Saturday, February 22, 2014

Webpage Design- part 2

Here it is! The culmination of an entire semesters worth of knowledge. I am going to be completely honest… I should’ve started working on this project a long time ago because I didn’t realize how much work it would be. I would have liked to do so much more with it, especially make it look more professional. That being said here is my quirky, colorful, website.

Feedback, suggestions, comments are welcome and would be GREATLY appreciated! 










Thursday, February 20, 2014

Webpage Design- part 1

For my final project I decided to create a website for the business that my mom and I started together about a year and a half ago. I’m hoping the initial concepts will develop into an actual website so I am multitasking! Yet again, I think I bit off more than I can chew but I am going to give it my all and just hope for the best.


First page will look like this: 
I have great ideas for this webpage, but for my final project I will keep it simple. I want each page to be clear cut and straight forward. No one wants to buy products from a website that they don't understand. 
The first page will have simple swirly designs for the "tabs" to each page within the site. I also want to put a short blurb in there about what we are going with this business. 

For those of you who are curious- my mom makes handmade- one of a kind jewelry, homemade all natural soaps and lotions, and hand painted gift boxes. I am a photographer so that will be incorporated as well. We donate a large portion of all profits to different charities. 

The “about our mission” tab will have a picture of my mom and I with corresponding messages from each of us. I may add our general mission statement as well. The pictures will have a border that is a separate image placed behind the pictures to give it some pzazz.

 The “products” tab will go to a page titled Projects and Musings which will have separate links within for each category of item that they viewer can purchase. It will be broken into two sections- one for my mom’s items and one for mine. I really haven’t started doing much for my items yet, but I will eventually.

Now, I am still not sure if I want to include the next tab- “Events Photo Gallery”- or not. I feel like it would be a nice thing to show off so that people can inquire about having us come to their event or home party, but I don’t know if it is really necessary or not. But the next tab is very important in my eyes. Viewers need to know that we donate a large portion of profits to charity and what I’d really like to do someday is to show the charities that we have donated to, an image associated with that charity, the link to the organization’s page, then the actual dollar amount that we have donated so far. I also want to include a piece to let people know that they can suggest future charities as well.

 The last tab will be the “Contact Us” page. This will be the fun, quirky page as far as layout. I am going to come up with a cool way to show Kim and PL’s contact information, separately as well as the general format for getting a message to viewers. I also want to include a link to our facebook page so people can go “like” us on facebook.
I did include an idea of what I want the check-out cart to look like as well. It will be very similar to Amazon’s check out page. CLEAR CUT! Then customers can chose to pay with card on our secure site, or pay with PayPal.  

FEEDBACK APPRECIATED! Like I said, I am really hoping to lay the ground work for a functioning website that we can use for our business, so I could really use some help from as many people as possible! Thanks everyone :-) 


Friday, January 24, 2014

Ecard design- part 2

Well here it is. The layout and design was not exactly what I originally planned, but I think it turned out better because the message is conveyed more clearly. I think this ecard is effective because it not only shows strong, simple images but it also has straight forward wording. My intent was to first show the damage that has been done by ignoring so many aspects of our planet, on the front page. The left column on the middle page is designed to show the harmful things that we are doing to cause the damage seen on the front page, as well as two natural resources that aren’t being utilized to their full potential. The right column shows the changes we can make for longer lasting environmental stability and the words put the responsibility on the viewer. Then the last page shows an example of an environmentally conservative household.

The most difficult part of this assignment was working with such a small format. I found that every time I tried to add an image into the canvas, the pixels looked fuzzy. I was working with resizing in many different ways and I finally got some to look good, but others just didn’t. My favorite part of this project was using layer masks and color effects. By using multiple adjustment layers, I was able to create some really cool looking effects. On the front page, I used HDR toning, layer blending styles, and curves adjustment layer. When I was working on the middle page, I learned the value of grouping layers to apply changes to each layer within a group. I worked on each side of the background separately in order to make the grass pattern background look dead on the left and luscious on the right. Once the desired color adjustment layers were created, I used several blur filters on the center of the background to make them look like they blended together. I was very happy with how the front and middle turned out, but the back page isn’t my finest work. I really had a hard time matching the tones of each of the images I added to the background house picture as well as consistent shadowing. I adjusted each images curves, exposure, saturation, and contrast.
I hope you all like it.       



Saturday, January 18, 2014

Ecard design- part 1

OK, so here goes nothing! After weeks of thought, research, and trying to find creative inspiration I have come up with this initial sketch for my ecard. The concept is that the front will have several images layered on top of each other and blended together to show the harm we are causing by neglecting our planet. This page will be all of the bad things in relation to environmental conservation. The middle page will be set up as two columns- on the left will be either the natural resource we can use, or the harmful thing we are already using and on the right will be what we can do with the resource, or what we can use instead. Then the back page will have an image of an environmentally conscientious home.

I will be using more images than I ever have in the past, but because there are three pages, I think it will work out well. The hardest part of this assignment will be staying within the pixel dimensions we were given. I will use the soft light blending mode on layers for the front and back pages, layer masks, new methods of removing an object from its background (I hope), and I'll be messing with HDR toning.

I am really not sure if I will be using all of these images or not but if I do I wanted to give them the proper credit, so at the bottom the links are posted to each photo (separated by section and named).

Let's see how this turns out!



MIDDLE PAGE











BACK PAGE 























Photo Credits: 
Front Page- 

Middle Page-

Back Page-



Monday, January 6, 2014

Book Cover- part 2

I am SO happy with the way this book cover turned out! I have to say though- I wish I wasn’t such a darn perfectionist because it would have taken me half the time to complete it had I not been so worried about the tiniest minute details. It’s a royal pain!

I changed a few things from the original design, as most of us usually do. I wanted to make it look like an actual book, so I tried to make each piece blend together. I hope you all enjoy and I can’t wait to see everyone else’s creations.






Here is the credit for the additional image I used.

 

Celtic line design-  http://marshfamilyaus.wordpress.com/daniels/

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Book Cover Design- part 1

I have decided to do what I love and go for the piper of a Celtic folk band. The title of my book is Camdyn Faser: A Piper’s Life by Patti-Lynne Bradley. The front cover will have a picture of the piper and he will be in a dark shadow because I like the idea of the elusive artist. The background will be give the feeling of a Scottish sunset and it will be slightly opaque. The artist’s name will have large Celtic knotted beginning letters (C and F) and I plan to play with some new layer techniques. The spine of the book cover will have a low opacity version of the Celtic monogram design underneath the title of the book and the author’s name. The back cover will have the Fraser clan’s coat of arms with the tartan underneath it. Right above and directly below will be the full Celtic monogram design. On the bottom of the back cover will be the book description. This book cover is effective because I am hoping that it would capture the attention of anyone who looked at it and make a consumer want to purchase it. I hope it turns out the way I envision it!










Sunday, December 15, 2013

Depression Awareness Poster part 2

This was much harder than I expected it to be. I worked with more layers than I ever have in so many ways! I blended layers, used almost all of the toolbox options on the left (smudge, blur, dodge, burn, clone stamp, color replacement, etc.) in order to make this picture look realistic. I have to admit, I am not 100% happy with the final outcome as I would have liked the separate images to look a bit more like they belonged together, but overall I feel as though the poster is successful. I hope it conveys the message that I envisioned. Please tell me what you think! Looking forward to feedback. Thanks!