Blog

I believe my final web portfolio design is clear and well-organized because each link or option to click on leads to a very specific part of my website. I called the home page “Explore” because it’s a little preview of my website. If the viewer seems something that catches their eye in the preview, they can click directly on that link and see more content or read more about the subject they were interested in. My menu is on the left-hand side of the screen, which I thought was effective because we read left to right. This way the viewer sees their options of what to view before they see the main content. My website is easy to navigate and use because each option that you can click on leads directly to that specific spot on my website. There is no going to an abstract link, and everything is clearly labeled.

I chose the Twenty Fifteen theme to use for my web portfolio because I liked the options it gave you of what you were able to customize. I really liked how you could choose a photo for the left side of the screen where all the menu options are, and that you could pick a solid color to put next to that. I also liked how the solid color acted as a background for all other content displayed on the website. I chose the dark red/burgundy color because I think it catches your eye without being too distracting or taking anything away from my content. I chose to keep the whole color scheme simple by only using black, white, and burgundy. I chose a white texture photo to have as a banner behind my sidebar because it’s simple, yet it still adds an element of design.

As I mentioned above, I chose the Twenty Fifteen theme for my web portfolio because of the layout, how it reads left to right. This relates to hierarchy, as the menu is the most important aspect to navigate my website and the left side is the first thing people will read. Therefore, the hierarchy of my web portfolio will make it easier to navigate. As for design elements, I mentioned above that I chose to use the white banner on the left-hand side because of its texture. I thought it was necessary to add some texture so that my design didn’t seem so flat.

As mentioned earlier, I like how the theme I chose let me manipulate some of the colors. I was able to change the color of the side banner text as well as the main background behind my content just using WordPress’s management system through the customization tool. To change the font such as the headlines for each different category, and the main body text for each page, I played around with manipulating CSS. It was the first time I have done that, and I thought I was pretty successful in changing the little things that I wanted, specifically the color of the text that I was not able to change with the limited customization options.

I love the simplistic design of Kathleen’s website and how it showcases all of her amazing work!

Her design is clear because there are no distracting colors or abstract patterns that take away from the content of the website. All of the menus are really simple to navigate and are also very organized. It’s nice how she has multiple options under her portfolio menu to go to different sections. She has enough different content that I think this option works for her. Her home page also works very well. It was smart of her to design a logo to have on her homepage and also right above her name! It makes her portfolio seem more personal and adds some texture to her website. One thing we talked about in class was making her blog page have individual posts instead of being just one long continual post. Looking at it now she was able to fix it which makes all the blog posts much easier to read and decipher. One thing she could add to her photography page is some captions to her photos. Maybe just something simple like what camera she used or where the photo was taken. She could also try changing some of the fonts, or even just the color of some of the fonts to add a little pop to her simple design and layout. Overall her website has a very nice aesthetic!

As mentioned above, I think her aesthetic works really well because of how many different projects she has to show. All of her work is really colorful and intricate, so the simple white surroundings really showcase how awesome her work is!

One of the design elements Kathleen took advantage of was texture. Adding the simple-colored, marble background logo, she added another dimension to her web design. Everything is pretty flat with the white, so having that texture adds nicely to the design. Another element she used was value and contrast. The text is black, therefore stands out well from the plain white background. The hierarchy of her menu works very well. The home page is the first place viewers go, and then they usually want to know about the artist before they view their portfolio. This is exactly where the menu leads because it goes from “home,” “about,” and then leads to her “portfolio.” Although she could play around with a few ideas, Kathleen has a really strong web design for her portfolio!

 

My character in the OASIS is named “Camilla Grosvenor.” Because Parzival and Art3mis are avatars whose names have meaning, I wanted this to apply to my avatar as well. Camilla means noble, and the last name Grosvenor means great hunter. I put the names together to mean “noble hunter.” My avatar in the OASIS is an undercover hitwoman that helps Parzival with the egg hunt by taking out Sixers. Out in the real world, my character feels like there’s nothing she can do to fix everything that’s wrong. By having such a strong avatar in the OASIS, she feels she is doing something good to try and end the corruption that is happening in the hunt with the Sixers.

Although I image the avatars in the OASIS to look much more realistic rather than cartoonish, I did my absolute best to make my avatar look as human as possible. For the few skills that I have using Illustrator, I am very happy with the way my final avatar looks.

I chose to use a background with a gradient too look like fire because I wanted to show that my character is fierce. The font I used for my avatar’s name seemed very warrior-like, which is what my avatar is. I made this font larger and in a different font from the rest of the typography so that, in terms of hierarchy, it stands out the most and is the first font you read. I put the meaning of her name right under so then that’s the next thing you read. She is wearing an all-black outfit with a black headband because black is a strong color that portrays she is dark and mysterious. I chose to place the font the way that I did on the diagram in order of importance. We read left to right and go down from line to line, so that is how I placed all the other descriptions. The second font I chose to use seemed very clean and professional, which is the way that my avatar would work inside the OASIS.

Some of the main techniques I used within Illustrator were the pencil tool for drawing shapes that were not specifically geometric, such as the mouth and the boots. I also used the direct selection tool a lot to modify almost all of the shapes, but especially the body suit. The last important tool I used was the gradient tool to add depth and texture to the face and hair of my avatar. Overall, even though I didn’t have a lot of experience using Illustrator, I feel like I have learned a lot and have put in the time and effort to create a project I’m proud of.

For this project, I decided to create a dystopian collage. The reading we did called “Elements of Design” was definitely the reading that helped me the most. One of the elements I really tried to utilize in my collage was that of size, although it was a bit challenging at times. I made the objects I wanted the eye to focus on first the largest, and I also moved them to the very forefront of the entire collage so they would be more dominant. Some of the elements in my design are pretty small, and I did this because I wanted them to seem like they were further away than other objects in the picture. Another element I utilized was texture. For my scan, I used a piece of wrinkled tissue paper. I used this as the very last layer over my collage to add a wrinkled texture. My dystopia looks as if the world is crumbling, so I wanted to add the effect of tissue paper to show that the world is literally crumpling and folding in on itself.

I decided to create a dystopia because I love reading books and watching movies about dystopias. I’ve read The Hunger Games, The 5^th Wave, The Maze Runner, Divergent, and The Giver book series and have loved the ideas behind them all. On the right side of my collage, I have military officials in an office setting looking and observing the chaos happening on the other side of the collage. The scene I wanted to convey was a world ravaged by disease and disaster, all which are caused by the government. The people are crying out and pleading for help, only to have military men that are coming after them and only protecting the “important” government officials. Reading the first part of Ready Player One also inspired me to create a dystopian collage. That world was crumbling, and the people with all the power can be as corrupt as they want to get whatever they want. The normal civilians do not have much control over anything, which is something else I wanted to display through my collage.

I had a basic understanding of layers and a few simple tools in Photoshop because of a class that I took last semester, but watching and going through all of the tutorials was very helpful! I used so many layer masks to take out small parts of photos that I wanted, so that tutorial was very helpful.

I had a much better understanding of what a photo collage was after reading about the history of it. It was nice to know that not all collages have to be perfectly seamless and blended together, because I knew mine would not be that way with what I wanted to create.

As I mentioned earlier, using the select and mask tool helped me create my entire design. I used this technique on almost every photo in the collage. Many of the subjects were parts of much larger photos, so this tool really helped me focus in on the subject I wanted. Being able to move layers on top and behind each other also played a huge part in my design. There were certain subjects I wanted to seem farther away from others, so this was really helpful in creating this element. Overall, I’m really happy with how my final draft turned out and how it displays a dystopian world.

I really like Jerry’s avatar character so far and I can’t wait to see how the finished product looks! So far, I can definitely see this character fitting into the OASIS within Ready Player One. I think the fact that the avatar is wearing all armor that is gold is very creative and unique, and is extremely fitting with the name which had to do with something along the lines of “money bags.” Because many characters within the OASIS wear armor and have weapons to protect themselves, I think the outfit really works. I also liked how he wanted to make his hair similar to his actual hair, even though the rest of the character is meant to be different than what he actually looks like. Because there are so many different types of people and beings within the OASIS, this avatar would fit right in.

I do think the style used to depict the character is appropriate because although the avatar is cartoon-like, it definitely displays a strong personality. All of the elements that are needed for the character to display a personality are there. I also think it is really nice how much detail was put into the armor. Even though it’s just a rough draft, I think the armor is on its way to be a really strong element in the avatar’s design. One thing I might try experimenting with is the contrast of colors between the skin tone and the armor. Based on the hierarchy concept, I think adding something more to make either the color of the armor or adding some type of design to the armor would bring my eye to that part of the design first. You could also try creating a gold sword or some other type of weapons that your character could carry with them! This would be a nice addition to your overall diagram.

There wasn’t any font or other parts of the diagram yet, but something you could try is using a font that appears “fancy.” I think this would fit well because of the gold armor your avatar is wearing.

Overall, I think this was a great start to your avatar’s design! Keep experimenting with other techniques like the pencil tool and the direct selection tool to add some more unique shapes to your avatar’s armor. Good luck with your final draft!

I think Alyssa’s creation is the perfect example of a photo collage. The first thing that is great about her project is how she incorporated an underlying theme from Ready Player One, which was that of the 1980s. In her project, she is emphasizing all the good and bad things that happened in the 80s. Part of Ready Player One also has to do with preserving technology from that time period. I think this collage also gives off a sense of that by showing some of the things that were up and coming in the 80s, but still have a place in our culture today. The two main things that stand out to me are MTV and Red Bull. MTV may not be as popular today as it was then, but there are still many popular shows on that station. As for Red Bull, I believe this is still one of the most, if not the most popular energy drink on the market.

Regarding elements of design, she did a great job of utilizing color. She put all of the photos of tragic events in black and white and all of the good things that came out of that time period in bright colors. This is also an example of contrast because it is the juxtaposition of two opposing elements, which in this case is black/white and bright colors. I also think that all three of the black and white images have great harmony. The textures of the photos are all similar in the way that they are showing some damage happening, which I think works very well together. Lastly, I think dominance is another design element that is used well in this collage, especially regarding the John Lennon glasses. That’s the image my eyes are drawn to first, and it almost seems as if we are viewing the entire collage through his glasses.

Some things I would play around with are maybe increasing the size of the glasses and turning them a different direction so that they take up more of the collage. This way we could be viewing the 80s through his glasses. Another thing you could maybe add is a crowd reaction or some sort of vigil that was for Lennon and put that in each lens of the glasses. This way, the person viewing your collage might have an easier time understanding the purpose of the glasses. Overall, this is a very strong collage draft and I look forward to seeing the end result.

  (click this link to view Alyssa’s final collage!)