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Done!

Wow! I did it!

That was really difficult to do. I’m sure there was an easier way to learn this stuff, but I didn’t know about it. As painful as it was, I learned a lot and feel like it will just get easier and easier in the future.

Some may wonder why an ACCD teacher would care to do something this painful—and occasionally embarrassing. It’s because it’s helping me become a better teacher and a better designer. My hunch that was right.

So it’s all posted on the class server and can be viewed at:

http://www.everythingaboutweb.com/artcenterdev/vrontikis_final_thisone/final_web/

Here’s the final sitemap so that you know what the blueprint was:

DineLA Restaurant Week Sitemap

There’s a nifty movie on the server that demos the site:

http://www.everythingaboutweb.com/artcenterdev/vrontikis_final_thisone/dineLARestaurantWeekSite.mov

I look forward to presenting it tomorrow and seeing what other students have done. There are some terrific designs going on in class. I hope that everyone does really well.

Now, I have to get back to my studio work.

2010: 04/20
CATEGORY: Assignment Descriptions
General Musing
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Real progress

Hah! Almost done.

Here’s the site so far: http://www.35k.com//dineLA_AlmostFinal_web/index.html

There are 3 more pages that I’ll add tomorrow. It’s OK, but now that it’s put together, I see a sameness in the pages that makes it look a bit boring. It’s been hours and hours of fixing and undoing. There are still a lot of questions I have about the way compound tags and links work.

It’s frustrating that you have to go 4 different places do do one thing. Guess that’s why it takes 4 times as much time as it should—and for someone like me, that doesn’t know what she’s doing—4 times the undos and fixing. Ugh. Well, at least I’m not freaking out like I was a few weeks ago.

Here’s the sitemap: http://www.35k.com/id1_homework/DineLARWSitemap.pdf
(The light blue pages are the ones that are being programmed.)

2010: 04/19
CATEGORY: Assignment Descriptions
General Musing
Technical Experiments
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A real start

Finally, a working home page that’s programmed the way it should be. Too embarrassed to admit how long it took. Here it is.

Got Jamie’s blessing on the programming. I designed the remaining 8 pages and I am ready to program for the final. It’s due next week.

2010: 04/13
CATEGORY: General Musing
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“Coming along at a snail’s pace” or “final doesn’t mean final”

As directed, I started over to confirm the design and content of the pages I plan to have part of the site. This is important as I attempt to properly program the 3-column grid in my future.

It’s frustrating to put in so many hours and have everything look pretty much the same. The devil was in the details: the site navigation wasn’t really working and I hadn’t figured out how all of the pages fit together properly . Here’s a revised site map.

DineLA Restaurant Week Sitemap 4/5/10

Note that it doesn’t say “final.” As student, I’m learning that FINAL means done and billable. That’s not what happens when you are in school. FINAL is not a word to use when naming anything. “Latest ongoing” is more accurate—”final” is useless plea of optimism.

Here are the pages ready for my measly programing skills:

DineLARestWkWebA

DineLARestWkWebA1

DineLARestWkWebA3

DineLARestWkWebD

DineLARestWkWebF

So now it’s getting late. The perfect time to start over again with programming…

2010: 04/06
CATEGORY: Assignment Descriptions
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Wish

Wish I could listen to music while learning Dreamweaver. I’ve tried many times, but my head spins. So, I work in silence with my head in a technology Cuisinart.

That being said, learning Dreamweaver can’t compare with the pure punishment of learning After Effects.

2010: 03/31
CATEGORY: General Musing
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Barely above water

So the box model exercise is finally done properly. There was a harsh realization for me as to how successful I am at “work-arounds” versus doing it right in the first place. Not sure if this is all bad. I’ve been like most other graphic designers—never even thinking of opening a software manual for answers. We have been frighteningly successful at slogging our way through complex software programs until we finally “get it.” The “glass half full” take on this is that it’s admirable for both us and the software designers. The basic programs are as intuitive as the ads claim they are.

The bad part is that we are trained to learn by feel and from those who we find hanging around with us. We slog through these things and it’s turned out OK. But these survival skills are not helpful in an office alone, late at night, the day before homework is due.

Jamie was generous in helping me redo this small task. I started over and did it right from the beginning.

Good Box Model

2010: 03/31
CATEGORY: Uncategorized
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Box model, floating, clearing and drowning

We were assigned an exercise to work with the box model. I am horrified to confess that I spent 7 hours on it, redid it 3 times and it’s still not right. It’s so frustrating to know that I don’t understand this is a very simple task. I know what some of the issues are, tried to fix them, then created other issues in the process.

Here’s what it’s supposed to look like: http://www.everythingaboutweb.com/classes/table_files/tables_example.htm

Here’s what mine looks like:

PV's Bad Box Model

2010: 03/31
CATEGORY: Technical Experiments
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A few details about the midterm project

Here are some nifty features of the proposed new dineLA Restaurant Week site:

The community-based approach is reinforced by large quotes from Restaurant Week participants. The share their anticipation and experiences with the event. A collection of user generated photos are pulled from Facebook and Flickr dineLA Restaurant Week Group members.

Member features include:

Send suggestions to a friend
Upload to my mobile
Receive a monthly newsletter
Save my searches
My restaurant wish list

The site also offers a link to METRO, LA’s subway and light rail systems. A trip planner can be created for restaurants near METRO stations.

Here’s the final design of the homepage, including the restaurant search results.

dineLA Restaurant Week Homepage with search results

The logo will be changed in the final to include imagery. See previous post for the style.

Regarding the imagery, the images are from potographer/artist Susan Burks. I try to her work as much as I can in my professional projects. It’s been great to use them in my schoolwork because there are no client restraints. Here’s her work used on a “real” project, a 24-page report completed late last year for the LA-based non-profit organization, Southern California Grantmakers:

2009 SCG Signature Publication Cover

Her images were also used in the final movie created last term in Brian Boyl’s Motion Design 1 class. Here’s a link (takes a moment to load): http://www.35k.com/sf_motion_promo/index.html

2010: 03/10
CATEGORY: Design Experiments
General Musing
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Week 8: Prep for midterm

The MoMA project is done in terms of design. As is, it meets the requirement for the ID1 class. I’m working independently with Ryan D’Orazi to prototype it in Flash. So far, Flash is pure punishment to learn.

We are on to a new assignment that’s due as next week as a 4-page site built in Dreamweaver with AP Divs. It looks so easy when Jamie demos how to do it. We’ll see how it goes for me on my own this week.

The assignment is a site redo. I’m working on a prototype for Dine LA Restaurant Week. Here’s the existing site from the last event: http://discoverlosangeles.com/play/dining/restaurantweek/aapart2010.html The site needs to be cleaned up and the messaging simplified. Philosophically, it will become a community-based experience versus a “delivered” experience.

I have worked on this project professionally in the past. Since then, it’s been worked on by others and looks bad.

In terms of the design, I’d like to use photo imagery from my friend Susan Burks. Thought since I designed it, I could take some liberties with the logo . Hoping to move away from the stock photo imagery style and move toward imagery that shows the beauty of the ingredients used in the wonderful dishes offered during the week. It’s about the beauty and passion of good food.