After having words in tutorial about the best approaches to building up a wordpress theme, Charlotte took about 2 hours out of her day to pretty much teach me how to integrate any design into wordpress through a child theme. Giselle's way of teaching it us last year.
I've got pages of notes about the logics of how to navigate through wordpress and the intricacies of codes not to touch. Real sound move, cheers Charlotte.
Learnt that you can pretty much put any design into wordpress, its the get header and get footer php files that are the same on every page, creating new php files for other areas of content is easy as pie.
After beginning to integrate one page of my dp3 into wordpress (http://www.el-ay.co.uk/test/about/ - for some reason takes ages to load. something ill have to be careful of with Switch) I've pretty much got to grips with the child theme way of doing things.
Concerns :
Although integrating it this way means I can be free'er with the design, as its all my own coding as if I was doing it through dreamweaver alone, I realized that in terms of content management this way of doing things isn't the easiest for a client to use. Whole point of Switch choosing wordpress is to have an easily maintained site, after meeting them, hassle free is pretty much a key ideal. Although I learnt codes that can be put in to pull content through from page editor sections to the design in the back end, meaning the client has little as possible to do with theharsh codes and can use the basic page editor process, the design of the site will not be flexible to the content. It will stay at the fixed heights and width and design that I've coded, which means Switch would have to provide me with their content and so I could design a bespoke layout. I guess this is not the proper way thats to be used in industry but the learning curve student way, before I learn how to code a completely separate customized parent theme myself.
I'm going to look at parent themes and see how theyre used. Im wondering if after I've finished my final wireframes and layouts I should hunt down an existing parent theme similar to my ideas to work with and edit, whether that would make the site easier to manage for the client. No point handing them something thats 65% of what it should be.
Im gonna investigate, and see which is the best way of keeping true to a creative and novel idea, but that will allow everything to be changed at the whim of the client.
Thursday 31 January 2013
Monday 28 January 2013
simple how to on client
http://redswish.co.uk/wordpress-theme-layout/
basics to start withh
the more i look into wordpress the more i realise its gonna be hard being creative within the structured and logical constraints of the wp way.
personal challenge.
basics to start withh
the more i look into wordpress the more i realise its gonna be hard being creative within the structured and logical constraints of the wp way.
personal challenge.
Wordpress Themes
Orman Clark, wordpress wizard, has a site lisitng countless customized wordpress themes.
Been looking into the progression of wordpress and the way its used and designed for. Starting off with a variety of basic themes, to people wanting bespoke and intricate themes built uniquely for them focusing on one particular aspect in its purpose. A far cry from its initial customizeable blog starting block.
http://wp.smashingmagazine.com/smashing-special-wordpress-theme-trends-for-2012-design/
Been looking into the progression of wordpress and the way its used and designed for. Starting off with a variety of basic themes, to people wanting bespoke and intricate themes built uniquely for them focusing on one particular aspect in its purpose. A far cry from its initial customizeable blog starting block.
http://wp.smashingmagazine.com/smashing-special-wordpress-theme-trends-for-2012-design/
Friday 25 January 2013
Concepts for Switch
http://switchstudiosexternal.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/concepts-im-working-on.html
coming soon, moodboards for each..
coming soon, moodboards for each..
Thursday 24 January 2013
egg zisting sites.
Scoured the world wibe web for the websites and the digital presence of other studios and art spaces, as well as a few music festivals, and other outlets of expression or showcases.
Most studio's stay faithful to white space, similar to tourism websites (cheers design for the invisible second weddersday for a top up on colour theory) allowing the content and artwork to do the talking. Whites simple, pure and universal. Wasp have gone mad and gone for a slightly warmer toned site, but theirs is more of a community studios so thats the sorta buzz they need to promote.
Feature colours and blog like formats are trends and themes running through pretty much every site I've stumbled across.
This is pretty much what I was hoping to go for anyway, but now I've spotted a multitude of different variations I wanna avoid that intensely. Already got a nice concept cooked up, I'ma explore more tomorrow the visual side of stuff (todays a catch up on contextual market scouring and informed ideas and decision making).
Neither of the two sites above are responsive or mobilised Switch said they werent at all bothered about a responsive site, as long as you could view in a desktop format on a smart phone, which again seems to be another trend across the industry. I've found alot of studios seem to be big on twitter and facebook, but not so much with the websites, they're all pretty basic, and empty, which I suppose is because they house a plethora of different art styles and artists. With Switch having its stable residents, I'm hoping I can use what I already know about the guys, and other information from their sites, social media accounts and whatnot, to do a website that represents their work in a collection and illustrates a joint personality with individual identities without being bland as fuck. Although I understand and appreciate why studios websites are as they ar,e I feel I'm pretty lucky in knowing who the regualrs are and doing work to reflect that, rather than having to house strangers and design a shell, i can create a bespoke cottage for em.
IM SO TIRED. i hope this reads like I want it to.
I mentioned the lack of a digital presence, or an undeveloped one, kitch-en gallery houses the works of some incredible artists, but their site is weirdly old looking, the sort of thing you'd expect from a middle aged pottery fanatic. It's such a strange contrast from the site to the work of Phlegm (displayed in the screen shot) and just makes the place look drab and uninteresting when theres all kinds of weirdly wonderful works in thur.
So Rarekind and Racket studios have opted for the 100% background, it looks nice, but what I found was it lives so far away from what you'd expect from a studio website it was hard to identify. The second more so than the first; there was no works or paintings or art about the site, just pictures of the actual space. off putting.
Rarekind is obviously something to do with art, and the other pages are really nice. alot of white space which contrasts with the landing page something treaty. been established for about 11 years and i think knowledge of the industry and the folks theyve worked with comes through really nice here, its an interesting twist on a classic 'type' of site.
I want to do something that's a happy medium, i want it to be identifiable as a studio site, staying true Switch's use of white space and contrasting black content to allow their work to speak, but i want to introduce colour, that changes and grows and progresses through the pages and navigation of the site. not one overly trendy shade of green, but a few bright colours, that still allows their work to shine through, but brings a real nice quirk to the site.
Ima give the game away, concept ima thinkin of is infection. haha and germs. next post will opefully clarify. wanna use contrasting grimey colours to bring it to life.
Feature colours and blog like formats are trends and themes running through pretty much every site I've stumbled across.
This is pretty much what I was hoping to go for anyway, but now I've spotted a multitude of different variations I wanna avoid that intensely. Already got a nice concept cooked up, I'ma explore more tomorrow the visual side of stuff (todays a catch up on contextual market scouring and informed ideas and decision making).
Neither of the two sites above are responsive or mobilised Switch said they werent at all bothered about a responsive site, as long as you could view in a desktop format on a smart phone, which again seems to be another trend across the industry. I've found alot of studios seem to be big on twitter and facebook, but not so much with the websites, they're all pretty basic, and empty, which I suppose is because they house a plethora of different art styles and artists. With Switch having its stable residents, I'm hoping I can use what I already know about the guys, and other information from their sites, social media accounts and whatnot, to do a website that represents their work in a collection and illustrates a joint personality with individual identities without being bland as fuck. Although I understand and appreciate why studios websites are as they ar,e I feel I'm pretty lucky in knowing who the regualrs are and doing work to reflect that, rather than having to house strangers and design a shell, i can create a bespoke cottage for em.
IM SO TIRED. i hope this reads like I want it to.
I mentioned the lack of a digital presence, or an undeveloped one, kitch-en gallery houses the works of some incredible artists, but their site is weirdly old looking, the sort of thing you'd expect from a middle aged pottery fanatic. It's such a strange contrast from the site to the work of Phlegm (displayed in the screen shot) and just makes the place look drab and uninteresting when theres all kinds of weirdly wonderful works in thur.
Rarekind is obviously something to do with art, and the other pages are really nice. alot of white space which contrasts with the landing page something treaty. been established for about 11 years and i think knowledge of the industry and the folks theyve worked with comes through really nice here, its an interesting twist on a classic 'type' of site.
I want to do something that's a happy medium, i want it to be identifiable as a studio site, staying true Switch's use of white space and contrasting black content to allow their work to speak, but i want to introduce colour, that changes and grows and progresses through the pages and navigation of the site. not one overly trendy shade of green, but a few bright colours, that still allows their work to shine through, but brings a real nice quirk to the site.
Ima give the game away, concept ima thinkin of is infection. haha and germs. next post will opefully clarify. wanna use contrasting grimey colours to bring it to life.
Audience
Facebooks an incredible tool for getting to grips with the target audience and their culture.
I can see who likes what and what's connected to who, and take a deep search about.
Page with likes breaks down the most popular age group following and getting involved, the beauty of social media and it's stats will allow me to gain a pretty deep insight into my target audience and find ways to best communicate the feel and ideals of switch to them in a personal and effective way.
gonna take a look at the sort of friends lists and fans/followers the guys attract the attention of individually to get a better feel of their audiences and to ensure sure my designs and ideas are gonna have relevance to the right folks.
Wednesday 16 January 2013
EXTERNAL CLIENT - Switch Studio's
Had my meeting and figured out a brief today for the 10 week project, wordpress being the order of the day.
Sorted out the basics : audience, purpose, my limitations, necessary includes, work schedules.
Opting for fortnightly meets and mini presentations of my progress, choice of Switch, which I'm more than happy to go for, allows me to gauge physical reactions, and get a better feel for what they're reckoning. Whole studios and sort of attitude is pretty personal and I wanna represent that sorta buzz through my work so I reckon doing face to face meets and chats should go pretty good with that. Cos of that, and cos I get along nicely with it, reckon I'm gonna work in a sketchbook.
Got said in the meeting that there's no creative limitations, and if i wanna incorporate my illustration into splash pages or throughout the site im fully welcome, getting stuff together and collating ideas in a psychical form (until no longer appropriate) goes better with my head, and it means I can do weird drawings all about the place. haha im badly excited for this project, its gonna be fucking incredible !
I've set up a blog, www.switchstudiosexternal.blogspot.com where I'm gonna upload designs, wireframes, themes, concepts, colour wheels, moodboards or whatever visual material I'm working on so that the guys can see where I'm at and give me feedback, if they wanna, during the process as well as at the 2 week intervals. Hoping this means i won't stray too far off track. I'ma wait till ive got a few strong concepts before I upload, not how i'd approach my reflective journal, cos as a client, they probably don't need the efforts of scouring through every whim I've got.
Should start posting stuff to it after the presentation's when I've got a clear direction of what I want.
Next meeting with them is the week of presentations, I'll probably try and wing it for the day after so I can mix feedback from th lesson and the approach of peers and whatnot into my ideas, to show them a noice collaboration.
Sketchbook awayy then.
Sorted out the basics : audience, purpose, my limitations, necessary includes, work schedules.
Opting for fortnightly meets and mini presentations of my progress, choice of Switch, which I'm more than happy to go for, allows me to gauge physical reactions, and get a better feel for what they're reckoning. Whole studios and sort of attitude is pretty personal and I wanna represent that sorta buzz through my work so I reckon doing face to face meets and chats should go pretty good with that. Cos of that, and cos I get along nicely with it, reckon I'm gonna work in a sketchbook.
Got said in the meeting that there's no creative limitations, and if i wanna incorporate my illustration into splash pages or throughout the site im fully welcome, getting stuff together and collating ideas in a psychical form (until no longer appropriate) goes better with my head, and it means I can do weird drawings all about the place. haha im badly excited for this project, its gonna be fucking incredible !
I've set up a blog, www.switchstudiosexternal.blogspot.com where I'm gonna upload designs, wireframes, themes, concepts, colour wheels, moodboards or whatever visual material I'm working on so that the guys can see where I'm at and give me feedback, if they wanna, during the process as well as at the 2 week intervals. Hoping this means i won't stray too far off track. I'ma wait till ive got a few strong concepts before I upload, not how i'd approach my reflective journal, cos as a client, they probably don't need the efforts of scouring through every whim I've got.
Should start posting stuff to it after the presentation's when I've got a clear direction of what I want.
Next meeting with them is the week of presentations, I'll probably try and wing it for the day after so I can mix feedback from th lesson and the approach of peers and whatnot into my ideas, to show them a noice collaboration.
Sketchbook awayy then.
Friday 11 January 2013
xml sitemap
going through all the motions.
gonna recommend this, think ging has it on his site anyway after checking them all out.
Switch dont have a website, only a facebook which they have all their business on and update regularly, theres a twitter too. I reckon theyre probably searched for on a regular basis, by adding in a sitemap plugin from wordpress search engines will have a better chance of showing them off, everytime theres a new post or amendment to the site the xml sitemap will be changed the search engines will be reinformed. switch on the tip of their tongue.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/google-sitemap-generator/
gonna recommend this, think ging has it on his site anyway after checking them all out.
Switch dont have a website, only a facebook which they have all their business on and update regularly, theres a twitter too. I reckon theyre probably searched for on a regular basis, by adding in a sitemap plugin from wordpress search engines will have a better chance of showing them off, everytime theres a new post or amendment to the site the xml sitemap will be changed the search engines will be reinformed. switch on the tip of their tongue.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/google-sitemap-generator/
wordpress hosting
how the hell dyou host a wordpress not as a blog ?
real simple i reckon you'll all know, but i dont.
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-build-a-self-hosted-wordpress-blog-for-free/
oh, wait now i do. cheers weird 90's looking site.
depends where you put the wordpress folder. gotta know this stuff, wanna appear smart and in the know of my area. i will be once ive researched everything on my a4 list i will be. If Switch are gonna take it i need to be aware of how to give them a finished and running site, not some odd ball of half finished uni stuff, possibility of work afterwards for one fo the guys, mentioned a while ago, hopefully still stands, so i wanna show them im incred at what i do and polished in my approach.
real simple i reckon you'll all know, but i dont.
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-build-a-self-hosted-wordpress-blog-for-free/
oh, wait now i do. cheers weird 90's looking site.
depends where you put the wordpress folder. gotta know this stuff, wanna appear smart and in the know of my area. i will be once ive researched everything on my a4 list i will be. If Switch are gonna take it i need to be aware of how to give them a finished and running site, not some odd ball of half finished uni stuff, possibility of work afterwards for one fo the guys, mentioned a while ago, hopefully still stands, so i wanna show them im incred at what i do and polished in my approach.
splash page is dead
http://www.newfangled.com/website_splash_pages
http://uxdesign.smashingmagazine.com/2007/10/11/splash-pages-do-we-really-need-them/
http://www.thatagency.com/design-studio-blog/2007/02/seo-killed-the-splash-screen/
I wa thinking a splash page might be nice, integrated with the navigation to not be a total waste of time. I think i recall em saying room hire was the main purpose of the sight, so thought a splash page could be a great way of giving the studios immediate impact and insight into their character and style, but according to above blogs and posts :
they're just terrible for search engines.
loading times are frankly unacceptable
and 25% of bloody impatient bastards do a runner before its had to time to properly appear.
fine then web blogs, you snobby bastards, i wont get involved with this idea, perhaps ill just do a rock solid incredible theme that combines practicality, functionality and logical navigation with a fucking good design and way of laying things out, to show off a decided identity throughout the site, entwining personality, innovative colour and shape design around and through a site using white space and a geometrical layout of easily accessible information. maybe itll grow as you go around the pages like a living brething organism, perhaps itll develop and progress and each page will be an extension of the last, the theme and design getting stronger, but never overbearing on the content or the purpose of the sight. Im probably gonna pick some real nice shocking colours. Switch, the logo, electricity, fuck mundane.
http://uxdesign.smashingmagazine.com/2007/10/11/splash-pages-do-we-really-need-them/
http://www.thatagency.com/design-studio-blog/2007/02/seo-killed-the-splash-screen/
I wa thinking a splash page might be nice, integrated with the navigation to not be a total waste of time. I think i recall em saying room hire was the main purpose of the sight, so thought a splash page could be a great way of giving the studios immediate impact and insight into their character and style, but according to above blogs and posts :
they're just terrible for search engines.
loading times are frankly unacceptable
and 25% of bloody impatient bastards do a runner before its had to time to properly appear.
fine then web blogs, you snobby bastards, i wont get involved with this idea, perhaps ill just do a rock solid incredible theme that combines practicality, functionality and logical navigation with a fucking good design and way of laying things out, to show off a decided identity throughout the site, entwining personality, innovative colour and shape design around and through a site using white space and a geometrical layout of easily accessible information. maybe itll grow as you go around the pages like a living brething organism, perhaps itll develop and progress and each page will be an extension of the last, the theme and design getting stronger, but never overbearing on the content or the purpose of the sight. Im probably gonna pick some real nice shocking colours. Switch, the logo, electricity, fuck mundane.
Switch Studios
Hoping to get a meet sorted by Wednesday.
shuffling around ideas ready t know it all when i head down. get some bones in place and see what theyre after.
from meeting them last term the focus was on an easily maintainable site they could all put stuff into, wordpress has gotta be the best answer for that. something ive little experience in but have been badly harboring after knowing.
In preparation ima thinking about practicalites, i cant go too far without a second meet and more defined idea of what they're after. I'm exploring design approaches, ideas, ways of identifying the founding members as individual artists, but embodying them as a collection of a like minded switch family (sorta like the degree show), thinking about browser compatibility, the purpose of the site and intended audience, plugins that i might need to use for mobile users, or responsive design, how to link to or integrate a shop, how id go about hosting the buggar, admins and users, splash pages and their relevance. Ill scan in me notes so you can see em all pronto.
Gonna set up a blog after I've met 'em as a way of communication, then they can have a peep at what im doing throw some feedback at me easy as pie.
shuffling around ideas ready t know it all when i head down. get some bones in place and see what theyre after.
from meeting them last term the focus was on an easily maintainable site they could all put stuff into, wordpress has gotta be the best answer for that. something ive little experience in but have been badly harboring after knowing.
In preparation ima thinking about practicalites, i cant go too far without a second meet and more defined idea of what they're after. I'm exploring design approaches, ideas, ways of identifying the founding members as individual artists, but embodying them as a collection of a like minded switch family (sorta like the degree show), thinking about browser compatibility, the purpose of the site and intended audience, plugins that i might need to use for mobile users, or responsive design, how to link to or integrate a shop, how id go about hosting the buggar, admins and users, splash pages and their relevance. Ill scan in me notes so you can see em all pronto.
Gonna set up a blog after I've met 'em as a way of communication, then they can have a peep at what im doing throw some feedback at me easy as pie.
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