Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Portfolio Design

The goal of this project was to give us experience with web design and basic HTML/CSS with specific limitations such as a chosen typeface and color palette.

I created a portfolio which can be found here at http://myweb.stedwards.edu/hwhite5/index.html.




I used notepad++ to compile the code as well as DreamWeaver CS5 and Illustrator CS5 to create the images. I have never been so limited on color palette and typeface, so I learned quite a bit about working within such difficult constraints. 

Field Guide

This project was a way for us to find our own topics as well as sub-topics/categories for the main concept and figure out a way to best showcase all the information.

I chose to do my project on dog friendly parks and restaurants in the surrounding Austin area. My medium was an app called Doggy's Day Out. You can find the app online (it was a mobile website app) at Doggy's Day Out. Please resize your screen to a smaller size, or else go to the app on your phone. DO NOT OPEN IN INTERNET EXPLORER! I have not optimized it for IE yet and cannot guarantee perfect working order.






That said -- I really liked seeing my app work and plan on continuing to finalize this app to gain experience with media queries and web apps. I plan on continuing to develop the app and keeping the blog updated with changes.

History of Graphic Design

I am taking this class this coming semester and have yet to complete the work.

Locating Place - Book

This project was trying to teach us how to take a project from the start to the end and in the process getting submerged in the content (or in this case culture) that is part of the project. The project had us head into a specific section of East Austin and do our best to capture pictures of the area that fit certain guidelines. From there, we were to create a visual piece in the form of a video that could be either interactive (flash) or not, and choose a theme to help represent East Austin through your eyes.

This part of the project was creating a book with the same content and pictures used in the movie. I tried to show the "peeling away" of layers and stereotypes to reveal the true nature of a place or building and in the process show that it is impossible to break down a scene to be the same across every audience.

The book can be flipped through here. Keep in mind the blue squares are showing through to pictures below them.

This book was created in InDesign and Illustrator. I also hand crafted the perfect bind as well as cut out the vellum and paper in the correct places. The paper had a light texture to it to give the paper a better look and feel.

Overall I am very happy with this project. It clarifies that if I ever do book work I will not want to be the one to assemble it. I'd like to consider myself the visionary in these situations.