first got into Modern Toss when they were shown on channel 4 a few years ago and have liked them ever since. I find their humour to be very dark and surreal and blunt at the same time. A similar show to Modern Toss was Monkey Dust which is probably a even darker comedy.

Some popular Modern Toss sketches incude:

- Mr Tourette: a French sign-writer who produces offensive signs bearing no relation to his customers' instructions. This usually culminates in his customer being totally unhappy with the work and Mr Tourette calling them "some kind of cunt"

- Alan: a sociopathic, scribble-like creature who plays extreme practical jokes on his middle-class brother-in-law, usually involving Alan turning up uninvited to a social event, causing a large amount of destruction to the tune of "I Like To Move It" by Reel 2 Real before running away, leaving his brother-in-law to shout "Come back, Alan, you wanker!"

- Citizens Advice: irate and often illogical complaints from members of the public about goods, services and employers, usually concluding with the question "where do I stand legally?"

- Work: conversations with disgruntled or complacent employees; for example, a man phones in from home, saying, "I've heard the printer's broken so I won't be coming in"

- Drive-by abuser: a man on a moped who shouts pointless insults at people, animals or inanimate objects he drives past.

- Fly talk: conversations between flies about humans they've encountered, sometimes mentioning celebrities including Chris Martin and 50 Cent..

Sourced http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Toss

Drive-By Abuser iPhone app

Aswell as Modern Toss being on television and printed in books it has managed to make its way on to the iphone with a very nice and simple appliacation. The appliacation consists of sound bites taken from one of the characters from the television show and allows the user to play them via the iphones speakers. This application looks very simple and easy to make with little bits of animation and a nice easy menu looks very easy to make and to develop. I like it because i like Modern Toss, i have a feeling people who have not seen Modern Toss may not quite get the jokes but unless they like the abuse then they'll find it funny if not then they won't. Here is a example of the application on the iphone.

Modern Toss work shown in gallerys

The last thing i want to mention about Modern Toss is how there work has been showcased in gallerys and some made into posters. In my opionion Modern Toss is not just a badly drawn cartoon, there are much worse than modern toss and have been drawn better but they all lack the originality and humour Modern Toss pocesses. I don't know if i want to go as far and say its art but i definatly like it and love the style it is done in and shows that you don't have to have the nicest designed picture that it can be just as good in any style you want. i belive the writing and the jokes to help alot too.
Catch you later, yeah?

More examples of Modern Toss and links.

video 1
video 2
video 3

http://www.moderntoss.com/
poster

Design Exercise 11 :: Ipod and beyond

2010-02-06T22:46:00.017Z

Research and evaluate three distinct platforms for digital design display. Compare & contrast

The Ipad

Lets start at the Ipad shall we, this is going to be the first digital design platform i am going to be looking at. I'm a PC rather than a Mac but i'm going to discuss it anyway because its a new peice of technology and quite popular at the moment even though you can't buy one.

Is it really that new? I don't think it is, lets take the design and the main features, well its a rectangle don't get me wrong i think they've been around a long time now so the shape of the Ipad is definatly nothing new. The Ipad also has a touch screen, again nothing new, it allows the user to use their fingers but whats wrong with a stylus surely if they included a stylus they could make it a iSketch to rival the graphics tablet. The most successful touch screen platform on the market would have to be the Nintendo DS, which could still probably do more than the iPad. Lastly the third main feature i consider is the app feature which is nothing new and was all on the iphones which can't even run multiple applications. The ipad is nothing new!

So after establishing the iPad is nothing, new what are the social and political implications for the Ipad? On the social side there will be a monthly subscription for the Ipad required for Wi-Fi internet access, this won't include telephone calls. I don't see how it makes sense to buy an iPad over a laptop, with a laptop (no i don't mean net book) you have hundreads more features and they cost less and the user with a laptop would probably end up paying for a internet connection anyway which would cost less than the monthly subscription Apple charge. Socially the iPad can be used for facebook checking emails and probably some instant messaging client. The thing i have noticed while researching the Ipad is the lack of a camera, if the Ipad had included a camera then it would open up more ways for the ipad to allow users to communicate with each other, a fantastic example would be face to face video messaging, it would then justify why Apple never included a telephone feature and would probably kickstart the way we make phone calls in the future.

Political implications for the ipad, i can see the ipad becoming exclusive for information where companies and buisness start creating their content solely for the iPad. A example of this in the future could be news companies will start charging for their content with a small fee for iPad users. This would elminate a lot of lost revenue by giving away content for free.

[Ipad Vs A stone]

The Ipad is clearly lacking alot of features compared to Laptops one of the major features it is missing is the flash plugin. So any content off the web which requires flash won't run i belive flash to be very important in the future and will disccuss why further in this article. They might of done this to prepare for HTML 5 but HTML 5 won't be ready until at least 2012 which is still a whole two years before it is released (HTML 5 will play video without flash etc). Apple still won't allow flash, but that doesn't stop them from false advertising! All these features the Ipad lacks will obviously encourage hacking the ipad, because ipad users will want to view all the content they can't view. Hacks will ultimatly be deterimined by how popular it is if its popular then there will be lots of hacks aviable if not then ipad users will be left with limited view of the world and the web.

With so much restrictions on the Ipad; no flash, monthly subscriptions, subscription news services the Ipad becomes another tool controlled by the big corparations when they only let you see what they want you to see and therefore control the information. The only real upside i see to it if another rival company develops a tablet computer to rival the ipad and make it a stand alone piece of hardware then allow open source or other companies to develop software/operating systems then the potential for a tablet computer could be huge, rather than restrict access like Apple is doing. Theres so many things i could say about how bad the ipad is but i think i'll leave it at that.

Flash for TVs and set-top boxes

The second digital design platform i'm going to look at is for televisons. For so long televisions have been a one way form of displaying information with very limited interactivity like pressing the red button. For a long time now televisons have focused on the hardware and its only recently with set top boxes that manufacturers and broadcasters have thought about developing better software and applications for televisions.

Last year adobe announced they had done a deal to put its Flash software into many of the chips that go inside TVs and set-top boxes. It will enable developers and content providers to create applications to deliver web-based content such as news, weather and share prices to TV screens.

The implications for this technology are huge and will revolutionise the way we watch and interact with televisons in the future. The social implications of this technology are probably the greatest of all, it will allow users to interact in a whole new way and make it more like browsing on a computer with information at the end of the remote. I can see it bringing people together again because familys will sit down infront of the television and watch their favorite shows and be able to interact at the sametime, with the development of flash for set top boxes i imagine this will eventually become real time. At the moment its at a early stage of development with plans to release set top boxes with flash chips built in later this year. I can easily see ways how it would dramatically enhance the users experiance, take for example all the reality talent(or talentless depending on your viewpoint) shows a interactive voting system could easily be set up to vote for a favorite or to evict someone, rather than the system now when viewers can call in. This would increase the amount of votes any show would get because alot of people who watch phone in shows do not phone up, in turn this would give a more accuate opionion of what people actually like with more people voting. Then it wouldn't be hard to program some nice real time graphics to show the stats of everyone voting. This is just one of many examples i could see how it would improve viewing experiance.

The political implications i can see are taking alot of power away from the big companies and broadcasters and making it easier for users to generate their own content. With the development of flash for the set top boxes the television will become more like the web and how we use it will change. All it will take is a flash based browser to allow streamed content off the internet on to televisons. Rather than users watching channels provided now there will be even more choice with access to the internet, such sites as youtube and other video hosts. With sites like justin.tv and livesteam, it will be very easy to broadcast your own shows and rival the main chanels.

User live show ---> Host it on livestream, live ---> Flash browser ---> Stream on tv

I can only specualte as the technolgy isn't at this stage yet but within the next 5 years i would definatly expect to see something like it. It can be done today but does not use any of the flash ideas mentioned in this article.

There is so much potential with flash for televisions and this is what i do not understand why Apple are not willing to use it? Adobe are willing to develop it for apple products, i belive it has been developed for the iphone recently not just the lite version. But in the end i see televisions emulating what we see on the web allowing more user generated content which will be fantastic and take away alot of the controlled media. We'll probably also see that televisions become home entertainment systems and will be a all in one device. With this development televison has secured its place as a peice of technology everyone will have in the future and ideal to create and develop for.

Related links
Adobe Flash secures set-top deal
Flash moves on to smart phones

Smart Phones

Third and final digital design platform i am going to discuss is going to be the smart phones. Smart phones are the new breed of mobile phones with easier access to the internet and alot more interactivity than conventional mobile phones. They have become more accessiable to the masses literally within the last year because of falling hardware prices and becomeing cheaper to produce and lowering the price, also contract plans have become cheaper.

One of the smart phones main selling feature is the PC like functioning, that you can run applications like on a computer but don't have to be at a computer which makes them an ideal mobile browser with the internet to log on to social networking sites and update everyone what your doing every minute of everyday. And unlike the new Ipad they still have the abiltiy to make phone calls and keep in contact. With alot of the smart phones they also include Flash so are able to run flash applications and games, even the Iphone has the flash plugin even though it took abit of time to actually get it.

The social implications for the smart phones have already been witnessed over the last few years they allow users more access and plenty of ways to keep in contact with each other. But they are not just for keeping in contact most of the smart phones now have GPS and can use map finding applications a common one being Google Earth on many smart phones. There not just for looking top down though they can also use their camera and point it at certain spots to find information about a certain place or object. This is ideal say while travelling in a foreign city or viewing pieces of art without descriptions. The Smart phones also have the abiltiy to run numerous applications and theres a huge market and demand for them, some considered userful and others i see really no point to them but there there anyway here is a example of one.

[App controls a car]

Poltical implications for smart phones, there are ALOT of smart phones on the market and coming to the market this year all to rival the Apple Iphone which is the most sucessful smart phone at this moment in time. There are plenty of hacks for smart phones and the iphone being the most popular their are more hacks for that which allow flash plugins and allow even more access to the web because Apple like to limit it. One of the ways other smart phones can rival the smart phones is to allow users the abilty to edit the source code and create new apps and intrest in there phone i belive the google android have done this.

The future for smart phones will only grow and grow because no matter where we are in the modern world everyone has a mobile phone and there will be plenty of opportunities to develop and create new phones. I do not see a fall in in intrest for smart phones anytime soon they are here to stay.

In Conclusion

One Years time i see flash playing a huge role in developing interactive software and applications for televisions and smart phones across the industry. The ipad will probably sell alot for those who want a limited view of the world and the web, i think ive justified not buying one for myself in the near future. The potential for televisions is huge and we are only at the begining i see there being plenty of oppitunitys to design and develop this type of media in the near and distant future again like the smart phone the television will only become more popular.

Kyan Media

2010-02-05T09:54:00.006Z

[Kyan Media Homepage]

http://kyanmedia.com/

Yeah!

Look up and think,

Kyan media is a web design and development agency based in Guildford, Surrey, England. The website is a showcase of their work and includes a gallery with links to all client projects they have worked for. It has a simple yet good navigation, interesting colors and a pleasant way to display content. Also, another thing that you can benefit from this site is the portfolio. You could find a lot of great samples for inspiration.

The main three colours (although white is a shade not a colour) blue and green being the other two. the colours are very bold with both bright blue and the bright green. The bright blue representing the sky and the bright green representing the ground to like grass. The colours work very well and is a change from alot of websites which use alot of white and grey.

The layout is nice for the home page with not having to scroll down and relevent information and news at the top. The bright blue takes up the top half of the page where as the lime green takes not nearly as much space up. There are also nice little qwirky graphics just hidden almost on the webpage with a paper aeroplane and a small worm burying its self at the bottom there are also clouds!

[Kyan Media portfoilo page]

Their style is very simple and almost comes to look like a old cartoon with the bright colours 'fun use of illustration'. It uses bold 'punchy' images in the top.

There are also lots of links to other websites to find more information and too promote themselfs, like twitter links, also a blog and some other things, flicker too.

Yeah the sites alright if you wish to view their work but thats all its good for, unless you want information about Kyan media then its great ... (i guess thats why its set up) but after looking at it for so long its all the same on the pages just are the same no differance.

[Kyan Media About Us page]

Oriental Rug Gallery Progress

2010-01-28T11:58:00.002Z

Homepage design.

More to follow

CATMAN Series

2010-01-27T13:37:00.004Z

CATMAN JUMPS

Following on from my last post i started looking at the links in the previous video and came across,

http://www.aoike.ca/english/

While browsing this site i came across another awesome flash movie, which in turn led me on to the video i embedded. The site is designed in flash and looks very nicely designed, however i don't think its been kept up to date as the top news article displayed is 2006, but other then that i like the layout of the site.

Now continueing with my flash theme i found a nice animation, CATMAN was created by Ryosuke Aoike a Japanese flash animator. The stories are about a solitary, easy going cat who thinks that something is wrong in his life.

This was Ryosuke Aoike's first flash animation series which proved a huge success in Japan with more than 6million views on Atomshockwave just for one of his videos. In total their are 15 episopdes of CATMAN, 2 secert episodes and 1 music video. In 2003 the CATMAN series also won the GRAFIKA design festival prize for Best Digital Animation.

CATMAN Series1 Ep1

Link to 'Blind' offical music video for the song the film which got more that 6million views in japan and was nominated for the best music clip over the year in 2002.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyMubC9vgPc

How do i find this stuff?

2010-01-24T19:18:00.005Z

Hashire! ! Cat huh?

Well theres talk were doing flash in the coming weeks and i don't really know how i found this on youtube but i think its pretty awesome, its from Japan. If i could of found a site hosting the swf i would of posted it rather than embed the youtube video.

But like i said its from Japan the main character this small cat and the video makes perfect logical sense, maybe if i serched some more i'd find out the name of the cat but theres alot of youtube videos with it in and other character, still pretty awesome animation and i really like the video.

Its popular in Japan and it was just by chance i found this.

Retail Establishment Website

2010-01-22T10:42:00.005Z

Design Breif

Design Exercise 10
RETAIL ESTABLISHMENT WEBSITE
Choose a real life local example of a trading retail establishment….restaurant, clothes shop, music venue, bar, dry cleaners, clock shop, pawnbrokers..whatever…
Must be a currently active establishment. Does not have to have a current website operating.
Research then design and build a xhtml/css website to WC3 standards in 14 days!

I have chosen to do the Oriental Rug Gallery on Mansfield Road Nottingham. It was one of the first ideas i had upon receiving the brief, there website is like any other informative site and looks reasonable too.

I would like to change this and make my site more about the rugs and viewing different rugs from different cultures in a different style. I really liked the style of the Designers Republic and hope to design the website in their style of design. I would also like to add a profile to each rug with a list of stats. I'm also thinking if i can make a 3d element with papervison although my skill now with it is none i have done some research into it and if i have enough time would like to add some of this the site.

Website Image

Wire frame for website

2010-01-22T10:29:00.005Z

Here are my wire frame designs for my website, ive tried to keep it simple no fancy graphics included yet. I have limited my website to three pages because i want to emphasise more on looking at the rugs rather than buying them.

[Homepage]

[Gallery Page]

[Contact Page]

[All three in one]

Three NON web design :: Ralph McQuarrie #3

2010-01-18T01:03:00.010Z

Ralph McQuarrie Ralph McQuarrie is a designer and futurist responsible for the look of the original Star Wars trilogy. He worked on all three movies, Ralph McQuarrie is responsible for some of the most iconic designs in cinema history to name a few Darth Vader, The Death Star, X-wing fighters R2 D2 & C3PO. His designs were taken straight from the screen and made straight into products a lot aimed at children having a huge influence on them and there likes. I've played the games and I can easily identify a X-wing from a Tie fighter and I think thats why Star Wars is so successful because Ralph Mcquarrie's designs are so iconic and good. Not only did Ralph McQuarrie work on Star Wars but he also did the concept designs for Battle star Galatica, Cocoon and Jurassic Park and many more.

A Long Time Ago . . .

As unimaginable as it may seem now, when George Lucas initially showed his script for 'Star Wars' around Hollywood, the reception he received was far from enthusiastic.

In fact by the time it reached United Artists and Universal it was greeted with outright rejection. A decision they doubtless regret to this day. . .

"I think it was a sin that those people looked at it and didn't grasp the scope of the images George wanted to relay, but they didn't see any drawings."*

RMQ

George resolved he wouldn't continue relying upon studio execs to use their imagination. He decided he would utilise Ralph's talents to spell out how the movie would look.

When he made his pitch to Alan Ladd Jr. at 20th Century Fox he did so with a table full of Ralph's art.

The rest as the say is history.

Sourced http://www.ralphmcquarrie.com/gallery_1/star_wars/hope/index.html

What i like about Ralph McQuarrie is his a designs are iconic and easily recognised and made contributed into making Star Wars a huge sucess. The designs reflect an era during the cold war where the Americans & the British to an extent were creating new weapons to deter Russia from attacking and it was exactly the same from Russia's point of view. During the cold war space travel and experimental aircraft were being developed and i think Ralph McQuarrie's work reflect this.

Star Wars created instant icons Darth Vader, Storm Troopers, light sabers, the death star, boba fett with Star Wars fans although not being in the movies for huge amounts of time and many more icons. Star Wars is a fantastic piece of design as the story of the film allows the audience to engage in this new world and we see all these exciting new ships and new worlds. I like the design of the orignal films much better than the 3 prequel ones where rather than a actually story its more of special effects show reel. The orginal films instantly has more reconisable designs than the new ones.

How may Ralph McQuarrie influence my practice his concept designs are not just designs they are art. And if i reflect this in my practive i suppose thats how he will have a influence on my work and if i ever decide to start drawing the future or maybe designing the future.

Pictures

Three NON web design :: Isambard Kingdom Brunel #2

2010-01-18T00:34:00.009Z

Isambard Kingdom Brunel

Probably one of the greatest British designers and visionaries of the 19th centuary and even up unitil this day his work has stood the test of time. He changed the landscape of the United Kingdom throughout the industrial revolution with his bridges, railways, tunnels, trains, buildings, ships, piers, stations, docks and a hospital.

“By his death the greatest of England's engineers was lost, the man with the greatest originality of thought and power of execution, bold in his plans, but right,” wrote Daniel Gooch of the great engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel. “The commercial world thought him extravagant; but although he was so, great things are not done by those who sit down and count the cost of every thought and act.”

Sourced http://designmuseum.org/design/isambard-kingdom-brunel

What i like about Isambard Kingdom Brunel is his creations are ussable and look good at the same time, they don't seem to look out of place in todays modern world, maybe because the world has been built around them and they've been there for so long. His creations showcase a period of time when Britain was leading the world in design and enginering. We were waiting for the world to catch up, something we've lost today.

The Royal Albert bridge today does not look dated yet it was constructed in 1859, over 200 years old i think its a testiment to great design. Again its showing no challenge too small the way it stands over the tamar river almost over powering everything around it. Today now its accompanied by the road bridge next to it.

More things i like about Isambard kingdom Brunel is even the constructions no one will see even look great, like the arches in the thames tunnel, does its job and looks great as is the case with alot of Brunel's work. Like today we'd just get a tunnel built (Eurostar) out of concrete and thats all it would be, wouldn't have any of the art & design it would just do its job, which is good but Brunel made his designs into art.

How might Brunel influence by design & work in the future, well if i can design something which is still here in 200 years time then thats how. Not just to design something but then to make it last and influence other people at the same time. Brunel may of gone but folk use his creations everyday and probably without realising it which is in escence true design.

While researching Brunel i came across a tongue in cheek documenty of brunel's work "Great" very funny and quite intresting.

Links

part 1
part 2
part 3

Pictures

Three NON web design :: The Designers Republic #1

2010-01-14T14:32:00.010Z

The Designers Republic

http://www.thedesignersrepublic.com/

http://www.pho-ku.com/

The designers Republic is a graphic design studio created by Ian Anderson in Sheffield. The design republic is known for its anti-establishment aesthetics, while simultaneously embracing brash consumerism and the uniform style of corporate brands, such as Orange and Coca-Cola.

An early client was Leeds band Age of Chance, for whom they developed a series of record covers between 1986 and 1987. The sleeve of the 1987 12" "Don't Get Mad... Get Even! (The New York Remixes)" was selected as one of Q's "100 Best Record Covers of All Time" in 2001. In 1994, Emigre magazine devoted a whole issue to the Designers Republic, a copy of which was bought by NY MoMA. This issue is still Emigre’s best-ever seller and is now sold out - copies having fetched in excess of $750 in auction. The Designers Republic was introduced to a larger audience by their record covers for the English electronica label Warp Records (also based in Sheffield). In addition to designing the covers for much of Warp's roster of artists, such as Autechre, Aphex Twin and Boards of Canada, tDR has also created covers for other label artists such as Fluke, Funkstörung, The Orb, Pulp (and Jarvis Cocker), Pop Will Eat Itself, Supergrass and Towa Tei. Outside of the musical sector, tDR created the visuals, packaging and manual for the PlayStation/Sega Saturn game Wipeout (1995), the interface for the PC game Hardwar (1998), and packaging and posters for the first Grand Theft Auto (1997). They cooperated with the Swatch company in 1996 to design their own watch. They also designed the packaging for Sony's AIBO.

Sourced
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Designers_Republic

[Wipeout Playstation cover]

The reasons i particularly like the designers republic are because they did the covers and alot of the design for the wipeout games on playstation 1, although when playing the game i years ago i had no idea who designed it and wasn't too bothered but recently it came back and ive now discovered who made it. What i like about it is it is designed in a way to stand out from other designs and designers. To me it looks like they are designing the future and if the futures going to look like this then it'll be pretty cool.

[Wipeout team logos]

The designers republic use bright colours to make a bold statement about their work, the way the media throws anything at us from every direction possible is how i see their work. I feel with the bold colour schemes which are alot to do with advertising and gaining attention make their work seem like a advert even with the japanese text or symbols running down some of their work it looks like there should be information there. True they are a design company and do work for huge corprate clients, but to me their work also looks like art and possibly other people to, and some of their work has been shown in art gallerys.

[album cover]

[Pictures]

Waterfall & Whirlpool Development Models

2010-01-04T15:44:00.006Z

Describe, compare and contrast the 'Waterfall' and 'Whirlpool' software development models.

The Waterfall development model is a popular software development model originally designed for manufacturing and construction but has been adapated for software development. The Waterfall model operates in a squence of events/steps which must be completed before moving on the the next step. Like a waterfall it is all down hill.

The original model had 7 steps where the adapted Waterfall now only has 5 steps which are;

Requirements
Design
Implementation
Verification
Maintenance

The waterfall development model povides a structured and easy to follow method for designers to follow. This is important as it is easily understood by everyone working on a project, it also makes it easier to set deadlines for tasks to be completed by a certain date.

The Whirlpool software development model or more commonly known as the spiral development model. The model incorparates both designing and prototyping software, the model overcomes some of the drawbacks with the waterfall method as it allows those using the spiral model to go back and reevaluate, redesign and change things in a cycle unlike the waterfall method. Going in a cycle allows the software, product, thing to be improved everytime the cycle goes round ultimatly improving the product.

There are 4 steps in the spiral development model these are

Determine objective
Identify and resolve risk
Development and test
Plan

The spiral model recognizes the benefit of rapid prototyping, wherein the "bottom-up" people gain insight at a rapid rate that the "top-down" people can learn from. Thus a cycle of continuously improving the design requirements becomes possible during the design itself. It is thought to allow a more optimal final design, based on the notion that there are no suitable experts that can write the requirements at the start of a design exercise that will lead the team to an optimal design.

Describe how the 'whirlpool' SPIRAL software development model can be applied to web page design.

The spiral development can be applied to web page design by first designing a webpage, once it has been designed the spiral cycle allows the design team to go back and find out what the users require or fix any problems which have occoured, this can be a proccess over every couple of months. By doing this it keeps the user intrested and users expectations. the web page can change like to keep with the times and keeping constant traffic to the webpage while also improving everytime.

Essay Finished

2009-12-17T17:38:00.004Z

Although while writing the essay i thought of the best way to improve my network and all i need is a Starship. The greatest Network finding misson ever really, forget contact cards and going to events.

Space: The final frontier
These are the voyages of the Starship, Enterprise
Its 5 year mission
To explore strange new worlds
To seek out new life and new civilizations
To boldly go where no one has gone before

My Network Map

2009-12-16T22:52:00.002Z

My network map.

Homepage Progress

2009-12-10T15:24:00.003Z

Intial layout of the Boots Libary home page i think its a good layout and easy for the user to navigate with with the menu and tabs being at the top also the colours are quite neutral and does not hurt to look at it.

Progress so far now with content added and one of the javascript functions added this will probably be the theme through out the 5 web pages. The text may be made bigger and colour of the text changed as well just so it stands out more against the background.

Five Questions

2009-12-10T09:17:00.005Z

(1) Define what constitutes a 'statement' in Javascript (JS)?

A statement gives a command to the browser and tells the computer what to do.

(2) Name three different types of JS variable?

Strings
Arrays
Objects

(3) Using JS array 'myarray', what is the syntax to access the 5th element?

Need a Multi pass to access the 5th Element

myarray [5]

(4) How would you use a string class to change some text to upper case?
Replace
var str="ramming speed";
document.write(str.replace ("RAMMING SPEED!!"));

or

var str="ramming speed!";
document.write(str.toUpperCase());

(5) What is a 'class' and how does it relate to the JS document object model (DOM)?

A class makes changes to an element, it can also make changes within a DOM

Website banner development

2009-12-09T23:45:00.006Z

Banner

Well most websites have pictures running across the top of them so heres one ive been working on one and has become my final design and to appear on my Boots Libary website.

Here is the banner without any text or information, i think it adds a sense of mystery and the unknown to the website also enlightenment because the libary is overflowing with information.

Few facts from the Boots Libary

480,000 books
34,000 e-books
10,000 e-journals
1,300 printed journals

And Here is the Banner with text and information, Containing the element of mystery and the Boots libary with NTU in there aswell.

Wonderwall :: Website :: Review

2009-12-09T19:41:00.005Z

http://wonder-wall.com/#project/en

Wonderwall

Wonderwall is a website set up to display the interior design studio run by Masamichi Katayama. The website is different to how it displays work having a big grid structure stretching the length of the page, and when the mouse hovers over a any image changing its form and playing a water drop sound which gets a bit repative. The structure also remembers the users click history and changes the form, it kind of tilts the grid to an angle its a nice feature but it also messes up the text at the bottom which is abit annoying if you wished to read it, you would have to tilt your head if you really wanted to read it. When a image is clicked on it loads another page giving a description and a link to further information.

I really like the way this website displays the work and like how the formal grid structure changes into a more fluid object when the mouse is present. Very innovative design and keeps the user at the website even if their not reading the content .

Example of a fixed website

2009-11-20T11:25:00.004Z

Fixed website example, the website is formatted & fixed so the text will not move.

Fixed width (pixel) rather than a percentage (%)

Example of a fluid Website

2009-11-20T11:10:00.003Z

Two examples of a fluid template, where the user can change the browser size and the webpage will adjust accordingly.

lbiatlanta :: Review

2009-11-19T15:20:00.003Z

http://lbiatlanta.com/

3d interdimensional rotating rings.

I like this website layout and intresting navigation rather than using the mouse like everyother website, the Ibiatlanta has a nice 3d interface navigated by using the arrow keys and the space bar, alot like the controls of some old computer games.

To select a panel by pressing space, then the website loads the panel effectively zooming in on the tower. The website is very easy to navigate and set out very well and quite simple. I like this website because of the 3d aspect and i see more websites like this as the websites evolve and improve and computers get better and have enough memory and fast internet connections to run these websites.

Quake Live

2009-11-19T14:43:00.003Z

http://www.quakelive.com/

Quake Live
Quake live is the designed to run on computers running Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X or Linux, the game is downloaded and launched via a web browser plugin. Quake live is a variation on Quake 3 deathmatch, Quake live is all about multiplayer there are no campaigns in quake live unlike 1, 2 & 4. a internet connection is needed to play.

Quake live is free to play, with over 40 levels and 5 game modes, for anyone who likes quake its pretty awesome, there is only a small download the game is hosted on quake live servers and not much space is required on a computer to run the game.

Quake live shows the future and advancements of web appliactaions and games on the internet, and shows how 3d applications can be used within the internet browser like the last website i reviewed.

Another games like quake live is battlefield heros built up a good repuation but when it came to beta testing it got a lot of neagtive reviews. I have played quake live and found it pretty fun and is exactly what i expect from a quake deathmatch.

Links
battlefield heros trailer

Colour Wheel & Colour Combinations

2009-11-13T11:11:00.005Z

Heres a nice colour wheel

Colour Combinations

Brown & Red

Not the greatest colour combination however it works at christmas.

Blue & sliver

A better colour combination doesn't hurt the eye to look at and has a modern style look to it.

Brand/Logo RE :: Coloured

2009-11-13T10:19:00.005Z

Change the colours of a brand/logo, how do you feel about the brand now? what associations do they have before and after?

Original BBC logo

Sinister BBC logo

Well the logo now looks more like an evil corparation, its not friendly, it puts fear into to those who look at it. Before the logo looked Respectable very simple, clean and meant no harm to anyone, where as the redesign gives all the opposite impressions.

Original Morrisons logo

Redesigned Morrisons logo

The Morrisons original logo looks nice enough its very bold black standing out against the yellow but also i think quite dated and could do with a redesign bring it into the future. My redesign of the logo does it no favours, infact it makes it look worse i changed the colour to a browny shade of yellow which looks unfresh if your selling food like, beacuse it looks like the colour of moldy banana. Further investigation Morrisons do have another better designed sleaker logo.

Olymipics logo

Olymipics logo Redesign Animated

Well the original Olymipics logo i still don't like and it looks like its from the 1980's a bit like ashes to ashes, but i still think the colours are awful. Ive inverted the colour and animated it so now looks like its having a proper rave.

Website Review :: bandit3

2009-11-11T20:09:00.004Z

http://www.bandit3.com

From the the fwa website i found a pretty awesome website http://www.bandit3.com/. The website is fully 3d, allowing the user to have a freelook around a 3d environment of a inner city area. The website is set up for promoting bandit3 a kite boarding company, however to someone who has no knowledge of kite boarding could maybe make a vague reference to it but thats about it, first it was not clear what the website was about. Through exploreing & later reading the fwa's description of the website it became more clear.

As i explored the 3d inner city space from a street view it took me to videos of more about the company and other information, there are scenes where the user can look freely around the environment and to go to other sections there is a cut scene which automatically takes you there, this is good not to lose the user in the website but bad because it takes away an element of free looking around and exploring the website.

I really liked this website not for the content but for the environment and thinking about it, it probably wouldn't be too hard to use it in other things, like a tourism webste or in a 3d based game. The models seem simple with pasted texture what looked like photos put on to them so i think the concept is quite easy, overall i liked the website.

Wire Frames

2009-11-11T18:00:00.006Z

Ive finshed the wire farmes on photoshop and decided on the content for each page.

Homepage - Overview/about
2nd page - News & Events
3rd page - Libary services & features
4th page - Gallery of images
5th page - contacts & links

Pictures included below,

All of them in one image, indivudal ones below this.

Click to see the full image

5

4

3

2

1

Wire Frame Sketch book images

2009-11-04T18:16:00.005Z

Sketch book Images, digital ones to follow shortly.

First design then second design

Second design explored more with the tab idea, different versions of the design.

Building::Structure::Environment - Online Environments

2009-11-04T17:08:00.003Z

Online Environment:: Website

Who will the online environment be aimed at?
The website will mainly be aimed at those who are eligable to use the libary, regular users of the libary but also information for new comers as well.

What is the online environment for?
The environment is for users to find information about the libary, it will also promote news and events and include useful information about the libary.

How is the online environment organised?
The website will be oraginsed over 5 seperate internet pages with a background/main template and the user can navigate using tabs in the page (i will post pictures later to explain more what i mean). The website will have 5 sections

Homepage/overview
News & events
Libary services/features
Gallery
Contacts links partners

How will the online environment be updated and managed?
Probably have to be updated weekly or daily depending on the frequency of news and events within the libary.

How do you feel about the online environment?
Sure another libary website.

What problems can you see, predict for a online representation of this environment?
Maybe the coding because my knowledge of coding at the moment isn't that good because i'm still learning.

Building::Structure::Environment - Physical Environments

2009-11-04T16:00:00.003Z

Physical Environment :: Boots Libary

Who is this environment for?
The physical environment is mainly for students & lecturers.

What is the environment for?
The boots Libary main purpose is a libary containing a vast collection of books and information, the environment is provided by Nottingham Trent University to support stundents & lectuerers in the exploration for more information. The libary also has seminar rooms for members of the university to hold meetings and other events there are also lecturer theaters on the higher floors.

The Library facilities at Nottingham Trent University have more than 531,000 books, more than 2,800 journals as well as online access to over 10,000 online journals and nearly 300 databases. If you want to go and study there are silent study rooms, as well as rooms for group study if you want to work with your friends or people from your course. There is also access to computers and the internet 24 hours a day.

* Boots Library is on the city campus and has the resources for the schools of art and design, design, social science, business and law.

How is the environment organised?
The Boots libary has numerical system for the books stored in the libary, the physical layout of the libary.

- Lower ground floor :
Has the majority of print journals
The Information Skills Training Room is used by LLR staff to provide regular training sessions
The Time Out Room

- Ground floor
Reception Desk
NUS card scanners & security
Self service issue and return machines
Computers on the ground floor
Wireless zone
Information Desk
Audio Visual Material section
Group study Rooms

- First floor
Houses the majority of the books
Art & design books and material
More group study rooms
Silent study area at the back of this floor

- Second floor
This floor is a slient study floor
Bigger books live on this floor
Law books & material on this floor

- Third floor
The Third Floor of the building houses the Bass Management Centre and is not part of the Library
This is where the lecturer theaters are

- fourth floor
The Fourth Floor is a large resource area with over 180 PCs and study spaces
Scanners and colour printing facilities are available
4th floor open 24/7

How is the space signposted/ negotiated?
There are plenty of signs around the unviersity pointing to the boots libary, it also right in the centre of the city campus and adjecent to the Nottingham Trent tram stop, can't miss it.

How do you feel about the space?
Pretty awesome.

What problems can you see? predict?
Gaining pictures maybe but then people might get in the way, or there might be angry libary staff, i don't think i will have too many problems gaining information about the libary.

Albino Black Sheep

2009-10-28T21:48:00.004Z

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/

Albino Black Sheep is a site which hosts flash videos, flash games, users can also upload music to the website. Albinoblacksheep has a very nice site layout which makes it easy for the user to navigate. At the top other the homepage they have a box with all the popular featured flash videos & flash games. Each section has a similar layout with promoted videos at the top and then a category view to browser content.

All the content is user made and anyone is free to create a account and upload on to Albinoblacksheep. Albinoblacksheep is responsible for quite a few popular videos on the internet which have found there way in the mainstream part of the internet. Some examplesyou might of heard of are, Badger, badger, badger, The Ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny, Salad fingers & Peanut Butter Jelly i'm sure theres more but there the ones i can think from the top of my head.

Other notable flash movies the less well know ones some of my favourites
The Demented Cartoon Movie <--- 33minutes of genious
The french Erotic film
The end of the world

I really like this site and others like it, and hope that some of the content influences and reflects in my work.

Building ::Structure::Environment, Ideas Stage

2009-10-28T21:01:00.004Z

We have been asked to find a building, gallery, structure, environment that would be suitable as a subject for a website.

Design build and deploy a minimum 5 page website that is validated to WC3 standards and includes at least 3 interactive javascript routines.

Ideas
These are the ideas i wrote down

-Pub up the road, "The Golden Fleece"
-Nottingham Square
-Website about sand??? well its here because i wrote it down
-A boat
-Boots Libary
-Inside a train.

Intial thoughts is i think the boots libary would be good choice as it has easy access for informations and images for the website, the other ideas are still good but at the moment its more towards the boots libary.

and heres a picture of the boots libary

Picture source

Internet Maps

2009-10-28T14:33:00.004Z

First a good example of a internet map

The picture posted above is great, when we were asked to make a map of the internet with post it notes, we started by putting the most popular sites visted nearer the top and made a nice hirearchy of Popular sites and past times on the internet, with more popular at the top and least popular at the bottom.

Although it is difficult to make out what the post its read i will explain it here, at the top of the board we had Google personally i don't think anything can be more popular than google at present. Google is everywhere on the internet and even when you not looking for it.

Underneath Google is the rest of the internet i'll call it level 2, there was facebook, Youtube, ebay.

Under that BBC iplayer, flickr, bebo, twitter

Then the rest of the internet follows, but thinking about this whats defined as popular by us from the UK would/might be different to say in America not by much, but China i think if they were to make a list it would look very different to what we made.

However in about 5 years it will look different again, and will keep evolving until the internet becomes self aware and refuses to be used by humans and ultimately declares war on humans.

Lighter note i found a nice websites which tells everyone the 50 most popular websites.

http://mostpopularwebsites.net/

Design interviews read & comment

2009-10-21T19:16:00.004+01:00

Two articles read & comment.

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

Dan Saffer: 'Interaction design is an applied art

Joel Schafer

This was the second article i read, i found it too be quite breif and not really go into as much detail as the other one. I didn't really find the article that intresting there were a few key points like what computer language is needed and the useful links at the bottom of the page but other than that it wasn't really that informative.

Dan Saffer

The first article i read was and still better than the second, the answers are much more thougher and go into more detail. The areas which stood out for me were talking about how we as interactive designers will come to use the touch screen and should be well educated with how it works and what can be done with it. I think that as designers we should probably understand and have knowledge of what were designing for until the next new peice of technology comes along and we have to start over again. The other point he raised was mistakes by good designers not coming up with different designs, i think thats a useful bit of information to know.

Three sites lead by the People

2009-10-16T13:25:00.000+01:00

DRAWBALL

http://www.drawball.com/

Drawball.com, as the name implies, is a Flash site where you draw freehand inside a giant ball. Drawball consists of two balls, one for more serious, legitimate drawing, and another for vandalism. All the art on drawball is generated by the users and anything can be drawn or drawn over so there will always be new content generated. Drawball is free for anyone to use and you don’t need to download any software (except maybe flash), no sign up is required there is also a forum where you can post/show off the work users have done and claim credit for it.

Screenshot of Drawball from a few months ago.

Sketch Swap

http://www.sketchswap.com/

Sketchswap.com is a site that allows users to draw something on screen then submit it to sketchswap & receive another a picture another user has drawn. Users can draw as little or as much as they want to recive a picture. When reciveing a picture it is drawn in a nice animation of how the user drew it. The site on whole is very easy to use as there is only one page & a large white box to draw in using the mouse. There is not really much of a user community to go with the website, a couple of google searches led me to articles but no community. People again can draw win anonymity.

Sketch i recieved

YTMND

http://ytmnd.com/

Your The Man Now Dog is a is an online community centered on the creation of hosted web pages, users can sign up and submit there designs and YTMND will host them. Most of YTMND consists of Pictures & music added together making a reference too popular culture or inside jokes. Most of the content which is uploaded on to YTMND is from all over the internet and recycled into even more crap. YTMND is a good example of user lead websites beacuse it allows user freedom to design whatever they want and if its popular becomes a "fad". The site is also very easy to navigate and with a nice search tool.

Example of YTMND's

Boris Vs the germans

Internet

The site which started it all.

FLASH MOvie

2009-05-06T15:21:00.000+01:00

So Far

Started on the movie coming along good & should be finshed with it soon, few screens of it so far but heres some i have.

Intial background concept

Then the background i made in photoshop

Avatar: SKA CROW Development #2

2009-04-28T12:16:00.000+01:00

Part #2

Added the eyes and coloured the Crow.

Pretty Much finshed Crow still debating wweather to add wings & sun glasses i think it looks ok without them but havent decided if i'm going to animate it either.

The hat

And the Crow's legs.

Avatar: SKA CROW Development

2009-04-28T12:07:00.000+01:00

Stages of development of my Avatar in 3D studio MAX

*start from the bottom*

Made a nice tie for the crow, got style now.

Modelled the hat (refer to part #2) then add it on to the head of the Crow.

Made the Crow's tail bigger to fit in with the design of the SKA CROW i had previously drawn.

Modelled the legs in another window refer to part #2 then imported them into the Crow and linked them/resized them.

Started with a cylinder in 3D max made it into the body of the Crow.

Showcase Box visuals Part 1

2009-03-23T23:11:00.000Z

These are my first designs for my showcase box which is going to based upon a underground bar/club. This is only the first part of the bar because if you may of have noticed there isn't a door so part 2 of the design will include the entrance of how to get to the bar. Modelled in Sketch Up took about an hour, then just changed the style. I did this just so i can show people what i want it to look like before i start modelling it in 3D Max which is what i want to do and will probably start doing that over the easter break.

Visual #1

Visual #2

Visual #3

Few quick Sketches to start with:

tell i spent alot of time on this one

Final Logo Design

2009-03-23T18:25:00.000Z

Note whenever i posted it i think underneth it there will be text just saying "SKA CROW Productions" just so those seeing it for the first time will know who designed what there seeing when looking at my work etc.

Here's my final logo design,

Gantt Chart

2009-03-23T16:32:00.000Z

Gantt Chart click to enlarge view in full & all

Identities, All wings report in!

2009-03-21T15:50:00.000Z

This post is just going to be a summary of my ideas, what they are and where i see them going.

I'll start with my my Logo, which is pretty much completed and i will post it after i have written this in another post.

Avatar:
Is going to be a Crow the bird & hopefully look like the crow which is in my logo only 3D and animate. I have done sketches of this and will start to make it it in 3D Max soon.

3D box/Showcase Room:
Refer to Mood board which has huge text saying "the Jam", i want the box/showcase to be an underground bar (sketches to follow soon!) so if i can the user gets to walk around it and click on indvidual items(virtual objects) in the bar which opens up the other the 5 elements which reflect my personal identity. Or still have the walk around feature and when the user walks to a certain area it could trigger 1 of the elements etc, i'll come to that when i have made the box, those are just the ideas i have got so far.

Audio Visual element:
I was thinking of doing something in flash creating a short movie, have another idea which involves a crow again (i think in the breif it said something about continuetity so i think i got that bit covered) but yeah my idea, starts of with Crow landing on a bin, like they do. Then further on in the movie it starts taking/finding objects out of the bin - the items keep getting stranger & stranger, until i think the crow will find a light saber then another rival bird who has has a light saber conicidence? maybe... But back to the story they end up having a duel thats as far as ive got, i started a story board for it and will post it on my blog soon. <--- thats only 1 idea i may find something better.

2 Other elements which reflect my personal Identity:
Maybe a website, just from the seminars we've had on websites
other than that i'm still thinking about it.

Logo Design & Development

2009-03-20T21:04:00.001Z

Following on from My avatar Sketches i started work on my logo design, i already had an idea for it in my head but it didn't look as good as i thought it would be, but soon came up with another idea which looks just as good.

Taking 2 things i like then putting them together to make a logo, in the style of a logo.
1.Crow
2.Ska

After Drawing the bird i then moved it on it to photoshop where i created part of the logo.

Fist image without sun glasses,
Second image with sunglasses.

I belive the crow with the sunglasses looks better, and thats why i choose it for my Logo

After creating the Crow in Photoshop i set about making it into a logo, the picture below was my original idea however it didn't look as good as i'd hoped. The crow might be a bit big for the circle but it looked better than a smaller version i tried before. Soon after i came up with another idea picture below the picture below.

This in my opionion looks far better, and sort of has a element of humour to it aswell.

Variations of the same design, just playing around with the gradient tool on photoshop.

Avatar Sketches

2009-03-20T20:53:00.000Z

Avatar Sketches

My main Influences were i ussally use 'crow' as a username when signing up to online stuff so thought why do something different or think up someting new when i already have a name user which is personal in some way to me. Refer to the Ska Crow mood board as well.

Writing Tasks Part A & B

2009-02-24T00:03:00.000Z

Writing Task Part A

My creativity in past years has been for college and in my own time My creativity in my own time was generally making films will my mates. However if you ask what my creativity has been for while at college I would say for a qualification.

Who has it been for? College & YouTube

I have done it this way because I prefer it to studying/revision, I would rather be creating something which I would enjoy rather than say revising for a test. I think college wise its mainly been my decision but with out of hours stuff its been a collective decision of what to do.

Future of my creativity I would like to work in the film or television, to apply my talents to the multimedia industry.

Writing Task Part B

In what specific ways can research get me to these new places? Maybe by researching for an essay which is needed to pass the course and get the qualification and then on to a job in the multimedia industry and beyond all though the power of research.

I am probably most drawn to the descriptive research starting point.

I'm sure all the research points have a point therefore none of them seem irrelevant to me.

Third MoodBoard Underground bar

2009-02-11T21:20:00.000Z

In this moodboard i wanted to show my ideas for for i want my Interactive box to look like. I want to make it like a underground bar for where my Avatar can hang out & chill, i like the they style of the Mods, mainly thats the reason i choose the jam going underground cover i think the style of Mods & Ska are quite close.

Mood BOArds

2009-02-06T13:06:00.001Z

Moods Boards

Avatar Mood board

ShowCase box Mood Board

3D Studio Max

2009-02-02T23:57:00.000Z

3D Studio Max
First attempt

Modern Toss

2009-01-18T23:56:00.000Z

Modern Toss is great, it mixes Animation with live action, was on channel 4 a while back. Some of the best sketches are with Alan (posted below) a sociopathic, scribble-like creature who plays extreme practical jokes on his middle-class brother-in-law, usually involving Alan turning up uninvited to a social event, causing a large amount of destruction

GET THE CAKE FINISHED

2008-12-16T00:40:00.000Z

GET THE CAKE 2 by ~crow063 on deviant ART

INTERACTIVE NARRATIVE

2008-12-09T21:24:00.000Z

Intial Ideas
-Quiz
Steven Seagal quiz
-Maze
type game user would click which direction to go very simple try and find the centre etc
-Get the cake
fun game where the user tries to get the cake

My first orginal idea was to go with my first idea which was the Quiz, so i thought up of quite a few things of how i would like it to look and made a background. Then i found a problem with it because i wanted to be able to keep track of the score & which questions the user had got right, but being the first time i'm using flash i don't know the code so i kind of gave up on that idea.
here is one of the backgrounds i designed for the quiz.

So after rejecting my first idea i thought i would try one of my other ideas "Get the Cake" in this idea the user has to try and get the cake and every time the user does they progress to the next level. each level will have a menu of 3 options which are all different animations but only 1 will be correct and progress the user back to the next level, if the user picks the wrong one then they will go back to the level screen and be able to try again.

Here is the first level of the "Get The Cake game, it isn't finshed yet there are still a few things i would like to change minor things which will be comppleted in the final version.
Please ignore the sound as i just left it on from the action script, (it will repeat itself if you rewind it & start again, like i said one of the things i will be changing)

GET THE CAKE by ~crow063 on deviant ART

Here is the Narratives structure for the Get the Cake game.

Things needed
I'm planning on making 2 more levels and having 3 levels as a minimum
add a music track to the flash movie
make a new page for "try agian" so rather than try again just come up have a generic page which shows up instead and bit more of delay on the last part of the animations

One shot 1 Film production

2008-12-05T01:41:00.001Z

StoryBoard

Here is the storyBoard
For the sleep walking idea, also i'm probably going to invest in a sketch book next time rather than do it on lined paper.
(click to enlarge)

Location Shots
The film is planned to be set in me kitchen at the Maltings, where i'm staying :) only problem we have is that it may not look too much like night because there is a window futher on the right just out of the camera shot, however there is a big metal shutter we can close to block the light out

Day 2 Night

2008-12-04T22:05:00.000Z

Well i had this idea in my head for a while, of Day changeing into Night. I set up by camera looking out my window and took a picture every 5 minutes for about an hour, 12 pictures in total and then stuck it in windows movie maker made the transitions for each picture as small as it would go. Then imported the movie into Photoshop and saved it as a .gif file. I felt it wasn't long enough to upload it on youtube and it only plays once, where as now it being a .gif file it which just play forever & repeat.

for a first attempt i think it looks good but i want to re do it again mainly because i didn't realise how short it was going to be, so next time i'm going to take more pictures and will upload a higher quality version for YouTube maybe even add some sound. And next time i will have a more stable base for the camera.

well here it is might take a while to load...
(click on the picture to see the full picture, blogger decided to cut some of it out...)

One Shot, One Film

2008-11-26T15:49:00.000Z

Group Meeting, Ideas

Here are the notes we`ve taken on Monday with regards the ideas for the one-shot film:

1. Split-screens : 4 different stories played out on a split-screen

2. Circular story on adjacent laptops (though the stories that are played out are different, there is a continuity of action from a sequence shown on one screen to the other)

3. Adbusters (street art, advertising subversion, night scene....more details)

4. Police station interrogation (maybe try to film it from different perspectives...again, can make use of split-screens)

5. Waist-bellow shot (we have to find a narrative idea for this one)

6. Again, split-screen. Only this time, one story from different angles (not perspectives, just angles)

7. Something along the lines of the introduction to the movie Snatch

8. Big Brother rooms.
-House mates talking to the camera each house mate comes into shot then leaves and the next one follows, or just a random scene in the Big Brother house

9. First Person Movie,
- think the Nrowich advert is a good example of the idea (only ours would be without the cuts just always stay first person)
mmm biscuits, make first person film in a metting.

10. Sleep/drunk Making food
- fun idea everyone gets hungry in the night just who knows what you make when your asleep?

Glass Of MILK

2008-11-25T15:43:00.000Z

Fridays editing seminar
Film "The Autopsy"

all she wanted was a quiet drink, i'm pretty pleased with it because it made me laugh so thats always good i think.

Complementary Colours

2008-11-24T17:07:00.000Z

Complementary colours are, two colours on opposite sides of the color wheel, which when placed next to each other make both appear brighter.

In the first 2 images i changed the colour of the sky to Red (and in some parts pink), i did this to show how the green and the red contrast each other and both make each colour stand out. The building was originally green so i didn't change the colour of that.

In the next two images i changed the blues in the picture to oranges and the green dark colours to purple to show how orange and purple contrast each other, this makes the picture look kind of surreal but i think it shows well how complemtary colours work because in the first picture you have to look harder to see the blue van, but then when i changed it to orange it clearly stands out in front of the purple tree line.

Both pictures were taken at the Colour and light exibition just outside around the grounds.

Colour and The Intangible Exhibition at Djanogly Art Gallery, Lakeside

2008-11-19T15:42:00.000Z

So Sometime last week, Friday I think went on a cool trip to the Colour and The Intangible Exhibition at Djanogly Art Gallery, Lakeside. Got a few pictures 007 style (they didn't like people taking pictures) so I'm going to write about one picture which I could get a decent picture of, which is the one which looks like its of a old BT advert...

So what was the Artist thinking about when he/she Designed the spinning vortex of colour? Well one possibility is that they had seen a BT commercial from a while back which looks very similar to the Artists work, so that could be one of the things which influenced them. The Artist was trying to make the colours stand out from the background making it a more striking image, attracting the viewer into the picture. The artist has initially only used the 3 primary colours and as the specks of light cross then you see the other colours made by mixing of 2 primary colours. If you were to interpret the image I think a good way to describe it would be to say that if you have these these things were are fine by themselves but then bring them together and mix them up to get something new and maybe even better.

Rule of Thirds

2008-11-16T15:17:00.000Z

Rule of thirds is a rule in film & photography where the picture is divided up into thirds by a grid. The object in the picture has to be where the grid interersects are and this is supposed to create more tension and energy in the picture! check the examples below to see what i mean,

Pixelation Project

2008-11-09T20:59:00.000Z

final edited movie, qualitys abit poor but i blame youtube for that.

Why design?

2008-11-04T00:48:00.000Z

Why Design?
Ok looking around my room for something to write about nearest thing too me my Nintendo DS, that's a pretty neat bit of design. Its says here “why is it we want our belongings to do more for us than function well?” Personally I'm happy with my Nintendo DS the way it works and looks, but I suppose other people will want them to look good at the same time. They can show it off to all there friends, work colleges etc.

The latest version is cool therefore I'm now cool for having it and everyone will be not as cool as me because they don't have the new version they've all got the older versions which aren't as cool any more. I believe it works something like that if you have the latest version of something you are cool until a new one comes out.

“Why are we willing as soon as we can afford it to pay extra for things with appealing forms”, easy answer because it probably looks better. It will do the same thing as the old version, just it will look better. I can use the Nintendo DS as a great example because I still have the original when it came out never really cared for the Nintendo DS lite. (soon to be replaced with the Nintendo DSI third in the Nintendo DS generation) The Nintendo DS lite looks better but I don't feel I have to buy a Nintendo DS lite just because it looks better because my Nintendo DS does all the same things as a Nintendo DS lite would do, only extra features I can think of are it has a bigger stylus, cover for the GBA slot and a adjustable brighter screen. Maybe when it breaks I'll consider getting a Nintendo DS lite, but it hasn't broken yet. Other people may want to upgrade as soon as a new one comes out and they'll probably will be cool for doing so.

Pic Related: my DS

Multimedia Technology - Fiber Optics

2008-10-27T17:50:00.000Z

Multimedia Technology

“There are 2 types main types of Broadband in the UK, one use copper wire, one use strands of glass” quote Samuel L Jackson. Fiber optics is the future of broadband in the UK and probably the world. Fiber optic lines are strands of optically pure glass as thin as a human hair that carry digital information over long distances.

Fiber optics are revolutionising the way we send and receive informations in business and in our everyday lives, however main homes in the UK may still be using conventional copper wires. Homes using fiber optics have plenty of advantages over conventional copper wires. Some of the main advantages of using fiber optics are fiber optics higher carrying capacity, because optical fibers are thinner than copper wires, more fibers can be bundled a cable more than copper wires. This allows more phone lines to go over the same cable or more channels to come through the cable into your cable TV box. Another advantage is the way the data is transmitted though light signals rather than electrical signals this is a big advantage because it uses far less power than a electrical signal in a copper wire saving money at the same time with the use of less power to transmit the data. Optical fiber also has less signal degradation so there is no need for signal repeaters, unlike copper wires. Those are just some of the advantages.

The Impact on society say if everyone had access to fiber optics cables would be great no longer waiting for downloads, instant streaming off websites, no lag on games and that's just things I can think of for broadband. Fiber optics has more uses than just broadband though data storage, telecommunications, networking and Broadcast/CATV. With a good network of fiber optics everyone will be able to access information from around the world, kind of like we have now but faster and using light instead of electrical signals.

“BT has unveiled plans for a £1.5 billion fibre roll out across Britain. The company claims that as many as 10 million homes will have access to the fibre network by 2012.” quote http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/212199/bt-announces-fibre-rollout.html

My view on this as the biggest telecommunications company in the UK its a start but still leaves 5/6^th of the UK population on copper wires with an up to 8mb high speed. It's a start but 20 years from now I hope we'll all be on fiber optics and enjoying the advantages of the paragraph above this one.

Samuel L Jackson believes in fiber optics and so do I.

Links

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/fiber-optic4.htm

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/212199/bt-announces-fibre-rollout.html

Questions

2008-10-07T12:36:00.001+01:00

what do i want to get out of the course? well i want to have fun and enjoy what i'm doing want to get in to tv/film, film making side of it learn some 3d animation skillz

first week not over yet
Lol T.R.E.N.T army yeah over at the student union most nights :D

o0-0o=0o

2008-10-07T12:22:00.000+01:00

yarrr! first blog at NTU