Slifer Designs

This website is definitely my favorite one out of the three that I have looked at so far. It has a slide show at the top, highlighting the work the designers have done in the firm. If I were a client looking at the site, I would really appreciate the easy access to some of their work. It also shows that they are proud of what they have accomplished. I am really impressed by their work. Their website is also really easy to navigate. They have links right under the slide show and everything is categorized so that it is really easy to find what you are looking for. Their home page also has a shot blurb about what their design firm is all about and that can be really helpful when looking to appeal to clients. I also like how their design firm has it's own logo and how they have incorporated that into their website; it seems really professional. All in all I think Slifer Design's website is a success. Take a look.

David Micheal Miller Associates

This design firm's website was a little more interesting than the last one I chose to comment on. There is a type of scroll at the top that runs constantly. I think that it is a very nice touch, it's inviting and approachable. Like the other previous website, there isn't much information on the homepage. Infact, the majority of this page is white space. There is some information in a narrow column at the right, but other than that the page is completely white. There are small links at the top of the page. They are small but they still stand out because they are different colors. Reader's eyes automatically goes to them when looking at the website. If I could describe this firm's site in one word I would pick the word "simple." It is very low key and relaxing to look at, not confusing at all. I would think that this firm's design projects fall within the same boundaries. The only criticism of the this website would be that they need to have some pictures of recent or celebrated projects on their home page so that reader's could get a quick idea of what kind of work they do. Take a look.

Gensler Design Website

I found this website by just typing in "Interior Design Firm" into google. I found a link to where I could see the top rated design firms and Gensler was at the top so naturally, I started there. I thought to myself "website is probably going to be amazing," but when I clicked on it I found something totally different. Their website is kind of boring and doesn't show the viewer a lot. The homepage only takes up about half a web page and I found myself scrolling down looking for more. They do have links to take you to whatever you want to look at but I wish that more of that was on the initial page you get to when looking up "Gensler Design." In terms of the design of the small homepage, I would just say that it is a little boring, which may actually be a good thing; too much color and "stuff" would take away from the picture of they're design projects. Those are what is really important. Take a look.

shading exercise

Don't Go Changin To Try and Please Me

In this project, we were supposed to show the evolution from one project to another. The two projects that I used as my beginning and ending points are Missy's memory project and Michelle's pencil box. I found this project the most challenging of all that we have done. I found it really hard to find the right balance of both projects into one figure. I think the idea of the project is very creative and fun, it helps us look at out classmates' projects in a new light and also helps us to understand what they had to do when making them originally.

ZINE

magazine composition

Containing a Memory

So this is my final iteration for the memory container. As you can see I stuck with the dull yellow, but I made it much smaller than the flowered part. This is supposed to represent time. Most of my grandmother's life, she has been able to garden as much as she wants, it is only a small portion of her life that she isn't able.
All in all I really liked this project. I have said this about all the other projects and I'll say it again... I hated the ideal of doing this thing until I actually knew what the heck I was going to do with it. It is the not-knowing that kills me.

Containing a Memory

These are my first three iterations of my memory container, but let me back up a little bit and tell you what my memory was.
My memory is of when my grandmother realized that she couldn't get outside and garden like she always has been able to. Her doctor recently had her put on oxygen so she can't get outside as much as she used to be able to because she has to stay hooked to an oxygen tank.
I realized after the first two iterations that I was only really portraying the "gardening" part of the memory, or the happy part, I guess you could say, and that is not what I wanted to do at all. The memory was not a happy one, and even though these first two iterations might be prettier to look at than the others, they weren't getting my point across. So in my next and third model, I made half of the circle a dull yellow. I researched colors online (reliable or not, who knows?) but I digress... Anyway dull yellow is supposed to evoke feelings of disappointment and it also represents sickness and decay, and as bad as it sounds it was exactly what I was looking for.