Design Principles

Throughout the last couple weeks, our class worked with InDesign with special attention to layout and formatting. We have completed several projects within the last few class sessions, include a newsletter, 2page book-spread, magazine cover, and brochure. All of these assignments required attention to layout and design in order to have a visually appealing end result.

The acronym taught in class to demonstrate proper layout was C.R.A.P. This stands for:

Contrast
     -"Elements that aren’t the same should be very different so they stand out, making them “slightly different” confuses the user into seeing a relation that doesn’t exist. Strong contrast between page elements allows the user’s eye to flow from one to another down the page instead of creating a sea of similarity that’s boring and not communicative."

Repetition
     -"Repeat styles down the page for a cohesive feel if you style related elements the same way in one area, continue that trend for other areas for consistency."

Alignment
     -"Everything on the page needs to be visually connected to something else, nothing should be out of place or distinct from all other design elements."

Proximity
     -"Proximity creates related meaning: elements that are related should be grouped together, whereas separate design elements should have enough space in between to communicate they are different."

This information was taken from the following site, and is explained in further detail: http://blog.teamtreehouse.com/how-crap-is-your-site-design

In my experience with the projects this week, I found that alignment was the most challenging detail to perfect--This is because it is the most difficult to exact. 

While C.R.A.P. outlines the basics of design principles, there are more specific elements to be critical of in order to produce the best project. For example color, size, texture, and value are important elements. These can be further explained by the following links and image:

http://www.johnlovett.com/test.htm
http://flyeschool.com/content/elements-artdesign-and-principles-designorganization

However, once you are aware of these principle of design, creating a visually appealing layout will become second nature. Happy designing! 

Image: http://cdn1.tnwcdn.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/10/laptop-color-design.jpg

Inspiration and Design

This week, our class had the opportunity to explore a social media site that we have little to no experience with. For the purpose of this assignment, I joined Pinterest because I have heard women rave about it and reference it frequently. The concept of the site is simple, create inspiration boards filled with pictures ranging in topic. I fell in love with the site almost instantly, as it was very user friendly and a mindless way to pass the time. It reminded me a lot of blogging in the sense that you can either upload your own content or re-post another user’s image—the site thrives of off reblogged or “repined” image sharing. 

The main features of the site include board creation, pinning, liking, and sending. You can also link up your account to Facebook and connect with your friends to see their boards. One of my favorite elements of the site is that you can research a pin to find the website that it originated from, which comes in handy when you repin clothing that you want to buy or food that you want the recipe for. A concern about the site is that it sparks less engagement between users when compared with other social media sites. Users are able to comment and like other users’ pins, but they rarely partake in this method of direct contact. Despite this detachment, I really enjoyed the site and found it to be a great source of inspiration. 

This type of inspiration has been instrumental this week as our class dabbled in the basics of InDesign. InDesign is Adobe software publishing software that we used to create a book cover, 2-page book spread, and magazine cover. I was very daunted by this program at first, but now am in love with it! There are so many features and design elements that you can use to create something original, and it is not extremely difficult to use. There are some aspects that are challenging, but it is easy to get the results you want with the trail-error method and practice. I am slightly biased at the moment though because I won our in-class contest and my book cover design will be featured on our class book; I never win creative contests and have minimal technological experience, so this was a big moment for me—Thank you InDesign!

Regardless of my recent triumph, I still think the site is a great tool for creating any sort of publication and will be using it in the adult world.  Here are a couple links to get you started so that you can win design competitions too!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b27Q4YUGO8Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F0E0NQ92eY

Image: http://theodysseyonline.com/lafayette/just-love-pinterest/312838

Websites Building and Record Editing

This week, our class experimented with the online website builders Wix and Weebley. I have worked with both of these programs in previous courses and personally I favor Wix. My team that will be building a website for an on campus club has chosen to use Wix for our project.

While both are very user friendly, Wix seems to have more features and is easier for me to navigate. I have experimented with other sites, like Wordpress, and feel like Wix is more conducive to my needs as a beginner website builder. Wix provides users with hundreds of templates to match their style of website, and allows every element to be altered to meet the user’s preferences.

Working with different website builders has taught me that it is incredibly easy and accessible for individuals with minimal technological know-how to build a website. This day and age, the ability to code is no longer the only requirement when building a website. Essentially, if you want/need to build an online presence you can, and it’s simple to do.

Here are some helpful videos that will explain how to use Wix!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRU83c06luM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clzBjs4SPTU

Additionally, this week we learned about podcasts and audio recording/editing equipment. The main program we experimented with was the editing software Audacity. This is an easy program to operate with minimal training, however there are a few pesky quirks! For example, you have to press the stop button whenever you want to edit the recording, which isn’t difficult but it’s annoying. Other than that it is very user friendly and useful in developing a podcast or other recording.

Audacity offers basic features like fading sounds and adding underlying tracks, and there are really fun features like sound effects. We used http://www.pacdv.com/sounds/index.html to add sound effects legally, and this site offers a ton of fun noises to enhance your recording. Royalty-fee music is also available online, and a good resource for cheap college students! In class we used: http://www.freemusicbeds.com/. Creating a podcast, or really any edited recording is a exciting process and easy with minimal training—here is a video to check out Audacity and get started creating!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uqCNjbQn54

Image: http://startupbloggers.com/wix-vs-weebly-better-startups/