For next week....

For next week, please improve upon your site. Several people had flickering, jumpy transitions, etc. Use this week to polish them and make them as good as they can be.

I've created a second folder within the assignment folder for your second pass.


As always, don't hesitate to ask questions.

Thx
Scout

Flash Assignment Rescheduled

Hello people -

As discussed, I'm going to push back the due date for the Flash assignment. I'm also going to hold a 1 hour lab on the Sunday before the Thursday that the Flash assignment is due.

Here's a couple important dates to note:

11.15.12 - This will be a full lab class for you to work on your Flash/HTML assignment. We'll answer questions, review techniques and make sure everyone is in good shape with your assignment.

11.11.12 - No class - Thanksgiving week.

11.25.12 - One hour lab from 3:00 - 4:00 (this assumes the lab will be open which it is scheduled to be)

11.29.12 - Flash assignment due. We'll review everyone's Flash assignment via projector. You also won't be required to host it within DropBox. Just from your Folder within the class folder. Time permitting, we may review Flash components.

12.6.12 - Last class!

This last assignment is not overly difficult but it does have a few phases to it so don't wait till the last minute. Seek answers and help sooner than later.

Have a good weekend.

Thx
Scout

Flash/HTML Project

Good job last night. Below are some other cool examples of Flash as well as the attached presentation from class.

A couple of date reminders:

1. Next week (11/1), your 5 examples of Flash sites are due. Do some exploring, find what you think are 5 great examples of Flash design and write a couple of sentences for each. You might be asking "where do I write these sentences?" Once you find your examples, create a free blog account with blogger, word press, tumblr, etc. and use your new blog for capturing your site links, thumbnails and commentary for each.

2. Required viewing and reading (below)

- Required Viewing - first 6 episodes

- Required Reading - Love The Internet

I'll start off our next class answering questions and reviewing anything that you need more clarification on for the Flash assignment. ALSO, I typically hold lab hours on the Saturday before the  assignment is due. I'll be at the lab on 11/10 @ 3:00-4:00. This will given you some additional time to ask questions and finalize your assignment.

3. Your Flash/HTML site is due 11/15. We will be critiquing everyone's assignment via hosting it within DropBox vs. launching from the class folder. Refer to the lecture deck for details on the assignment. 

4. Here's some best practices to follow as you work on your assignment: 

A. 72 DPI for images ONLY (check this by going to Image > Image Size your dpi is in the resolution box)

These images should be created in photoshop ideally since you have the option to "save for web and devices". This option will allow you to adjust the quality of the image so that file size is as low as possible without losing a significant amount of image quality. 72 dpi is a web standard you do not need a higher resolution for web. If you do have higher res images, it's going to greatly impact the size and performance of your page.

B. Make sure your pictures are the exact same size width and height as the dummy images. 

(Because I coded in what the image sizes should be the browser will shrink or expand the image to fit the size I've specified no matter the original file size BUT the browser shouldn't have to do that much work.) Even if they are 1 pixel off, it will throw the entire layout out of alignment.

C. I will be setting up a public DropBox account for everyone to use in hosting their site. Once I do, I'll post information to this blog. We still have time for this task.

D. Don't forget to save out the favicon for your site (the little image that lives on a site's tab and one that's used for bookmarks) save out a 16x16px PNG and name it favicon.png. 

If you keep the above points in mind when finishing up your site then you're well on your way in developing best practices as a web designer (as well as pissing less developers off). If you have any questions before next class, feel free to e-mail. 

Jessica is also available for questions so feel free to email her at aurorasc@bu.edu.

Below are all the assets and files for the assignment:

HTML template wireframe
PSD Template
HTML Template Files

Attached Lecture Deck

Here's a link to a few past Flash examples that students completed for their assignment. However, we've retooled this particular assignment so they probably won't give you much insight.

This is your chance to jump start your own portfolio site. Do a good job on this. I'm only requiring this one page but the assignment is scalable for you to keep adding pages.

50 most beautiful Flash sites

Magazine Cover Tidbits

There were a few questions in class yesterday that prompted me to give a few more tidbits of advice for the magazine cover design.

1. If you're comfortable printing to a larger size ( tabloid) and trimming on the crop marks, feel free to do so. However, if you don't understand completely or want to wait till class starts, we can do them together.  Either choice is fine.

2. For many magazine logos, there exists vector versions of their logos which can scale infinitely and be edited (if needed) in Illustrator. Brands of the world is a great resource. However, not all are there which means you might have to Google the logo. Once you receive the search results, view by "Images" and look for the vector or largest version there is. For print projects like magazine covers, large is always better. Lastly, if you're making up your magazine or can't find the logo, try and typeset it the best you can.

3. The same goes for images - the larger the image or picture, the better.

4. The easy part of any magazine cover is the image and logo. What makes a really great design is how the other type elements are treated. Research and look carefully at other alike magazines and notice how they structure the type, what colors they use and most of all, how the type works with the image. If you find a great image that doesn't work with the type, find a new image....even if you love the one you have...if people can't read the type, it's not a successful cover design.

5. Design is an organic process. The instructions I put in the lecture are pretty accurate but not perfect. Use common sense or make an executive decision if something's not clear to you. Of course, you can email me and/or the TA at any point with questions.

The sketches and ideas I reviewed yesterday were really tight. This should be a great piece for you to both build your portfolio with as well as solidify the basics of InDesign.

Thx
Scout

InDesign Lecture

Great job on everyone's iphone applications - really! Throughout the critique, there were comments and refinements from your peers and myself on ways they all could be tweaked. If you'd like further clarification on your specific project, let one of us know. It's not required to do anything more to them - for some of you, it's a good portfolio piece so you'd want to make it as good as it can get.

Here is the lecture deck.

Refer to your syllabus for assignment due dates but in a nut shell, sketches of your magazine cover designs along with 3 good magazine cover designs are due next week. We'll also be doing an in-class InDesign walk-thru next week. Final magazine cover due the week after.

Here's a link to some great cover designs I found.

Slight modifications made to TV Icon Directions

Just an update - Steps 1-4 were a little less than clear so I've edited the lecture deck and have uploaded a revised one. I'm providing it here as well as at the original link. 

Thanks for your patience.

S

Week 2 - Photoshop | iPhone Prototype

Hello.

Below is the lecture deck and templates from this week's lecture. Always refer to the syllabus for assignment details and due dates.

ATTENTION:

I made a few tweaks to the syllabus. Nothing that will effect you - one of my dates was inaccurate which is fixed. I also refined this weeks assignment a bit. So if you're referring back to an earlier printed version of the syllabus, please print out an updated one. To be safe, do a "hard refresh" to clear your earlier cache of this page (Hold Shift while clicking on the refresh icon).

Type Specimen Student Examples

iPhone GUI PSD Template LARGE SIZE
iPhone GUI PSD Template SMALL SIZE

ROAM Wireframes

Lecture Deck

Here's an example of the TV Icon PSD. This is not a major assignment so get as far as  you can. To date, I haven't had anyone not be able to finish it.

Slight tweak to the syllabus

ATTENTION:

I made a few tweaks to the syllabus. Nothing that will effect you - one of my dates for the type specimen poster was inaccurate which is fixed. I also refined this weeks assignment a bit. So if you're referring back to an earlier printed version of the syllabus, please print out an updated one. To be safe, do a "hard refresh" to clear your earlier cache of this page (Hold Shift while clicking on the refresh icon). I've also posted a few student examples for this poster below.

To be clear - the poster is due 9/27. Nothing due for next week (9/20) so use this time to make your poster even better.

Type Specimen Student Examples

Poster Requirements

Hi Class,

The head of the lab apologized for the technical difficulties with server and folder access. I know we didn't have ample time for all the questions but we got off to a late start and our TA was a no show.

We have 2 more weeks for the poster..it's not due next week. As mentioned in first class, I changed the syllabus around from last year and have given more time to projects so sometimes I slip and say it's due next week but the syllabus is the final word.

I'll do a quick review of the poster again next week if we have time. The requirements are as follows:

20 x 30
Save to PDF from Illustrator using "Save A Copy..."
Select PDF from the drop-down
Keep all defaults as is but click on "Marks and Bleeds" on the left and select "All printers marks"
Hit "Save PDF" at the bottom and you're done.

Open up your browser from any of the lab computers and click on the Printing and Copy link and follow the prompts throughout the form. YOu can either attach your PDF to the form or hand the file in to the lab on a thumb-drive.

You may also print it somewhere else if you choose.

That's it. Thanks for your patience today and great job on your Ugly assignment.

Thx
Scout

The TA for the class is Pallavi

Here is her contact info below. Please CC both of us on any questions regarding the assignments, meeting up or issues with schedule.

email:

j_shreetex@yahoo.co.uk

cell:

608 566 5095

Welcome to Week 1 - Good/Bad | Poster Assignment

Welcome to the Class. This blog will be used as a communication repository for assignments, helpful links, lectures, syllabus and general communications. Speaking of syllabus...here is a PDF of the syllabus as well as the Lecture Deck.

Suggested Books:

Thinking with Type

The commandments of Typography

Suggested Tutorials:

http://www.lynda.com/home/otl.aspx

HOMEWORK - See syllabus for assignments and dates.

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