Week 3 reading Creative Brief

This was really thought provoking into the life of a brief. The brief is the soul of any project. It helps to establish direction as well as giving the team a manual to the project. The second part was just as interesting going into depth about who the audience is and how to fulfill their needs. Using method to find personas.

Hot links:

http://www.informationdesign.org/archives/personas/

I used this link due to its interesting articles on personas.

http://justcreativedesign.com/2008/09/26/how-to-write-an-effective-design-brief/

This is a great site and Jacob has great blogs on different subjects relating to design.

Week three drawings

Some of the pieces for the altar

reading assignment 2

Chapter 2
The first part of the chapter was interesting. I knew about knowing the company and who is the final say, but I did not know about the allies. The next part of the chapter I wish I had for the class i had taken see real world story). The next part of the chapter dealing with the audience was very helpful in developing the understanding of needs and goals. The questions are great.

Real world.

I took an advanced Deamweaver class in which the Professor grouped us up as a design team. He wanted us to experience real world projects. Our goal was to create a site for NASA that was geared towards the tweens. We started off OK (this book would have been helpful), but then with egos and chaos it soon developed into a big mess. The site looked OK and unfortunately the pages looked wonky. We had lots of meetings and lots of arguments. I think the structure of the book would have helped us a lot. We did do a few things listed in the book. We assigned jobs. We talked about our audience. I do have to say it was quite a learning experience.


Hot links

hhttp://howdesign.com/article/artchantry/

I chose the above link because it was one of the process we used for my real world example. I think this is also related to what the book was expressing about audiences.


http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms242894(VS.90).aspx

I chose this link to relate to the structure of the team. It helps you understand what you need to developer a team project with re guards to technology. This is another great resource for understanding structure.

Week 1 Reading

Preface- I had to stop and think at one point when the phrase "An Amazing time to be a designer"came up. I think amazing is a little strong. Plus I went to the front of the book to see when it was published. I think technology plays a role in developing the designer today. I think that we need to embrace the technology and learn as much as we can and not turn our heads to the possibility of a new horizon in a digital age. I fear that some designers are pigeon holing themselves in a world of collateral and not expanding themselves to an open mind of web possibilities. In that sense, it can be amazing time for a designer. Only if and if they build on their assets and develop multi media web skills. I found the stories about information problems very interesting. Though, I found it strange that a person would put together a blender. My experience with this situation has been with nonuser friendly web sites. The kid where you have know idea where to click. Also you just need one piece of information and it takes 40 minutes to get it(I wouldn't really spend 40 minutes on a site like that).

Chapter 1- The beginning of the chapter was a discussion of what Information design is and the ways as human beings we take in information. I am a visual person, so I too respond to the visual engaging design before I even look at the words. The book also goes into the digital age we are in and how information is flying at us. We nee to assemble this information to make it user friendly. I enjoyed the antidote the book used for what makes good information design. The direct mail information was interesting some of it I knew from my advanced indesign class. I tend to notice a huge pile in the recycling bin at my apartments of direct mail. It doesn't make it past the mailbox.

Chapter 6-This chapter had some real world case studies using information graphics. I was drawn to blue Planet Foundation. I looked up the book and the photography is fabulous.

Hot links-
http://.johngrimwade.com/index.html

Excellent informational designer

http://showmenow.com/index.php

When I was in advanced illustrator this was a great book for our "how to graphic" I think it relevant because it is information graphics.

Research for project1

http://gomexico.about.com/od/festivalsholidays/ht/make_altar.htm

http://www.azcentral.com/ent/dead/altar/

http://www.squidoo.com/altar

http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/1427-los-dias-de-los-muertos-the-days-of-the-dead

http://www.mysticvoodoo.com/day_of_the_dead_altar_art.htm#About_Day_of_the_Dead_Altars_

Project one Proposal

Name: "How to Build a Day of Dead Alter"

Client: Latino Cultural Center

Proposal for Informational Graphic

The Mission of the Latino Cultural Center is to serve as a regional catalyst for the preservation, development, and promotion of Latino and Hispanic arts and culture. During the Day of Dead celebration, LCC wants to add an informational graphic to their web site that would explain the meaning and construction of a day of dead alter. The graphic would include explanation of key items as well as a historical look at their origins. The graphic would be a pdf link from the event page that explains the celebrations at the center. The users would be able to print the pdf and use it to create their own Day of the Dead alter.

Hello teacher!