DSDN 114 first shoots and proposal.

I wish to explore the contrast between light and dark spaces by playing on contrast, black and white and lighting.

DSDN142 Lab1: procedural sketches

 This first sketch replicates the final drawings obtained by Vera Molnar using her procedural method of drawing (http://www.atariarchives.org/artist/sec11.php)

 This drawing was made by following the instructions given by Sol Lewitt (http://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/themes/conceptual-art/sol-lewitt-and-instruction-based-art), the filling for each square was determined randomly from the four choices given.

This drawing was done using the instructions and examples given by Edward Zajec (http://www.atariarchives.org/artist/sec16.php).

DSDN112 Lab1 HTML tutorials

The proof of completion for the 3 HTML tutorials requested as part of the lab1 hand-in:

DSDN144 Picture

I chose this picture as it displays some interesting lighting and because of the patience involved in making such a photo.

DSDN142 Lab 1 zentangles

These are the ten zentangles requested as homework for DSDN142:


First off, the reproductions of others work:

Frosty by Emily Perkans ( http://pinterest.com/pin/16466354859886951/ ) and Pinecone by Brad Ham ( http://pinterest.com/pin/16466354859963769/ ).

 Baton by Carol Ohl ( http://pinterest.com/pin/16466354859033232/ )

 Miander by Mimi Lempart ( http://pinterest.com/pin/16466354860461675/ ) and Auroknot - Bunzo flower by helen wiliams ( http://pinterest.com/pin/16466354860082618/ )

And now my own creations:

 Fist, The Hex, it starts with a hexagon placed in the midle of the surface, than other hexagons are randomly placed in sequence so that a single hexagon isn't in contact with more than two others. When a "branch" reaches the edge of the surface, the process is repeated from the starting hexagon once more. The result is a beehive like pattern.

Second is this zentagle, inspired by the Japanese flag and barrel riffling, it starts out as a circle to which tangant lines are attached and than every other of the obtained spaces are filed in with color.

A fairly simple concept using hatching and line-weight to differentiate several pattern sections revolving around a trinity.

These last two zentagles use similar techniques, I divided the space using curves, than filed the resulting spaces with repetitive geometric patterns.

DSDN112 Lab1

Thes are the 150 word reviews of the websites foud in Web design index and Web dising index: by content by Günter Beer.

http://www.marcdahmen.de/
This website hosts pictures of Marc Dahmens architecture projects. It is an interesting website as it has a high degree of interaction as well as an interesting layout for the pictures. The pictures are laid out like a bunch of photos on a table with simple instructions as how to browse through them. The website is separated into two sections, a projects section and a picture section, making it easy to browse through.
This website suffers from some downsides though. First of all, there is no explanation as to what the site is and no information on the author or his intentions. Secondly there is no explanation for the pictures in the picture section, only a title. Being architecture projects, it would have been nice to have an ex[planation on the authors intentions for his designs. The projects section on the other hand has a nice succinct explanation for each project even though the pictures are a bit small.

www.dqbooks.com

This website regroups the works of various artists over time in several “books”. This website give you he choice of three languages (english, french and chinese), meaning that is easy to access for a large number of people throughout the would, and has a simple yet well thought out layout. The information tabs are simple and obvious, the information given is clear and concise. As for the actual art, all the pieces are regrouped by theme in different “books”, each of which uses a simple flash animation to turn the pages. The page has a very simple and uncluttered feeling which allows you to really appreciate the art without being distracted.

On the down side, the book-like layout also means that the pictures have a seam in their center which is a bit of a letdown as well as the fact that because of the prensentation, the pictures are a bit small and cants be made bigger.

http://www.toast.co.nz/

A web-design and printing company, their website is quite interesting. Easy access to a great deal of information yet, presented in such a way that the user isn't confronted with a wall of text. The humorist pictures add a nice and refreshing touch. There is a nice background of various photos changing around but not distracting. A good point is the logo of the company that is visible from the start and throughout the different pages, being a simple logo it doesn't draw too much attention and distract from the contents of the website but being there means that one will remember it.

A good thing that I haven't seen on the other websites is an extensive gallery of all their previous projects with nice big pictures and screen-shots. Enough information on the client to understand their intentions for each project. Finally, the site is very easy to navigate, you can't get lost and the various navigation boutons and links are clearly displayed and marked.

 

 

www.tokyoplastic.com

Even though the site has no obvious clues as to what one has to do to access most of its content, it has a really cool interactive flash menu. Unfortunately, even though the animations for the menu are very cool looking and well designed, they are quite long, meaning a lot of downtime between different sections of the website. Moreover, some of the animations are deconstructed into two or three parts, requiring the user to click the screen to launch the next part, unfortunately, the visual clue for this isn't obvious at first which can lead to even more waiting between menus. This is an example of a website that pushes the interaction with the user too far.

On the bright side though, the menus are simple and functional, information is displayed immediately and in a comprehensive way. Information on the website itself and external links are easily found which is a good thing.

www.icoplasma.com

By far the most impressive website of the group, icoplasma is a design firm and it has the coolest website I have ever seen. It has a very interesting and original format, with a good level of interactivity. Moreover, all clickable objects are obvious, stand out of the background and are very intuitive. The website is easy to navigate and displays the necessary amount of information about all projects presented. Moreover, the website gives the choice of two languages, english and spanish, broadening it's range of audience.

The only downsides to the site are the size of the pictures for each project, which are very small, and the lack of external links to the projects presented, especially the web-design projects. Finally, the website has a lot of sound effects, almost every action done on the website has an accompanying sound effect, while not necessarily a bad thing, it can become annoying after a while of browsing the site.