Week One
Prompt: What do you hope to achieve in this class by the end of the term? Are there special projects or technologies you’d like to see covered by the end of the term? Is there a site (or two) that gives you butterflies in your stomach? What is it?
Response: I did some coding in classes and in an internship in high school, but I've never really grasped it completely. Coding kind of scares me because I’ve always felt that I can never quite wrap my head around it, but I’m hoping that maybe this class can soften that fear. My goal is just to become at least semi-comfortable with using HTML and CSS (and just coding in general), while making some work I’m proud of.
Inspiring site of the week: www.cameronsworld.com
This website is essentially a big collage made with graphics taken from the early web. Even though it's considered bad design practice now, I really came to appreciate the aesthetics of the old web during a project based on it that I did Spring quarter.
Week Two
Prompt: What are you planning to do for project 1? What content do you plan to show? How will you make each page unique while maintaining a cohesive design across the project? How will your color palette, imagery, and typography choice complement your subject matter?
Response: I’m doing Project 1 on the different outfits of Link from The Legend of Zelda series. While he looks different in almost every game, there are major trends in his costumes, creating 5 categories. These categories will be visualized on the home page, where Link will be featured in a paper-doll inspired dress-up game. Drag and drop one of the 5 outfits, and Link’s appearance will change and information about that outfit will be displayed, rinse and repeat for all 5. I also plan on having a vertical timeline on a separate page, showing each Zelda game in chronological order and being grouped together by the same 5 outfits. I’m going to be illustrating all of my Link paper-doll assets myself, based on vintage illustrations which will help establish the visual style. I want to contrast this with a more modern typographic treatment, that resembles a video game menu/UI. I’m worried about how feasible the drag-and-drop function will be at this point, but I’m excited about my concept!
Inspiring site of the week: tonyschocolonely.com
I love this website, it's like a big interactive piece of art! The bright colors are kind of jarring, but they're fun. The visual style is also really cohesive.
Week Three
Prompt: Imagine one user who'll love to use your Project 1 website. This user could be you, it could be someone similar to you, it could be someone completely opposite from you, it could even be a non-human animal or an alien or an amoeba. You get to choose. Really imagine what they are like in their mind. What do they spend their time on? What are their hobbies, clothes, music, favorite foods, books, TV shows? What is their personality like? Once you've imagined this person, write about them.
Response: I picture the end-user of my site to be somewhat like me. I’ve always been pretty obsessed with The Legend of Zelda (obviously, hence my project), and it’s a big video game title with a large fanbase to go along with it. This person would not only be a fan of Zelda but, like me, are somewhat fixated on the aesthetic of different entries in the franchise. Perhaps this is someone who’s even more of an obsessive fan than I am; exclusively wearing a green belted tunic and pointy cap that they really ought to wash because they refuse to take it off.
Inspiring site of the week: davidrudnick.org
I really love this graphic design portfolio site I came across. The work here is really beautiful in and of itself, and the site really helps elevate it. I love the interactions that you get when you mouse over the icons and his work, it makes the site really satisfying to use.
Week Four
Prompt: Make a list of 5 things to keep you going when you feel resistance or discomfort.
Response:
- Allowing yourself to feel discomfort
- Accepting discomfort as a completely normal part of the process when learning something new
- Setting realistic goals and expectations, but also taking risks when you can
- Allowing yourself to take a break to absorb new information when you're overhwhelmed, but not allowing yourself to procrastinate or give up
- Picturing the end product, or what you could learn from your discomfort
Inspiring site of the week: FORGE
This is a website for a type foundry. I love the maximalist aeshtetic of it, it's so over the top. There's even sound effects and voice overs every time you mouse ofter one of the type specimens. It's also kind of confusing, and I didn't even know what it was for at first. That could be a negative, but I found the impracticality of it really interesting, and I still felt encouraged to click around and find out what the site even was.
Week Six
Prompt: Why did you choose the business/cause that you chose? Why do you think your redesign will be better? What area/content will you focus on in your redesign? Look at two other similar websites. What stands out about those sites? What bothers you about them? How will you improve things in your own design?
Response: (This is a late response, sorry, didn’t see this prompt at first!) I actually had a lot of trouble deciding on a business, changed my mind a few times but finally settled on Vista House. It’s an art nouveau-style building (one of my favorite art historical periods), but none of the “branding” or website design really reflects that at all, it’s fairly generic. Art nouveau is a very decorative period in art, so I’m not going overboard, but making subtle hints to it in the new logo I’ve designed for Vista House, and in some of the typography. Overall, I want the new site to be very clean and refined.
Inspiring site(s) of the week: I didn’t really look at websites that were for something similar to the Vista House, but I did look for websites that might inspire my own approach. In particular I really liked https://simbolic.es/ and https://henrikrossbander.de/
I loved the big typography of the former, and the grid used in the “about” page of the latter. Also, the actual work featured on the Henrik Rossbander website is pretty modern as well and kind of fit the vibe I was going for. Simbolic’s interface is a little difficult to use, but I really love the use of interactive arrows, they feel satisfying to use.
Week Eight
Prompt: Read this article on mobile-first design and share your thoughts on mobile-first vs desktop first. https://medium.com/@Vincentxia77/what-is-mobile-first-design-why-its-important-how-to-make-it-7d3cf2e29d00
Response: Essentially, it seems that the mobile-first approach attempts to curb the bad habit of designers to add in all the bells and whistles before first prioritizing the content. It also seems to operate on the basis that it’s much easier to add content and make changes to an already-functioning bare-necessities version of a website than to attempt to cut down content that’s already been written to prepare for a mobile version. There was also a video I watched last week on mobile-first design where the web developer was saying that another upside to mobile-first design is that a design made for mobile will usually always work on a desktop (even if it isn’t very pretty), but that a version made with desktop in mind will likely be hard to view on mobile.
Inspiring site of the week: ANORAK
I believe this is for a film studio. The website isn’t very complicated in its setup, but there are a few details I really like. The interactive cursor that changes depending on what is hovered over is a really nice touch. In the nav, the page currently selected is greyed out and non-selectable. Small detail, but I like that and think I’ll probably do that for my nav as well.
Week Nine
Prompt: Spend some time thinking about why you are pursuing a career in design. Really dig down, do the 7 "whys" tool in the article. OR If that's too challenging right now, consider people in your life or people who've inspired you. Think about what drives them, what their "why" is. Why did they work so hard to do XYZ, was it from past experiences they had, was it because they saw a need they were called to fill? What's their deeper "why?" Ask them if you know them, or look up some biographical information and try to figure it out. Write about either you or your inspiration.
Response: I’ve always struggled with questions like these. I love design, and I know that I’m in the right place. However, if I’m being honest, there’s always been a part of me that feels like I’m not “deep” or inquisitive enough to be a truly great designer. I don’t know if I ask enough questions, or do enough noticing of the world around me, so when faced with answering why I do what I do, I don’t think I really have a straight answer right now. Even so, I do want to at least try and answer the question for myself. I’m at my happiest when I’m able to create something that brings me joy. When it works out in the end, the feeling of taking something from an idea or a crappy notebook sketch into something tangible feels very fulfilling and even powerful. But answering beyond that is so hard for me. I know that design makes me feel good, but where do I want to take it beyond that? I feel like ultimately in my career I want to spark joy for other people, perhaps inspire them to create. What my “why” will end up being, and where I’ll end of being is still something I’m trying to figure out.
Inspiring site of the week: https://kirkwhayman.com/
This site is a bit laggy, especially on the homepage, but aesthetically, and function-wise, very cool. The way that the page responds to your cursor (even when you hover over “Work” and “About”) makes it feel contemporary and satisfying to use. I’m really drawn to webpages that make use of these functions that make the site feel alive, rather than just static blocks of text and images.
Week Ten
Prompt: Before the final, please write at least a few paragraphs on your design process and reasoning for the design decisions you made on your project.
Response: