Design Comp

Dashboard by Karl's Design Comp

Well, for the design I was going for a simple and clean design, mainly do the the diversity of patrons. The design is very age neutral and was all created in Photoshop and Illustrator. All the logo's are vector images and everything is its own seperate layer. The client really liked the simplicity and ease of site navigation and the basic color scheme. The design is more function over form but still has depth and texture. I will probably end up removing the sub-global navigation due to difficulty of implementation combined with the local navigation.

While I do not know how much CSS I will be implementing do to the fact we are using divs and the site is primarily image driven. That being said every site will have CSS used in at least its simplest form. I know I will be using CSS for text in the site. CSS is a great way to set up font hierarchy and text color and alignment. Besides that I am not sure what I will be trying to do within my style sheet. Because the site will be using divs I am actually not sure how much will be controlled by the style sheet for the simple fact that most of my previous experience with style sheets is controlling tables and layout.

Templates seem very useful after our assignments where we created them. Since so Much of my site has key repeating elements I will definitely attempt to use templates to their fullest so as to not have to keep recreating the basic design. Library items are similar but not the same. If I understand them correctly it's for page elements so that they can be easily reused over and over in other portions of the website. I am going to try and use library items for navigation, header, and footer information. Since I do not have as much experience with library items it will be lesson in what I can and can't do with them.

I honestly do not have any idea if I will be using using the ability to automate repetitive tasks. I feel like if I was more comfortable with the feature I would use it all the time, like how I have Photoshop shortcuts all memorized. That being said I am not that familiar with the feature and it feels almost cumbersome with it's design. I will have to see exactly how much similar work I am going to have to do before I will attempt using it. I guess I just don't like the design of the feature.

Final Project Assignment

My choice for company website was an easy one. I chose my work, Dashboard by Karl's. Dashboard is a car electronics store located in sioux falls. It's owned by Karl's TV and Appliance and as such has a single page hidden in Karl's main website. This single page hidden within in the products section of their main website really does nothing for Dashboard. It is a overly simplistic template and is out of date. This is primarily because Karl's doesn't currently have a strong online footing with only having launched their own website a few years ago.

Dashboard by Karl's needs a website of it's own where it can showcase custom work and have an updated listing of brands carried. Not only that but be able to easily update the site and advertise for car shows or special promotions. Although I strongly feel the most useful aspect of the site will be showcasing the custom work we have done because that's what gets people excited about the business. I spoke with the manager and the dashboard location and he was very supportive of the idea and I don't forsee too many challenges. I will have to track down lots of photos and come up with a general design theme. Dashboard has a logo but not really any design personality. Also, designing some effective way to organize and navigate the photos will be very important.

I used Grant's webtool Just Hear !t and I have to admit I was fairly surprised at the random stuff it could find and quickly. Also, the sound quality was decent... I don't know how it works but it works.

I figured I would post some old work I have done and that I used in my portfolio. I will try and stick with the ones that are self explanatory. I just uploaded a couple of photos I took, one for an advert. and the other is just a photo. I picked these two pieces pretty much because I found them first.

Kiko - Calendar Webtool

Kiko is essentially just an web based calendar. It has an incredibly clean interface and allows importing of several popular calendars. The reason why I could see this being a popular option or even a useful option is because it offers full RSS and email reminders. This could be useful if you constantly moved around and didn't have a full functioning smart phone.

Update: For some reason the website is down but has a google cache from Jan. 23rd. If this continues I will find another webtool and write up another blog.

Introduction

Name: Zach Gutnik

Contact Info: zod27@sio.midco.net

Hometown: Sioux Falls, SD

Grade Level: Senior

Major: Computer Graphic Design @ DSU

Favorite Food: Asian

Favorite Movie: Dr. Stranglove

Something unique about myself: Work at a Car Stereo Shop

Hobbies or Interests: I guess the obvious is computers but besides that I have many. I enjoy comic books, movies, and electronics of almost any variety.

Goal for this class: My goal for this class is to pass while maintaining some of my dignity. Oh, and to at least be partially honest.