Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Wireframe wk 5


So I've come to realize that I'm very into Graphic design, as in designing movie posters, ads, logos. So for a side project I have decided to design an original movie poster based of star wars because I am a huge star wars fan. The image to the right is the design I have come up with so far. Its still a work in progress but I like where it's going so far. I would gladly take any ideas and critiques.

  As for my planning and wire framing I knew I wanted to do a design similar to many star wars movie posters so I went to movieposters.com for some inspiration. I already have a few images I had done myself and wanted to incorporate into the poster. After using a few of these images I played around with the placements and added filter to give all the images a grainy, cartoonish feel. I'm still currently playing around with the placements of images and trying to find and interesting typography for the title. Again any ideas are welcome. Some images are from various star wars properties.






Tuesday, March 20, 2012

TYPOGRAPGHY wk 4


MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB
This is more of an artistic style to be used more for headings and to make a title pop out at the viewer. It’s an interesting design while still being easily legible.


MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB
This text feels a bit more festive. You wouldn’t use this kind of font for more serious, business like designs. When I see this it makes me think of The Nightmare Before Christmas.


MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB
This style would definitely be used more in a childlike environment. I can see this font being used with anything that is for kids.
This seems like a good use of typography. The title has a uniqe design that pops but so underneath the text is legible to make  sure you understand the logo.

I just find this to be awesome.

Terrible use. I have no idea whats going on here and it hurts my eyes and my brain.



Tuesday, March 6, 2012

ilab 2 espn.go.com structure

ESPN.GO.COM

Today in discussions in class we touched on the structure of web pages for good or bad. I brought up ESPN.go.com as a good design and decided to talk about that for the week 2 ilab focused on site structure. ESPN.go.com's site is structure is hierarchal. Information hierarchies are the best way to organize most complex bodies of information. Because web sites are usually organized around a single home page, which then links to subtopic menu pages, hierarchical architectures are particularly suited to web site organization. Hierarchical diagrams are very familiar in corporate and institutional life, so most users find this structure easy to understand. A hierarchical organization also imposes a useful discipline on your own analytical approach to your content, because hierarchies are practical only with well-organized material.

Espn uses a multitiered hierarchical or tree architecture. This arrangement of major categories and subcategories has a powerful advantage for complex site organization in that most people are familiar with hierarchical organizations, and can readily form mental models of the site structure

ilab 1 IGN.COM



 IGN.COM
There is only one place I need to go when I want to get information on the least news in video games, movies, comics and tech gear and that’s IGN.com. IGN has everything from cool videos, interesting random articles, reviews in different media, and prize give always. There is always a lot going on with this site and it is amazing that it doesn’t become a mess with having so much content. I come think of no better place to go to analyze a website.
DESCRIPTION
IGN is a multimedia entertainment website that puts a focus on gaming. In gaming they cover every platform from consoles to PC and even handheld and mobile gaming. The site itself is full of content. When you first go there you will notice the feature articles are the centerpiece of the site and take up the most space as it is accompanied by a huge image or video. These feature articles also rotate which saves space on the page and displays more content. Navigation elements can be found at the top of the page. Click on the button for which group of entertainment you are focused on looking up information on. Underneath the feature section is a list of the latest articles, reviews and news. On the right side of the website there is a section where the latest IGN produced video is displayed along with the latest games that have come out.
AUDIENCE
The site is meant to appeal to the gaming community which demographic age ranges from 18-34 though mainly on the 18 and older crowd. The site contents images and video that contain some violence and sexuality but nothing over the top which would be considered rated R. IGN produces different video shows for gaming news and movie information while also written many articles on different media and entertainment.
CONTENT PAGES
IGN has a solid 20 different content pages so I decided to quickly analyze a couple of them.  I have already described the home page in my intro section so I will start off by analyzing the about us page. In 140 words or less this about page quick divulges information about IGN the even I did not know. The page is very simple no frills information that makes a statement on who they are, what they have done and who they are associated with. The about page also has links to email them and to follow them on twitter and facebook. The movies page is quite similar to the home page as it shares the same exact same design principal but the content is solely on movie entertainment news.

 Design
The sites design does seem to succeed in appealing to its audience. It has ever changing but visually appeal backgrounds and banners. The newest and most important information the viewers are looking for is very easy to find and navigate to. Videos, images, web shows, and some games keep members coming back for more. The site also makes it easy for PC gamers to find and buy games with their direct to drive service which allows for games to be bought and downloaded.