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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
