D'OH!

Holy Cow I'm finally done with this semester!! Woo Hoo!! My final project in my Graphic Design Interface class was designing and building a Flash website. I chose to go with something I was really familiar with and also with something that I thought would be fun. So, my website is on none other than the most influential cartoon character ever, Homer Simpson! Even though this assignment consumed that last 3 weeks of my semester and in the end I stayed up for over 72 hours, I actually really enjoyed working in Flash. I never thought I would be interested in web design but I am beginning like it, and am seeing the benefits of becoming experienced in this field. Overall I would say this was a very positive experience, mainly because I chose a topic that I was educated in and cared about (probably because I have seen pretty much every episode of The Simpsons). Thanks Dave for making us learn!

Here's the link, enjoy! :)

http://www.fall10.graphicinterfacedesign.com/students/hrandall/flash/

BFA Review

Woo Hoo!!! I applied for the BFA yesterday and got accepted!! YAY!! :) It was cool because when I set up my portfolio, Bob, one of my professors, was in the classroom getting some music going for the judging committee. It makes sense to put music on so they don't get bored when the time comes for the review. Anyway, he came over to see my portfolio while I was setting up and said, "You don't have much to worry about." This made me super happy and eased some of the anxiety of waiting till 2:00 to see if my name made the list. When I picked my stuff up, it was officially confirmed that my name did make the list and I am now a BFA student!! Woot!

Typographic Animation

Flash, flash, flash... what to say.. in my Graphic Interface class we received an assignment to turn a 30 second piece of audio into a visual typographic poster, which we were then to animate in flash. The main point of this project was to learn the basics of Flash to prepare us for the next project... dun dun DUN... a Flash website! Well here's the link to my typographic animation:

http://www.fall10.graphicinterfacedesign.com/students/hrandall/anim/mockingbird.swf

I actually REALLY enjoyed this project! I feel pretty satisfied with my animation and I thought it was fun! Unlike HTML it was fairly simple to operate once I got the feeling of the program which made it a good experience. I think I'm going to like creating the flash website... famous last words I know... ha ha. Well anyway I chose to animate an audio scene from Dumb and Dumber, enjoy!

Preview of part of my poster:

HTML Finished Website

Boo-ya grandma! My HTML website is finally done!! woot woot! :) We had our final critique on tuesday Oct 12th, and it was interesting to see everyone else's sites. I think overall we all did super duper well! The critique went well for me, the class and Dave liked my site I felt. The only thing I struggled with during critique was staying awake due to lack of sleep from building this thing! but here is the URL to my site:

http://www.fall10.graphicinterfacedesign

.com/students/hrandall/html/morgan_ut/root_folder/web_pages/index.html.

Once I finally figured out the basics of CSS and HTML coding I actually had fun creating this website. Now it's not like I wanna spend another 40 or 50 hours straight in the UR lab creating a new website or anything, but I did learn alot and eventually had fun doing it.

HTML Tutorial

How To Change the Color and Size of Font on an HTML Website:

(*note: the { } in this tutorial represent < >.)

This is a short tutorial on how to change the font color and size separately on an HTML website and then how to change them together.

FONT COLOR:

Step 1: Select or find the text you would like to change and then find your text in the code.

add to the regular font code : { font color = "X" }TEXT{ /font }.

Step 2:Replace the "X" with the color name or number: { font color = "blue" }Now my sentence is BLUE!{ /font}.

• Or you can use the number: { font color = "#FF0000" }I'm red now!{ /font }.

FONT SIZE:

Changing the font size is very similar to changing the color:

Step 1: Find the text you would like to re size and find the code. Add this code to the regular font code: { font size = "a" }this is the text I will change{ /font}.

Step 2: Replace the "a" with a number or a + or - sign in front of the number; for ex: { font size = "+2"}This sentence is bigger now!{ /font}.

-Note: you can make text smaller by adding a (-) minus sign.

FONT SIZE AND COLOR:

Changing font size and color at the same time is easy!

Step 1: add codes together: { font size = "+4"}{ font color = "blue"}This is big blue font!{ /font }{ /font}.

Step 2: Or you can use the size and color inside the same tag: {font size = "+4" color = "blue"}This is bigger and blue now!{ /font}

And Voila! You have now changed the size and color of the text within your website!

Graphic Design Interface Site Critique

I started my most excellent website search by typing "best designed websites" into the google search bar... this was not very helpful at first because everyone out there thinks that their website is the best designed. SO, I took my search further into finding specific websites that I knew and respected because how much I loved navigating them. I ended up with two sites that I visit often and stand out because of their design.

Apple.com

The first website I chose is the Apple website. It is, in my opinion, very well designed. Lots of web pages are either functional but poorly designed or well designed but it is hard to navigate. I think the reason apple.com is so successful is because it is very pleasing to look at while having high functionality in showing the information Apple wants to give the public. By just glancing at the page I would say it looks very sleek, clean cut, and professional, but also very easy to find what I am looking for.

On the Apple page they usea sans serif font that is very easy to read and graphics to illustrate what the text is about. This makes it easier for me because I am a visual person and the first thing I look at is the graphics on a page. So for example if I'm looking for information on the new Ipod touch, all I have to see is the picture and then I read the text that confirms what I am looking for. Also they have a very simple looking way to navigate through the website which makes it easier to search for things. It is beautiful in it's simplicity.

This website has an excellent use of color to draw the viewers attention to the item they want to sell, and the most popular items that are sold. There is a visual hierarchy to the the importance of materials on the web page. They use color, font styles, and font sizes to grab the viewers attention.

Apple.comis a website meant to appeal to the public so they will buy their products. It also has many helping facts about their products so you can learn to use them. They are successful in portraying the "point" of their website through a visual manner as well as textual. Apple.com is very appealing to a wide selection of the public, and it is successful in selling their products.

Grooveshark.com

The second website I chose is Grooveshark.com. This is a website I visit often and I realized that it is very successful both visually and in function. This site very pleasing to look at. It is laid out in a fashion that creates high mobility. It is easy to search for music and to set up any type of account the viewer wants. With the use of color, font size and style, it is easy to navigate throughout the page.

With this being a music lovers website, it is successful in it's purpose by creating a simple but eye pleasing page that allows you to search any genre. The visual aspects of the page make it clear that Grooveshark.com is a music website and it is successful in showing that to the public. They have used covers of artists and bands to inspire the viewer to search for songs and create playlists.

Overall I think this website is very successful in it's purpose of providing free music in a well designed, easy to navigate, functional website.

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So far I am still brainstorming on what to do my website on, but I want it to be about something I am passionate about like fly-fishing or travel because that makes it a lot more fun and fires up the creativity!