Color work and Cover ups

   Since Tuesdays blog, the week has been very eventful. We had our second meeting with Evil Don on Wednesday. During the meeting we decided on a schedule of meetings to come (essentially because the client is serious about using the site once we are done. Score!). The group decided a pop in meeting once a week or so would push us along the process and keep our client up to date. I realize working so closely with a client may result in a client heavy design but our group was extremely lucky to one find another artist and two one that trusts us so much. During the meeting we also presented our creative brief explaining our goal for the site design, as well as a list of asset pages that could be possibly utilized as the pages. Our meeting certainly got the ball rolling, it was decided that we would focus on the following pages: home, about (shop/artist), fine art gallery, skin gallery, and a contact page (including shop hours locations, and appointment scheduling). 

   Beyond the logistics of the site, we discussed the treatment of the Evil Don brand. His business card and logo are reminiscent or a retro 50's marquee sign but the card is done in inked outlines. We discussed with him a color scheme to place within the site design. Black, silver, and red will be the defining colors in an attempt to capture the environment of his shop. We discussed briefly a possible theme proposal for the site in which the Evil Don logo would retain its marquee appearance and the navigation bar would be added to the signage system, running along the left side of the page. The client seemed enthusiastic about the proposal and spend time showing us around his shop giving us a chance to get to know his style. 

   After our meeting it was required to submit a list of group jobs and the job specifications. Upon sending this email as the project manager, it was decided that we would switch the positions of Chelsey and Chris. Chris will now be Information architect, and in control of managing the site diagram, while Chelsey, will be Asset manager managing the multiple file types we will be working with. This decision came after re-reading the job specifications and receiving some initial files from our client. Don has provided us with some of his tattoo work and expressed the need to have more photos taken. Chelsey will play an important role in managing and gathering the image files needed for the site.

   This week a focus will be put on gathering what we have done thus far and presenting it to Phil on Tuesday for critiques as well as submitting a more polished site layout for our client to see. Specific jobs will be:

Project Manager: Gathering the creative brief, site diagram, and asset list. Scheduling a Wednesday meeting with Don.

Information Architect: Mock up of home page and initial site diagram. Mock up of logo treatments.

Asset Manager: Finalizing asset list. Gathering color swatches and secondary type proposals. Researching alternative light box galleries.

Fresh Outlines

As of the last post my group and I had scheduled an appointment with Lou's Tattoo's, Monday October 25. Our interest in creating a redesign for their site came from a google search of local tattoo studios. Lou's being one of the top hits, their site appeared as though it had not been updated since 2002. While an initial phone call to the studio seemed promising, upon further description of our project outlines to the client, it was apparent the shop was "uninterested" or "unimpressed" by our proposal. While this was discouraging (mainly because we had already written a brief, site diagram, and assets), it led us to our actual client. Through research and and a call to my first tattoo artist, my group met with Don of Evil Don's Tattoos on Central ave. Although the client has no current site, he has been tattooing in the area for over 20 years and has established a name for himself in the area. In the end I am excited that our leg work for Lou's Tattoos assisted us in finding such a fun project to work on. I am equally excited that as a group we made the client feel comfortable and motivated to work with us. Our client has scheduled a follow up meeting later in the week, during which we will propose a site layout and asset list (general idea of pages to be included). Before the meeting my group will be completing the following:

Project Manager- Revised creative brief

Information Architect- site diagram

Assets Manager- page/asset list

Inked Ideas

 For our Internet Design final project, we are to find and redesign a local business website. As a group we decided to concentrate our search on finding local artist or talent to create a site design for. We decided on Lou's Tattoos, with four locations and a reputation of being one of the first shops in Florida, we are excited to see what we can offer the business. Our group members were assigned jobs titles within the group and they are as follows, I will act as Project manager, Chelsea will act as Information architect, and Chris will be the Assets manager. I have scheduled an appointment with the owner, at the companies main location on Monday afternoon. At the meeting we plan to comprehensively explain the assignment, gather any needed knowledge from the client and present our proposition. I am very excited to be working with both my group and the perspective client.

On the home stretch

 I am pleased to be posting with an end in site. Our clients site will be uploaded and at full awesome capacity as of Thursday of next week. I am equally pleased that past habits of procrastination have not been an issue. Whether it be a responsibility to pleasing my client or a new found interest in web creation, I am happy with the almost end result of my clients site. The final two steps at this point, will be coding the lightbox gallery for the portfolio page and finally including a 404 error page. I have worked on two designs 1. a page mimicking the home page but devoid of color 2. a page that appears as though the color on the top of the pages has fallen an crashed. My client and myself like both options, so any feedback over prefference would be great. Until next time... Jen

Yay web design !!!

It is now almost 2 am and I am taking a break on my clients website to post a quick progress report, so to speak. I have spent the last couple of days gathering content for Chris' portfolio, and finishing up the navigation elements. My clients website officially has roll over hover tabs that change from a 25% opacity to a 50% opacity, and finally show at 100% when the link is chosen. I have found the the best thing about web design/coding for me, thus far, is the  comical aspect. In finding that something as minute as a hyphen or a misspelled word can make or break your move. I feel in web design it's the little things that matter. Until tomorrow... Jen