Nottinghamshire Hockey

Last year I was approached to create a website for Notts Hockey.You may have seen some of the earlier posts. However my skills were not up to the standard as they are at this year, so i decided to have a go at creating a new one without telling them, and just offering it them for free.

It is not a finished article at this point in time but the improvement is clear when looking back at the previous one. The Link is below http://www.nhdg.org.uk/

Term 3 Group Project

During the third term i will be completing a group Porject With Gayr Stares, Nick Cox, and Emma Charnock. This is a client project and we have chosen to create a website for an Ice Cream Parlour called Yumi, which is based in Hyson Green in Nottingham. We have created a seperate blog where all four of us can edit the content. Therefore to keep up with the development please visit www.ukyumidesign.blogspot.com.

Sedi Wire Frames Design 2

Above it the first wire frame design for the home page. This includes a horizontal menu with the vertical sub-menu on the left hand side of the page. In the header there is a small link which changes the language from English to French and vice versa, so the user can switch to and from as they please rather than having to return home. Contact details will be displayed on all pages with the box on the bottom right. We have also included a related documents box at the bottom of the page for users to easily find the associated documents. We have also suggested a FAQ quick search where a subject, country and specific document can be found.



The first design for the services page includes links to related items such as the ‘Incorporation Step’ PDF. On these wire frame designs there are all the same features as the home page design, however the related items have changed.


Above is the wire frame for the France page containing all the French documents. This includes the new sub headings as expressed in the site map description. This has all the same features as the other pages down the right hand side of the page.



The final first design wire frame created was for the contact page. This page contains the contact details in the main content. Therefore the contact details feature usually in the bottom right is not included. There are also two maps included directing to the Paris and London Offices.

SEDI Wire Frames 1

Above is the second suggested wire frame design, this includes a similar horizontal menu as the first designs however there is also a horizontal sub-menu just below. There is also a small menu in the footer which is exactly the same as the top menu. Down the right hand side we have some similar features to the first design however this design includes the related items, and then a link to the FAQ’s, with a random frequently asked question which changes from page to page. This also includes an identical contact details box. The logo is located on the right of the header this time, with the same feature which changes from English to French. With a simple search feature located next to the menu.


Above is the second services page example wire frame. This includes all the same features as the home page apart from there is an image included just below the main content.


Above is the second example of the France page wire frame, which will of course be identical to the UK and Irish links. This also includes the image below the content, and contains the same features down the right hand side as all the other pages.


Finally the above image shows the second wire frame design of the contact page. This includes a map at the bottom of the page, and the contact feature has been removed due to the contact information in the main content of the page. However the related documents and FAQ’s features still appear down the right hand side.

SEDI Site Map

Site Map S.E.D.I
Above is the suggested new site map. The main issues we had with the old site map was that there were image documents and PDF’s spread out around the website which may not have been easy to find. Therefore we concentrated on grouping the content and information in more specific areas.
As you can see the main change is to the main menu, were we have broken the bulk of the content down into the three sections of France, UK and Ireland, rather than having the documents with the choice of the three countries, this is where we have grouped the images and PDF’s into more specific categories. We also wanted to create a simpler menu for users to understand, specifically those who have little knowledge of the subject. We have also added a frequently asked questions section which we though was important when comparing to some of your competitors.

IMP Project

I am creating an artist website on a band called the Shadow Empire, i know two of the band members through school therefore can easily get regular contact with the band. they are all currently studying in Brighton therefore it is inconvenient to meet face to face however we will keep regular contact via email. Below are some initial designs for the layout of the site.

Initial Sketch Ups

Design Exercise 14

I am thinking about creating my second term artist project on my friends band. The only social networking sites that i am really familiar with are Facebook and You Tube, although i am also a member of myspace, which i have not looked at since 2008 and and also i am a member of twitter, which i signed up to last summer but never returned back until today.
Based on my project the best social network link would obviously be myspace because it is known worldwide as a place to store and display music, especially popular with up-and-coming or unsigned bands. The pros of this social network is that there music can easily be displayed to people all over the world, it also has an application with links to live gigs at various venues and ticket selling websites.
However the cons of this would be that myspace has dropped in popularity since the Facebook and Twitter boom of recent times. Which obviously equals a smaller audience looking at the material, although you do not have to be a member of myspace, or a friend of the account to access the material. Youtube would also be a good link to have on the website, because the band has video footage of live gigs and practice sets etc.
Facebook would be a very useful tool to have linked in too, because it has a large user base which is very good for spreading the word around, there is also a good invitation tool which gives information of gigs, who is attending, who is not attending, and who is awaiting a reply from.

Adit Shukla

http://aditshukla.com/

Adit Shukla
Male
New York City
Creative Director of 'Two Toasters' Mobile App Designers
Graphic Artist
Freelance Web Designer


Adit Shukla's portfolio is shown in the image above. I feel that the colours overall work well on the website, they are all warm, but not too hars on the eyes, they also link well together for this particular site.

The content may be a little sparse although the background image may influence you to feel this. The image contains a lot of depth and is an image of a sparsely populated area. In fact their is a lot of information given on the website with loat of links to various social networking websites such as ttwitter, deviant art and facebook, so that the users can find more information on the designer.

There are links dotted around all over the place which offers options and choice, although this comes across quite messy because they are spread around the page in all different areas, all of which arer in different fonts sizes and colours. The sidebar is the main way of navigating around the page. This looks good when used with the background image of the river however the sidebar takes up a lot of space on the page, and is almost as large as the content box.

He uses different font sizes cleverly to show the users what he wants them to see. He is selling his name as a freelance designer by having his name at the top of the page in extremely large font when compared to the rest of the site. He also increases the font size of the links to his various social networking places like deviant art. This gives the user an option to look at more work for his portfolio, although this is navigating the user away from his website, whereas i would want to advertise the work on my own portfolio more than the work published on deviant art etc.

There are examples of his work on the website, although most of his examples seem to be images and logos that he has designed for various companies. These images are of very good quality and do show off his tallent as a graphic designer vey well. The website, also shows examples of phone applications that he has designed, which is not of much use to people who havent got a iphone, however he displays the concept well.

Adit Shukla style is more graphic than technical. He feels his tallent lies mostly in graphic design and photoshop which i feel is true, however he displays his images and logos in an orderly fashion but there is no text or any information about the images. Therefore this can sometimes seem pretty useless, because i would like know more.

Design Exercise 11

I am firstly going to focus on the Microsoft Surface, for those of you who do not know what the Surface is

“its a multi-touch product from Microsoft which is developed as a software and hardware combination technology that allows a user, or multiple users, to manipulate digital content by the use of gesture recognition.”

(Wikipedia, 2010)

The surface is a large machine which looks like a coffee table hence the name Microsoft Table which is also commonly used. There is a camera below the screen which detects where your finger is touching the surface. It recognised multiple touches so than more than one person can work on it a at any one time.

On a social side of the argument the surface is very beneficial, more than one person can work on it at any time, and the way it is advertised is that It will be used in coffee shops and bars so that people can flick through their photographs and share them with each other over a social drink, there is even the idea of paying the bill by laying the credit or debit card on the surface. Therefore the surface opens many social opportunities. The content that is being produced is by Windows Presentation Foundation or XNA. And it is application based. “Developers already proficient in WPF can utilize the SDK to write Surface apps for deployments for the large hotels, casinos, and restaurants.” (Wikipedia, 2010)

It would be very difficult to steal a Microsoft Surface machine, as they are very large pieces of machinery, and likely to be secured in place if used in a bar or casino, however it takes 15 minutes to take off the side panels so it should be attended at most times. However the content has as much security as any other desktop computer, antivirus software and firewalls are required.

On the distribution side the surface is not available to an individual consumer at the moment, however they can be sold to large scale companies and industries, the surface is being used for the security at the American Football Super bowl.

The second item that I am going to look at is the mobile phone, specifically the i-phone. I do not own an I phone, and I have not spent very much time at all looking or just playing with one, however I am very interested in owning one of these phones one day.

On a social scale the phones are very high up the ladder, they allow you to keep in touch with friends and family all over the world, although this is the idea of any mobile phone, however the I phone has many specific social features and applications which are very different to other mobile phones.

The I phone has an application known as the ping application, this works exactly the same as a text message however it is free to ping another person, however a ping application can be only be used on the I phone. The phone also holds other applications such as Facebook which I hear rave reviews about as an application for usability. There are also other applications that link up your Facebook Live chat, MSN and Windows live messenger into one application, hence not having to log out of different accounts to speak o different people.

Apple produced the I phone, however the content on the I phone, the applications can be made by anybody, and people are making money out of making the applications. The content can be received by download via the phone, sometimes free but most are at a small cost.

The device is a secure device, however the security of the product Is completely down to the owner, the machines are rather small and therefore are more likely to get stolen when compared to a large machine such as the surface.

However I have been told that there is a way of getting hold of the applications that aren’t free without having to pay, this can be done by performing an illegal jail break on the phone. Therefore it is a risk for the people who want to make money out of selling applications for the iphone.

This could have a huge impact on me If I was a content creator, because I have most of the software I would need available to me, but is there any point in me taking this field of applications work seriously if people are going to be stealing the software constantly. Maybe this pathway would suite people more who want to create the applications as a hobby and not try to make a living out of it.

The final product that I am going to be talking about is the recent ipad, this is also made by the company Apple and is also application driven, it Is just like a larger version of the apple iphone which I reviewed before this. Therefore it holds similar qualities such as jail breaking the machine to receive free applications.

However the Ipad is a lot more expensive than the iphone, has a larger screen, larger memory and better applications. The I pad would be just as secure as the I phone in terms of hacking, although it is down to the personal owner to keep the ipad away from theft, as it is a very expensive piece of equipment it would be very appealing to thieves.

I believe that in one years time that there will not be too much change on the market, I believe that the iphone will still be a large seller, I cannot honestly see the ipad making a huge impact on the multimedia world within the next year.

I believe that an impact could be made but the price would have to be reduced because it is just crazy to think that people can afford this amount of money on one gadget.

I think that this could only create more opportunity for me as a digital designer, the more platforms which come out will offer me more ways of displaying my work. However I have to have training on the certain software’s to be able to do this.

GFSA Wire Frame 2

Here is the wire frame of the redesign of the Gosforth Fields Website,

GFSA Website, First Rejected Design

Above are some of the images of the first design for my Gosforth Fields Sports Association website. I decided that it was just not looking special in any way and i was very dissatisfied with the layout and design, therefore i have decided to start the project again by desingning a new template.

Mock Up 1

Here is my first mock up of the GFSA website, i would like to keep it clean plain and simple with the white background, but would also like to incorporate the club colours of red and black into the design in some way, hence the red. I am still considering other options of colour including the background, howevere the structure shown in this mock up will definatly be used.

GFSA Wire Frame

Here is the wire frame for my Gosforth Sports Fields Website

Retailer Website GFSA

For my next Design exercise, we have been asked to design another website for a retailer, we only have two weeks to do this which could be difficult. However i have chosen the GFSA, the Gosforth Fields Sports Association in Dronfield Woodhouse (my home town) which is a sports clubhouse and bar. However I am going to concentrate on the bar side of the project mainly. The clubhouse has recently been built and opened around Christmas, it also accommodates a full size ATP pitch, below you can see an artits version of the clubhouse and pitch before it was built. I also worked in the bar facilities over the Christmas break so have opportunities for photos and information. For more information on the GFSA look at the websites http://www.sportdronfield.co.uk/ and http://www.sheffieldtelegraph.co.uk/sport/Brooking-and-owen-share-top.5999769.jp

Waterfall And Whirlpool Methods

The Waterfall Document model is a software development process set up as a sequence. The process is visually displayed in such a way that the diagram is displayed like a waterfall. This symbolises that progress is flowing steadily downwards, like a waterfall would. Below is an example of the waterfall method

(Wikipedia, 2009)

In this example the project goes through each stage of the waterfall process, in all cases of the waterfall model the only way to move to the next stage of the waterfall is through the completion of the prior stage, hence in the above diagram including Requirements, Design, Implementation, Verification, and Maintenance. Requirements would have to be fully completed before I could move on to Design.

The whirlpool model is similar to the waterfall model in many ways however visually the process goes around like a whirlpool would. This means that you would produce each of the sections to completion like in the waterfall method. However the process would then restart back at requirements. This means that the product is constantly improving and that the whirlpool method is an ongoing process.

I believe that the best model to use for a web designer would be the whirlpool model. I believe this is the best method for a web designer because most websites will need to undergo changes and have updates, therefore the whirlpool method I ideal in the industry because the designer can go through the steps again and again every time the website needs updating.

The waterfall process can be very useful in design when it is a one off process, If you are not going back to the design to improve then the waterfall model is perfect. The Whirlpool design is much more practical for most designs because in general products will always have to be improved to the best possible standard to keep up with the surrounding industry and constant upgrades of technology.

3rd Non Web Designer

The third non web designer that i have decided to evaluate is the Graffiti Artist Banksy. Banksy has not always been a main influence for me and my work. I only discovered his work last summer on a trip to London hence the reason for not influencing any of my work yet. I had glanced his work before but had never really got the time to find out what he was about; I researched him and was fascinated by his story and the quality of his work under the circumstances.

I purchased a book on Banksy (Wall and Piece) after the trip displaying some of his most famous work and giving some brief information about the guy however he remains anonymous. It is thought that he was born just outside Bristol in 1974, and became interested in Graffiti art during the great Bristol aerosol boom in the late 80’s.

His work fascinated me because they are not just pretty pictures there is a meaning behind each of his pieces of work. His work often has a hidden message mainly on the delicate topics of politics, ethics and our culture. His work is not only highly illegal but also holds the greatest detail created by just stencils and spray paint. Banksy’s work has been illegally displayed in Bristol, London, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Paris and Israel. It has been know that art experts have auctioned off Banksys work on site, where the winner of the auction has to deal with the Graffiti, for example if it is ordered to be washed off the new owner of the piece will have to do this. There have been roumers and articles in newspapers about revealing the identity of Banksy, weather these are true or not I am not sure.

Banksy could have a great influence on my graphic designs on the websites I create in the future; I am especially interested in the hidden meanings behind the images. I would like to be able to create graphics which make people stop and specifically think about the meanings. This would of course depend on the genre of the website that I create. I also think that the look of graffiti art is very effective, I am not recommending graffiti art however the circumstances of Banksys work makes it all the more exiting and impressive. I could attempt graffiti art for a future project; this greatly interests me as I did Art at a-level and have never tried it before.

Non Web Design Practitioner 2

My second choice of practitioner is the Photographer Dave Beckerman. The reason why I am interested in Beckerman’s work is because he specialises in New York black and white photography. I am fascinated by New York photography because it is unique to any other city across the world. All the buildings are built and look similar in fashion and the city is easily recognisable from any photograph or film. The reason why I find the prints so fascinating is because it is a life long ambition of mine to visit New York City, or maybe even work and live out there in the future, and the fact that I have never been shows a mysterious side and makes me more eager to go and explore.

The reason why I like Beckerman’s images so much is because they are all in Black and white, I feel that this makes the photographs look vintage even though they are extremely modern.

I feel that Black and White New York City photographs are more effective than colour photos because the city does not have too much colour anyway, the colours of the older buildings are very grey and dull colours therefore can sometimes spoil photographs; however the black and white shows the history of the building.

When I think of colour I immediately think of the yellow Taxi’s. I have seen prints of black and white New York photography with only the colour yellow for the taxi’s in the photograph. I feel that this is effective because it shows a bright colourful logo for the city.

Another reason why I like the work of Dave Beckerman is because he also has an interest in Paris, this is another unique city with identifiable buildings and unique people. I have visited Paris before therefore I am very fond of the images and I am defiantly fond of the city itself. Beckerman’s work relates to may on so many different levels however I feel that the main similarity is his interest in New York City, and Paris, because these are defiantly my two favourite Cities in the world.

Beckerman could inspire me as a web designer in many different ways; I could have a black and white rustic theme for one of my websites. His work also inspires me to go out and actually take photos for my websites. I have not always been interested in photography, and have often been lazy in taking photographical evidence for my work, however as my interest in the subject rises this inspires me to create my own photography, rather than the far easier method of finding other peoples images on the internet. I have to bear this in mind for when I loose my student status as everything will have to be my own when I start my career.

Non Web Design Practitioner 1

The first non web design practitioner that I would like to talk about is the film director Stanley Kubrick. Born in New York City in 1928 he spent most of his later career living in England, Kubrick was a writer, producer, director and photographer of films. He is famous for his innovative and influential filmmakers of all time; some of his films have been known to be very controversial to the public eye. Some of Kubrick’s most famous pieces have been Full Metal Jacket, Eyes Wide Shut, The Shining and 2001 a Space Odyssey. However I would like to concentrate on one of his most famous and controversial films, A Clockwork Orange.

I studied the novel during A-Level in English Literature during my time at school, therefore know it very well having completed coursework on the novel. The Novel was created by Anthony Burgess; the novel is famous for its nadsat language throughout the story. This is the language the gang use between each other e.g. Krovvy means blood and Droog means Friend.

However focusing on the theatrical version I was first introduced to the Film by a friend and found it very odd because I was quite young and didn’t really understand the meaning behind it. However watching it in 6^th form during an English Lit lesson I realised just how good the film really was.

The soundtrack is based around classical music and is fantastically linked in with each scene to show different moods and atmospheres. The motion picture features disturbingly violent images of attack and rape based in a futuristic British society.

The lighting is uniquely used the set the atmosphere, especially in one scene inside a milk bar, I also have to mention the props used to create a futuristic setting.

The innovative ideas used in A Clockwork Orange could be very useful to me in the world of web design. The music used in the film and the way it is could help me set a certain mood or atmosphere on a web design project for the future. Kubrick’s use of scenery could also help me for my graphical work or setting for the websites I create in the future.