Experiments Section. Still working on the design.
Web Experiments Section. No, that’s how it’s supposed to look like.
Thanks Rosa and Alissa for your comments!
Flush.
Day 2 of Beta Mode
Made some changes to the beta site, including the addition of a simple feedback form. Ch-ch-check it out!
Flush.
Beta Mode
This afternoon, I was officially in the last stage of putting my interview portfolio together. I had all the prints I need, and I just need to crop them and mount them. There are gonna be a couple other things to take care of, as always, but I was pretty much ready for the next stage.
What that next stage is is not that defined, really. I could continue with creating a simple, or elaborate, leave-behind for my interviewers, but I felt that I wasn’t ready yet. I was ready to, however, build my web site. It’s taken me a long time to get to this stage, and I’m excited. After weeks of working with a print-oriented goal, I was ready to get digital (“Let’s get digital, digital.” Sorry.)
Even though real construction began today, I had spent the same print-oriented weeks to think about the website (I was that excited). What it must have, what it could have, what the concept should be, how it would look like, etc. I actually started sketching layouts during an off-print day to get that crap out of my head (the fine spirit of Flush), and I’m glad I did, because I’m (currently, at least) going with a different approach.
Usability Testing
While setting up the basics of the site today, something dawned on me. I thought about the importance of usability testing as mentioned by Steve Krug in Don’t Make Me Think! While I don’t have the money to conduct the proper research (nor do I really need a usability test for a site this small, though it’s still important), I have the resources: designers I know (including most of you guys)!
Live Construction
Long story short, I’m going to construct my site live. As I work on it, I would like everyone to give me feedback, whether via Flush or by email. I haven’t gotten the whole plan worked out, but I will probably provide mini-plans for the next few things I wanted to work on, like navigation, layout, special coding, etc., and visitors can give me suggestions, comments, notes, criticism, food, etc.
I figured that this way, I would be more motivated to work on the site, because I don’t want it to look like this for longer than I need to. Displaying incomplete work to the public makes me uncomfortable.
Beta Mode
I’m calling my current site “in beta mode.” I’m not sure if “beta” is the right word because it seems to me that every web service I’ve used that are in “beta” mode (Gmail, mind42, Blogger before) are pretty much functioning services. Am I using the word “beta” correctly?
Anyway, the beta site is up, and the first round of feedback is appreciated. As of right now, the site:
- has a gridded background that I use to layout the content. I might take that out in the final version and let the content stand on the invisible grid, including the black-border boxes.
- has a text-based navigation. I plan on making the navigation image-based but still accessible when all the CSS is taken out, because I know it’s better to have the navigation text-based so if I’m making it image-based, I should at least make it accessible. I want to do this because I have this “hover” idea that I want to try.
- has a giant orange/yellow image as a space holder for either current news images or a Flash slideshow/movie, which is a pretty common feature these days. I’m not doing this just because everyone else is doing it; but because I want to learn more ActionScript. And if that couldn’t be done in time, I will just leave it like this and rotate images periodically or with JavaScript.
Please Comment/Critique/Suggest/Wash Your Hands after Using the Bathroom
So if I could get anybody to make any constructive comments on what I have so far, that would be really great, even if you think it’s silly or unimportant. If you don’t tell me, I won’t know what you’re thinking. Eventually (soon), I’m going to add a comment box on the beta site so you can give me notes while you’re looking at the page. But for now, comment via this post.
Flush.
Photographing for Portfolio
So yesterday, I successfully (after a devastating double-stuck-tape first try) assembled the accordion book for the Mandolins Brochure that I designed almost two years ago. I planned on putting it in my portfolio, so I had to mock it up and photograph it instead of just showing the flat designs. Today, I had a long photo shoot of the piece, taking pictures from the front, of the inside, of the outside, from different angles, and in both black background and white.
Light Source
Unlike my test photo session from last time, I used natural light through the window as my light source. It’s been cloudy for the past couple of days, and that’s actually a good thing, because the clouds emit a pretty neutral white light through my bedroom window. You’d think that a clear day would be better but I recently realized that clear skies (but not from direct sunlight) actually give your indoor subjects a blue/cyan tint because the sky is usually blue. I’ve just never put those two phenomena together because I assumed that clear skies give off “real” light because when you take pictures outside, you get a “real” range of human skin tones (because the sunlight balances it out or something).
Anyway, having a natural-light photo session meant that I had an unpostponeable deadline of the darkening sky to meet. Surprisingly, I took the last batch of my photos even when it’s too dim to see, thanks to the manual shutter speed setting on my camera; it could make a somewhat dark scene look normal.
Black or White?
So all in all, I took 367 photos today of the brochure, although I had a wide bracket of different exposures in almost every pose; I wanted to choose from more than just two or three bracket shots to make sure I got the best one. Better more than none, they say.
All the photos in thumbnails:
Actual screen size of the thumbnails:
Black or White?
Since this is my first real photo session with the light tent, I’m still trying to decide whether the white background or the black background works better. Of course, in certain situations, one is definitely better than the other. But I have two pairs of relatively unedited photos here to show the difference. What do you think?
1-B. Page 1 and 2 in black background
1-W. Page 1 and 2 in white background
And then there’s 2-B. Exterior in black background
And 2-W. Exterior in white background
At first impression, I think the black ones stand out more. But I have a personal attachment to subjects photographed in white backgrounds, so I’m not ready to toss them out. Maybe there’s not enough light to make the white really white?
Notes on the Light Tent
During this photo session, I learned a few things about using a light tent:
- I need a larger light tent, for subjects that span wider than the width of the box, like this accordion book.
- Having a really controlled environment with light is important. I realized that when the relatively white walls behind me and my light-color shirt reflected onto the subject, which led me to pull up a piece of black fabric every time I set off the two-second timer to take a shot.
- The inside frames of your light tent should be prepped so you can Velcro black/white paper strips at the edges because that part of the frame also reflects unwanted hues onto the subject.
- The top and bottom edge of the front frame (the frame your camera sees through) are useless, as they can obstruct the view of your high-angle shots or limit the amount of backdrop whitespace you would like to allow for below your subject in the photograph. I can be as brave to say that the entire front frame is useless, although I cannot be as brave yet to completely cut it out, for fear that the entire tent would somehow collapse.
That’s it for this portfolio-building update. Sorry for not posting as often as I wanted; I really want to get this portfolio done, what with the scary economy and all.
Flush.
Something “Comic”-al about Voting
Upon being told by my friend that we (American citizens) actually vote in the primaries and not some representatives (I’m a little rusty on my government knowledge, I know; sorry, Mr. Gray), I was obligated to register to vote. So I did the online registration thing and had to wait for them to send me the form to sign before sending it back to complete the registration.
Today I received the form, and I was going to just sign it and drop it in the mail as soon as possible because the office has to receive the registrations at least 15 days before the election (Feb. 5 in California). But when I opened my form and saw the computer-printed text, I knew I had to blog about it before mailing it.
Why, oh why did they use Comic Sans? When I see that on government forms like this, I think of volunteer old ladies sitting in front of outdated 90’s computers at the elections office or whatever, choosing a “cute” font thinking that boring-looking forms like this would look “prettier” and “more fun” and might actually encourage soon-to-be voters to drop it in the mail sooner than they would.
And the thing is, that probably is true and does work on most voters.
But I don’t understand. Aside from it being Comic Sans, the text doesn’t even fit in the squares, nor does it align with them! (Notice the bubble for “Mr.”) The only explanation I can think of (aside from pissing off graphic designers) is that they need something that is large, not normal-looking, and curved where they probably shouldn’t be, to jump out of the squares to make sure that you notice what you entered on the form online was correct. If that’s their reason, then it’s effective—sort of. “Sort of” because while the text did get my attention, it felt like such a sin to look at, and I almost didn’t want to double-check the form before mailing it in.
Maybe that’s why old people vote more and youngsters like me don’t.
Flush.
P.S. No offense to volunteer old ladies; it’s not your fault Comic Sans was created.
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