Monday, May 14, 2007
Design Rationale
Design Rationale-
Our group was Team 4, and our website is about the Bristol Animal Shelter and their adoption programs.
Our project was a long, sometimes tough, but ultimately rewarding project. We made several drastic changes before we decided on the final format, and I can say for everyone that we're really pleased with how it came out.
The people at the shelter were more than happy to help. They were more than happy to provide us with the information we needed. We truly appreciate their help; it really made the project easier.
The original design for our project was to have the website resemble a book with chapters. Each chapter was to tell a different aspect of life at the shelter. While I liked this idea, we quickly realized how a chapter-style layout was not ideal on the web page. The format was too hard to read and discern the information easily for the average viewer. We decided that something simpler would be more effective at telling the story.
Technology was a big part of building our website. We tried to use every resource made available to us. Our team used digital cameras, audio recordings through an iPod and a Mac notebook, Soundslides, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Image Ready, Garage Band (for audio editing), Adobe Go Live, and the Internet to compile the resources necessary to build the site. I must say that I found using Go Live daunting at first. I had not used it since my 2003-2004 semester, so I was more than a bit rusty at first. With time and group cooperation, however, we were able to build one heck of a site.
We also had some issues with group communication. Sometimes it was hard to get the team to meet, because along with classes, everyone had jobs as well. It all came together at the end though, and what needed to get done did.
The story we told was of Allison's adoption of a pet cat. That was one of the more constant parts of our project. It was nice that we had a story to work with. It allowed us to lay the framework early on and fill in the holes as we went along. Without the story, the website would not be as coherent and rounded out as it is.
We ended up with a nice looking, informative website. We scrapped our original web design at the last minute and gave it a 'face lift'. The white background allows for easy reading of the copy on the site. The navigation bar on the left-hand side makes it easy to navigate. As opposed to our original 'toolbar' design, I think the left-handed column looks much better.
All in all I would say that our team is happy with the way things turned out. Not only did we learn about Go Live, Photoshop, etc, we also learned about time management and team communication. I know we can use this experience to help with future group projects, whether they are school-related or out in the workforce.
-Posted by Phil Penny
Our group was Team 4, and our website is about the Bristol Animal Shelter and their adoption programs.
Our project was a long, sometimes tough, but ultimately rewarding project. We made several drastic changes before we decided on the final format, and I can say for everyone that we're really pleased with how it came out.
The people at the shelter were more than happy to help. They were more than happy to provide us with the information we needed. We truly appreciate their help; it really made the project easier.
The original design for our project was to have the website resemble a book with chapters. Each chapter was to tell a different aspect of life at the shelter. While I liked this idea, we quickly realized how a chapter-style layout was not ideal on the web page. The format was too hard to read and discern the information easily for the average viewer. We decided that something simpler would be more effective at telling the story.
Technology was a big part of building our website. We tried to use every resource made available to us. Our team used digital cameras, audio recordings through an iPod and a Mac notebook, Soundslides, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Image Ready, Garage Band (for audio editing), Adobe Go Live, and the Internet to compile the resources necessary to build the site. I must say that I found using Go Live daunting at first. I had not used it since my 2003-2004 semester, so I was more than a bit rusty at first. With time and group cooperation, however, we were able to build one heck of a site.
We also had some issues with group communication. Sometimes it was hard to get the team to meet, because along with classes, everyone had jobs as well. It all came together at the end though, and what needed to get done did.
The story we told was of Allison's adoption of a pet cat. That was one of the more constant parts of our project. It was nice that we had a story to work with. It allowed us to lay the framework early on and fill in the holes as we went along. Without the story, the website would not be as coherent and rounded out as it is.
We ended up with a nice looking, informative website. We scrapped our original web design at the last minute and gave it a 'face lift'. The white background allows for easy reading of the copy on the site. The navigation bar on the left-hand side makes it easy to navigate. As opposed to our original 'toolbar' design, I think the left-handed column looks much better.
All in all I would say that our team is happy with the way things turned out. Not only did we learn about Go Live, Photoshop, etc, we also learned about time management and team communication. I know we can use this experience to help with future group projects, whether they are school-related or out in the workforce.
-Posted by Phil Penny
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Hi.
So we present tomorrow, we have soundslides we need to put up, some stuff we need to center, we are planning on going in early. Phil Evan and I currently hate go live, after spending alll day on it we learn more and more. Some issues we ran into were centering some stuff and things like that, that are prob simple to fix. We changed out site a ton, it looks better and not as cheesy. We also have a paper to get done at some time tomorrow before class.Thats about it.
So we present tomorrow, we have soundslides we need to put up, some stuff we need to center, we are planning on going in early. Phil Evan and I currently hate go live, after spending alll day on it we learn more and more. Some issues we ran into were centering some stuff and things like that, that are prob simple to fix. We changed out site a ton, it looks better and not as cheesy. We also have a paper to get done at some time tomorrow before class.Thats about it.
Monday, May 7, 2007
Hey!
Ok so in class we are editing our sound matching it up to the soundslides. We are going back to the shelter some time this week because we have found that we are short on not only pictures but audio. Basically things are going well we have a lot of work to do before its dues. Also we have to make some changes to the website after last weeks critique.
Ok so in class we are editing our sound matching it up to the soundslides. We are going back to the shelter some time this week because we have found that we are short on not only pictures but audio. Basically things are going well we have a lot of work to do before its dues. Also we have to make some changes to the website after last weeks critique.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Monday, April 30, 2007
Hello guys! In these last few days we are making a lot of progress. Today Phil and I are going to class at 4 to get an extra hour of work done on our website. We hope to see everyone in class so that we can finalize our timeline and make sure that we have all of our needed material lined up. We have some great photos, but we could always use some more to pick from. When each group goes to the shelter this week for the final time we should make an effort to get as much additional material as possible to select from. Most important is our finalized audio that we will be focusing mainly on this week. I will bring the scripts to class tonight so we can practice our interviews a few more times. See you guys tonight!
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