My Weblog

Forgotten Post

I was putting a lot of time in my design project and forgot to write a blog post.  Previously, I was using the .mac's free trial to publish my sites on the Internet.  However, it ran out conveniently right before I was ready to upload my design project.  It may have worked out for the better because I decided to go ahead and pay for my own domain name and web hosting server.  It's not as expensive as I thought.  I went to Network Solutions and bought a domain name and web host server for $9.95/1 month.  If it goes well, I may keep both.

My domain name is www.lostkeyexpo.com, and my design site's address is lostkeyexpo.com/beats.html.  I chose to do my project on the Beat Generation, which was a group of poets who were popular in the '50's.  You may have heard of a few:  Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs.  Their work was pretty interesting, check out my site if you're interested.

I probably had the most fun with this assignment because it really forced me to think and read about the personality of not only the poets, but the era they were in.  So far I feel pretty good about the design elements I chose for my site, but any kind of feedback is welcome. 

Interactive Tools

I thought the sites this week were interesting.  It seems many web designers are using the Flash technology more and more, probably since most people connected to the internet has a high-speed connection.  I don't know too much about Flash or Shockwave, but I know they can be used for different purposes, such as providing small animations for web links or simple animated clips.  Now it seems it's becoming more a part of the main focus and web designers are finding ways to make their viewers even more interactive.  It's amazing to watch the internet grow at such a rapid pace.

On Copyright Video

I thought the video "How creativity is being strangled by the law" was interesting.  the speaker, Larry Lessig, made good points about the copyrights issues behind digital media.  I like the analogy he used about the planes flying over the farmland.  This is everyones' world and it seems wrong to restrict people from certain areas because its been signed and dated on a piece of paper, and stored in a manilla folder, somewhere. 

I minored in art, so I've been forced to think a lot about art and creativity, because ironically there was a lot of money going into my college education.  One of my professors told us for an assignment to define art.  It was a very difficult task and the class had several different definitions, some deeper, some more specific.  Maybe it's pointless to try and define art since just about anything can be considered art.  Now with digital media, we have forms of art that probably weren't even conceived ideas centuries ago. 

Maybe Larry Lessig isn't really fighting the copyright laws that "restricts" our culture.  To me, he's fighting to keep the concept of revolt alive, where creation comes from destruction.  He has a self-created purpose, to fight the powers who oppress creativity, obviously something he values in the world.  He is strong in his convictions as seen from the video.  If the world was perfect, what would Larry be doing?

Art, more specifically music, in my view isn't a separate entity that we can see, hear, or touch, but simply us creating value, purpose. 

We're All Handicap

This article for me, explains how funny people are.  I think Nietzsche describes the world in a way that makes the most sense, that our will is to power.  The fundamental instinct of every single living thing is to grow, spread, and predominate.  This goes against Social Darwinism that our will is to survive.  If that were the case, you might as well put us in the same class as rocks.  If the world stopped, we would all suffer from anxiety.  To me, it underestimates us.  We actually transcend just surviving everyday.  I mean, you've got people who go fight in wars because they create amazing value in their convictions.  People love other people to the point it drives them crazy.  I don't entirely believe in evolution since we're not too much different from civilizations centuries ago.  Maybe technology has made some discoveries like cars, new machines, and Internet technology, but they only take us to the same problems faster.

To me it's funny that we have speed limits so we are forced to slow down and protect us from our overwhelming ambition to grow and feel like we are progressing in some way.  Now the Internet has higher bandwidths that allow us to connect with people from all across the world.  But what have we learned, to me it seems we see ourselves on the other end staring at us.  I mean, didn't the pyramids pop up from different countries around the same time periods (don't hold me to it, I heard it from a friend).  We have cell phones that allow us to talk to more people all the time, but in my case, I never pick-up for unknown numbers, only people on my contact list, and most of the conversations go, "Hey, how are you doing?  Good, how are you doing?  Good.  Good!" 

So, when I read this article, I don't see it as a charitable act like I felt he was trying to portray.  He's handicap as well by believing he is saving people that he in fact reinforces as handicap, probably unintentionally.  By writing this article, I think he is doing more harm for those he supposedly knows much about.  It's more as a tool to reinforce his status in the world as a living, growing being.  He declares his status many times as much superior to both the handicap and ignorants.  There's nothing wrong with it in my opinion since we all participate in this act in some way or another, myself included, it's actually really fun, I'm probably doing it right now. 

I've enjoyed a lot of the work and readings throughout the course because of the unique concepts of web/graphic design to display "history."  Maybe it proves that history isn't really history, it's just a single ongoing moment we're trying to keep up with.  We're finding out ways to rejuvenate old, worn-out photographs.  In order for these images to be displayed, a value has to be created for them, and we feel that this dying image that represents our value of the world, is something nobody wants to witness (since it's our imminent death?).

I think we're all handicap.  We lose sight of our own capabilities to the point that we create so-called "handicap" people. 

For Last Week

I was in the hospital last week, so I'm writing this blog to makeup for it, plus I've used Photoshop many times and have spent I'm not sure how many dollars on various Photoshop books and magazines.  It's a program that once you start understanding and begin to see results that you're proud of, you become addicted to it very easily.  It's like being a kid in a candy store.  I like to think that it allows us to document ourselves transcending history since we're able to manipulate and recreate it with what seems as endless possibilities.  There are so many combinations and tricks that can be applied, that really there's no way for anyone to know everything single thing in it.

A great Photoshop book that I recommend to everyone is Scott Kelby's 7-Point System for Adobe Photoshop CS3.  Kelby is a premiere Photoshop guru, who also does the magazines series Photoshop User.  This book is a great starting point for anyone because he makes Photoshop less overwhelming by creating 7 things that should be assessed towards any photo.  You work through the book where he has you follow along as he enhances average looking photos. 

From Cameron Moll's Article

I thought the articles from Cameron Moll were interesting to read.  If you haven't had a chance to read them yet, they're about a community of web designers who create their sites to have an older, vintage look, more specifically of the '50s style.  This caught my attention because I've been learning about antiques and why it has such a huge market on eBay.

My thought is that all people embrace nostalgia in one way or another.  Most songs we hear on the radio are about past experiences, photographs are moments we need to have documented proof, books, movies, etc.

Cameron Moll refers to his and his colleagues' sites as striving for that "worn, aged, distressed, grunge look," but I don't think that's entirely true.  People aren't attracted to anything worn or aged, possibly because it subconsciously reminds us of our imminent death.  On eBay, sellers refer to an aged item as either VINTAGE or ANTIQUE or CLASSIC.  These are items that aren't dead or dying, they're still alive.  I think they're similar to photographs that identify a time in their past that they may hold fondly. 

From Moll's links, I checked out Greg Storey's site where he was using the Golden Age Era (post-WWII).  I'm no history pro, but it seems that WWII changed the people during that time.  Before the war, there was a need to follow Logic and Reason.  Then you look after WWII and find people questioning this so called Logic or Reason after the entire world was trying to destroy themselves. 

Here Storey talks about the change of colors used:

"The 1940's started off very colorful with cherry reds, pinks, and yellows coming into full swing. But as World War 2 became a reality the look of the world started to de-saturate"

On eBay, people will pay good money for items from the 1950s.  These items aren't worn or de-saturated because they reach people on a much higher level than their appearance.  In relating this all to web design, I think this is how people are reached.  People don't go to websites just for the bright colors or fancy layouts.  They might be impressed the first go-around, but later find there isn't much of a connection (similar to relationships).

At first I thought web and graphic design were all about appearance and vanity, but I'm beginning to realize that it's deeper than that.  I like what the vintage-site guys are doing.  They seem to know what really appeals to them and putting it out literally to the world without shame.  And it seems to be working for them.

Thoughts on Color Readings

After reading the assigned chapters and articles on color, I thought about how this applies to not only web design, but everyday life.  Color says a lot about a person.  Like the article "Natural Selections" mentions, certain colors give off certain moods and how it makes a person feel and portray the site.  Seeing what kinds of colors people wear can describe that person well.  Somebody who is wearing all black will make you feel that this person is pretty negative and gloomy.  This is a reason why people wear all black to funerals, because it is a time of mourning when someone has been lost.  It certainly doesn't feel appropriate to wear brightly colored attire, as I'm sure some of the people at the funeral would view it as a mockery.

Going through various websites, I notice the color schemes to fit the subject matter quite well.  For instance, a couple electronic music sites are full of bright colors that are likely to attract attention to their market.  The Drum & Bass Arena (http://www.breakbeat.co.uk/) has a bright yellow background, and most of the images are heavily saturated.  The fonts used on this site are very simple, but it still feels very lively because of the color schemes.  It also contains colors that feel right for this particular genre of music.  It wouldn't be as attractive to this crowd if it used hot pink as the primary background color.  I believe orange would take away from the contrast between the background color and the black used in the fonts, same thing with red.  This is one example I found on the web.

From seeing my fellow classmates text sites, there is a lot that can be read from everyone.  Some used simple, more neutral color schemes that gave off a much more relaxed feeling.  Others had very bright, saturated colors that gave off a very lively feeling.  Sometimes the chosen color schemes didn't feel like they matched the subject, but it also makes me think that it's a representation of that person's perspective of not only the subject, but of the experience of learning something new.  There were many instances of people using very bright, saturated colors that from the audience's perspective, were overly bright.  To them, while making their site, they felt it was right.  I think it's natural.  People are at first attracted to the brightest colors, which is why businesses probably use neon signs.

After reading chapter 9 in "The Non-Designer's Web Book," I see how complicated color can be.  From my experience with Photoshop, I know how easy it is to get carried away with over saturating your colors and taking the contrast up to the high value.  Like the chapter said though, not all colors will be able to be viewed on every monitor and print limitations need to be accounted for as well in order to have an effective project. 

In Photoshop CS3, there is a Gamut Warning option under the View menu that can be chosen and will allow you to see the colors that aren't web safe. 

Font Searching

I've been going to our professor's font links and looking around for an appropriate font.  It's kind of interesting to realize how a simple curve or angle adjustment can give a viewer a completely different impression.  Font style is something I never really thought about too much outside of this class, but I see how it can make a huge difference subconsciously to your audience.  It tells a lot about who you are or what your company is about. 

Better Understanding

The last couple days I've been working to improve my Portfolio Site.  I think I'm beginning to set a good foundation and once we learn more about web design, I'll be able to add onto the progress.  Along with learning the Dreamweaver software, I've been trying to learn more about Adobe Illustrator as well.  I used a photograph I took in Arlington, VA in Illustrator.  I'm seeing how the different Adobe softwares work well with each other.

Since I've never created a website before, it's inspiring to see my site take shape.  I used to think I was a pro using the web because I knew how to use all the search engines and wikis and eBay, but I never really thought about looking to the actual infrastructure of these websites.  Well, those are my thoughts.  Cheers!

Morning Thoughts

I seem to have had little problems creating my portfolio site.  It's the final step that has caused difficulty.  I'm not sure how to connect my xhtml and css to a FTP server.  I don't know too much about how the system works since I haven't had to study beyond the basic web browsing.  This has been an entertaining learning process.  Web design seems to be both more complex and simple than I originally thought.  The codings and setting everything up so that the website looks good from a variety of computers and web browsers.  On the other hand, I've seen some pretty elaborate websites, and to think that it's made from a set of common codings that we're learning right now is astonishing.