I read each of the readings this week with an eye for application to me and my creating my own site.
The Wroblewski site was interesting and maybe a little more technical than I can fully comprehend in so far as how I can apply his strategy to my site. Way back in high school when I dabbled in HTML and programming, I always struggled to make sure my project “worked” and took great pains in making sure I considered any possible ways the code might crash if a user inputed something outside of my program’s realm etc. Frequently, the aesthetic appeal of my project was lacking due to the fact that I spent so much time making sure the technical side was done well. From my perspective, it seems that websites have gone more towards simplicity in terms of design; almost as if less is more. The technical side has become more advanced since the first websites sprouted up on the internet.
I remember one project I had to do in PERL for a high school class where I spent forever trying to get my code to do something. I was the only one who hadn’t moved on to the site design so I finally asked this kid behind me how he had made his code “work.” He showed me his site, which has this entrance way with flaming torches on either side of this portal of some sort. I looked pretty cool I had to admit. But then when I asked, “Okay, so let’s see how it works.” His site crashed. He hadn’t DONE the code yet and had just been all caught up in putting the stupid flaming torches on the main page. I think it’s more important to get the functionality down first, then worry about the flaming torches later. I’m really trying to keep my site simple so that I can do both technical and visual equally.
I liked the Mark Boulton sites. The one on the color wheel was something I was already kind of familiar with since I have taken an art class before. It’s always a good reminder though to keep in mind one’s users since I think it’s easy to get enamored of a scheme of colors only to forget that it may be a really obnoxious one to everyone else in the world. Once again I remember from high school when students would couple primary blue background with Primary red text. This couple will give almost everyone a headache and our teacher forbid us from using them. Boulton’s site on Saving the Spark was interesting because it hit home the idea that structure will help an idea to not die in the creating process. This reminded me of the week’s readings on sitemaps and wireframes. I tend to take on ideas that are way too big and end up overwhelmed when trying to complete the project. Keeping structure in mind throughout the site’s process made a lot of sense to me because it can only help in organization and keeping a schedule.
The Carole Guevin site on visual architecture was applicable to me as I am hoping the images I upload to my collections will speak for themselves and stimulate classroom discussion. Although I realize it is not quite the same thing, the idea behind my site is that architects at different points in time chose to include certain symbols, designs, etc, to convey ideas to visitors coming to these buildings. Like the ad she included with the sunglasses and milk, I think each detail and aspect of classical architecture has a message and I hope to capture that for users.
Similarly, the Erin Kissane site on typographic matters discussed strategies for getting users to read your site. I am constantly reminding myself that I can’t have too much text attached to each image and collection because users will simply just get overwhelmed or won’t read it anyway. As a matter of fact, if I were reading this blog post I wouldn’t even be reading this sentence and would be already skimming down to the bottom… Anyway, as I said above, I’m hoping to stimulate discussion through some commentary on the photos along with some questions for users in an effort to draw their attention to certain aspects of a given photo.
