Services 04/24 8hrs

Drek Davis MFA Student/Artist
04/24/2005
8hours spent
webdesign,graphics

Desk Crit 2: Jennifer

I really like the use of color and the overall layout of your site. It is visually appealing. When your homepage first opens, I thought that the spiralism title came in a little bit delayed. If it came in sooner, it might be more beneficial for first time visitors. Also, I thought that you could have the slideshow automatically start instead of the user having to initiate the start. The last recommendation would be to have the "links outside spiralism" pages open in a new window automatically.

--from Jennifer

Reflection 7: I can't believe it validates!

Somehow I managed to write CSS well enough so that it would validate via the W3C checker. I am kind of amazed. It's definitely not the prettiest CSS (I didn't use class enough or condense the code as much as I could) but it does work fairly well.

The thing that I most happy with is that it is a tableless website (unless Dreamweaver sneaked in a table here or there!) All of the formatting is with CSS, including the embedded Flash.

The only real problem that I have had is the flash scale problem with firefox. As firefox is much more strict about coding (which is a good thing) it does weird things with the flash. If you set it to 100% or no scale, it doesn't really work properly, especially, if you're already using another style sheet.

All in all, I've learned alot about CSS and much more about using it for layout. I'm not quite to the point of submitting something to csszengarden...

If I have time before the dress rehearsal, I will put a second style sheet, so that people can apply a different style sheet in order to see how powerful CSS really is.

whew... now, I've got to finish up my service hours project and make sure that I've uploaded all of my desk crits!

Desk Crit 5: Haley Grizzle Bike Safety

I thought your project seemed user friendly and graphically appropriate for its kid friendly audience. The only problems that I had were navigational: I couldn't figure out how to go forward and back. You may have fixed those since, but as I an unable to view it, I wasn't sure.

April 7/April 21

Desk Crit 4: Dan Banks

I like the organization of your site and I think the presentation is good. My only suggestion is possibly to include some additional info, e.g., rollover titles, or info about what kind of media is used for mixed media (is it computer generated or ink?)

Desk Crit 1 Received from JP Murrell

Comments:
At 2:42 PM, JP Murrell said...

Hey Robin!

I love your artwork. One of the few things i would add is make the Spiralism Image at the top of the screen a "button" that returns your to the first page. I might even do a little bit more of an intro page that would explain the whole project. Other than that is looks great! The design is really cool.

-JP Murrell

Desk Crit 3: Julius Gantt Church website

Likes: Ease of navigation, sense of community through well chosen graphics, image/photo gallery, especially the scrolling aspects

My only suggestion was about the flash intro graphic. The center space/real estate seemed a little empty until the church name scrolled in. Also, the color seemed a little heavy on the green side. We discussed using a light gold or yellow and filling the space a little.

Overall, I think the site is well organized, shows a good sense of the subject/community and fits the intended audience.

Reflection 6: What have I learned/Where have I been

What I have learned?
the good:
--wrap text around a path in fireworks
--create flash animation using dreamweaver
--create multiple effects in flash
--create css in dreamweaver

the bad:
--I hate flash. It's too 'flashy' and is quirky depending upon browser used.
--css in dreamweaver. A mixed blessing. The wysiwyg editor seems to do weird things with a css and at times, seems to override it.
--macromedia radically changes products from one version to the next. tutorials and help in flash mx do not always apply to flash mx2004.
---does it validate? oh, I'm not even looking!

Desk Crit 2: Emily Pitts Who Owns the Octopus

Who Owns the Octopus?
I really like the graphics and I thought the logic game was a lot of fun. The color scheme is well thought out and the design is visually pleasing.

My two comments are that it might be good to have a 'help' or 'instructions' button. If you hadn't been there, I'm not sure if I would have known how to navigate. I also became confused after I matched up icons to their corresponding houses and then they reappeared in the list. Is there a way to sort out the icons, so that the once they are used, they go into a different list spot on the screen? If there was an 'instructions' button, I just missed it. My second comment would be to include tool tips. You mentioned that as a possibility and I think it is a very good idea.

This was one of my favorite projects that I saw at the dress rehearsal. It looks great, works, and has a very strong design.

Desk Crit1 Receiver Saif Altalib: Project Muslim Student Association

Project Creator/Receiver Saif Altalib:

Date reviewed: MM/YY
Comments: Saif, Thank you for the opportunity to give a desk crit. :) I think graphically it looks great. The red/greencolor scheme is used carefully and does not dominate the content of the site.
The images are small and load quickly. Additionally, they add contextual information.The navigation is comfortable and seems clear,i.e., it follows a common web navigational structure, which is generally easy for people to use and understand.

I have two comments which are more content oriented. Some of the links do not seem to work. As this may still be a prototype, this may not really be an issue. My second comment is regarding the 'contact us.' I agree that it's good to use the generic"president," "vice president," etc. in the menu, but it would be useful to include their names and contact info somewhere on the website. This may be part of your greater scheme as the links didn't open with a mailto: but pointed to a php generated page(at this time, the index).
Date reviewed: 04.05.2005
Project: Muslim Student Association
Creator: Saif Altalib
URL: http://www.uga.edu/muslim/msa

Reflection 5: What I've learned and What I still need to figure out

Well, I now have a project with a name: SPIRALISM and I have my service hours taken care of. Well, at least planned for! YAY!


Regarding my project:
-It will be spiral based although I am still trying to figure out layout...
-I have the color schemes: blues, purples, white and light orange for accent colors


What I need to figure out or learn:
Can a spiral navigation path work within a website? Thinking beyond the box of the screen, how can I make it both organic, yet logical?
How do I create a short organic flash movie that opens and closes without input from the user? The open part is easy, what I am having a little trouble figuring out is the closing...
How can I utilize CSS to do all of this? Flash movie/html but the rest using CSS/HTML?
Do I have enough spiral images?

Note: Re: Service Hours

All of my service hours will be spent assisting a MFA candidate/local artist (Drek Davis) in digitially documenting his work and developing his online portfolio.

I anticipate that this project will go much farther than 10 hours... with anticipated website launch on may 20th. A prototype will be available for viewing by the end of the semester; however, content, an online gallery, etc. will still need additional work.

Emily Giles will also be assisting in formatting and converting images.

Reflection 4: Class project and inspiration

So our class project was to find a website and an object (which could be photographed) which inspires us in terms of design. Inspiration is a really hard thing for me to define in such limited terms, although I am inspired on a regular basis. In fact, I'm full of ideas which are refractions and reflections of objects I see, ideas from people that I meet, words in conversation,etc. I am seriously considering changing my project from something color related to a website on spirals. I would like to build a whole website around a spiral. What do you think?


----------------------------------
For the purposes of this homework assignment I wrote:
-------------------------------------------
----begin class post----
Wow, inspiration is one of the hardest things to define...

I find inspiration in a lot of different places. In many ways I am inspired by spiral imagery, both physical and symbolic, in a terms of design and my artwork.

The first photo is a few spiral paperclips scattered on a piece of paper. What I like about them are the simple shapes (triangle, square, circle) and colors (red, green, blue).
----end of class post-----
-----------------------------------------

I am not exactly sure why I am so drawn to spirals. Perhaps, it is the natural elements and the old golden rule of mathematics (they are both orderly yet creative)...or perhaps, it is their use in celtic imagery...

Here are a few interesting websites I found about spirals.



A very mathematical description of spirals
Celtic symbolism
celtic spirals
Spirals in Nature, science & art


...and of course...
fractals

Sacred Symbolism: The golden rule & more

Reflection 3: Project thoughts

I was a little worried about the whole flash aspect of my website but I think I'll be ok with that. The idea is to take the color wheel (at least the primary & secondary colors) and make it either interactive or demostrative.

At this point, I am thinking about using these little squares



oh, and here are my two flash things I made in class.

embedding them didn't seem to work in blogger so here are the links
http://www.arches.uga.edu/~fay/IT/projects/morph.swf
http://www.arches.uga.edu/~fay/IT/projects/robin.swf

Reflection 2: Project thoughts

Well, it sounds like the color thing might turn into something really cool (possibly). As I think about this a little I wonder whether I have taken all an 'infinite' project. There are so many tangents to color from tones, shade, to rgb vs. cmyk to emotional aspects of color to the history of color to pure pigments. I could pick ONE color and do a whole project. Such as RED.

I recently read a book called COLOR: A Natural History of the Palette, Victoria Finlay, Random House, 2004. It follows the author as she crosses the world searching for the origins of color. Part travelogue, part adventure story, part art & regional history, part journal. I've briefly read/studied the origins of dyes and pigments in school (as a precursor to making color wheels, value & graduation triangles, etc.), but the way these stories are presented, it is easy to see that value, history and religious/political/cultural importance of color.

For example, red, crimson, comes from an insect (cochineal). These animals are still harvested for their blood to tint paint, cosmetic products, and according the author cherry coke.

Gives new meaning to blood red, hmm?

Reflection 1: Project thoughts

Ok, so I started out thinking that my EDIT 6190 project would be a perfect opportunity to give this some love and really make it a great resource:



...but then Dr. Orey mentioned to the class that he was trying to get a graphic design SIG, but that he would like to somehow capture that info. The topics to be covered were design/layout, fonts, and color.

Ah, color. Although I am a font addict (I admit it~ I had close to 1000 at one time) color is my old friend. Anyhow, I offered as my project to somehow incorporate the color component of the SIG into a project on color & color theory. I am not sure where I am going beyond that.

Now, I know this project should be fun :) but for anyone who knows me they know that I am all about color. (I have taken color theory workshops in the past and of course, studied color theory through art classes)

I get bored in drawing classes if there is no color (beyond b&w!)

So, here is what I hope to include:
-SIG Color components (whatever material/formats)?
-My own color resources links (I have tons of bookmarks)
-Suggested readings links (a few very good books on color & color theory & online books )
-Good uses/bad uses of color (screenshots & links)
-Some kind of color demonstration or interactive color mixer (a flash thing)

What do you think? I know it sounds like work, but I swear that this will be fun for me. :)

Robin

Video/Photography: 03/25/2005: 2hours

Description of Service: Video/Digital photography, consultation
Drek Davis Art Grad Student
Date of Service: 03/25/2005
Time spent: hours and hours 2 hrs

Welcome!

Hi and welcome to my EDIT reflection journal. I will be posting my reflections, desk crits, etc. here.