Research: Front design

http://www.frontdesign.se/

It seems underlining is back in and is fully acceptable. I say this because last year we were taught never to underline things when dealing with type by Graham, however recently I see a lot of typography re-using the option to underline. I think its useful and I agree it is a trend. The underline creates a border/ a frame edge illusion and allows you to work with it or against it.

Research: Patrick Fry

http://www.patrickfry.co.uk/

Amazing website, very similar to the layout I have come up with. The way it displays work and navigation is good, I used a 5 column grid and utilised the first column for navigation where he has used the first 2 for navigation.

Assembled: Pixel Perfect

Its 3:10am on Saturday morning. Yes, thats right. 3:10am Saturday morning.

I've been sorting out Assembled comps since getting home from uni about 5 ish this/ yesterday afternoon.

Why?

Because I had a chin-wag with Joe Gilmore yesterday/ the day before, who was kind enough to give me advice and information about how he designs his websites. He was also kind enough to inform me of a term called "Pixel Perfect" which basically entails calculating the purpose of every pixel within your webspace. So effectively, if you were to slice up an 800x600 pixel website, you would know how much space each element/ asset takes up and thus disallowing any dodgy browsers out there in the world to make your website look 'orrible.

So from the images you can see a sample page and how I have had to use a strict grid (which took me ages to design and calculate) which helped put together each page in a pixel perfect manner.

You see, before I spoke to Joe, I thought I had wrapped up this brief, had all my comps ready in illustrator, had my board pretty much set up for print then assessment.

Little did I know about Pixel perfect.

O, and I have some advice for anyone reading this thats considering designing a website.

1. PLAN.

2. PLAN AGAIN.

3. Once you've planned it again, go over your revised plan and plan it again.

Seriously, I messed up the layout 3 times purely by not calculating my grid guides properly. Remember margins and gutters still exist on websites. And unlike inDesign which makes the job of setting those up quickly and rather automated, doing it in Photoshop takes a lifetime. SO PLAN! THEN PLAN AGAIN! THEN PLAN YOUR PLAN AGAIN!

Nuff ranting, its bedtime.

Interest: Nike run by Wieden and Kennedy

Simple composition, pretty much the same assets repeatedly used yet minimized to give effect of distance and high population.

Update

So at the moment I have been working meticulously on my website brief for Assembled. It should be completed by the end of the week to which I should have my presentation board up explaining how the website works etc with it completely designed with measurements. Then its a case of redoing some of my development sheets and printing out some of the options for the assets on the webste.

FES: I have since completed the FES logo, just need to design and finish the board.

Stop Telling: I still need to screen print onto some of the posters, I have 4 days set aside to do this and so am not too concerned about it atm.

Promoting the Website: This will be a one week brief, just to find a means of promoting and finding ways of getting the website out to the desired audience/s.

As you can see from earlier posts, I have pretty much finished the website, just need to do the sitemap and its pretty much ready to be printed off.

Research & Personal Reference: here i am

Stumbled on this website for a graphic design agency in manchester called Here I am.

http://www.here-i-am.co.uk

Its got an interested website layout, 1 single frame, just really long scroll down. Works if you are looking as a client and want something quick and professional. Plenty of bright colours, large typefaces, okay-ish layout but then again thats me, a designer talking about design, not a person talking about design. The information is delivered with very little loading time wasted.

Assembled: Update

Here are some of the comp's I've been working on.

Research: Helvetica Vs Arial

I found this which may help with my dissertation.

http://www.mimeartist.com/helvetica/

Research & Inspiration: Roman Jaster

From California and teaching at University, this Roman Jaster guy knows how to manipulate white space, grids and challenge traditional/ fundamental beliefs to do with typography. I like the way he utilises the media and print quality. His layouts are unconventional and challenge the eye yet are aesthetically pleasing to look at. Huge canvases with small, strong and constructed bodies of text. Great stuff!

Research & Inspiration: Round.com.au

Round.com.au

The difficulties caused by flash websites for blog posts is a nightmare. So, yeh, there is a piece under their "work" section for the Kids Culture Trust, a map of melbourne. Aside form it being a beautiful piece of printed info graphics, it displays the road where I use to go to school when I lived in Australia. Infact it is the exact road, "Toorak" school, on "Toorak Road".... aaah, good times.