Evaluation

This project was important to me as the outcome would enable me to showcase my ideas and create an insite of how to approach the Graphic Design arena when I come to try and find work at the end of my degree. The success of this project was due to careful planning and methodical process in the initial stages this allowed me to develop my site efficently in the later stages of the design process. Sticking to the rules of hieracrchy, grids, layout, devices, and the rule of thirds I have learnt in earlier projects allowed me to make the navigation of the site easy for the user.
As my design style is mainly based around print design I wanted to reflect this within my outcome. I did this by creating a print based layout to the visual style of my interative media, also colour became an important graphic device allowing all the different states to corrispond with each other. All the images within the project within the differents areas of the site corrisponded to show the intergration between my graphic and illustration styles.
  

Design Process FC

Using flash catalyst allowed me to make my website interactive because I had design all the individual elements in groups the process was quite simple I found problems with the size of images although rasterising them made them small enough for the programme to handle. 

Using thumbnail images as buttons allowed for a simple way to navigate the site and created a aesthetically pleasing tool for the viewer.

As the amount of different states was quite large I want to keep the ideas as simple as possible as I did not want to confuse the viewer.

The site is defined by both my different idividual styles however I wanted them to corrispond with each other to show my styles intergrating.

I used a range of my work including competitions and live work as I felt this would give an understanding of the level I am currently  working at.

As the style of the site is simple it means updating the images and changing styles to keep up with trend is easy this was an important factor to me as my work will be constanly changing as design ideas progress.

Design Process AI

The design process was relatively simple as I had created wireframes and fully understood what I was trying to achieve by this point.

Developing a structured hierarchy and understanding the rule of thirds was important here leading the viewer through the website in a functional manner but keeping my print design style was a design factor i had to overcome.
 

Using my other self promo project to develop my website meant the colours textures and graphic devices all worked with one another.

Using a simple template at this stage I developed an idea of where images and text would be placed within flash catalyst moreover this allowed me to build with an idea of hierarchy within the different states.

This design process was created using only one layer and groups and sub groups this allowed me to only create one state within flash catalyst enabling a better editable design process when using the programme. Moreover I did not add images at this phase as the size limitations meant doing so would have implications.

Grids Initial ideas

As I moved through the Initial stages I began to sketch ideas with images this allowed me to re-evaluate my ideas phases using images I had created for my portfolio size implication and also web size limitaions became a factor as i went through this process I found I began to resign my wireframe slightly allowing for these limitations.

Using a 960 grid meant my print design style came across well although I also used to built in Illustrator grids. At this point I was work on both Web and Print self promotion this enabled me to make the two correspiond with each other so my design style was evident across the whole project.

Wireframe

To start my initial design process I began to define wireframes to work within this is something I have learnt within print design and found it corresponded within web design. This allowed me to work to my own grid and moreover allowed me to work quickly when i began my design process this process began with initial sketches before defining them within an industry standard 1080/960 dimension.

I tried a few different manipulation before deciding on a final wireframe. This process was much quicker than trying to design from scratch and meant I could develop my design style with shape and not get confused by texture and colour.

Specific Research

Designing my website to represent my individual style was an important factor for the development of my design process. So initial research meant I could define an idea of grids and design styles within the web design arena however specific research meant I could develop my own ideas using trends within today's market.
Using simple monochromatic style would gain interest with the viewer and would entice them to look at my work.

Using illustrated styles would show my use of illustration within my design work as this is an important process I always use.

Bitmap styles are something I often use within my work to add texture to images so as I was design a portfolio style of website creating a strong image to sit in the background of the title page was something I investigated.

Typographic elements is another strong aspect of my work also the use of vintage styles to follow trend in the market at the moment. I designed all the aspects of the website around my interests in print as this is the my main individual design style.

Intent

My intent is to design a interactive website that shows an interesting range of work to prospective employers. I will create a Print based design style as I feel this will showcase my visual identity, moreover the site will use a simple gridsystem wireframe allowing me to update the information to coinside with my progression. I will use a monochromatic colour scheme to enhance the aesthetics and use hierachy and rule of thirds to improve navigation.