Pimpn' & Primpn'

Hey guys,

Hope you picked up some tips on prepping yourself for the real world. attached is the lecture deck. As mentioned, there is not homework assignment. Concentrate on your concepts.

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Here's some personal portfolio sites that I found. This should give you an idea of what a personal portfolio site is

1. www.londonlee.com

2. http://www.jlern.com/

3. http://www.americancheese.tv/

4. http://www.ourcommon.com/

5. http://www.bradfritz.com/

6. http://www.jamesvictore.com/

Here's some useful Links to some tools and information for getting started on your vessel and site.

http://www.pinazangaro.com/index.html

http://www.jewelboxing.com/index.php

http://www.lost-luggage.com/store/home.php

http://www.acmemade.com/

http://www.twelvesouth.com/

http://www.cherryflava.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/12/12/mcardusbbusinesscard.jpg

Suggested Reading - Making your work sing

thx

ss

Browser Template PSD

Here's the browser template we discussed. I tried to access the class folder remotely but would not connect so I'm posting here.

Have a good vacation.

Thx
S

Concepting

Hey guys,

We're on the home stretch....For the next several classes, we're going to be using much of the class time as a lab for designing your concepts as well as working on technique and style. If you presented mood boards that expressed a spectrum such as a museum or art gallery, then you should do one concept for each mood board. If you presented mood boards with one that articulated or expressed the current brand and one that targeted the new brand, then you should base both your concepts on the future brand. Play with "volume." In the case museums, maybe one concept is more about the visitor and another is more about the museum and it's work - each with the "volume" turned up on and down on pictures, color, type, etc. You get the idea. Ask lots of questions over the next week.

2013 web techniques presentation
Lecture Deck PDF

Below are the assignments for this week, required reading and templates. Go get em!

Final Assignment #1:

Integrate and utilize all the materials (tools) you’ve developed over the course and develop 2 alternative homepage concepts that are on strategy, architecture and brand. As discussed, design your home pages for a 1024 x 786 screen resolution which means your PSD should be 990px X 768....With extended canvas, your PSD will end up being 1400 px X 1000 PX.

Final Assignement #2:

Pick one of your final home page designs and develop a simple 2 page style guide detailing typefaces, colors, links and other vital information for a smooth handoff.

Save both the your home page concepts as JPGS and style guide as PDF. These files should be uploaded to the class server/folder.

FOR CRITIQUE:

1. Web Pages - Save both jpgs into your folder for projection

2. Wire Frame - Also save as jpg in your folder for projection

3. Style Guide - Save as PDF into your folder for grading

If you're one of many that need more support in Photoshop, now is the time so ask questions, schedule time to meet with me or Erin and look at plenty of examples.

Adobe InDesign template provided.

Here's a layered PSD from an old project called MeetTheStreet PSD that might be useful with regards to plucking elements (shadows, icons, vignettes, etc.). We'll talk more about this next week.

Required Reading:

Read Visual Design and Testing

Another top 5 Sites:

www.k10k.com

www.lessrain.de

www.iht.com

www.metadesign.com

www.ourcommon.com

A couple of revised dates to note.

Hello people.

Based on our discussion last Thursday, your final HP concepts and style guide will be due on the last day of class (12.6.12). I am also omitting the assignment from next week's lecture. This will make up for the one week we lost.

Here's a quick summary of our last few classes:

11.15.12 - Lecture - Primpin' & Pimpin' - No assignment given or due for this lecture

11.22.12 - Turkey Vacation

11.29.12 - Working lab session on concepts and style guide. I'll show some techniques and review everyone's progress with Erin.

12.6.12 - Each student will present their 2 concepts starting with original wire frame. Style guides will no be presented but will be due.

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Let me know if there are any questions and see you next week.

Thx
Scout

HTML Graphic Size Correction

For your name/logo jpg, the size in the lecture deck says 313 X 38 px...it is in fact 313 X 58 px. Sorry for the confusion.

Also, we've confirmed that WIX DOES NOT let you upload a site or files made in Dreamweaver or other programs.  If you're using Wix, try hosting from your dropbox account. You'll find easy directions on how to do that.

Thx
Scout

Flash/HTML Project

Good job last night. Below are some other cool examples of Flash as well as the attached presentation from class.

A couple of date reminders:

- As discussed, go ahead and purchase your domain and hosting items. There will be less headaches if you get both from the same place such as GoDaddy or Register.com. Doesn't matter where you purchased these...just want to ensure they have good support should you need it.

- Refer back to the domain/hosting deck from last week for more details. Once you purchase, they will send you several emails with your login credentials and info you need to use with Fetch for loggin in.

- Next week, we'll be having group mood board critiques which will give us additional time to have more time to discuss the Flash/HTML assignment. I'll explain more on that next week.

- Refer to the lecture deck for details on the assignment. At the end of the assignment, you should have the following

- We will be critiquing everyone's assignment using your live domain address vs. launching from the class folder. Refer to the lecture deck for what's due and how we'll be presenting.

I'll start off our next class answering questions and reviewing anything that you need more clarification on for the Flash assignment. ALSO, I typically hold lab hours on the Saturday before the  assignment is due. I'll be at the lab on the 20th - time TBD - I have to request they open on that day. This will given you some additional time to ask questions and get more detail on techniques. 

Jessica is also availalable for questions so feel free to email her at aurorasc@bu.edu.

HTML template wireframe
PSD Template
HTML Template Files

Attached Lecture Deck

Required Reading - Love The Internet

Here's a link to a few past Flash examples that students completed for their assignment. However, we've retooled this particular assignment so they probably won't give you much insight.

This is your chance to jump start your own portfolio site. Do a good job on this. I'm only requiring this one page but the assignment is scalable for you to keep adding pages.

50 most beautiful Flash sites

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Domain Name & Hosting Required - Due 10.18.12

Hey guys,

As discussed, I'm going to do things a bit different this year…with our Flash/HTML lecture coming up, it will be great to learn how to host it online so you can start sending people to your very own domain name/site. To prep for this, you have a bit of work to do. I've outlined the steps and a couple of choices below for hosting and domain names. Lets discuss next class. I'm also attaching a deck that does a good job giving an overview of domains and hosting as well as step by step process for acquiring your own.

Domain & Hosting Deck

1. First, you have think up a name to use for your site. This is called a Domain Name. You can go to godaddy.com or register.com and type in a potential name to see if it's available. There are numerous suffix choices - .com, .net, .biz, etc...I only register .com. Call me old fashion. I usually only register ".com" names but if it's not available as a .com, you can use a .net or a .info.

2. Second, if your name is available, you have to purchase it. Prices vary depending on the site you're at. Godaddy is pretty cheap, Register.com is a little more…go for the cheaper site for purchasing your domain name. They're usually between $5-$15/yr for use of a domain name.

3. Once you purchase, you have to have the name hosted somewhere AND have hosting storage for your files and site.…typically, the place where you purchase it will also offer to host the name.

4. You also need to purchase a hosting package for your site as mentioned above. Godaddy, Register and MediaTemple all offer hosting packages. Godaddy is pretty cheap but not sure how good their customer service is…Register and MediaTemple both have reps that answer phones and help people out..

5. Once you purchase a domain name and hosting package (be good to do it all with one provider), they will send you access information for uploading your files, etc…I usually don't use the web based tools for uploading files. I use a free program called Fetch for uploading and downloading files to my hosting space

6. Go and download Fetch for using to access your hosing space and files. They have a trial that you can start out with. We can configure in class if you have issues.

7. Don't get suckered into purchasing any design tools, templates, SEO services or anything else from them….all you want is a domain name and hosting package.

8. Get going on this right away…that way, we can start uploading your Flash files to your domain address and having fun bringing it to life.

9 You won't get much out of this unless you get this in advance…otherwise, you're just going to watch me doing in on the projector and it won't mean anything…

Here's some providers of both domain names and hosting solutions. Many of them have package deals…Just purchase the domain and hosting for a year….

http://www.register.com/index.rcmx

http://www.godaddy.com/default.aspx

http://mediatemple.net/

http://fetchsoftworks.com/