Clueless on this one

For this weeks assignment with the stuffed animal, I cannot think of anything to do with my animal (which is wile coyote) that has anything to do with what Shekhar Kapur was discussing in his video.
So what I am going to do for this blog post is simply display what I had done with the time I took out for myself for this Bliss assignment. What I had done with the 2 hours of my time was designed a business card for a client/friend. He wanted something that will make his appearance more memorable once he goes into interviews and things of that nature. He is an Electrical Engineer, and also works for my kart shop as a kart technician building chassis and tuning them.

Field Trip Thoughts

The field trip we went on was really interesting I thought because for one, I didn't even know that we had that kind of equipment on the IUPUI campus. And for two, which is more intersting, we as students are actually allowed to use that in creating our projects or whatever we need to use it for. My favorite part about the field trip was probably the little thing they had on the computer that we used a pen-like tool and could physically feel different textures by moving the pen across air touching an imaginary object that was on screen.

Creative Process

Inspiration>Idea>Concept>Trial>Refine>Product

As a graphic designer running a  design business my designs are 90% for a client wanting some sort of ending product. So with that said I usually am kind of forced to begin my process with thinking about the ending product whether it may be  a website, buisness card, logo, etc. But the point is they come to me saying I need "variable". I then start from there and then go back to the inspiration stage. That is where I go find a little more about the business they run and what they do, then grab some thoughts/ideas from other companies that are similar. That is where my ideas start to flow in and begin the conception process. This is the biggest part of the process for me. I will usually sketch out the layout I am wanting to design, then go in and redraw it with the pen tool or whatever I need to do to recreate my sketch but look clean and crisp. Then after the first version I will usually send a picture to the customer and let them critique and give input on it thus far. Then continue to make changes to their liking and whatever else I think it needs for another revision. Send it back and repeat the process until client is happy. Then they have their final product.

Let my take you through the process of the site we are currently working on designing:

Here is a screenshot of what the client currently has as their website, and wants to change the feel of their site to a more professional and cleaner look for their customers.

Here is the sketch of what we have as an idea we want to head towards in designing the updated look of the site.

This is a first concept with working with the graphics of the idea we had brainstormed. This was to play around with the style they already have and we found out ourselves that we did not like.

We then expanded on our first idea and come up with a much better color scheme for the concept. The client wants to stick with the large main image on the homepage. We want a design that will direct the customers to view their products so we put a ribbon on the main image and that would correlate with the slideshow as the image changes with the different products. Then also their information in the About, LEP Lighting, and Services section gives a little blurb about each but then you can view more information on each.

 With this revision all we did was change the main header so that the customer can see the featured product as well as other views of that product and a little information bit about that product all on the main page to help promote that newly developed product. Then also within that is a browse products tab to view all of their other products they have.

As for this version of the design, we swapped the navigation bar and logo in the header. Also we are planning on rather than using the slideshow in the main large image, we are going to keep that static, but in the right side section of the page below the main image will be the slideshow of the newly developed products available along with their descriptions. With the Ahout information and Products information, we thought it would be a good idea to style it this way to make it easier readable, and a little more formal. In the footer of the page we have added the search bar and re styled the layout a bit.

We do not have our FINAL PRODUCT completed yet so I wont post that part yet but when we complete the final design I will be sure to add that to my blog for you to view.

Class Discussion #3

I think that the idea of concept is a stepping stone for what could become a high quality final product. With new media we experience this time and time again with design projects that we do. For instance, when I get a client that needs a logo design, I obviously want the customer to be happy with their final product so of course I will brainstorm and concept multiple ideas for them to choose from to give them options for which direction they might be looking for. Then after concepting the logos and they choose the direction we head in, That is where I really focus on the one and design the final product from the concept. Sometimes the ending result may not be exactly what the concept started out being but the concept is there to give you a start with the ideas you may have.

In class last week i liked how we showed the students projects because it is always interesting to me to see what other people have come up with. I really like the guys project that he didnt use photoshop to get the green glow around the door he used some photography techniques to do it without photoshop which was really neat! I also thought it was funny that you let the other student take the leg that you brought in and draw on it and not just that but take it.

Not Quite Ken Block Status

 

The rule i chose to break is that of wreckless driving :) it seemed like the most fun of all the ideas i had in mind so i figured what the hell.. So me and my brother went into a parking lot and played around in my car. The consequences of breaking this rule are that of getting a large fine for wreckless driving. I know this because I have gotten one once before so that is one of the other reasons I chose this that way it would be that much more fun.