With spring break next week my goal is to finalize the look and feel of my makeup webpage. I want to really focus on adjusting the colors and fonts for when we get back from break. Although after our critique I will likely make edits I want to make as finalized of a design as possible over break.
Kelly Kretchmer
I’m still working on my animated website idea. Its a slow process because I keep needing to reference material about skin types and I am trying to give my makeup site suggestions for chemical free makeup alternatives. I think at this stage its become more about mapping the information out rather than the exact look & feel.
It was a work day today which was great so I could get a few labs done. I also worked on the code for my project but I keep running into slight problems even after I think I’ve gotten something to work. Hopefully I can figure out some of these issues by next class.
Today in class we worked on our stories for our next project. I decided I want my website to be about makeup. I am a huge fan of doing makeup, and I love trying new looks, new products, and watching youtube tutorials. So my “story” is going to walk someone through apply makeup in the proper order to achieve a blended long lasting look. I am not entirely sure what I want to animate yet in my webpage. I am thinking I will definitely animate the buttons with a hover, but I also want to somehow animate the makeup products. Hopefully I will be able to do this without it looking too cheesy since I want my design to be sleek.
Today we started discussing our next project. The project is to create a website design that tells a story or teaches us something and it must also include animation. I am excited to be given the freedom to pick any topic I want, and can’t wait to explore my ideas in a wireframe. However, I am definitely nervous about animation. The labs we do in class make things like animation seem really easy but when it gets down to me coding something specific I often get very confused. I’ve learned that coding takes constant reminders and google searches for trouble shooting, which means it can take up a lot of time.
Today we critiqued our navigation designs. I loved seeing everyone’s different designs and it opened my eyes to how I could push my design further in the future. The critique was also really helpful because it helped me see that what makes sense in my head might not make sense to everyone. For my backgrounds on each page I chose stock photographs that I felt were beautiful but the class made me realize that there was a disconnect in the design and the purpose of the page. Overall this critique helped give me a better idea of how to design specifically for the web.
Today in class we had a work day. It’s nice to have in class work days because I can ask other students or Colleen for help if I get really stuck. In class I worked on coding my type/talent design and though I continue to struggle with it I made a lot of progress. I am still struggling however with getting my background to work properly. I also worked a bit on my navigation design, but i’m still not happy with where I am currently in the design. My goal is for the navigation to be really easy to understand.
Today we presented our wireframes to Colleen individually. Over the weekend I second guessed what our wireframes were supposed to look like and so when I got to class I was disappointed to hear I could have added more about look & feel as well as how each button works or interacts. I feel like because mine was so simple I didn’t get the feedback I hoped for. It was good to see other students though so I know what to do next time I make a wireframe. Hopefully my project will progress more now that I have to go ahead to jump fully into design.
This Wednesday we looked at everyones sketches for their navigation design. I found this really interesting because we all approached it differently and in so many ways. It made me realize their are so many possibilities for just a simple navigation. I liked the feedback I got as well, because it let me know I was headed in the right direction. Over the weekend we are supposed to begin on our wireframe and I am interested to see what my project becomes.
The test today was really tough for me. I was confused on what to study because on our syllabus the terms and talents were broken up into three sections and presented throughout the semester so I thought we only needed to know the terms and people we had already covered. Beyond the confusion of what to study I felt this test was hard simply because it was so different from any other test I’ve taken. I was extremely confused by the similar terms used in the first square section, because I felt some meant the same thing. Looking back I wish we’d been warned of how the test would work. I think if I had studied in this way it would have been really beneficial for making connections and understanding all the terms, talents, and technologies better.