Bestwood Client Project ~ Interaction #1!

As Ashley has just set the task of thinking about possible ideas for interactivity whether he likes it or not I am including the idea of incorporating a game idea such as 'Gold mine'. The game play is simple yet effective and a game we could easily incorporate into the pit mine we are looking at. Basically you collect pieces of gold and have a target score to reach. There are other objects underground which are worth fewer points or remove points and also bonus objects to collect. Below is the version currently available.

Gold Miner

This is my design idea for a coal mining remake!

Another simple yet effective interaction, although possibly aimed at a lower age range then suggested by Debs is the use of print off sheets or perhaps creating an image for the user to colour in online. For a younger age you could print off an image of the pit mine for the child to colour in. Or for an older age range we could look into printing off an activity sheet to be completed whilst visiting the mine.

Bestwood Client Project ~ Design #2!

For this design I decided to go with a brighter feel with the colour scheme as it would give the site a fresh feel hopefully appealing to a younger ‘youth’ audience. The pit wheel and miner images stand out with the use of block colour and there is scope for the bottom image to change on different pages to reflect the information included. The use of the black and white images still shows that there is a history of the mine and links into the greys within the design well. The side navigation works well within the layout as it balances out the bottom image and is clean and simple. I incorporated a footer within this design after reviewing work on Ashley’s blog and finding that I liked the use of a footer within his designs.

Feel free to comment :)

Bestwood Client Project ~ Design #1!

This is one of the designs I have come up with. Although it is simplistic I feel the bold colours give it a modern twist and appeal to a younger generation. This could be built on with the use of flash to perhaps create a shake effect, on the highlighted section of the image and within the interact section with perhaps games for the user to interact with. The colour theme will be continued throughout in the same places for consistency however the colour used will change for each section.

Feel free to comment :)

Bestwood Client Project ~ Design #1…Text!

Ok so I have started initial design ideas to put forward to the group and client by the end of the week but I am struggling with decisions on a font!!! Below are the fonts I am considering so any comments on preferences would be greatly appreciated.

Technic

Swis721 BdOul BT

Orator Std

OCR A Extended


Letter Gothic Std


Dotum

After viewing them altogether in this format ia m inclined to go with Technic, and as usual revert back to my first chocie!

Bestwood Client Project ~ Market research…websites liked #1!

http://www.ernesthemingwaycollection.com/

The first thing that really drew me to this site was the use of the images down the left hand side of the page. They are bold and striking and immediately give you a feel for who and what the website is about. This technique could easily be transferred into our own designs with the use of mining objects such as those found in our brain storming exercise.


The second thing that caught my eye was the large old style picture across the top of the page. This picture sets the colour scheme and allows the menu to neatly sit across the top. The text used within the site has a feeling of being handwritten and I feel this gives the site a personal touch.

Within other pages there are substantial amounts of text that I feel could have been broken up either with an image or border to give the user a break within reading. However images are used well within the different pages in the sense that the top and side image change to a picture related to that subject. I like the use of the title bar being situated across the image and although obscuring the image slightly I do not feel it takes anything away from it. This is a much more artistic way of displaying a heading rather than just simply having it in text at the top of the page.

The use of a tabletop as the background to set the scene further works well and has lead to the idea of possibly using mining blueprints or coal as a background to our site as it will help the user to identify clearly what the site is about.

Bestwood Client Project ~ Market research…museums #2!

The National History Museum

I choose the national history museum as it is at the other end of the spectrum of what we had discussed of achieving, yet is still a museum based around history. The layout and colours of the site give it a vibrant fresh feel and bring the history into the future. The menu bar is clear and the user is drawn immediately towards it with the incorporation of an image bordering it. The downfall of the homepage is the scale of information included within it, for the user there is a lot of information to digest and it could turn the user off from continuing within the site.


When visiting the other pages of the site the colour scheme changes according to the page. This works well as the user is visually aware of the page change and that they are now in a new section of the site. Each page has a side menu included which helps to chop up the extensive amounts of information this website holds into smaller manageable chunks for the user. Allowing them to view only the sections relevant to them meaning they are more likely to stay within the site. The information is laid out the same on each page linking the site consistently and follows the structure of a boxed middle information section and a side box with ‘What’s On’ Highlighting key information. Above the middle information box there is always a relevant picture to the subject and similar to the previous law and justice website there is then a small image accompanied by a brief description as to what is on offer.


Also similar to the previously discussed site an interactive calendar of events is included with the events of that day then displayed below. This would therefore suggest this is an element which should definitely be included within our website.

This site also includes a page purely for children, which is an idea we had discussed. The page is bright, colourful and engaging and involves simple games and activities for the child to complete. I think this is a key page as it involves a vital user that is often forgotten within tourist sites, as it’s not all about the parents!

This website also includes a buy online section for the gift shop which is an idea we have yet to come up with. This is effective as if the child enjoyed the visit it allows the parent to buy presents for example birthdays at a later date and entices the parents to visit as gift shops are often vital in bribing children to be well behaved! I am not sure however how relevant this would be within the site we are creating as at this point I am unsure whether there will even be one, however this is an idea worth taking into account and bringing up for discussions.

Bestwood Client Project ~ Market research…museums #1!

Galleries of Justice Museum

This museum website is similar to the theme we wish to follow within our own. The colours represent an old paper document and the typography used is of an old fashioned site. The navigation is simple and clear and situated across the top of the page. The use of flash is simple and effective where the main box changes from text to an image on repeat. There are small amounts of information on some of the pages within the home page and this works well to draw the user further into the site. The imagery within the site works well as it is a modern version of history. Latest news and events are also situated within the homepage so it helps to entice the user to the actual museum by showing what is happening. The colours are dark but they need to be to reflect the feel of prison and justice, and a simple 3-colour choice is used throughout to keep the consistency of the site.


Within the exhibitions page I liked the use of the boxed information having a raged edge as though it was an old piece of paper, and feel this is an effect that could be used to group information within our own site. The image across the top is strong and eye catching which works well to soften the amount of writing within the page.


The use of a calendar works well within the events page as it is a clear representation to the user of what is happening and when. It also adds interactivity to the site as the user can click on the date and then the event happening on that date is shown to the side of the calendar. This would be easy for us to achieve and I feel it is very effective.


Within our meeting we discussed the use of a sitemap footer and how it had become a popular trend, and we discussed how if there were a lot of pages it can become quite extensive. Within this site this trend is used with the use of the main links being visible and then a further link to a complete site map on a separate page.

Bestwood Client Project ~ Meeting #1!

Today was the first meeting of the group to discuss the plan of action with the project and I feel that it was successful and productive. We discussed initial ideas that we have thought about over night and looked at the existing website and any other information we could find to get some background on the mine itself. We then proceeded to create an initial plan of what we wished to achieve by Monday. After looking at some design trends and existing websites within the group meeting today we decided that the first thing we needed to achieve was market research. We would therefore each research 2 existing museum websites and 3 other websites with styles we feel are appropriate. From this research we can then develop 2 initial designs each and merge them together for a final idea within the next meeting. We will also research into typography to be used within the site looking at available fonts and how to access other fonts that may be available at a price. Therefore I will email a friend working in IT to see if he has any fonts within his company available for us to use.

Today we achieved a mood board of things related to the winding mine to help give us a background to the project and a feel of the theme. We included the Victorian newspaper image, as this is a theme we wish to pursue within the design.

Easters over!

Well easters over but now its time for some real client projects which i am really looking forward to completing. Now I have a server avaiable at home i will be able to work on the projects whenever needed which is going to help with time management this term! I have also invested in PHP for dummies as thats pretty much me but from now on with the help of these im hoping to change that! I also figured they would come in handy with the client projects which are bound to include PHP somewhere. I am also looking into work experience ideas for the summer and my mother is currently looking within her company to see whether there is a postition in the design sector :) so fingers crossed there.

Personal Portfolio!

With the server and domain i know have i am able to think about creating my own personal portfolio that can go live! Over easter i started thinking about this and how i want it to display me and the skills i currently have within the field. I have researched existing portfolios and looked at those related to the designers i mentioned in the spp essay extensively. Therefore finding what i like and what i dont and drawing on these for my own portfolio. At present i am in the very early stages but have a rough idea on what i wish to achieve. I want to have a homepage with my current piece of work as this allows the user to see straight away the kind of work i produce and my stragegies to do so. A moto of some sort will also be included to highlight this. The theme will be based on doodling as this is something i associate with as i have always doodled. using this i would like to include an animated doodle which moves around the page to highlight a page change. I will use a flash slideshow to show screenshots of the work produced and will incorporate Lightbox into this. At present i am trying to work out a colour scheme which represents me whilst also looks professional which is proving to be a bit of a challenge!

PRP discussions with Simon!

It was suggested that the topic of personalisation and the personalised advertising could lead into higher levels of invasion of privacy regarding databases containing personal information and who has information to this. It was suggested looking into the use of databases during the Viettname War and how soldiers were recruited. As well as researching the use of gutherie cards and looking into Hansard and personal data sharing between companies.

PRP & Client Signed Off!

My likely client ‘live project’ will look at the re-design of a photography website. This project will help to further my interest of branding creating an identity through the site for the company as at present it holds no feeling of the company itself and is portrayed as a poorly run business. The project also fits my area of interest as the design is for a corporate style company rather than a highly creative one. This project will also allow PHP skills to broaden and allow a wider scope on the ‘back end’ skills required in web design.


The potential area I will be researching into for the personal research project is personalisation within the web. According to articles online it seems that personalisation is to become a big part of web design and therefore my future career. After completing the social networking project it has become apparent to me how important personalisation has become within certain areas within the web. It adds interactivity to the site as the user allows themselves to become part of it and I want to look at the question ‘how important is this within a social network?’ to see whether personalisation really is the way forward within the web. This question arose to me when researching into existing social networking sites and evaluating the current leading social site ‘Facebook’. As ‘Facebook’ still has a corporate feel and very little in the ways of personalisation so is it really the way forward within web design. I want to look into the new developments and emerging social network sites, which are based highly on personalisation. It was suggested in the discussion with a tutor that I look at the site ‘Virb’ and see how it enhances the experience users are receiving.


Through this i would also like to lead on to personalised advertising and how far this type of advertisement may be taking personalisation and whether it is crossing the line invading personal privacy and causing manipulation of the user.