Interesting idea on navigation. Nothing new but is a good read to remind us of other options when planning a UI and AI.
Interesting idea on navigation. Nothing new but is a good read to remind us of other options when planning a UI and AI.
1)God of War Series : PS2
2)Lostwinds : Wii
3)Wii Sports : Wii
U.S. game sales jump 47 percent in April on GTA4
I have 2 machines at home. PC and Apple. Mainly because of the various applications I use.
Sweet looking phone. I'll be keeping an eye out fir this in the US.
It's a good start. I do have a few comments though.
When I loaded up the site I could see all of your movie clips off stage. The blue background did not extend all the way to the edges as I would expect it.
The audio is cool but it's very loud. I know you have a volume control but it may be better to lower the volume so it's more a background effect as opposed to being front and center. Also the high pitch sound you have on your button interaction may not be the best sound to use. I would suggest using a sound that is less intrusive and in a lower register. Perhaps using a sound that compliments the nature sounds you have.
I see where you were going with the blur effect on your buttons but it takes away from the presentation. A suggestion would be to have your screen elements fade and blur in and when for the mouseOver, make the element elastic effect and apply it to the x and y scale of your MC.
And take some more time to perfect your masking. You have soft edges and smooth transitions yet your masks are hard and sometime play twice. Not sure if you meant for that to happen. It's just something I saw.
Hope this helps. Keep up the good work.
Aside from it looking like a modified version of tumblr's "minimalist" theme, I think it's cool. I like the logo placement at the top.
Nice images too. I was digging the "McDonalds" crew LOL!!
I was reading an article “You Are Not A Designer” and it stirred up some feelings in me on he subject that I have been wanti9ng to explore. This was the catalyst I needed for me to get writing.
I think what’s going on here is that we have “The Artist” vs. “The Designer” and the way applications are used. The Artist is only concerned with the look and feel of the creation whereas The Designer is concerned about both the look and feel as well as the technical details required to make the creation work. The Artist is someone who uses these applications to only create what Designers build. Is the ability to create something Boolean? Yes. You either created it or not. But to design something such as a UI is to have an understanding of “how” or the “purpose” for creating said UI. The path to understanding design is not found in the “tools” drop down menu.
Not to take anything away from those who use applications to get the job done. I designed my first web site back in ‘94 using Photoshop and wrote the HTML by hand using Pico. Today I use the Adobe Creative Suite to build sites, however I also know the code and can do it by hand. But as projects grew and time lines shrunk these tools proved their usefulness.
I feel those Artists who use applications and wear the “Designer” badge can be classified as either: Novice, Advanced User, Expert.
The Novice is just starting out. They will most likely use some WYSIWYG because it helps speed up the process. They may be doing this as a hobby or it could be a career move for them as some point.
The Advanced User is not all that new to the game and is very good at using the applications to achieve their goals like the “Painter” Stevie mentioned. They may have a formal background in the arts but don’t “waste” time with learning things outside of their box. “Just let the application do it for me.”
The Expert is the person who knows what’s going on up top and under the hood. They know why the code is behaving a certain way, they know why it’s best to use a certain technique in Photoshop over another. They may be formally trained in the arts or computers but have taken the steps to learn or become familiar with the details outside of their box.
In any case, to be able to create something takes initiative and talent. Does that mean the end result is any less important? Not if serves it’s purpose.
My Mother, Pat Gaines-Mills is a very accomplished Artist who went to school to study Art and now has work hanging all over Indiana and abroad. Me, I’m an accomplished Designer who went to school to study Psychology and has sites all over the web.
My Mom is great at painting anything from abstract compositions to the endangered Black Rhinos in Africa. But if you need an interactive presence I’m the one to call. Love you Mom :)
You know you’ve made it as a communications medium when you start attracting spammers. On Twitter, the problem is getting bad enough that the service is starting to blacklist people who spam other members.
Came across this site last night while exploring. It's not a practical UI but it's still a good execution.
Very simple function analyze $_SERVER[’HTTP_USER_AGENT’] variable and looking for crawler signature. If function founds crawler, it will return it’s name, otherwise - false.
Twitter is certainly usable via SMS on a mobile device, but typing messages on a phone is cumbersome. A service that converts voice to text and then posts it to Twitter could be a niche hit.
I got a call from a game developer the other day asking if I'd consider joining their creative team. News like this makes it easy to say yes. But we'll see.
According to an article posted on Yahoo!, gaming sales are up 57% for the month of March. This includes hardware and software. The Wii seemed to be the one coming out on top. So with the economy as it is right now, why are people spending money on games?
I think it's because compared to other forms of modern entertainment, it's cheaper. IMO, people are choosing not to go to the movies or out to eat as much these days. And with all the multi player games available one the Wii, why not stay home with the family and kick someone's butt in bowling or Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
I did a little experiment over the past 2 weeks. One weekend, I took my 2 kids to the movies. That cost me $53. 3 tickets, 3 hot dogs with regular sized sodas. Afterwards we played miniature golf, another $45.
The next weekend we stayed home and played the Wii and cooked.
These days it's easy to spend a couple of hundreds to take the family out for dinner and a movie and other activities. Or you can stay home, cook, and play a $50 dollar game as many times as you like.
Imagine spending $100 - $150 dollars on entertainment alone every weekend. By the end of the month you would have spent $400 - $600. that's a nice grip and that's not including the gas you may need to get.
Just a thought.
You have got to see this 3 year old break dance!!!
Was reading the news about the strategic moves being made by China and the conflicts in South America. Add in Vietnam part 2 and various civil struggles going on, I can't help but wonder if my son will be shipped out one day in the far future or will I be the one going to fight in the near future?
With tensions growing in both Northern and South East Asia and the "standoff" in South America, how close do you think we are to the next World War?
I do take what I read with a grain of salt but the conflicts are real. I'm on the ropes right about now thinking that diplomatic resolutions may be strained in some regions and it's just a matter of time before someone does something real stupid.
Colourlovers.com is a great site for playing with and staging your own color ideas. The ability to create pallets using preset patterns is a good way to see how your colors in action. When ever I need some color inspiration that's where I go. The tools for creating pallets from uploaded images is cool too.
Our law department @ Johnson and Johnson required that we place a copyright statement on all of our web content as well as trademark notifications.
i.e. © 1996 - 2008.
The dates represent the initial launch of the site to the current year.
I have seen some sites only place Trademark statements and NOT copyright statements. According to some legal advisers, a copyright statement is no longer needed as passed by legislation in 2006. I've been searching the copyright website to validate this but as of yet, I've had no luck finding anything in support of NOT using "© copyright".
Other links
Thanks for the input folks.
Yeah I questioned their reasoning about the images they chose. They used the images and copy in their marketing materials so for the sake of continuity I had to use their new creative. Which from a marketing point is good because it helps reinforce their brand but the metaphors, to me, are confusing as you stated.
Oh well. That's life building a sites for clients who have precise ideas as to what they want.
On to the next.
LOL!!!!! Check my post about this in Hip-Hoppers. I predicted this would be on the CSI Miami soundtrack and today it started the show off!!!!
I CALLED IT!!!!!! Just heard this track on CSI Miami!!!!!!!
I find it very funny when someone looks @ me when I tell them I choose the colors of a web site based on the target audience and the message the client wants to send. As a creative professional with a background in psychology, I find it impossible to NOT think about how the user is going to see the site at first glance. Aside from the graphical elements on the page but the subconscious response that translates into their next action. I'm curious as to How many designers pay attention to the psychological effects of colors. Do you?
Check out part of Lupe's interview with Tavis Smiley. He explains some of the song on the new album and breaks down the thought behind the dark cover art.
I meet allot of folks who work online and have a degree in some other field of study. I'm no exception :)
I came out of high school with CAD under my belt so I naturally went to college for Architectural Engineering and later became a Psychologist. In my free time I would draw (traditional and digital) and/or play around on the computer. I started using Photoshop back when version 2 was the new hotness and from there, I took my experiences and talents and started freelancing as a web designer.
I can say I'm blessed to get paid to do my hobby! For me this gig is never work.
to save time and reduce stress, your best bet will be to go with a package that exists already. In addition to blogger and typress, you may want to also look at wordPress
Check with her hosting service to see if there is a pre-installed version of either of the blogging tools. If so, I would suggest using that.
have a good one and good luck.
back in the day i kept my eye on josh davis and the team @ kioken.
I think you are stuck. you can only "uninstall" 7 only if 6 was previously on the machine. You may want to consider jumping back to xp.
@Oli true. Nothing at all.
What you may be seeing is a difference between the various image formats and color depths - i.e gif, jpg, png. Not to mention the quality of the design itself.
Don't get me wrong, usability for me is priority. Knowing the target audience is very important when directing and/or planning the UI and Navigational structure. From a creative point of view, I like to play with the nav but not at the expense of the site being hard to use. For the most part I'm asked to design and build flash sites for a specific purpose and audience. But I had a conversations with some folks who feel that mouseovers and flyouts should never be used period.
I agree that JS and or Flash should not be used when the target audience is using assisted technology or a browser that does not support either. And that NoScript content is a good thing. But in cases where a particular group or mindset is targeted why limit what can be done?
Do you feel that using mouse overs and flyouts in navigation is a bad thing?
I don't feel it's a bad thing. I Like being able to create new navigation schemes that still allow users to find the information they need. I believe the key is keeping the navigation consistent and logical.
Japan, UK, Norway, Sao Paulo, San Fransisco
HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!!!!!! :)
Depends on the type of site. If it's all HTML then I like to use Arial or Helvetica for the content and apply my css. Now if it's a flash site or a video project, then I use the font(s) that best fit style and emotion of the design.
Happy Holidays!!!!!
Taking a look @ Digg Labs and I must say that I like what's going on over there. They have used flash to serve up the daily diggs in 5 pretty cool ways. My fav is the "stack" view. I think they should have named it "rain" but that's just me :)
Take a look > http://labs.digg.com
» The Artist vs. The Designer ... Last Reply: 6 months ago by xirclebox.
Brett Bernstein's thoughts on "The Artist vs. The Designer"