Posted on

Branding and Design Assignment

Good design takes work, and it takes time. When the effort has not been put into the work, it shows. Even the best designers in the world put effort into their work. It doesn’t get easier, the quality gets better, and the designs become more interesting.

Here are some of the things that I will be considering when grading the Branding and Design assignment for this week.

Use of typography. Good branding starts with good type.

I can easily spend hours pouring through my font library, looking for fonts that have the appropriate qualities and associations for the product/service. The same font can look very different depending on the color, background, elements near it spatially, and if your combining fonts, what font it is paired with will make each look different. I don’t expect students to create their own typeface, but I do expect them to choose the right font, and make the necessary changes so that the brand is unique. Icons are good, but not necessary.

Look and feel. Look and feel best describes best what I’m asking for with this assignment. I’m NOT looking for wireframes.  The goal is to create 3 different homepage designs. It’s about color, aesthetics, style, artwork (whether it’s photos you take yourself, illustrations, effects, manipulated (photoshopped) images, etc.) The feelings associated with the style and design you create has to be appropriate for the topic.

Search the web. Look at magazines and books. Get inspired.

The class will give you feedback, but you determine who your audience is.

Enjoy what you are doing. It’s a creative process.

Posted on

Web Page Layout Assignment: ADV3650 Advanced Web Design

Using a source such as the New York Times article on blood-consuming organisms, combine photos, captions, and an article in an interesting layout. You should practice the skills acquired in class, styling text using CSS, and layout techniques using divs, floats, positioning, and CSS. This one-page assignment should showcase your graphic design talent, it should be engaging to look at, and entice the viewer to read.

Posted on

Homework for ADV3550 Web Page Implementation Monday Morning

Following the class after Prof. Wong was out sick, the students of ADV3550 Web Page Implementation Monday morning should spend the week finishing off the flat designs they are planning on using for their final portfolio site project.  You should continue to edit the pages, and write the content that you are using for your site.  You should also be gathering images of your design work which will be showcased on this site.

Be prepared to review with the class your finalized designs.  We will be discussing how to approach building each design.  Bring in jpg images that can be shown onscreen, that we can talk about, and deconstruct.

Also, I am grading for midterms this week.  You have until Thurs evening to email me any outstanding homework assignments you have not turned in.  If you are not happy with your current grades, please feel free to resubmit improved homework.

Here are the current homework assignments, to date:

  1. Register domain name, and sign up with a hosting service
  2. 3 logo designs, and 3 interface designs
  3. Create an underconstruction page, and finalize one design for your site
  4. Build out a sample portfolio site, as we had started in class using the Dreamweaver: 2-column-fixed template. Write content for home, bio, resume, and contact pages. Make sure each page has a different title. Email link to live sample portfolio site.
  5. Complete graphics page exercise that was taught in class. Email homework as a link to a live page. Add graphics to sample portfolio site worked on in homework #4.

If you have any questions, please email me, and put “Question” in the subject line.

Posted on

Homework for ADV3650 Advanced Web Design Monday Evening Session

The students of the Advanced Web Design Monday evening should be working on their web project for homework this week, building it out further, and filling out the site with appropriate content. At this point, every student should have a grasp of what their project is about, and should have found at least one affiliate program appropriate for the site they are building.

Be prepared at the next class, to present your site, and talk about it from the perspective of your design approach, how you built the site, and the technology challenges that you have encountered while building the site. Students will get into groups of 3-4, and present to that group. The students will write an assessment of each other’s projects, and these assessments will be handed in at the end of the class. This is an opportunity to see other student’s accomplishments. You should ask one another how to approach problems you may be having.

Midterms grades are being determined this week. For all the students who still have homework outstanding, please email me your homework by Friday, Oct 24.

The homework assignments to date, are as follows:

  1. Written concept for website with affiliate program, register a domain name, sign up for hosting service.
  2. 3 logo designs, 3 interface designs (look-and-feel) for site.
  3. Site map, 3 pages of written copy for site, with keywords pulled out into a list. Choose and finish one final design.
  4. Build and publish live 3 pages from site, including the main navigation. Site pages should be linked. Each page should have content filled in, and each page should have a different title.
  5. Exercise: create one page using CSS learned in class. Must choose 2 from:
    inline style, embedded style, linked style. Must choose 2 from child selector, sibling selector, class selector, contextual class selector, grouped rule. And 1 ID. Please email the homework as a link to a live page.

If you have any questions, please email me, and put “question” in the subject line.