Oriental Rug Gallery Progress

Homepage design.

More to follow

CATMAN Series

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?

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

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

Website Image

Wire frame for website

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

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

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

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

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;

1. Requirements
2. Design
3. Implementation
4. Verification
   
5. 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

1. Determine objective
2. Identify and resolve risk
3. Development and test
4. 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.