Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Website

I think it's done...

http://oregonstate.edu/~weissdo/HTML/Index.html

thank God.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Website Map

Website Concept Designs

I don't know why, but when every time I upload the second site it changes the color. The yellow-green color is actually supposed to be a blue. 


Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Web Creme

Navigation:
Is it easy to navigate or difficult?
Yes, very easy. There really isn't any, only a button to go to the next page once you've made it to the bottom.

How are you led through the site?
Vertical stack essentially with a whole bunch of links to other websites.

What visual clues are given to tell you how to interact?
Links are underlined. That's pretty much it.

Does the designer use a metaphors to get you to move through the website?
No.

What Kind of metaphors are used?


Information Architecture:
Does the information in the site make sense?
Yeah. There's no way to not understand it. It's literally a stack of information organized in a table.

Can you access the content you want easily?
There is no way to sort the content so the only way you can go through it is to scroll top to bottom then hit the next page and do it again.

How is the content organized? (By location, alphabet, timeline, category, etc? )
Newest post is on the top on the first page then goes down sequentially.

Is there visual and content hierarchy that allows you to easily understand and access the information presented to you?
All content is treated equally so they are all presented the same. Same size, same layout, same fonts etc.

Usability
Is this site easy to use?
Yes, there is really nothing to it besides the content.

How do the above two concepts, navigation and information architecture, work in terms of making the site usable or not? Do the metaphors make sense with the content?
Really easy to use, no tricks to figure out besides the fact that the only way to get to the next page is at the very bottom. 

Overall- does the site sustain your interest and engagement?
If I was looking for inspiration to make a website yes, but for now it is just bland and doesn't inspire me to browse through all of the sites they are promoting.

Meaning-Making: (Narrative and Metaphoric Structures)
In what way is the designer creating meaning in this site?
Making the only thing that you can do on the website is find sites that will hopefully inspire designers.

Are they using metaphor?
No.

Is there a narrative, story or event that unfolds over time?
No.

Is this narrative linear, non-linear, or multi-linear?
N/A

Reflection of the User:
Is there a reflection of you, as the user, on this site?
No

Does it change according to your specific visit?
No

Do you receive mouse feedback? text feedback?
No.

Does the site store any choices you have made?
No.

Are you engaged enough in the site to linger and explore.
Not at the moment, but when I am designing my own site, maybe.

Transparency of Design:
Does the design of the site lead you to pay more attention to the content or to the design itself?
Content. That's all it consists of.

Does the design feel transparent or “natural”, leading you to focus on the content
and forget the design completely? Or – Is attention called more to the design itself?

Completely transparent.

Does the transparency or lack of transparency of the design make sense with what the site is intending to do?
Yes.

Stereotype Design

Navigation:
Is it easy to navigate or difficult?
I was really confused at first but after I figured it out, I found it to be moderately easy to but I don't like how you have to hover over the navigation for it to appear.
How are you led through the site?Linear progression. Clicking an arrow to go to the next piece of work.

What visual clues are given to tell you how to interact?
When hovering, links change color and after clicking they have a black bar appear behind so you know what page you are on.
Does the designer use a metaphors to get you to move through the website?
No

What Kind of metaphors are used?


Information Architecture:
Does the information in the site make sense?
Yes. It is for the most part only images of work done in the past. Not a whole lot of type on the page.

Can you access the content you want easily?Kind of. After the menu bar has disappeared it is kind of difficult to get it back on the first try.

How is the content organized? (By loca
tion, alphabet, timeline, category, etc? )
It is organized by category. And then categories within categories.

Is there visual and content hierarchy that allows you to easily understand and access the information presented to you?
A little bit. There is a color difference b
etween the categories and the items in the nav bar but 
there is not much other than that.

Usability
Is this site easy to use?
Not at first. Had to figure it out.
How do the above two concepts, navigation and information architecture, work in terms of making the site usable or not? Do the metaphors make sense with the content?
Being that the site, for the most part, is all images there doesn't need to be an
 elaborate navigation system to make it easy to fin
d exactly what you want. But the disappearing navigation makes it harder to change categories from th
e one you are in.
Overall- does the site sustain your interest and engagement?
The artwork itself, yes. The design of the site, no.

Meaning-Making: (Narrative and Metaphoric Structures)
In what way is the designer creating meaning in this site?
One giant portfolio for a design firm.
Are they using metaphor?
Images scroll side to side almost as if you are walking through a gallery with all of this work displayed.

Is there a narrative, story or event that unfolds over time?
No.

Is this narrative linear, non-linear, or multi-linear?
N/A
Reflection of the User:Is there a reflection of you, as the user, on this site?
No

Does it change according to your specific visit?
No

Do you receive mouse feedback? text feedback?
When the navigation bar opens up there is a futuristic sound, almost sounds like a light saber. When hovering ov
er the links they chan
ge color and have a clicking noise.

Does the site store any choices you have made?
No.

Are you engaged enough in the site to linger and explore?
Only because I like the poster designs.
Transparency of Design:
Does the design of the site lead you to pay more attention to the content or to the design itself?Content.

Does the design feel transparent or “natural”, leading you to focus on the content
and forget the design completely? Or – Is attention called more to the design itself?

Yes it is transparent.

Does the transparency or lack of transparency of the design make sense with what the site is intending to do?Yes.

Good.Is

Navigation:
Is it easy to navigate or difficult?
The sites navigation is very straight forward and simple to use. The same navigation bar with five categories of sections are always posted on the top along with a search bar. After navigating to each section, it is possible to filter through articles as well as seeing most popular articles.

How are you led through the site?
Through order of articles posted.

What visual clues are given to tell you how to interact?
When hovering over any links, they turn from black to blue, show that they are clickable and will navigate to a different page. Links that are already blue become underlined.

Does the designer use a metaphors to get you to move through the website?
Yes

What Kind of metaphors are used?
Organizational
Visual


Information Architecture:
Does the information in the site make sense?
Yes. Everything is laid out in an easy way to follow and is clear which is a headline, which is a byline and which category they belong to.

Can you access the content you want easily?
Yes, just a click of a button.

How is the content organized? (By location, alphabet, timeline, category, etc? )
It can be organized in many different ways. It is defaulted to be organized by time posted but can also be sorted so that it is ordered by popularity or content.
Is there visual and content hierarchy that allows you to easily understand and access the
information presented to you?

Each article is in its own box, separating it from other articles. Within each box, the headline is larger and bolder making it easy to understand what it’s about, then more information is below in a smaller, non-bold type letting the viewer in on a little bit more information.

Usability
Is this site easy to use?
Yes.
How do the above two concepts, navigation and information architecture, work in terms of
making the site usable or not? Do the metaphors make sense with the content?

Having the navigation split into five different categories right off the bat makes it easy to narrow down what you are looking for. Then being able to filter your results even more makes for a more specified browsing experience. After a general topic is found it’s easy to browse through and titles because they are so big.

Overall- does the site sustain your interest and engagement?
Yes. The site is designed very well, attractive and easy to follow. After seeing it the first time a few months ago I actually subscribed to the magazine. Also because I only had to pay a dollar and they donate all of the money they earn through subscriptions to charity. Awesome!

Meaning-Making: (Narrative and Metaphoric Structures)
In what way is the designer creating meaning in this site?
Creating a news site that is actually nice to look at unlike a site like NYTimes where everything is thrown at you and you have no idea where to start. Even the advertisements are built into the design well, fitting nicely into the grid layout.
Are they using metaphor?
Not that I know of.

Is there a narrative, story or event that unfolds over time?
No.

Is this narrative linear, non-linear, or multi-linear?
N/A
Reflection of the User:
Is there a reflection of you, as the user, on this site?
No

Does it change according to your specific visit?
No

Do you receive mouse feedback? text feedback?
Yes, when hovering over links they change color and the navigation links receive a hovering bar over the link the mouse is over.

Does the site store any choices you have made?
No.
Are you engaged enough in the site to linger and explore.
Yes, the first time I went here I ended up watching almost all of the videos. Then Bought the magazine.

Transparency of Design:
Does the design of the site lead you to pay more attention to the content or to the designitself?
The design is nice but very simple, makes me pay attention to the content more.

Does the design feel transparent or “natural”, leading you to focus on the content
and forget the design completely? Or – Is attention called more to the design itself?

It is transparent but not so much that I personally don’t even notice it. But I have a skewed perspective of websites because I am a designer.


Does the transparency or lack of transparency of the design make sense with what the site is intending to do?

Yes.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Typeface

Wanted to have a simple typeface with a little bit of character.
Two choices are Eurostile and Futura.


I was thinking of doing a combination of both.
For the main title I like futura more but for names of actors I like eurostile...
I thought about incorporating some handwriting in it as well but I'm not sure.
As I am working on it I will decide if it fits.

Opening Credits

The 4th film by Quentin Tarantino

Uma Thurman

Kill Bill vol. 1

co-starring Julie Dreyfus

Michael Bowen

Jun Kunimura

Kenji Oba

Yuki Kazamatsuri

James Parks

Akaji Maro
Kazuki Kitamura
Goro Daimon
Shun Sugata
and
the 5,6,7,8's

as the deadly viper assassination squad

Lucy Liu
as
O-Ren Ishii

Vivica A Fox
as
Vernita Green

Michael Madsen
as
Budd

Daryl Hannah
as
Elle Driver

David Carradine
as
Bill

Guest Starring

Sonny Chiba

Chiaki Kuriyama
as
Gogo

Gordon Liu

Michael Parks

Editor
Sally Menke

Martial Arts Advisor
Yuen Wo-Ping

Casting
Johanna Ray, C.S.A.
and
Koko Maeda

Special Makeup Effects
K.N.B. EFX Group, Inc.

Associate Producers
Dede Nickerson
Koko Maeda

Costume Designers
Catherine Thomas
Kumiko Ogawa

Original Music
The RZA

Production Designers
Yohei Taneda
David Wasco

Director of Photography
Robert Richardson, A.S.C.

Executive Producers
Harvey Weinstein
Bob Weinstein
Erica Steinberg
E. Bennett Walsh

Produced By
Lawrence Bender

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Creative Brief

Date: October 19th
Prepared by: Doug Weiss
Project name: Title Sequence
Design Lead:
Hand-off to Production: (mm/dd/yy) Product Release: (mm/dd/yy)



Project Concept
The purpose of this project is to engage the viewer and make them want to watch the rest of the movie. The title sequence can get me excited for a movie, like the opening credits for Stranger Than Fiction, or it can make me completely disinterested, like the credits ended up being for Kill Bill.

Objectives
The primary objective is to introduce the actors. This can be part of the engaging process, if you see that your favorite actor is in a movie than the viewer will be more likely to continue watching than if they had never heard of any of them. Also, the title sequence needs to fit the style of the movie, there is no justifying having opening credits that is dark and ominous when the film is light and happy. The title sequence needs to be visually appealing as well, no one wants to watch white text appear over a solid black background for a few minutes.

Audience
The audience for Kill Bill is typically a younger crowd, ranging from high school to late 20’s. Also, the movie might appeal to those into Japanese style fighting, with swords and knives.

Perception/Tone
The movie is all about violence and revenge. However, it is not ominous as most would think a violent/revengeful movie would be. The movies plot is strictly the title with a little bit extra, Kill Bill and all of his friends/associates. When I visualize this sequence I see three colors, yellow, red and black. Yellow for the main character, red for blood, and black for contrast and to still pull in a little bit of darkness.

Communication Strategy
The colors mentioned above are the colors that were chosen for the actual movie and I don’t want to copy that. I want to come up with something a little different and it might be to replace yellow because that is the most overpowering color choice in the design. But what’s hard is that the color yellow is used for a reason, and that is because it is important to the movie. Brainstorming and watching the movie again will be in the near future. The whole movie blood is splattered everywhere, so I want to play with the concept of blood intertwining with the credits. The audience the movie is targeted for tends to be intrigued by blood and violence. I feel that using the play between the idea of blood and the text on screen will appeal to the viewer and well as set the mood for the movie.

Competitive Landscape
One movie that I would say strongly ties to Kill Bill is Sin City. They both involve a lot of violence and revenge. Sin City however, is dark and ominous. Filmed in black and white with a hint of color the mood is completely different while the plot line is very similar.

Single-Minded Message
Kick ass and avenge your loved ones.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Sound Mind Maps

Sound : Construction



Sound : Traffic



Sound : Bowling



Wednesday, October 1, 2008