Right now, we are working on making the "wire frame" for our websites.
I have taken inspiration from my reference websites. Firstly, I would like my remote roll-overs to be like the navigation on surfingthemag.com. When you put the mouse curser over the part that you want (ex: "home") it will change to one of the accent colors, allowing you to know where you are. My color palette is simple- monochromatic background (dark grey with black font) with blue and green acting as accent colors. I would like the navigation on my redesign of the website to be much easier to use. It should be simple, ledgible, and not so cluttered.
Also, like on many of my reference websites, I would like to have a large image on the screen... just under the navigation. I find that on my reference websites, this catches the eye. Also, having a picture instead of a bunch of text makes the website look cleaner (in my opinion).

Powerpoint and website

Last class I presented my powerpoint to the class. There were some aspects of it that really worked and I enjoyed, however I also recieved some very helpful critiques. Since my icon is made with a font that is not found on most computers, I ran into some difficulty trying to get it to work on the main computer in the class.
I learned that... well, firstly it would just be easier NOT to use fonts that are not in most computer... but also, that if I want to do this in the future, I will have to use photoshop (making the text with the unknown font almost like a picture) to make the pieces of the powerpoint.
The other thing that I learned through presenting, was to test out my powerpoint before I actually present it. This, of course, is helpful information. I ran into the common problem, in which the background screen of my powerpoint looked fine on the regular computer, but showed up very very dark on the overhead projecter. I was aware of this issue going into the presentation, but I guess I had not lightened it enough. Regardless, a test-run would have solved this problem ahead of time for me.

So... we have printed out our powerpoints, everyone has presented, and we are beginning to layout the framework for our new website. I am still in the beginning stages of the layout... but here is the existing website that I am redesigning- just to give a taste of what it will NOT look like (hopefully!).

My logo was created using the font called "Blackout"

I have chosen to redesign campingsites.com
It does not appeal to the gen-next demographic.
There is no clear logo and it needs a lot of help.

In order to create a usable logo for the site, I shortened "camping sites online"
to "camp". For the most part, I just played around with different fonts until I came
up with one that I liked. I looked at many font on dafont.com.

Screenagers are technologically savvy people. They are people who have grown up with access to the internet, television, downloading, video games, instant messageing, and cell phones. Screenagers know a great deal about electronic devices and are skilled in operating them.

Reference Websites

American Eagle Outfitters website at www.ae.com
I really like the bright colors used on this site. The large typeface in different colors really sticks out.
Surfing Magazine website at www.surfingthemag.com
I like the logotype of this websire. The bold-then light-then bold heading catches my eye.
You Tube at www.youtube.com
This site is very clean, simplistic, not cluttered.

1st post

For next class:
-choose 5 reference websites aimed towards screenagers
(2 recommended by others)
-choose 1 traditional website, not aimed at our age group