Week 11 Reading

We will be using Illustrator the week after Spring Break, so I wanted to give you some reading material about the two programs (Photoshop and Illustrator).  Photoshop Tips and Tricks does a decent job distinguishing between the two.  To respond to this reading, just give your general impressions.  For your webpick (due Wednesday by midnight) find a website that uses vector graphics in interesting ways.

Week 9 Reading

This week you will be looking at 12 days-a Year of Design, a site that spotlights 12 different artists who use multimedia in their work.  This is to help prepare you for Project 3 and to also give you an introduction to the Wacom pen/pad.  Ignore the constant plugs for the expensive Wacom pens, but do read the artist pages carefully for design tips.  Choose one of the artists, and share one thing you learned that you would like to try out in your Adobe Project.  We will be using the pen tool and Wacom tablets next week for an in-class activity.

Due Dates Fast Approaching

Next week you have a number of assignments due:

Tuesday 3/10- Bring your rough draft for project 2.  We will meet individually to discuss options.

Thursday 3/13- Project 2 is due at the beginning of class for crit.  

No late assignments will be critiqued.  

If you are resubmitting Project 1 for extra credit, upload for grading.

Tutorial 6 due

Week 8 Reading

Blah-Blah Text:  Cut, Keep, or Kill? This article was written by Jakob Nielsen, a PhD who studies human-computer interaction.  He offers advice on how to make your website more "readable" and some help with writing for the web.  As you read the text provided, think about how you will use introductory text on your webpages for the final project.  The homepage you are designing for project #2 is just the beginning...

XTRA CREDIT

Project 1 can be resubmitted for extra credit.  Based on the critique we gave you on your project, make changes/improvements and submit the revised project for up to 20 points of extra credit.  The last day to resubmit Project 1 is Thursday, March 13th.

Week 7 Reading

While reading the "Top 10 Web Design Mistakes,"  pay special attention to mistake #'s 1, 3, 4, and 10.  This will help you with the design of your homepage for project #2.  Don't worry about the information for meta tags, frames, and scrolling text.  We won't be addressing that in our class.

When you make your webpick this week, look for websites that use text in creative ways.  You may want to include poetry you've written, background information, or a description (keep it brief and see #4 from the reading) on your homepage.  This should not look like a myspace page, but give a good description of who you are, using web design tools we've read about and discussed in class.

Week 6 Reading

The good, the bad, and the ugly.  This is a quick read to give you some hints as to what you should avoid when designing your website.  Some you have read before, but there are some nice examples that you may not have seen as well.