K=Out, Skull Afro. Web design and random blog

maybe a small breakthrough? but I need quality first.

2012-02-15T21:58:00.005-08:00

I have finished testing part 1 of my QR code customization. after studying the way in which QR codes are read, It brought to my attention that maybe we can work with different shapes.
With a little bit of trial and error I have found that QR codes are not limited to just squares and 2 part colour changes. With QR you can use multiple colours, (again sticking to the right contrast) and you can change the initial shape of the squares, even the 3 main boxes in the corners are subject to shape changes.

A pattern within a QR code will not entirely break it. Here by giving the code an inn shadow it gives a slight illusion that the QR code is on top of an image.

I did not expect this to work but it has turned out nicely and is probably not limited to just basic shapes, I think that pictures can also represent the squares.
What this shows is that a QR code has further abilities to change it's look. This now gives the QR code less of a "clinical" look and gives way to the possibilities of customizing a code to meet the specific look that may follow the marketing theme or business logo.

Client Timeline Gantt

2012-02-15T19:18:00.002-08:00

A simple Gannt chart for my client project.

How QR codes are read (My perspective)

2012-02-15T18:36:00.004-08:00

I've done a little research into how QR codes are read. This may help me understand further the capabilities for customizing QR codes in from an artistic perspective.

A QR code scans in a way which i imagined it would scan, each section contains data that is read from the scanner reading the dots(squares) in a sequence. From reading about the encoding of a QR code I'm lead to believe that a QR code is read from left to right and from up to down in sections, therefore where a code is read the scanner would look at sections and calculate how many bits are in each section. From what I've gathered the QR code is still read in a way such as Binary code 0101. In the picture it states that dark is 0 on even row and 1 on odd rows, this can only be understood if you can break down the sections and then understand, which direction the sections are facing.

If a QR code only reads dark on the contrast scale then surely this means that codes should be able to be made of any shape providing it makes the full pattern, I will test a QR code made out of different shapes to see which works.

Client Logo PSD files.

2012-02-15T15:48:00.002-08:00

From articles and scrolling through comments I've wanted to learn how to conduct myself as a practitioner starting their own business, this has led me to an article which discusses similar problems to my own.

This is the rights to my clients original layered master file for her logo. My client has her own logo for her business and with that I'm waiting for her to get access to the PSD file for the logo otherwise I can't fully complete the website due to the logo not meeting the correct resolution of her website.

What could happen here is that my client may not receive the original layered master file because she never requested in her requirements/brief for this said file, her previous designer also is under no obligation to hand over the file either. I will just have to wait for good news on the logo in the meantime work with what I have as a temporary solution. If worse comes to worse, I will recreate the logo using illustrator keeping it 100% original.

Of course their are reasons why a client will not release their work at best it's in their thoughts to help you not use the wrong files and end up creating further problems. At worse it's because the designer wants to keep a choke hold on you so you have to return to them when they need something changing.

Thoughts for the second artefact.

2012-02-15T15:31:00.003-08:00

After presenting my first artefact, the discussion lead me to doing more research in the field of a few things. 1st A look at the quantity & quality of modern smart phone cameras and how they can affect the changes a QR code can receive, 2nd how is a QR code actually identified and read from a scanner, 3rd what else can we do to customize the effects of QR codes to make them more appealing to an audience, finally what is most beneficial purpose of QR codes towards marketing strategies and how can we get more people to look at and scan QR codes.

Artefact 1 Designer QR codes.

2012-02-01T15:51:00.000-08:00

For my first Artefact I've looked into colouring QR codes to attract consumer attention. My reasoning for this is that the conventional black and white QR code does not look physically appealing and may potentially throw off people from scanning them. QR codes do not have to be one colour alone, they can have multiple colours within them and still be readable.

I have tested out various colours schemed QR codes and have timed each code for the time it takes to scan, then lets me understand what my colour limits are and how far can the rule that QR codes should follow the correct contrast of light background to dark matrix bar code, be pushed.

From these QR code colours I have created and tested, I can confirm that the background colour can be up to 60% as dark before the the code its self cannot be read.
If you also invert colours the QR code becomes impossible to read the scanner will confuse the background as the code and the code as the background.

Due to this a business can look at using multiple colours together to relate to their own brand or logo colour scheme, this may help in reaching out to their audiences further with QR codes.

Here are some examples of branded QR codes I've created using colours and logos

If you notice on the 3rd code for each logo I've used colours on the lighter contrast scaled to fill the missing parts of the logo this helps the logo to stand out better whilst not affecting the QR code directly, this still gives bright colours a use.

Research Project Artefact 1

2012-02-01T15:39:00.001-08:00

For my first artefact I was originally going to create a questionaire on whether QR codes are scanned only for their rewarding value if presented to the audience, however I realise it may be better if I first look at and understand how QR codes can be used to better appeal to an audience without a company just handing out freebies. For this I will look at the customization of a QR code. This may hopefully lead me to a better questionaire and results for my focus groups.

2012-01-25T17:13:00.001-08:00

Moving onto Wordpress

2012-01-15T18:46:00.001-08:00

For my Client Project I will be using wordpress to build the website. At first I was very skeptical about wordpress when i first heard of it a couple of years ago and believed it was just a tool for creating blogs, and an easy way out into building a cost effective website. I was right about one thing, it's cost effective.

The reasons for me using wordpress are as follows:

Source from http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/wordpress/use-wordpress-six-reasons/
On the Article, Six Solid Reasons Why You Should Use WordPress.

Flexible Open Source

Everything that makes up WordPress is open source. The functionalities and features such as Comments, Posts, Installation Facility, Galleries, Trash boxes, Plugins and much more, are regularly added and updated by the developers on the WordPress database. This forces the developers to work as per industry’s recent requirements and trends. This is where WordPress being open source saves the day when we freely use technology to code behind the system and modify the system easily with the help of MySQL, PHP, CSS and much more. The most important benefit of WordPress being open source is that they are many developers out there and as soon as they pick up any bug in the system resulting in some threat, they close it down as quick as they can.

Great Content Management System

This content management system tool helps you create and then update the web pages so easily, on your own, when required. You can easily add content to your site, pictures, events and even products whenever you want, in just simple steps. This option comes in handy when there are clients who don’t want the WordPress developers to maintain their site and ask for more money. And so the clients prefer WordPress for the reason that they themselves can add content to their website due to the easy functionality it provides them. And the best part is that the users learn to use WordPress in less than hours, because of the easy to use and similar to Microsoft Word functions for editing.

Search Engine Optimization Friendly

There is no benefit to great content if you don’t get enough organic traffic for it. And by organic I am talking about the readers who are on your site to really read your articles, those that have searched for something they really are interested in. And to make it certain that they land on your site for that specific search, you have to optimize your site and make it search engine friendly. There are many blogging platforms out there, but talking about the Search Guru ‘Google’, it crawls WordPress a lot and hence the sites using the WordPress platform tend to rank well in the search results. The reason behind this is that WordPress platform is very Search Engine Friendly, because of the fact that it lets us easily update/add content to our site regularly. And search engines like to see fresh contents on sites and opt for the regularly updated sites/blogs. Apart from the easily able to add content feature, WordPress allows to easily come up with inbound links, track-backs, submit comments and ping our content, which helps in improving our page rank, and hence traffic towards the site. These features might be available on other platforms, but with the flexibility and easy to edit option on the WordPress platform, it really wins the race.

Media Support

A website looks much better when it is customized to and uses some effects to look more appealing. This can be done by several flash codes, adding images, adding slide-shows, embedding videos and audio. And this is where WordPress prove to be very handy for it has great support for adding media files to it and jQuery slide-shows etc. Apart from all the media files, we can also insert Google Maps, Google Calendar, Google Docs, Scribd and other related things to give an attractive look to our content (site). WordPress proves to be very handy because of the flexibility it provides, to edit the appearance and make it easier for you to create sites that will appeal to your customers, and their clients in return.

Aside from the main reasons why it should be used, I would also like to use wordpress as it will give me another transferable skill that will help me to drive myself further when I reach employment. Wordpress is also great for intermediate computer users when it comes to content management and blog posting.

My Clients Logo and Potential Colour Schemes

2012-01-15T16:41:00.001-08:00

When building a website on the design process there are factors to be taken into place, such as Colour Layout Graphics & Fonts. The Colour phase of any website is my weakness especially when I have to stick to the colours that follow a logo. Once again it isn't going to be easy.

Here is my Clints logo which isn't subject to change due to the proces of flyers and business cards already printed and presented.

I definately do like the use of blue and pink it's almost like an 80's neon colour scheme probably a better comparison for it here.

Here are the Colour Schemes I'm possibly looking at.

Color by COLOURlovers

Color by COLOURlovers

Color by COLOURlovers

Using these colour palletes as a foundation to help me and my client identify the best colours to use for the website.

Just a Quoté~

2012-01-13T17:16:00.000-08:00

Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.
— Steve Jobs

Client Discussion.

2012-01-11T15:06:00.000-08:00

On the 9th of January 2011 I thought it would be a good idea to arrange a time to meet up and discuss about ideas for the website and if any needs have changed since originally agreeing on the client submission form.

My client has now updated me with the knowledge that she will not use the bakehouse/Cafe space to teach baking techniques and hold classes, but to rather hire out the space for functions and social tea party events, The client (Deborah Oppong) has requested that I give consumers the ability to read about and rent available space in the bakehouse instead of the previous idea which was announcing baking seminars.

We also talked about what the general theme for the website will be. The Queenie's Bakehouse logo is Blue/Teal and Pink and for that Deborah would like the website to follow the colour scheme so it vaguely matches or completely follows the logo.

We had previously discussed in the previous year some theme ideas and we both came to the conclusion that it should either be something of an Alice in wonderland style theme (the mad hatters tea party)
A vintage Style theme ranging from the 1940's to the early 1950's

Or a Cake store/Sweet store style theme.

The one thing Deborah at this time does not desire in the website is for it to be too busy.

Queenies Bakehouse Opens!

2012-01-08T14:53:00.001-08:00

As of the 3rd of January My clients Bakeshop had it's grand opening, I decided it would be a great idea to visit and take a look at what's on offer along with building a relationship with my client. The Store has changed in the variety of food it serves which was different from the idea of just cake and tea but more sandwiches and salads and hot food.

I thought I'd try out some of the dishes and they do carry a high level of quality compared to that of other cafes I've previously visited.

This visit also helps to further conceptualize ideas for designing a suitable site to meet my clients needs as it's not just solely about cakes and tea anymore so now it's off to writing up the concepts to see which one my client would like to move into a mock up.

Client Project meeting tomorrow

2011-12-03T17:03:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow I will be meeting up with my client for the first time, the nerves are kicking in. I plan to discuss with my client what kind of elements Deborah.O (my client) will need in her website. As a young designer I know my limits and boundries but if possible I would like to over come those and provide more of a service as a profession rather than a student.

I will be meeting my client at her new store which plans to open on the 3rd of January. I'm hoping this website will help in boosting sales and acknowledgement, as it will reflect on her as a business and it will reflect on me as a practitioner ready to move into the industry by the time I graduate.

Guide to Classical conditioning another helpful topic.

2011-11-26T09:57:00.000-08:00

There is an article on Classical conditioning online that will provide some insight into how businesses can help their marketing stratergies using QR codes and rewards for effort which is also an area i'm looking into the psychology of Motivational behaviour as this relates to why and how people should apporach QR codes. This sentence from the text caught my attention "classical conditioning is a learning process that occurs through associations between an environmental stimulus and a naturally occurring stimulus." -Kendra Cherry, if this is the case maybe classical conditioning can help with consumers moving to the idea of using QR codes should there be a barrier that needs to be lifting in my research findings.

Kendra Cherry. (Year N/A). Introduction to Classical Conditioning. Available: http://psychology.about.com/od/behavioralpsychology/a/classcond.htm. Last accessed 24/11/2011.

How QR Codes Can Grow Your Business

2011-11-12T12:56:00.000-08:00

Great article gives information on How QR codes work how it can help a business grow, the practicle uses and the origins of QR codes. It is really usefull to know that QR codes can enhance Search engine optimization (SEO).

Summary of the article includes:
'SEO and SMO – Earlier this month I wrote an article on social graphs where I discuss how web objects such as images, music clips, and videos add valuable content to your social graph. QR codes enhance both your search engine and social media optimization. Now you can increase traffic to those searchable objects to further optimize them by encouraging more sharing.'

Jeff Korhan. (2011). How QR Codes Can Grow Your Business. Available: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-qr-codes-can-grow-your-business/. Last accessed 12 Nov 2011.

The future of QR codes

2011-11-12T12:26:00.000-08:00

This small article focuses on the future of QR codes which contains helpful data on smart phone usage and good knowledge of particular uses of QR codes that should be avoided. This will give insight on whats beneficial to marketing and what isn't. An extract states that 'Despite the hype, the QR code tipping-point is a long off. Here in the UK, smart phone penetration stands at around 28%, which means there’s still only a minority audience with the hardware to interact with the technology.' This is not only helpful to my research because it has opened up a new sub area of research, but has given negatives on QR codes as a marketing strategy. This will be essential to help me analyze and summarize My research topic.

Hugh Boyle. (2011). The future of QR codes. Available: http://blog.creamglobal.com/right_brain_left_brain/2011/09/the-future-of-qr-codes.html. Last accessed 12 Nov 2011.

Research project supporting article. QR Codes – Bridging Online and Offline Marketing (Online Article)

2011-11-12T11:27:00.001-08:00

This online article explains the effectiveness of Quick response codes used as part of a marketing campaign this will be very helpful for me to look back on while writing the research document. An extract from this article explains about the key focus to marketing.

'The ultimate focus in marketing is getting your message across quickly, and efficiently; leaving an impression on your target strong enough where they could possibly turn into a lead and later a conversion on whatever product or service you’re offering. QR codes have the ability to be short and sweet, and aren’t limited to any one way of sharing.'

It gives examples of QR codes that have recently been used as an effective method of getting a message across to an audience and contains user opinions on where QR is predicted to be in the future.

Selena Narayanasamy. (2011). QR Codes – Bridging Online and Offline Marketing. Available: http://www.blueglass.com/blog/qr-codes-bridging-online-and-offline-marketing/. Last accessed 12 Nov 2011.

Research project topic.

2011-11-12T11:20:00.001-08:00

BBC QR code

My research projects research topic will be about how Quick Response codes and the internet can be used for marketing purposes. QR codes are scannable digital barcodes that let users share forms of data with other people. QR codes can be read using a smart phone or tablet with an application that read barcodes. The code then presents the user with a link that leads to information or data.

This technology is used for shortening links and gain faster access to information. The purpose of a QR code is to pitch an idea or information across to another person faster than standard web methods on smart phones and tablet devices. QR codes can also host the use of Augmented reality therefore we may be able to utilize the effects of this to help drive the research topic.

By the end of my research i would like to find out if the use of QR codes will effectively help marketing campaigns offline and online. I't would be great to find out that QR codes can also be partnered with AR (augmented reality) to even further enhance marketing techniques.

Business report out of the way it's time to finally figure out. my research question.

2011-11-02T17:14:00.000-07:00

Really stuck on ideas for research topics I know what i want to do i just can't get the question out into words. When I graduate from university I would ideally like to work in a web design company that applies new trends to web design, Such as QR codes in websites that link real world elements or Real world elements that link websites.

Using desktops smartphones and tablets I would like to work with augmented reality techniques and find new ways to make it more commonly known throughout the web.

Some questions spring to mind but I don't think they bare any weight.

1) What new techniques can we apply to change the way we use the internet.

2) Will E-commerce be the way we primarily shop in the future?

3) Can augmented reality be used in junction with smart phones and tablets to help people gain access to history within towns and cities (virtual tours)

4) Could the implementation of QR codes in objects we rely on change our daily lives?

Out of all of these question i'm kind of leaning towards research topic 4 i think it isn't to broad or narrow and should have a good amount of research materias into it.(maybe in books)

Augmented reality on my Infoflash

2011-10-27T04:33:00.000-07:00

I really liked the idea of adding a little 3d render of a cute cartoon style scientist saying Thank you when users print a piece of paper and hold it up to the web cam.

problem is Augmented reality is quite difficult to grasp spending a whole day trying to figure out how it works. Eventually I completed the online tutorial on understanding Flash builder and the source code for AR and flash decides it doesn't want to recognise my Sony Vaio webcam so testing purposes went out the window thus making it impossible for me to find out if it works but at least i learnt a lot about AR and pattern cards.

Mo alumni Mo problems

2011-10-27T04:06:00.000-07:00

In my alumni project i came across a slight hitch when designing the funding page.
I wanted to use small icons that represented each item on the shopping list but I didn't know how to express Synthetic Genes or Reagent markers as an Icon.

Added: When Google searching didn't exactly come up with a true definition of it as an image.I used simple text instead and highlight effects when hovering over, which would give a full description of what was needed by scientists to continue with their research.

Cancer research, Liverpool street station...

2011-10-26T20:13:00.000-07:00

So far I've gone for the metohd of placing facts and figures over a backdrop of liverpool street station in London.

I decided on using this technique to best show that cancer is an everyday thing it doesn't take breaks or stops for the rich or poor, and that time is gold in finding a cure. Just like the denotation of the image.

The original Image is from a photographer named Lauren Parrot a nice lady she is as I was given permission to use this image for my project.

A link to her Blog http://lpinlondon.wordpress.com/tag/notting-hill/

Decisions on Simulated Client Project

2011-10-26T19:17:00.000-07:00

I've Decided to follow the alumni Cancer research project field and create a flash form information graphic.

This was part inspiration for my ideas.

http://www.coolinfographics.com/blog/2010/5/10/apple-adobe-flash-and-h264-an-infographic-explanation.html

but after some consideration It felt like using bar charts and line graphs isn't something that can better reach out to my audience we need simplicity and direct information, Not fiscal years and quarters.

So following this up I'm heading towards creating a flash facts page with subtle imagery and direct text with a QR code AR 3D picture saying thank you at the end as a nice surprise for the donors.

Alumni Project

2011-10-26T03:21:00.000-07:00

To start off this is a rewrite of my personal Journal that I have. I've been finding it much easier to write in a book kept by myside than on a blog. Blogging for me isn't so fast paced as a Journal for the fact that I don't always have some form of internet ready device on me at all times. My Journal starts on the 20/10/11 where it starts

So far So good!

2011-05-18T16:32:00.000-07:00

Right so as a group we have presented our websites without input from our client however we are receiving input from lecturer David Downes instead. The presentation went well and we received some added feed back after the session. I've altered the home page as now we have split up the pages and what work needs to be done. When we meet up on Thursday we shall push together the pages of the site and then fine tune it from there on out.

I will be working on the technical side as well as critically evaluating the overall website. At this point I'm looking at implementing live feeds so the client can update the news, the version numbers and the versions themselves for download. Starting with the live twitter feeds.

Lovely Lovely Dropdown Jquery

2011-04-27T18:40:00.000-07:00

Just a Quick Tutorial on Drop down menus for Jquery it also pushes down under titles.

http://www.hv-designs.co.uk/2009/02/17/sliding-jquery-menu/

I Just love Colours? My choice of Colour Swatches

2011-04-27T18:10:00.001-07:00

Here are the swatches I think would best suit the clients website.

Personally blue is a good colour to use for a company such as this it is formal straight forward not too bright and not in your face, relaxed and cool. the first two swatches, Blown and Application are my favorites and in the group meeting we seemed to all like the 'Blown' colour swatch. This of course can change at any point.

mid blues and greys seems to go down well with most coporate designs. Even the other websites we've researched into use blue,grey,white and black.

Color by COLOURlovers

Color by COLOURlovers

Color by COLOURlovers

Color by COLOURlovers

Color by COLOURlovers

Here are some sites that I like the look of.

2011-04-27T17:57:00.000-07:00

[Microsoft]

Microsoft.

Lars Pointed out this website to me and stated that he liked the Look of the products page where you can select either from home purposes or the For work purposes and the site slides out and changes into its suitable mode for the consumer to get an easy read and find what they are looking for. For me I like the use of blues using light and medium mixed in with yellow. The layout is something I would consider using for the AJCSOFT website.

[Xero]

Xero.

My reason for selecting this was the simple half blue and half white page the site gets the key information on the part that stands out the most (the blue area) and lets the reader look on if they want to know more in the white area, nicely spaced out and easy on the eyes it's a good approach, maybe it won't work out for AJC as its heavy text dependant.

[IBM]

IBM,

Navigation bar is a bit tacky but is fully effective at getting you to where you want with a drop down menu as you have lots of links on this page which is the same with our clients. but that isn't my main point of interest. It's actually in the View topics part of the website and the use of block colours.
The view topic icon breaks out into various smaller icons as shown in the picture. I think we should be using this in our website for a quick navigation on the products page if people wish to check version numbers or specific information. on a product.

[Microsoft Cloud]

Microsoft Cloud.

It's pretty straight forward here it's the navigation and the sectioning of the site Flows well with the H headings jumps from h1 to h3 being the articles at the bottom and the main information at the top. The navigation works beautifully with the logo which I will add is a very nice logo.

Group Work, Designs.

2011-04-27T17:50:00.001-07:00

So as a group we we're given the task of recreating a website for a software company known as AJC software belonging to a relative to David Downes. Now a software company this is a different approach to web design as it's more a corporate style than a fancy art style as its selling software.

As a team leader Before me and my team decided to just jump in and crack on with the looks of the site we all needed to come to an agreement on how the site looks.
So I suggested that we review a few websites and bring in between 5 - 10 and show what we like about them the most just in short. Then after that we will decide upon a colour scheme for the site, using either adobe kuler , or colour lovers web page's to find a nice colour swatch. Finally after this we will look at typefaces as suggested by Salome then incorporate our finding into a site that we can all agree on.

Just Reminder

2011-04-27T17:49:00.001-07:00

If a website layout looks bad as a wireframe,
color and pretty photos are not going to make it look much better.

Group Work

2011-04-27T14:16:00.000-07:00

I've finally made it to the part of this pathway where I'll really be put to the test. If I ever want to run my own web design company then what I come out with in this module is very important as it will determine how determined I am to have a team of my own one day. I've been put into a group already before the module started and to be honest it was a group where the members had no choice in what they wanted to do, an personally they are looked down on in terms of web designers in my opinion.

So now the group I'm with I've labeled as underdogs that includes me but this is where us 3 get to show our skills and prove that we aren't just a group bound for failure or bad marks. My thought process comes from what I've heard, that people have been saying we're bound to fail as we're never in. good luck to us 3 Lars Salome and Caleb.

Website evaluation

2011-03-19T12:36:00.000-07:00

Alex Magic Website Evaluation.
When I was given the brief to design a website for an artist that I knew/known of the first thought that came into mind was that I would create a website for someone that I knew of abroad in Japan however that idea soon changed as I learnt about the proper meaning of "artist" which broadened my choices. So I went for creating a website for a magician that I have known for a while.
Alex Michael Cahill stage name Alex Magic has been practising magic for a very long time since young and is kind of like a brother in law to me. I've seen firsthand the amazing tricks he can perform and thought to myself that this is the right person for me to create a website. Contact would be simple as he works at Newton Student Services, and his services expand out to the whole of the UK so people also visiting the site that I've created may potentially recognise my talents and from there I can fully break into the web design industry. I would say that this is a way of expanding my networks.
The Design of the website was something I wouldn't have thought to be so difficult I know about Magicians and what they do but can I apply this into a website. My first idea was to create a website on a black theme so dark backgrounds and light colours on top but not to garish.
The first design was just a star as a background while the content would sit on top with a slightly transparent background, this idea was soon shut down as the look of it didn't feel like something that belonged to a magician so for my second mock up of the site I improved it and went for a full scale black page again with no transparency using a simple 960px width. I found that using a black background and white text on top of the background cause a certain amount of strain on the eyes.
went online and did a little bit of research and found out that white text on dark backgrounds was causing problems for a few people. This led me into wanting to change the design but my client wished to keep the dark colours of the site. by adding letter spacing and line height also changing the font to light grey this really helped with the legibility of my website.
I kept my design clean and simple without too much going on in the background or on the page. background consisted of stacked images and gradients that had fallbacks to IE6 as CSS3 is not supported on older browsers it never took more than 3 clicks to reach where the user wanted to go to which I've kept to the principles of Constantine and Lockwood, under the Simplicity rule.
Alongside the "Simplicity principles" I've followed the Structure of a website, my website is here to aid people in finding a service and understanding what is available to them rather than making them chase around the site for answers everything is informative and is easily found via h2 headings along with h3 headings. However on the downside my site does not follow the feedback principle by Constantine and Lockwood, once you've navigated your way through the pages you aren't reminded or told of the exact page you move to. Also I'm still not following the principle of Visibility even though I have changed font colours and size, I intentionally kept the site this way and created a decent work around to it. The site will still in the end cause some level of eye strain.

At a point I was really stuck with the creation of the site the first was what background to use without making my site look too busy or dull and dark and the implementation of PHP using the database. I could Find the right background to choose from I have at least 5 different backgrounds created in Photoshop and illustrator and not one of them fit the site.
I really had to step back and think about what it was that I was doing wrong, eventually I came to the conclusion that I wasn't really following the theme of the site and that I was rushing through ideas, this is where I came up with the current design of having the card suits as a border and the doves were an added decoration that worked really well as some magicians use doves for their tricks one including the disappearing head. applying a CSS3 Elliptical gradient and placing the image on top which was also new to me as I never knew you could stack body designs in CSS but it is recommended that you create a fallback for older browsers sake. This idea now draws focus to the content of the site really nice touch.
Now on the PHP side of things I really struggled to understand PHP fully and could not achieve what I really wanted to do and that was to have events posted onto the website from the database and when a user visits the webpage he or she can search the events to see if a specific date is taken and book a date of their own.
This turned out to require much more understanding of PHP MySql and the syntax and therefore this was beyond my limit. Instead I settled for something I could do within my reach and created a page that displayed all the available events in order and whenever or where ever Alex wanted to update the page he could just simply log in fill out all the fields which will update the database.
Lastly I used CSS Media queries to bridge my phone site and computer site together as media queries looks at the screen type and resolution then calls for another CSS page in which this page is styled to suit the needs of a phone browser making sure to reduce imagery as phones on the 3g network are really slow in connection.
This has been a great project and I've now gauged the level of skill I have acquired and the skills I now need to focus on in order to better myself at web design PHP and MySql is now high priority over the summer period.

Update

2011-02-09T15:50:00.000-08:00

Now Decided on what I would like to do for my Artist website design. I figured I should stay within the boundaries and go for someone who I know a lot more than 'just know of' a person who works within the University and the website I'll be creating for him is his Magic Website Alex Magic.co.uk, However I don't want to just simply create a website phone site and application. I'd Like to create a website, phone site, iPadsite and galaxy tablet site.

Basically a Site suitable for most resolutions. How am I going to achieve this, via the power of media queries which basically re sizes the size of a website based upon the type of screen the website is being accessed from quick break down if the max width of the screen is less than 1200PX then the phone breaks down into its lower res form which in a certain case may be 960PX.

I can't guarantee this will work and I can pull this off with the given time But as this is my second year I'm all up for experimenting as apposed to just "passing" so I'll give it a shot. If i fail I fail :( if not then Bonus! and by fail I mean get a (D) grade.

Say write!

2011-01-28T03:09:00.001-08:00

Received the brief for this term and I'm deep in thought about where to start. it's partially required to find an artist / musician etc to create a web page about them and their work. I have contacts from Japan and France but haven't heard from them in a long while so I have to start thinking about people who are closer to home.
a friend of mine a DJ, another is an artist(fine art) a dancer and finally a magician.

For now i need to decide which will fuel my ability to create an app a website and mobile website.

Whey WC3 Validation clear!

2010-12-11T04:24:00.001-08:00

TEsted all of my web pages for Validation and all of them came out successful with 0 Errors! 0 Warnings! perfect page and clean code!

No time to relax thought i guess it's going to get harder from here on.

Well you learn something New everyday

2010-12-09T18:55:00.000-08:00

& is a page killer &-a-m-p-; is a page winner. Even in links! (minus the -)

It's Already too late...

2010-12-09T16:55:00.001-08:00

While creating this website for our DP3, I came to the conclusion that I wanted to create my page so that it was suitable for Mobile phone uses and not just different browsers. Now the problem is that the markup I used is kind of .... iffy when converting the page to a be more compatible with mobile devices. one of the reasons is that fact i styled everything with Px and not EM I have found a quick article on why EM is "meant" to b better than PX have a look it's really interesting.

http://www.astahost.com/Sizes-Webdesign-Em-Vs-Px-t8926.html

How Strict is the F

2010-12-07T18:14:00.000-08:00

I recall back to a lecture were we were talking about how people look at websites in certain ways and if the website doesn't catch your audience they can switch off in an fast 3 seconds.

We discussed focusing the main attention of a website around the top left of the page forming an F shape, which is kind of like the Rule of thirds but in web design. This makes good practice however I've seen a few website around that just use a standard "T" shape navigation bar across the tom and content straight down the middle.

It's not that the F should be avoided but it's more that this non compulsory rule has lead me to think that it is compulsory and it's taking a hit on how i want to design a web page. I think I may need to start looking more into what makes a website really attractive that keeps people glued to the screen on first looks and what can scare them away.

Woah Easy K=Out

2010-12-07T15:41:00.000-08:00

I took it upon myself to create a logo for the Natural Food Co And it turned out to be pretty fitting, clean, fresh, green, and Organic. and it matches the aesthetic expectation of this type of company being Vegan/Vegetarian of course. The green used lives of to the connotation of life and nature and the heart matches the denotation of healthy and living. I think I got my point across in a better wored manner. So now I present! A healthy green heart with a white V for Vegan/Vegetarian. Not bad for a full out carnivore :)

Possibly the worst website in history.

2010-12-07T14:52:00.000-08:00

http://voodoo-king.com/voodoostore/brewers-yeast-flour-voodoo-ritual-herbs-2oz-p-626.html, Because I don't believe in voodoo BS. and its white writing on a pitch black background my eyes.....

Arrrrrrr So many fonts

2010-12-07T13:25:00.000-08:00

So I have practically come to a close on my 5 page website and it's not looking good in the font department for my banner. I recently read that Helvetica font still stands strong as the font of choice for web pages so this one is more easier for me. However not every computer has this font installed so I've made sure it will search for Arial and then times new roman if font is not present :/. I have a choice between 12 custom fonts for my banner an none so far fit with my theme of natural and clean and healthy.

HTC hero review.

2010-11-05T06:49:00.000-07:00

personal opinion and review.

Another competitor in the phone market, just like the iphone these should be best known as multimedia devices Speech, Games, video, film, shopping etc. it's a mini PC and just like computer consoles they are more and more becoming like a Desktop computer.

As for the HTC hero the phone is nice in terms of its weird design it's like Marmite some people like it some people hate it because of it's curve at the end. The design of this was apparently made so that the mic was more near to the users mouth. A track ball which is on other phone devices to simulate a mouse to move around the screen in Internet browsing.

It runs on the android operating system which is by Google? I think. and currently runs on the Eclair update. contains an accelerometer which measures the forces that act on it during changes in velocity.

Interaction - Design review

2010-11-05T06:25:00.000-07:00

The traffic control button!

as most of you would know this is item here is used in aiding people to cross the road
simple straight forward design. it applies its self to the green cross code so changing this would have difficulties in its self.

But if we take in mind a person that is both deaf and blind we have a problem well two. First of all he/she would first have to find the small white button to press and then secondly they would have to find the spinning dial underneath the box which would also be slightly difficult.

In my own method to change the design it would be ideal to have a big touch screen panel in which it has haptics letting a person know when to cross. This wouldn't only apply to deaf and blind people, the possibilities could go further.
a wild example maybe giving a simple update on other things such as possible weather changes in the area.

Olden days 3D

2010-07-19T05:35:00.001-07:00

Appreciate the 3d rendering you have now as its come a way from before.

good old reboot

Devious magpie and youtube finally agree

2010-05-23T17:25:00.000-07:00

Time and time again when I have tried to post videos up in Youtube It only decides to fail me around 90 percent in But today the nets are on my side and let me upload.

Maybe I can finally upload my videos from Japan

Devious magpies fortress

2010-05-23T15:38:00.001-07:00

Well I've finished my anti hero's lair so i think its best that i upload it to my blog instead of being lazy and leaving it out. While we are here I might as well put up my evaluation.

Virtual environments, Devious magpie lair.

I was given the task to create 4 rooms to represent a hero or villain of my choice in which it never stated that you had to fill up the rooms with decoration but more show the symbols of that hero to make it feel like the base belongs to them.

So here was my idea, I wanted to create an anti hero as I just like branching off from the regular ideas that people may come up with nor did I want my hero's lair to be a work of an already existing character this can stunt what you really want to have in your lair. So for my idea I came up with a underground crystal cave which at the time belonged to nobody, this idea soon became boring to me and a few people were already creating cave like lairs (Batman).

So back to the drawing board I thought I would create my character first. I ended up coming up with the idea of a Magpie that steals from the rich and gives to the poor. who always believes that the means justifies the ends. This character was named Devious Magpie.

Devious Magpie,

A Pirate magpie who unlike most magpies is generous with the shiny.

D.Mag, Is an Anti Hero who has the skills and heart of Robin Hood,
He steals from the Rich and gives to the Poor and has amazing marksman skills with his dart gun (Corvidae).
Mainly stealing expensive possessions which hold glitter and all gold off rich bankers.

His main Nemesis and apparent hero is Phat B Cat, A top business banker who is always going out of his way to
Stop D.Mag from attaining his riches. Using the law enforcement as his weapon, and his fists of Furry for personal Use.
D.magpie also gains help from Friends, Blue Jay, Gray Jay, Jack Daw and the Azure winged Magpie. In which they base their operations In the Sky Gardens.

I personally believed this was the right decision to make D.Mag a Pirate as it fits his character, A typical romance pirate searching for hidden treasure stealing from cargo ships. Only here he is stealing from HSBC same difference...

I found that 3D max can be a very frustrating program at times especially when it comes to playing around with vertices's and using the camera to arrange an animated fly through as my camera for some odd reason went backwards around the lair which caused so much hassle. But for what its worth you do get a great sense of achievement when you complete your lair and it meets above average expectations of it.

My work I will consider very well done and not rushed I really didn't want to clog the lair up with random object as it only needed a few to explain the anti hero's character. I'm not so happy with the camera work on my lair it looks nice but when it takes years to render I didn't want to have to go back to it a 5Th time around because the camera was nudged one way this time instead of the other.

I think using two materials to create a gold effect and glass skulls for lighting really did it for me in terms of rendering. or maybe my PC needs an upgrade.

Enjoyed this but still keeping my mind on choosing interactive media next year.

FLASH COMPLETE YOU BETTER PLAY THIS QUIZ! I WORKED HARD :D

2010-05-21T02:38:00.000-07:00

Retro games quiz Dr Pixel by ~Keirebuu on deviant ART
Interactive Quiz Classic Games

So we were given the task of creating an interactive quiz using the Adobe Flash cs3 program.
This has to be my highlight of the 3 assignments that I have to complete, mainly because i really like using flash for animating as well as for action script.
My idea for the quiz was to create one around computer games, my thought process or reasoning for this is because i found that allot of people are picking up on the trend of "retro" that includes gaming. So this quiz is more to test the knowledge
of people who claim to know alot about games A.K.A core gamers.

The quiz at hand was very simple in terms of questioning you get a question chose an answer done, but i wanted to find a way to spice it up just a little with the skills i have. So I came up with creating a magnifying question where a video of an image will pull slowly out of focus and then reveal the true image, of course based on a question that refers to games. To add even more to it I set it so that the longer you took to answere the question the less points you were likely to get.

This is based on using a timer function in action script. I wanted my quiz to truly be set in its theme so I added leveling up in between certain amounts of questions so that it states that the difficulty is rising as you go along. Another feature I added was the extra questions that you can get if you answer most questions correctly and get a high score. And if you get near next to maximum marks you are able to view a short ending movie for all the effort. This gives the interactive quiz, replay value and something to look forward to instead of just your final score.

I found it difficult at times to actually get the action script right and found it hard to embed an FLV to the timeline and then actually getting it to work
the most sensible way was to upload to a web server or in your root folder so the FLV videos worked. This is reason why I decided not to use FLV files as i could not work my head around what to do even with help.

Action script can be quite annoying at times too when you end up writing multiple functions without noticing on different frames then you sit there wondering what has gone wrong and why you keep getting errors.

It's all about keeping an eye out on each and every line of code making sure blues are blues and black are blacks close the code with braces and don't forget the semi colon or full colon and spelling. I found this to be really interesting especially creating the character who narrates each question to you. He was a blend of illustrator and flash mixed together so creating a sprite sheet for him took some time.

My questions were based upon my own general knowledge of computer games and i kept these questions fairly easy, it is not mastermind it is a flash quiz about games I wanted people to enjoy it more then click the red x button half way through

as for the little kitty cat he was a sprite sheet taken from www.theshyguykingdom.com. overall a very good attempt if there was anything i could change it would probably be a way to randomize the questions
without breaking the level gaps that i have implemented.

as apposed to my previous Flash I'm more proud of this result and the effort I put innto it.

Fin~

Tokyo plastictioner

2010-05-12T23:51:00.000-07:00

Moving onto my 3rd practitioner for my visual essay. I decided to to use an example of a website which started it all for me back in 2007. The company specialise in 3D animation but I was more interested in the mix of both 3D animation and web application.

The Tokyo plastic company founded by Sam Lanyon Jones and Andrew Cope, based in London,
created a fully immense flash website. which then after me stumbling upon it while typing up research on freelance web authoring inspired me to take up web-design and possibly 3D and apply for this course.

http://www.tokyoplastic.com/

It's a must see

Finally FFS!

2010-05-08T16:35:00.000-07:00

Working on the visual essay and i come across the most annoying piece of action script

I just wanted to make it so that my buttons will slelect the next frame, because I related the action script to each Frame,

forward_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK,buttonsPressed);
function buttonsPressed(event:MouseEvent){
nextFrame();
}

on the first frame then.

forward_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK,buttonsPressed);
nextFrame();

on each and everysingle frame I did not realise that this automatically calls for the "buttonsPressed Dfunction therfore rushing me through all the frames making the script look like its not working. Instead of stoping on the next frame so now my working code looks like this on only one page. (this may be usefull to some people on the visual essay.

//stops the autoplay of the timeline.
stop();

//makes it so that when the mouse hovers over the buttons appear.
forward_btn.addEventListener( MouseEvent.MOUSE_OUT, function () {alpha = 1} );
forward_btn.addEventListener( MouseEvent.MOUSE_OVER, function () {alpha = 100} );

//makes the forward button take it to the next frame
forward_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK,buttonPressed);
function buttonPressed(event:MouseEvent){
nextFrame();
}
//makes the rewind button take it to the previous frame.
rewind_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK,buttonsPressed);
function buttonsPressed(event:MouseEvent){
prevFrame();
}

It's roughly around that time to start uploading for me.

2010-05-04T23:09:00.000-07:00

I'm always busy with something that has to be done, so like most people who are also very busy, I neglect my blog... not intentionally but it's that thing at the end of the day when you finally get into bed to sleep and think... oh i forgot to write what I did, I'll do it tomorrow and so on.

But now it is almost the end of our time and everything should really be on our blogs.
So I'll take this opportunity to upload my interactive narrative and 3D.

All that's left is my visual essay and Film to sort out. two weeks of intense work!

My new dsi

2010-03-31T21:24:00.000-07:00

Today i'm writing on my blog for the sake of using the nintendo DSi browser. which of course im using right now. it means i can now finally write in my blog anywhere i go providing internet is availiable. it's a good piece of hardware i say you all get one :p. and thankyou loads kimberley for getting it me x x

2010-03-17T19:31:00.000-07:00

This is my own sprite sheet for the character of the interactive quiz Dr pixel Just here for people to see what tools I used to develop the character. aspointed out Dr Pixel/Piksul has strong references in looks to the Professor in Contact DS. Purely created from the top of my head on my account, this Dr was created using grids and squares on adobe illustrator CS3.

Jason... Jason ....Jaaaaason .... JASON!

2010-03-17T19:16:00.000-07:00

If anyone knows what I'm talking about in the title then they must know I'm talking about Heavy Rain on the PS3 a friend sent me this link last night and the only thing i found interesting was the achievements you can collect on a flash game, something I could do with in my interactive quiz.
The game Press X to Jason is a small short flash game where you have to call for Jason to save him from getting hit by the slow ass moving car (as seen in the actual game *spoilers*). The flash game also contains a timer Variable which I've attempted to use in my quiz but no luck with it yet only 1 week to go!!

The Shy Guy Kingdom

2010-03-17T19:09:00.000-07:00

ooo la la!

Just a quick update about a site that I discovered while looking for sprites for My interactive quiz
The Shy Guy Kingdom hosts over 128000 sprites from various games.
the only drawback is the sprites are really small which isn't too much of a problem if you are using them for flash a slight blow up of the sprites wont really hurt the quality of the work.

2010-03-03T16:50:00.000-08:00

just looked at a few videos for some 8bit inspiration for my flash quiz and this stood out the most as it led me to new videos along with it bringing back memories of mike tyson and his punch out.

8-Bit Meth Minute from Dan Meth on Vimeo.

Episode 33 of the Meth Minute asks the question “What if the entire cartoon series so far had been a 1980’s video game?”.

We asked 8-Bit specialists Ben Ross and Niko Anesti to step in and explore this scenario.

Every single Meth Minute character appears in arcade-vision and the result is an all-time high score.

Dr, B.Piksel

2010-03-03T16:35:00.000-08:00

Currently working on my interactive media project which is to create a quiz which will be based upon classic video games, so my games will involve questions from classic titles such as Zelda, Mario, Ice climbers and much more. Along with questions about each of the following console Generations of Sega, Nintendo and the CPS (arcade games) the questions will hopefully involve different methods of answering the actual questions such as placing objects in order figuring out answers from short video clips and just basic general knowledge ( In computer game terms). The style of my quiz which im working on is very minimalistic but yet busy, Hoping to achieve this look to kind of show a contrast between the old gaming and new gaming. Maybe im just being too demanding with this but I am really interested in Interactive media. The host of this quiz will be the character 'Dr Bitt Piksel' who will be generally be inviting you to the quiz and hopefully explain your score results.

Interactive Media Quiz

2010-02-25T01:54:00.000-08:00

We received the second task after coming from the virtual environments 3D lair. Now we are creating a quiz on flash, everything looked simple but the optional element which is to add a scoreboard where the users can save their score and name. I haven't found any tutorials on this yet but did find this flash game quiz which is based on what my quiz is going to be about.

Classic NES Games Quiz by ~godric21ph on deviant ART

although this is about NES games I'm going to be looking at classic games from the Snes Sega and arcade games to test the knowledge of people who call them selves "retro" gamers.

Here is another quiz which doesnt look to appealing but has a nice score system as it goes in to the minus areas. and remembers the score in each areas of the quiz. The quiz is about motorcycle safety In the UK.

NÓ

2010-02-16T04:11:00.000-08:00

Today's film was better for me as it wasn't in black and white titled Nó, it was set in the 1970's as i could guess. During the the October crisis in Montreal the protagonist Sophie (Anne Marie Cadieux)
was an actress who was performing in Japan probably in Osaka/Nó.

Sophie finds out that she is pregnant and possibly wants an abortion, meanwhile her partner back in Montreal is planning to set off a bomb somewhere which fails due to him messing up the timer on the bomb. The movie pretty much made perfect sense up until the end when Sophie starts to hallucinate and recites the play in her dreams but with real events involved in it at the same time.

Other than it being a nicely thought out piece of film it was boring to boot.

decent tutorial that I'd like to share

2010-02-15T13:34:00.000-08:00

http://www.computerarts.co.uk/tutorials/3d__and__animation/design_for_the_future

quite a nice read through about design Take a look and see what you think
(please leave notes if you have time)

Over the holidays and in the new year.

2010-02-11T02:14:00.000-08:00

So over the Christmas holidays and throughout January I've been working on my developing my creative practice. I'm pretty thorough with my choice in choosing Interactive media in my 2ND year,
as I really would like to get into web design and flash action script / visual. After a tutorial session which involved really good info on what books to buy, it gave me the confidence to buy a book that I know I'm not wasting money on.

Flash Essentials was a nice pretty catch from WHSmith for £15, It's basically a big book of tutorials tips and interviews on flash animation action script and 3D, as well as web and film info. I really am researching into the web industry and web as this is my potential future practice I really should know what I'm getting myself into and what kind of challenge it will have along with the question "Do I have what it takes".

I would also recommend to everyone computer arts magazines although I think they have stopped publishing. These magazines aren't really that helpful to this course in terms of learning new techniques (beginners) but they do give you a nice insight into various practitioners and this may help you with your Visual essay or blog writing in the future.

So what have I done throughout this time? Reading to gain new information on my practice, trying out online tutorials, practising Flash animation and action script which I have learnt new mouse functions so i could possible create a more decent flash game/ Interactive narrative. and my part time job, film.

Feel like ****

2010-02-11T02:01:00.000-08:00

It's early morning and ive only woken up late to see that I'll be missing my tutorial but this is a perfect time to sharpen up drink water and flood my blog with a fresh update on everything I've been doing for this course.

Merry Christmas... time to relax for some..

2009-12-16T16:47:00.000-08:00

Following my submission of my work yesterday I wasn't too happy with all of it as a whole so now In preparation of doing better work I've decided to start things a little earlier then expected.
Starting with the virtual environments. I will be sketching out ideas for areas that my villain/Hero can have as a base of operations. I don't know where the line is drawn in terms of hero or villain. Does my hero or villain have to have super abilities? So far I'm interested in the ideas of a mafia house hidden away, this can be a mafia member from any country really. Second was the Pirate cave and third I like the sound of a place where a failed Bio experiment could hide and only come out by night as this can broaden my horizons and i can just about make anywhere my secret location.

After a 1 day rest the sketches should have been started and by the next lecture a rough concept drawn out in ink.

Merry Christmas

The end of Slurpy :(

2009-12-16T00:42:00.001-08:00

As I left my pixelation to the very last point in time I found a very annoying error in which my pixelation could not be completed. frustrating as it is because i put quite a bit of effort into drawing so many different pictures on a white board. I really can't explain what went wrong but it was more that the actions i created decided to put the photos in any order and not in numerical order. I will at some point put this pixelation online as i really don't want it to go to waste. Sad times
On the other hand I found pixelation to be really tedious and gave me the worst back ache over the duration of creating it.

One shot complete!

2009-12-16T00:14:00.000-08:00

Well we banded together as a group and made this nice piece of film. Here's how it went... We went for coffee in Costa which was expensive but we needed somewhere to sit, discussed the ideas that everyone had brought to the table and eventually chosen the idea of creating a film based on Friday the 13th seeing as it was Friday the 13th when we filmed everything. So it's all about bad luck I really wanted to explore better choreography and camera styles I can remember wanting to just film this in a smart location with an ATM (student union bad choice) but thanks to Helen Tuff she came up with a nice plan to free the space of the cash machine ;). Chux came up with the idea of making the film look CCTV style to give it that more genuine feel. I thought of filming it at a low shutter speed to give it a more realistic value but it didn't turn out so pretty :(. anyway in the end using skills from each and everyone of us we came up with this nice little beauty :D.

One Shot!

2009-12-16T00:09:00.000-08:00

Our one shot video. I wasn't around on the 2ND week of the one shot animation as I was attending a lecture in demontfort University. (terrible Uni) The first idea was to film the blind date, but after some discussion we all came up with the idea of bad luck which led to the title of Friday the 13th! The idea is about the typical bad luck situations people find themselves in just small nuisances nothing drastic like getting hit by a car of course :p.

Interactive narrative!

2009-12-15T23:02:00.000-08:00

My interactive narrative, Well I finally uploaded this narrative after neglecting my blog for so long,
something tells me i should update all of it now :S. The interactive narrative was fun for me i put alot of effort into making this narrative with the short time that i had its kind of ike a fun game/mini story about a new character i have created named slupy. this creature is a monster that changes colours on emotion and looks like a cross between a slime and a dinosaur of some sort.
Play the game on my deviant art.

Slurpy by ~Keirebuu on deviant ART

Interactive Narrative sketches

2009-12-08T07:26:00.000-08:00

Right so here are a few sketches for my Interactive Narrative which I Have been working on. vector tracing them in Illustrator then moving them onto flash for use in the narrative. I like the style I will be using because it cuts time spent on each frame but still retain a nice style and look.

Interactive narrative.

2009-12-05T12:03:00.000-08:00

Well my time has come for the interactive narrative, I'm pretty confident that I will be able to create an amazingly good quality piece of work. This won't be my first time using flash as I've used it repeatedly before in the past. So far in the seminars I have created a couple of simple plots / narratives that will be created for this project.

one which caught my attention the most was the idea of building a Sub Story/game plot based on a little monster who lives in the woods, who didn't listen to one of the tasks created by the Mother bear of the woods, this means the little renegade or hero of the story has to think of a method using the nature around him to avoid punishment from mother bear. The idea i have is that you simply get 3 options to choose items in the natural surroundings then create an item at the end to evade being punished. I'm hoping with my level of flash I can add animation to the narrative instead of just stills.

ERRRMMM Im on TV?

2009-11-18T15:08:00.000-08:00

BBC new and Children in need, in the background! half way through the show.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/ondemand/england/realmedia/eastmidlandstoday/eastmidlandstoday?bgc=C0C0C0&nbram=1&lang=en&nbwm=1&bbram=1&ms3=14&ms_javascript=true&bbcws=1&size=16x9&bbwm=1

Finally!

2009-11-12T09:41:00.000-08:00

Finally remembered the password to my blogger Now i can get onto posting :).

And with this I will post up my pixelation (stop frame animation) I created in the first 3 weeks of my course.

First of all I got my inspiration to create what I have created via multiple videos I watched on YouTube for my pixelation. I prefer it when there is more than style involved with animation, For example an animation which features people and lets say white board animation.

The most interesting aspect of this animation, is when the artist gets involved with the animations giving the animation a more interactive feel, for example from 0:27 onwards in the above video he starts to reorganize and reshape the birds with his hand making it look as if it isn't just the pen that controls the imagery. I'm hoping to implement this sort of element into my animation.

This video is another favorite that I found where the animator has used and created a very life like animation using items around the home and given them life by adding the correct sound effects and used odd items to replace the original but Still the user can understand what is trying to be accomplished, To me this is a very powerfull and creative animation that looks as if i took a life time to create :D.

I just made a blogger thing

2009-10-06T05:06:00.000-07:00

At uni today and created this account for my online journal. I will hopefully tend to my blog often so keep an eye out.