Finito

I just want to take the time to say that I was completely stuck on the whole lightbox thing for a really long time. I finally was able to figure it out for absolute sure with the help of my boyfriend and once I got that done I really got the ball rolling. My website is finished. I am happy. It will be posted to the server today when I get on campus.

Stuck

Although I looked up a few sites and tutorials on lightboxes, it's honestly not working right now and I am slightly frustrated with it. I guess I have no choice but to keep trying.

Addition

these lil guys

I've decided to add an entrance page to my site. One of those simple little click through things to get to the main content instead of just having it appear right away.

Awesome

Getting this thing started, I've got the basic HTML and CSS coding done for all the pages. So pumped I've been able to get a grasp on this web design stuff fairly quickly. With one week left, there's no time for stopping now.

Oh, and thanks to one of the homework assignments (which would have helped immensely at the beginning of the semester) I now know how to include a download link for my resume. Totally cool.

Figured it out

Having never gotten the chance to ask how to create a lightbox for my images, a fellow student showed me this site which has proved to be incredibly helpful.

Website Ideation

I've started building my website. I came up with a general layout a few days ago. It is simple, but incorporates a small, but relevant part of me into the design. Here is a general idea of the site I want to build:

Inspiration

Doing a quick search on Google, I found a site that gives examples of really nice portfolio sites. Although these seem complicated and a bit out of my league, I figured I could at least share the sites. You can visit the page here.

Site Abondonment

I quit working on my Akron Site to pursue a more urgent situation. I needed to start building my own porftolio site. Time to start drafting ideas. I'm thinking of a very minimal approach. I don't want the design of the site to take away from my actual design.

Akron Site Update

I pretty much finished assembling the home page of the Akron site within Dreamweaver. Ran into a few tough spots, but I found that the easiest way to figure these problems out is to just keep fiddling around with things. Not positive if I will move on to working on the other pages seeing as we have a portfolio site to get started on. Overall, I am happy that putting this site together has helped to teach me the basics.

My Webpage

So far, we've been redesigning a page off of the University of Akron website. I am designing the Student Health Services page. I am fairly happy with my design. I feel that it is clean and easy to navigate, although the buttons need a little tweaking for aesthetic purposes.  Here is a small thumbnail to give an idea of the site:

Getting a late start on this. Thanks for checking out my blog. Updates WILL come soon.

Form and Content 5 (2000s)

Created by Roland Reiner Tiangco who is a recent graduate student that lives in New York, this design piece is actually interactive with the person that has it. It starts out in an envelope folded up, when you unfold it, you get that black residue on your hands and when you rub if on the paper, that is what you see: "The future belongs to those of us still willing to get our hands dirty. The message is placed very straightforward, centered, and capitalized on the page. It's a message this is simple, but powerful. It is powerful because of the fact that the piece literally has you get your hands dirty in order to read the message. There is good balance throughout the page because of how Tiangco sized the font and arranged it evenly. The piece also becomes visually interesting and breaks up the space when the viewer smears the residue on the paper. A way for the creator to connect to the person on a more intimate level I guess is a good way to look at it. Again, this piece is super simple in it's form, but the content is extremely powerful because of the approach the artist took towards it.

Ninth Set of Pictures

urgent

modern

epic

cinematic

hungry

Eighth Set of Pictures

sterile

badass

urgent

informative

excitement

Form and Content 4 (1990s)

This is a piece created by David Carson. It is composed mainly of black and white, with a little bit of red up in the corner. The red text is in a clogged typewriter looking typeface. There is a lot of commotion and traffic in the bottom of the piece, and the red name up at the top is a way to bring the viewers attention away from that, without putting an overemphasis on it. There is more of that typewriter like font that is placed either in black squared with white letters, or white squares with black letters. These give contrast and also play with the negative and positive space. There are lots of layers of different sized words and letters in-between the two squares which serve to create a texture and also play off of the overall message and content of the piece. The piece reads "don't mistake legibility for communication" which is a powerful message to the graphic design world. This message is reemphasized through Carson's graphic abstractions. The fact that the "legibility" is broken up on the textured black surface of the repeated message helps to break the viewers thought process while they're reading the message. They have to stop and think about it for a minute, which is exactly what the message is trying to say. Even though you can read the message after concentrating for awhile, that doesn't mean you are communicating it. The piece is very clean and visually interesting. The combination of the negative and positive space playing off of each other helps to create a good balance throughout the piece.

Seventh Set of Pictures

movement


scrawny

stupid

silly

speed

Sixth Set of Pictures

lively

romantic

sturdy

industrial

durable

Fifth Set of Pictures

ghastly

daunting

gruesome

clean

edgy

Forth set of pictures

secure

ghostly

dark

silly

intense

Form and Content 3 (1980s)

This is a piece done by graphic designer and typographer Neville Brody. It is a design for the "Fuse" exhibition. Brody became very popular in the 1980s and is still popular today. Looking at this poster, there is a lot of emphasis on the white shapes and forms. Looking closer, it's apparent that the shapes are actually counterforms of letters and abstractions that create a negative space that lets the viewers mind complete the words and what they say themselves. The counterforms and shapes resemble a lava lamp almost, and when you step back and look at the background images, they are very dark vague shapes that also resemble a lava lamp and reinforce that idea. The color scheme is very neutral excluding the white counterforms and shapes. This creates a contrast between forground and background and also creates a hierarchy between the white letters and forms, and the goldenrod shapes behind it, which if observed close enough, say the name "Brody." This piece overall is very abstracted, but done so in a way that it is visually exciting to look at and try and read.