Artist Critique

I chose this image becauase having been to New York and I remember taking the same type of shots but never managed to get a powerful shot like this image presented here.

The main part of the image that caught my eye has to be the contrast. With such a powerful contrast the photographer has given the image a clear look bringing all of the small detail more visible. However with more black and white tones used and very little grey tones can give the image a more 2D effect rather then the 3D look that I guess the photographer was trying to achieve. The viewers eyes are immediately drawn towards the center of the page following the path and the shadows before viewing the rest of the image.

What I did think was that the photographer was trying to make the two people in the image the main focal point however I do nor think this was successful because of how strong the contrast and composition is, instead the poeple are absorbed into the image and become part of the image rather then a focal point. I feel that the main focal point of this image was more the patterns created from the bridge itself and the shadowing. They are very varied and give alot of detail for the audience to see.

This is a typical New York photo that everyday 'tourists' would try and capture but the its the strong contrast that captures my eye but the more I study this image the more I wonder whether it has computer edited to get this effect. As I see most New York photos in black and white I'm guessing that the photographer was trying to keep to this theme, I feel that this was a conscious descion as this makes what the image.

Its Started!!!

Now heading into November I was starting to panic about what my potential ideas would be for my project and after a chat with shaun I now know what I'm doing. I have been talking to quite a few people about my plans to apply for summer internships, Pixar being a choice and this was one of my ideas, once shown what my ideas were Shaun told me it was clearly the best option because when I think about it, it could help my chances.

Having the past day starting brainstorming ideas for the website I can't stop thinking of possible ideas that could help me, some I feel are a bit tricky but some I think could really work. The main idea that I am trying to get away from is sticking to 'Pixar' imagery so that is where the idea came up of how I myself would interpret the characters that have been seen in these films.

I have looked through the Pixar website and came across how they produce a film, maybe I could pitch an idea via my project but a very basic one as we do not have as much time as these animators had. I thought if I could mix my skills that I have learnt through sketching, photoshop and over the past year I think I have something to work on.

Other ideas that I could think of are things that are based in everyday websites but I would interpret into my own site. Like FAQ page where potential undergraduate computer programmers/animators could ask questions on how to get into the business. Another idea like the FAQ it could be a forum where undergraduate students can talk to each other and maybe give each other other.

I'm still coming up with ideas but I shall past them later when I have produced more ideas.

Someone I know

For last weeks seminar we were set to briefly write about someone we know or what I've done with someone who works in the multimedia industry, and I am lucky to say that I have had the contacts to help me get started and get an idea into what I should be prepared for.

My main person who has helped me a great deal is my next door neighbour 'Linda Bett' Now I have to say that Linda has helped me alot and I am going to say thanks to her now because give it a week and she would have found this post because her profession is in Search Engine Optimisation and so can find out where her name has been inputted.

Linda owns her own company called www.ayunia.com I have already written about the company in my previous blogs so I won't repeat myself but from the help of Linda I was given the chance to meet up with '4t2 Designs' an online gaming company that speacialise in games for websites. John White was the person who I got the chance to speak to about having a career in online environments, how to get to that point etc it was really helpful and made me realise that I needed to get more work done in order to be prepared to hand in my work to apply for internships.

Linda has let me get involved with a work project just before I returned to university, it was quite a tight brief but I tried to give my design opinions and I recieved some positive feedback, it gave a good overview on how a web designer has to work.

Research Task

For last weeks seminar we were set the task of finding an artist or group that have used multimedia in some way and report back via our journals, well I have a problem with this as I cannot pick one persons idea that truly inspires me because in all honesty I get inspired by work everyday even the poster you see when walking down the street.

However I whilst at the library two or shall I say three ideas came to my mind whilst browsing though the library. The piece was by a designer called 'Catalina Estrada Uribe' she is currently a freelance graphic designer/illustrator in Barcelona. There wasn't much information of her via the Internet but her work was on the cover the a great magazine called 'Computer Arts' (idea two).



This is an example of her work. I chose this because I have recently taken an interest into Manga drawings and though I would say that this isn't your original Manga it has some relevance to what I like. What I like about this image is that the imagery is simple yet to me its so powerful and the detail to the design looks as though it has taken a while to get to this final design. I also like the colours used within this design, they are quite neutral/flat but when blended together I feel that they really compliment each other.

As you can see from the image this is a screen print from the magazine 'Computer Arts' I have browsed through this magazine quite a few times trying to grab ideas, get useful tips etc and it has always helped me and that is why I think the magazine itself could be a possible project idea. There have been many pieces of work in here that has helped me get through college/previous university, so why not do a project on the magazine after all it is art isn't it.

My third idea has to be the 'company' that I have always had a passion for and that is Pixar.



I love everything about there designs and am already making plans to apply for an internship in the summer maybe doing this as a project will give me a really good chance to get into their good books if I actually do a project on them. It will show that I have researched into the company so I know what to do.

As for ideas for the project I was thinking along the lines of maybe a forum for potential future artists but from universities because over past spp seminars it has come to my attention that we students have no real business networks to help us into this world so maybe introducing a site that is specifically for young graduate designers could be one of my ideas. As to relate to my chosen artists it could maybe be for specific design like 'pixar' young animators the widgets could be links to other animating page that could help the young designers along. This same idea could apply the other two but to be honest at the moment I am not sure if I am going the right way about it or not, but we shall find out. And like I read in the Dan Saffer interview the best way to get a good design is to just keep designing and that is what I intend to do.

The fwa - the incredible hulk

For my second chosen site I chose the new site for the incredible hulk. Reasons for this is because I feel that there were more interactive elements to the site then the previous Mario Kart site that I analysed.

What does it look like?

The site has kept to the theme of the movie which is quite dark and sinful, like an angry atmosphere (like the hulk)The designers have used strong imagery and flash movies to help the users get a strong feel of the movie without the need to see it. I personally haven't seen it and just from the site I have got a strong impression on what the movie is about.



Whilst searching the site I got the impression that they were also trying to give out a scientific atmosphere, I got this impression from the imagery, but also the sounding used.

How easy is it to use?

I found the site fairly easy to navigate through however I did get confused at the beginning.



What I did not realise was that floating on the screen was an icon called 'Navigation' the user has to click on this icon to get the main menu, now what I got confused about was that the designers have also put four buttons on each corner of the screen, thats what I thought was the main menu but, they are actually links to other sites. So if I would suggest to change something then I guess it would be to make the buttons easier to navigate through. However once you get the hang of what button is where you fairly easier to get round.

How relevant is the content of the site?

As the site is aimed at one film its pretty obvious what the content of the site should be and it is what it is, a web site advertising the movie. What I like about the content is that the designers have used various different widgets and imagery to show the relevant content.



Examples of this would be flash games, downloads i.e. screen savers different cast profiles etc its all been given a relaxed layout the information is not too serious just right for the theme of the web site.

How clearly is the content organised?

In my opinion I feel that the content has not been organised very well. The links are everywhere, like I said above the links to other pages are everywhere. I feel that the designers were aiming this site to a younger target audience because f the 'scatty' the pages were set, this is a point that I think the younger audience would not really notice. Overall though the links take you to exactly where they state they would.

The fwa - Mario Kart

For another part of our work that David said us was to choose two websites from the fwa website that we found interesting. I chose the mario kart site because I felt that it had all the factors of what a successful site should have.

What does it look like?

As soon as I opened the website I got the impression/atmosphere of the 'Nintendo Wii' with the plain white background giving the website a minimal look.


The designers has mainly stuck to one main colour theme and that is blue and white, the same colour as the Nintendo Wii logo. I felt that this was a conscious idea to make because its colour that people/potential games players recognise. The only main time when the colours change is when the characters are being shown, the colour of the character is shown when they appear on the screen. Overall the site has been kept to a simple theme that users can relate to the game.

How easy is it to use?

I found this site very easy to use, the buttons have been placed along the top left hand corner, its out of the way of the main imagery but easy to see. With the buttons clearly labelled the users know where each link will take them. What I came to notice whilst browsing the site was that some of the buttons have been duplicated into images. As you can see in the image below there are two images of two of the characters from the game but what I didn't realise was that the are actually links to other pages, one to the characters page and one to the game details page, both that are buttons in the top corner, maybe this could be seen quite confusing and give the users the impression that there are more pages then there are but I did not find this.



How relevant is the content of the site?

I feel that the site (like I said above) has stuck to a theme that relates to the game being advertised so when asked the question 'how relevant is the content of the site?' I would have to say that it is relevant. All of the imagery has kept to the theme of the game and even the background music comes from the gaming music itself.



There is no content to this site that doesn't represent the Wii game even down to the small button icons are the replica of the wii remote control.

How clearly is the content organised?

Like I've answered to all the questions above very well, just from the links labels I can get a strong idea about what I am going to find and 9 times out of 10 I am right. I get the impression that the designers had an idea that the main users of this site would be quite a young age because everything is very simple and basic yet the flash inputs and the detail to design is very impressive.

Apperance, Use, Content and Organised

For some online environments work we were set, we had to briefly analyse four different websites and these were IDEO, Sony, Apple and NOW.

What does it look like?

IDEO - When you first enter the site you are greeted by IDEO's design work but in a violet colour. The main menu icon have been given a bolder look i.e. font rather then imagery.

The links from the main page roughly have the same layout. This would be the font on the left hand side with a collage of work on the right allowing the users to view the work. All of the pages also have a different colour theme to each page, the colours being quite subtle.

Sony - The Sony website is a very basic and quite minimalistic.It looks user friendly and the button linking to the other pages supports this, being that each button is clearly labelled telling the users directly where they would be taken too.


When the user opens the main page the colours are quite plain and not very appealing to the viewers eye but when you go through the site the colours change making it more eye-catching. The layout itself is very simple showing an image of the product being sold, price, brief description just like an online shopping site would do.

Apple - Apple has stuck to the theme of how all the products they sell looks like, slick and minimal. I feel that this works for the site because this theme is how people interpret apple products.

Like the 'Sony' site the products have been set in shopping site layout that is easy to the users eye however this only occurs in the 'store' part of the site every other link from the main page is different. Some have inputted widgets or some have just used strong imagery to capture the audience attention.

NOW - NOW has a user friendly layout that is simple for everyone because many different people from different backgrounds use it.


The minimalistic look I feel has been put there as a blank canvas, like a starting point for the new year. All of the main features that the students need can be found on the main page, the buttons have been clearly labelled to make it that little bit easier. The colours have been kept to a minimum but being that the page is for educational purposes I feel that this was a conscious decision.


How easy is it to use?

IDEO - When you first enter the site I did not realise that the buttons are the link buttons until I hovered over them. When you do opened them though many more design links are opened giving you the opportunity to click in a number of different links. It looks very busy and there's alot of links brought up in one time. One thing that the designer did not think of was the page size. What I did not realise and as I think many others would not realise is that there is a menu bar at the bottom of the page, but you have to scroll down to find it. So links are fairly easy to find but it does depend on the size of the screen.

Sony - All of the navigation buttons are on the left hand side making it easy for the user to see which link will go. They have a search bar in the top right hand corner which is always useful because if the user wants a specific something then that's where they would search.
I noticed that there are three buttons that have been put in bold 'products, shop and support' from the way that they are laid out shows that they are important features of the site because they are bolder.

Apple - I feel that the apple web site has the easiest to navigate through. With the buttons clearly labelled at the top you can navigate through the site and easily find your way around the site.



All of the buttons have have been set out by the theme of the page i.e. the shop page the buttons are set down on the left hand side with some navigation, Mac page has a brief scroll menu with images etc all very user friendly.

NOW - NOW being a new site I'm still finding quite difficult to use. All of the things I need I can find without a problems because they have been clearly labelled and place in a certain area of the site i.e. timetable/email positioned left hand corner. However the more I look around the site the more I find and, whats better is that the they have provided an explanation for each page so the user knows what its about, I feel that this was a conscious idea because being a new site people are still learning what the site is about.

How relevant is the content of the site?

Now when ever we are asked this question 'How relevant is the content of the site?' I wonder why do they ask us this? because surely after analysing already we would have quoted if the content was completely irrelevant to the site.
IDEO is a design company so as you would expect they have many different contents that show their design work, this is relevant to the site.

Sony and Apple I feel have more along the same content within there sites. The main aim for both sites is to sell their products and so all of the content that I have seen in this site is all relevant to this subject.

And finally NOW, this is a different site completely and needs certain pieces of content to be successful and to help students. When it first launched I was not impressed with it at all. Everything went wrong but I suppose its because its new so there's going to be glitches but now its all up and running I taking a liking to it.

How clearly is the content organised?

IDEO - Like I said before the main page on IDEO is very jumbled and in your face so when the question comes to is it organised? I would say the main page isn't, your immediately brought to a page packed with different designs and even when you click on a link the user is still greeted with a number of different links. But once you get onto the links I would say that the content is organised in a professional manner with each subject given a separate link , each news feed stated etc the content has been clearly organised in a manner the users can find the information needed.

Sony - Now I feel that Sony has organised the content in a manner that an online shopping site should be, with each product placed in its certain area, the links under each product linked directly to its description its all very easy to navigate through, because its organised. Like the IDEO page I feel that the first page is still very jumbled and there's alot of information to take in.

Apple - Now I feel Apple is the most successful out of all the sites. All of the content has been organised clearly and in a way the users can find what they want. It seems that the content has been organised in a manner that the imagery is the main point of each page, I feel that this was a good idea because having a clear image on what is on that certain page provides the user with a clearer idea on what they're looking at. The content has been given roughly the same layout throughout the site, by doing this gets the user familiar with the site letting them find what they need quicker.

NOW - Now I still feel that the content in the NOW site could be organised in a more user friendly way. I still find it hard to find what I'm looking for. Even though the site has provided instructions on what to do you still have to find the page before the help is provided. Out of all of the sites I would say that this is the one that is the least organised but it is the newest site so this could potentially change.