Midterm Project Self-critique

  1. How could you’ve been more successful in designing for your target audience and for the goals of the client?

I think that I could have made it more dynamic as far as trying to appeal to a younger audience. I was trying to make it universally appealing so that people of all ages are drawn                                to it but, really, the site could be more modern-looking. Also, the color palette could have contained more contrasting colors so as to create more visual interest.

2. What’s your greatest design challenge? (for example, is it color? or typography, or something else? ) What is your biggest technical challenge?

I would say that the biggest design challenge was color and finding the right imagery to go with my color palette. My biggest technical challenge was the secondary navigation. I wanted to insert dividing lines between the links but I couldn’t get them to space apart evenly.

3.  If you had an opportunity to continue working on this design, what changes would you make?

I would make the secondary navigation look exactly the way I intended. I’d reduce the size of the main image slider on the home page in order to make more content visible above the fold. I’d add two more links to the main navigation so that more info is accessible and the main navigation is better utilized.

4. What did you learn about your own design work from critiquing other students’ midterm projects?

I learned that I spend more time making sure everything is perfectly uniform, aligned correctly, and that everything works perfectly. Perhaps I should focus on making the actual layout and design and color palette perfect (or as good as it possibly can be) first before worrying about these other things.

GD 67: Assignment 6

1. What are wireframes?

Wireframes are essentially storyboards for the site. They are also referred to as content layouts or page schematics, they are nondesign-oriented sketches of unique pages showing rough navigation, copy layout, graphic allocation, key headers, and any other elements that need to appear on a page. Wireframes show a certain hierarchy of information but do not dictate exactly how something should be represented.  Wireframes normally only carry information, not visual design. Therefore, colors or button shapes shouldn’t be considered in a wireframe. A wireframe can be simple, showing only the content layout and navigational organization of a few key pages within a site. Complex wireframes show copy, light functionality, links, navigation, and graphic content in a more detailed format.

Wireframes should include a representation of all major page elements: content, navigation, media, functional elements, and message that are slated to appear on the page. Having a rough idea of content (knowing text length, imagery, and placement) at this point is a big plus.

2. When do you not need to define key user paths?

When the user is not required to do anything task-oriented like filling out a form, logging in, or purchasing something.

GD 67: Assignment 5

1.  What is a “site map?”

A sitemap shows a visual representation of the site’s structure, organization, flow, and grouping of content and information. It is a representation of the entire project, from a broad vantage point to many of the minute of details. It is a a chance to view the site structure and organizations as a whole. And while a content outline can be (should be) very detailed, it does not provide a sense of flow from a user standpoint.The sitemap should clearly show all HTML pages within each section of the site. Every page gets a box, and most major links are represented. Developing a sitemap allows the creator to develop a conceptual model, providing a mentail picture of the site as a whole. It is always helpful for any team to be able to wrap their heads around the structure and organization of the site.

2. What are the two types of naming conventions that are addressed in the book?

  1. Organization/numeric naming
  2. HTML naming