Design Site Reviews

Creative Nerds

http://www.creativenerds.org

I first heard about creative nerd via browsing Myspace. I realised they were responsible for the recent influx of great looking and well made Myspace layouts being made for many artists in the underground grime scene (many of which have gone on to mainstream success such as Tinchy Stryda, and Tinie Tempah) I established they were a partnership of two college students (same as me at the time) so I found it easy to relate to them.

I feel their website is looks very appealing. What I think works well is the first thing you see when you first access the site is a slide show showcasing various examples of their work. This gives a potential client a great opportunity to see if their work suits them. The tool bar at the top is easy to understand and use as it is laid out well. The only downside I would say this website has is that it lacks a certain professional look. All the people behind the company are quite young and I guess have a lot to learn. Because of this some potential clients could be put off maybe by the amateurish look of the site.

Open Edge Design

http://www.urbanedgedesign.co.uk/

I stumbled across this website in a search for 'urban design' after flicking through some of the work showcased, I decided I like what I saw. The design of the website is very simple and minimal. Only two colours are used through out which are white and grey. This could be classed as quite boring, but I think it works well in conjunction with the type of design they are producing.

The website shows off previous examples of work and roll over code to show the preview image of the work in colour (the image is black and white before it is interacted with to keep the colour scheme going). The layout of the site is well done, all is accessible and it is easy and instinctive to use and navigate your way around. The general look of the website is good, although as I previously mentioned, the fact that the colour scheme is very minimal could be a potential put off as it can come across quite boring. Their isnt anything that grabs you instantly and draws you into the site.

Virtual Environments Assignment

Virtual Environments assignment, done! Here is my attempt at a super villain’s lair. When I first read the brief for this project I instantly thought of Batman with his state of the art Bat cave. This initial idea led to a vision of a big room which stored vehicles, sort of like a car show room. This was to be the first room I created, and the rest of the structure was constructed around it. I decided to have one additional back room which was to be the armoury housing all the weapons your typical super villain would have in his possession. I then decided I would make use of the roof by putting a space ship there, and this would be my third area. My fourth area I turned into a defence centre, with four turrets positioned around a circular space, also stairs to the second floor were accessible from this space. I textured my building using mostly metal textures. The walls were textured with an image I had which was a sheet of metal with a yellow warning like strip on both the top and bottom. I feel this worked well as it made the building look gritty and dirty. I had an extremely suitable floor tile. I say that because it was metal, and it had the pattern many metal floor tiles have on them, which added to the realism. Instead of using the free camera as Andy advised, I used a target camera. This was mainly down to the fact that I found it a lot easier, as using it in conjunction with the time line, was extremely similar to Flash, as it used key frames.

What I liked about this project was the level of creative potential. You could literally make ANYTHING, and you were God. I like the facts that even though I did struggle with this project a lot, I found it easier than I thought I would. Before I started this project, the idea of creating any 3D objects seemed to hard and too complicated, but I now feel I have overcome a fear now I have tried it. What I liked about my structure the most was the texturing. I felt I managed to get good images to use and they all tied in together leaving my structure looking pretty good. I also felt my camera sequence went quite well, as you get to see all of the structure.

What I did not like about this project was the program 3Ds Max itself. I never really properly got to grips with it, and I struggled massively at the start. I felt the whole process extremely frustrating, and I feel this shows in the final outcome. I feel the whole structure is a bit simple, and the interior could have been a lot more detailed. I just did have the passion to try and create something original and different, and I feel this was mostly down to the fact that I found using 3DS Max very hard.

Interactive Narrative: Flash Quiz

Here it is! After many frustrating hours, writing code, deleting code, replacing code, and repeating code I finally have finished it! I decided to do my quiz on the English Premier League, as it is Football, it’s something I am interested in, and also because I found it easy to think up questions for it! I decided to ask one question about each team in the EPL (20 questions). There would be 3 possible answers, one correct two incorrect. I first had the idea to implement a cheer sound as the correct answer was selected. I managed to do this, but only in the first frame. I was being told by Flash that I had repeated a definition. I half knew what this meant but my attempts to correct it, and research on the internet failed to work. I also tried to implement video, and at first it seemed to work. By using the FLV video player preset, everything seemed too easy, and I soon later realised the video didn’t play if the directory where the video is stored was removed (I assumed Flash embedded all files from the inbuilt library). I later found out (after it was too late to correct) that SWF file had to be handed in with all files in a folder, and this would have corrected my problem.

What I enjoyed about this task, was it allowed me to exercise all the relevant skills I feel I am best suited to. For example, designing the layout and look of the quiz is what I enjoyed the most as being on Photoshop creating images is something I always like doing and also do it in my spare time. I chose to stick to the traditional colour scheme the EPL uses as I thought this would give the quiz a more official look. I placed in the back drop of the question box, three players from the team you were currently answering the question for. These players were either old legends of the team, or modern players. I also tried to keep some relevance between the players and the question. Also the coding part of the assignment I enjoy. All though I admit coding isn’t my strongest point, I still enjoy it and I am always looking to learn more.

There wasn’t much I did not enjoy about this assignment. I felt that if I had given myself more time to do the project I could have made changed to the quiz that would have benefited it. For example if I though more about how I wanted the quiz to look, I could have simplified the design, and still kept the look of it. I say this because the way I siliced my image in Photoshop, meant that if one image was one pixel out of shape, it was completely noticeable.

I really enjoyed this assignment, and it put to rest any doubts I had about going forth onto the Interactive Media subject next year.

(Click here to access quiz)