Other posts for this brief:
I have decided to use blogger to create the website, as this is something that I am now familiar with, and also, I think it will be good for the new students to use it, as they will be creating their own blogs when they start.
View the blog.I need to consider that there are 46 new students coming, who will all have different tastes, may be different age ranges, and be interested in different things. I need to choose a colour scheme that appeals to both genders. I also need to ensure that the design for the blog is simple, clean, easy to use, and does not take away anything from the images of work that will be shown on the website.
I've recently re-designed my blog. (More on PPD blog.) Based on feedback in the crit about blogger sometimes being ugly, I've changed the design of the LCA 11-14 blog, so that it is simple and clean, and later, the designs for a logo and header can be added.
The more I look at this layout the more I dislike it. I'm not sure about the colour scheme either, but I wanted something fresh that wouldn't steal the attention away from the work. I think the way I have laid out the columns is good though.
I decided that I would set this blog out how our course blogs are set, with different things on different pages, rather than having everything on one page. This means a lot more work but I think will make the site easier to use. The other pages are: before you start (equipment lists, reading lists etc); contact; links (useful websites, visiting artists etc) and first years work.
Ideas for logo
As this project is supposed to be all about who I am and who I want to be as a graphic designer, I think the designs need to represent what I like. I also want to represent where we are as first years on this course, keeping this blog real to our work, rather than making the design too flashy and professional.
- Illustrator drawings of graphic design related items such as Macs, pencils etc
- Lightbox traced drawings of tutors
- Photograph of whole of first year
- Drawings of class members (photographs taken from the VLE)
- Type only, adjectives/keywords about the course, such as: ambitious, creative, big ideas, determined, passion, fun, innotative
- Collage images of graphic design items made from different coloured card
- Collage images of graphic design items made from different coloured card
I started having a play about with creating a logo by editing a font I made earlier on illustrator by tracing around existing font 'Myraid Pro' but in a messy way. My favourite is the design in the bottom right hand corner as I like the shape, but I think the colour scheme still needs to be played around with.
This is what the site looks like now with the new logo. I think it looks much better, especially with the negative space. However, I do think I need to include illustrations.
I have also made headings for each page with my font.
Content
Next is the task of choosing which pieces of work to display. I will include at least one piece of every first year students work, so that the blog shows a fair, real example of the work produced on the course, rather than just selecting pieces with the highest grades or that are believed to be the best. There are 17 briefs that I will cover, and 45 students. So, I will have three pieces of work for each brief. Some of the work for these briefs will be group work.
Following a suggestion from Jo in my first crit, I have decided that the work will not all be on the blog at once, but instead, a post will be revealed every Monday and Friday. I have made a time plan for how the work will be revealed.
The briefs could have either appeared backwards, starting with seeing the speaking with experience brief and the last brief they would see would be the summer alphabet, or forwards. I decided in the end that the briefs should appear in order, to give reassurance from the start, as we have developed so much in a year, to initially see where we are up to now could be scary. Also, when the course starts, it will have been a while since the students have seen the earlier briefs. I thought that there could be a countdown on the blog showing how many days until the course starts.
The briefs could have either appeared backwards, starting with seeing the speaking with experience brief and the last brief they would see would be the summer alphabet, or forwards. I decided in the end that the briefs should appear in order, to give reassurance from the start, as we have developed so much in a year, to initially see where we are up to now could be scary. Also, when the course starts, it will have been a while since the students have seen the earlier briefs. I thought that there could be a countdown on the blog showing how many days until the course starts.
The new students will receive the link for the 1st July. The design of this card will be the same as the design of the blog. The summer personality alphabet post will be available then. The students will be told to keep checking back at the website, which gets them into the habit of regularly checking things, as this needs to be done when they start the course and need to check the VLE and their emails.
July 4th - How to..
July 8th - Alphabet Soup
July 11th - Alphabet for partner
July 15th - No News is Good News Poster
July 18th - No News is Good News Mailshot
July 22nd - Illustrator
July 25th - Leeds What If Group Work
July 29th - Collection 100
Aug 1st - Photoshop
Aug 5th - Design is about doing
Aug 8th - Communication is a Virus
Aug 12th - Book Fair
Aug 15th - Photography
Aug 19th - What is a line?
Aug 22nd - In Design
Aug 26th - Speaking from experience - Last post
Permission
After a suggestion from Amber in the crit, I sent this message out on the VLE and on our group facebook page, but I haven't had any replies, so I will assume everyone is fine!
Permission
After a suggestion from Amber in the crit, I sent this message out on the VLE and on our group facebook page, but I haven't had any replies, so I will assume everyone is fine!
