I am really pleased with the way my website turned out. Honestly, I did a lot of stressing and freaking out about this project. I am embarrassed that I don't have more for updates, but I did the bulk of the work in two days.
This is the most challenged I've been all year in all my classes but I really am proud that my site turned out as well as it did. I am interested in making more websites and am up for learning more about dream weaver and html codes. Its quite fascinating how complex the world wide web is. Its neat that I am a part of it.
I used my favorite colors in my site because I feel my choices are a reflection of me, kind of like a digital self portrait. Purple is a rich and vibrant color and can be manipulated to change mood (like all colors). I like the feeling purple gives me. Purple is associated with spiritual fulfillment and peace of mind, which I seek. As I said in my artist statement and biography, I am interested in spirituality and death. I think my website shows the dark side of my thoughts. Black represents death in many cultures and I am intrigued with it. White is contrasting with black, they are polar opposites and details show beautifully with them. I used a very dark purple hue to tie the two elements together in a soft way. The purple hue is made with a very opaque watercolor. The black is pen and ink used for cartooning and calligraphy. I was certain that I wanted to have my pages hand drawn with details and a theme.
Bats are one of my favorite animals, they are fragile and very special creatures. If disturbed in hibernation they die. They are also a huge part of a healthy ecosystem which you can't ignore. The same goes for spiders. Being one of my worst fears, they contrast with my bat. But spiders are also a healthy part of an ecosystem keeping insect populations bearable, like bats. So they work together in some aspects and conflict in others. They both are sort of "mascots" (if you will) for Halloween, my absolute favorite holiday. This is also another reason for my little creatures being on my site.
So, after I illustrated my pages, I scanned them into the wonderful computers we have at school allowing me to import them into a digital image. I used Photoshop to edit and compose my layouts. I learned a lot more about Photoshop's little secrets on how to make your life a little easier. It was sweet. I cut my drawings into buttons and applied images and text where they needed to be. Eureka! Pages for my site!
I then imported the pages into dream weaver and started the "nitty gritty" part of my site...html codes, links, pages, pages, pages! It was really beneficial for me to learn dream weaver. I feel it is just another thing I can keep practicing with and eventually it will come easy as pie. I was really confused in the beginning, but towards the end, it was kind of repeating what I was doing from the start. Practice makes perfect!
Unfortunately, at the last minute...murpheys law attacked. When something can go wrong it does. I was finished with everything and uploaded my pages to fetch which uploaded them to the world wide web and ... BAM! Problems erupted. Firefox shows all the borders that I didn't hard change to 0 and it looks terrible. Safari shows it perfectly though, which confused me. Also, my images didn't link the way I programmed them to. The goal was to have my "works" page set up in thumbnails which you then can click on to make the images larger and appear by themselves. I checked my coding, my folders, everything. I even deleted my entire folder that I uploaded on Fetch three times, re-saved everything, uploaded them again and... same problem. I desperately want to fix these problems as soon as possible so I can start advertising my site. I am proud of it and want to use it to promote myself.
In the critique, I agree with what my classmates said about viewing the images in another window for larger viewing. I would like my audience to see every aspect of my work so that I can truly be herd. I also agree with what Gerry Perez said about my site looking a little too playful. My work has an underlying message that isn't always playful and fun. I want my work to be taken seriously and I need a professional website where miscommunication won't be an issue.
I am revisiting my site as soon as I can and can't wait for my next one. I need to stay on it so that I won't forget any of the valuable lessons learned. I thoroughly enjoyed this project and really appreciate the time taken to complete an outstanding website. As a designer, which I feel more comfortable saying now then ever, I am more conscious of everyday advertisements, logos, text, layouts and more. This is a great technique to build from in all works of art.
No comments:
Post a Comment