LIFE IS MOVING FORWARD! :)

So two days from now I will be moving into my pool home and we have made sure that there is an extra room for the OFFICE! I am excited about having a nice home to live in with someone I love and also excited that now;being as I am done with my graphic design schooling, and have more time at night, I am hoping to start working on learning more about web design in my downtime. I had a rough time with it in school but truly want to learn more about it. Zack and I own a design company and that is a big step if we can get it up and going like we want to. I have people that are behind me cheering me on and pushing me to do better and it feels good. I know I can do this and the fact that they think I can to means a lot to me. I plan to start doing some competition stuff on deviant art and freakingnews.com just so I can get back in touch with my "DESIGNER side". :) I feel like things are starting to really be more "REAL WORLD" all the sudden. Even though that should have hit me when I graduated high school (which it did but not this hard), I feel like now I really need to push myself and work hard to get my name out there and start designing like I should be so I can do what I love and get paid for it! :) Looking forward to my future in business and in life!

Blog for Delivery Systems 2 Final Exam...

Three sites that I found interesting:

~www.dots.com:

This is a girly site but the colors are not solely pink. The light soft color scheme on this website is very comfortable to look at, nothing is overwhelming or drastic. I like the way things move when you roll over them so that not everything has to be clicked on. The layout has a good use of white space so that it is not too cluttered but they are still getting all the information across.

When you click on the looks link, it takes you to a page where you can scroll left and right through the different looks and each item has the accessory and shoes that go with it. All the information for the look is shown on the left and things once again, are not cluttered but well laid out so that the information is easy to read and the viewers eyes flow smoothly across the page.

~www.loworks-store.org:

I like that the design of the site is 2D. I am more of an illustration person so these things tend to catch my eye more so than the flashy pretty pictures. I like the earth tones being the color scheme. The layout has things moving around and is interactive which is interesting in itself. Then you move to the navigation bar and the rollover state makes it move.

This site is very easy on the eyes and there are not a lot of contrasting colors. Everything blends well together and its easy to navigate through. There also is a link where you can go back to the actual Loworks page and see the portfolio and other things that have been made.

~www.meomi.com:

I freaking love this site. The design of it is all interactive, everything you roll over does something. I like the colors and the treehouse design. The characters all play there own part of the sites home page. This page has so much going on that you never want to leave the home page. I think i ran the mouse over almost every inch of the page just to make sure I didn't miss anything that may possibly move.

I would love to learn more about using animation on a webpage so that I could incorporate it into my personal website once I work on it some more. I think that when a website has parts that are interactive it helps keep the viewer interested and also keep them from getting bored. It is easy to get lost in some pages but in this one they use the inside of the tree as a container for everything. I think that it was a very creative way to design the page all based on a treehouse.

What I would do to improve the LOOK and FEEL of my own site:

I would love to put more interactive animation in my site so that viewers will want to move around the page a little bit before moving on to the next link. Too many times I see people just glance over a page then click on a link and move on. I want to use a repeated color scheme or distinct characters that tell a story so that people actually stop to think about the "design" of the page.

My portfolio page right now does reflect my personal and professional sides, but I would love to work on it a little more so that I can incorporate my designs into the borders and background images or characters so that everything included in the page is mine. I want every piece to be created by me. I don't want to have to borrow images or just use simple layout steps for borders. I plan to keep working on my personal portfolio page even when this class is over and make different pieces so that I can one by one incorporate them into the page and make a larger portfolio than what I have now and more updated pieces as well.

good vs bad web design...

My final exam is due tonight and part of it was to research 3 websites we found interesting/appealing. In doing so I realized that layout, color, animation, easy navigation, and many other aspects of a website...all have their own unique purpose. Some people use color to help guide you through the page, some just use it for making their site match their company colors and that is all. Some make their layout very simple and others make each button or link or part of the picture have its own individual animation. I noticed that some of the websites I looked at took too long to load and I got tired of waiting. Others the colors hurt my eyes, or there was too much going on so I didn't even want to read the information on the page because everything else on the page was moving or zipping on and off the screen. I truly realize the importance of considering all these elements now. Just looking at other sites for the sole purpose of critiquing them helps me realize what I need to spend time focusing on when I am designing my own sites, currently and in the future.

one week/three classes left in graphic design

I get more and more excited as my time at Keiser is ending. I am excited that I will finally be done and have my degree. On the other hand though, with graphic design you have to make sure to stay up to date with all the new improvements and tools and such because things change everyday in the computer world. You can always learn new things in graphic design. I have to remember to constantly be playing in the programs and doing new tutorials online so I can always be improving my skills and the time it takes me to do the skills I already know. I do have the ability to audit any class I have already taken which is nice because it will help me with staying up to date and learning new things. I am excited to learn more and use my knowledge that I already have in the programs to do bigger and better things in my future. I am really looking forward to having more time for my design business. It will be nice if we can get our name out there and start bringing in some decent amounts of work. Looking forward to putting my knowledge to work! :)

Nearing the end.... of my associates degree at Keiser that is.

So I have four classes left until I am done with my graphic design classes. I have one more mandatory general education course which ends May 28th and then I have no more schooling here at Keiser. I am going to miss all the great times with classmates and all the fun and interesting projects we did in each class to teach us the ins and outs of every program. I do plan to continue my education in the near future at the Art Institute of Tampa (they have a bachelors program there). I want to take a break though for a few months to get my life in order and enjoy my new home that I will be moving into May 1st and hopefully do some work under LEON GRAPHIX since we havent really had the time to do anything as of yet. Being out of school and having my nights free will give me time to work as a designer with our business. Once all the dust settles and everything is in order I will go back to school. I am super excited that I have reached this accomplishment in my life and I am happy about the things I have learned that I will get to walk away from this with. I must admit these last few months I struggled to stay motivated because I was starting to feel burnt out, but every bit of frustration and every minute of those late nights doing projects was worth it. Thanks to Ms. Gilpin and Mr. Williams, along with Mr. Gonzales and Ms. Stanton. Cant wait to move forward with my graphic design and look back at all my "FIRSTS" that I did while I was in school at Keiser, when I was just being introduced to the programs.

The best thing about going to school for graphic design and co-owning a design company...

So...my dear friend Zack and I own LEON GRAPHIX together. We have had a little bit of business but being as we both work full time jobs and go to school we havent been able to do a lot. We have been discussing the fact that one of the best things about going to design school is that you know which one of your classmates is the best at which program and who you can ask to help you when in crunch time and need more help. We have been in all the classes now and both finish up after this class. The good thing about asking for help from someone in our class is that A they understand that we are just starting out...as are they... so we aren't going to have to pay a million dollars for outsourcing they will just tell us how much they want to get for the job and we will adjust the pricing accordingly on the invoice. It also will help our classmates expand their portfolios if they want to go elsewhere. We are hoping that once we graduate the business will get busier and we will have time to go out and get our name on the streets and in the businesses local and in surrounding areas. I cant wait to be done in May. I hope we can truly get this going the way we want it to.

Decisions-Decisions

So when you work full-time (mon -fri 8-5) then go to school Mon Tues and Thurs night (6p-10p) and play in a softball league wednesday nights and soccer league Fri and sat night... when do you find time to do work for your personal business. My classmate/coworker/business partner Zack and I have started getting work offers lately and it sucks because we cant find time to do them in the time frame people need them done in. I dont know if I should give up my sports and do this work and have absolutely no "FUN TIME" for myself.... or just wait till I graduate in May to accept any offers on work. At least then i will have time when i get out of my daytime job to work on it at night because i will no longer have school at night. I feel like if I give up my sports (which are my only relief during the week) right now I may just lose my mind working all the time. Its crunch time though and I need to make a decision, I really dont wanna let these customers go by but then again I dont think it is healthy to be all work no play either.