Student Sites

In class we used BBEdit to write code and create our own websites. Here is my evaluation of two classmates’ pages based off the appearance and how everything works:

Billy Heemer: http://locker.wcupa.edu/BHAIKES/ART313/WHEEMER/Index.html

Billy’s site is really awesome to look at. I really like the way he set everything up and the background image. His buttons for each link are sweet since they are the inverse colors. Each of his linked sites follow the same style but with different background images and colors. His style is original and his font choice balances with the background images. Its cool how in Part One of his project he made each link show images/information but if you click the top one it is flushed left, the middle one is centered, and the bottom link is flushed right. I also like how he has a “Home” button on each page, which is now something I wish I had thought of. Its much easier to navigate then having to press the page back button repeatedly  to get back to the index page. One error I found was that Part One and Part Two take you to practically the same page. Part One is supposed to just be a single page but Part One takes you to the multipage and so does Part Two. Overall, I think Billy did an awesome job with his page visual and it is for the most part successful. You rule Billy Heemer!

Nazarena Luzzi Castro: http://locker.wcupa.edu/BHAIKES/ART313/NLUZZI/

Naz’s site is pretty cool too look at also. Her name in put on in a really fun way and the colors of her site really balance each other out; The bright green really pops off the pale dark purple. She kept her font style and the style of the background image united from one site to the other in each of her links. I also got a good laugh out of all of her exercises, she cracked me up with her pictures of Joe Jonas. Her Part One of the project is really cool also. She maintained the same styled background. She also put in a link that takes you back to the home screen. I’m starting to be concerned a missed the memo. I think overall Naz did an awesome job on her sites. Justin Bieber and Disney Stars Rule!

David Airey

David Airey is a graphic designer and design author. He was born in 1979 in Bangor, Northern Ireland. He is a self-employed graphic designer who is working from home in Edinburgh, Scotland. At the age of 19 he moved to Scotland for school and decided to stay. He started studying art and design at age 15 and continued to study communication design throughout his schooling. Airey is an avid blogger and claims that is how he gets the majority of his clients. He has a few blogs his newest one being “Logo Design Love”.  He finds inspiration from the outdoors in Scotland and online he finds inspiration from blogs.

I find Airey really fun to read and I often spent sometime reading his blogs. He posts often and I’ve learned a lot from him. I also like that he provides advice to design students and really seems to want to help other people learn. I think his work is really awesome also. His work is clean and interesting to look at. You can tell he really put a lot of thought and effort into his designs.

     

Jennifer Morla

Jennifer Morla is a graphic designer out of California. She opened Morla Design in 1984 in San Francisco. Before she opened Morla Designs, she worked for PBS at station KQED as senior designer for on-air and print graphics. This position included creating moving typography for broadcasts. At Moral Design, Morla has a wide variety of clients. Levi Strauss, Wells Fargo Bank, Nordstrom, Clorox, and Design Within Reach are just  a few of the well known organizations and businesses she has worked with. Morla usually takes a simplistic approach to her designs and is known internationally. She has given lectures in other parts of the country and has even had a solo show in Japan. Design Within Reach is a furniture retailer that really allowed Morla to grow and develop as a designer. She began as just creative director then soon became chief creative director. She worked there for three years developing a number of awesome designs. Before she began working for the company it had began to plateau and really needed someone to come in and challenge the company with a high standard; Morla did just that. She recieved the AIGA Corporate Leadership Award for her work with Design Within Reach. Along with designing, Morla also began teaching in 1992 at California College of the Arts. While teaching she makes sure she stresses the importance of doing the little things and doing a lot of preliminary work. She wants to make sure that her students aren’t “shortchanging” any of their ideas.
While on Morla Design’s website I click on the archives tab to see thumbnail sizes of her work at one time and even seeing that alone showed how well Morla designs. Just a small preview made me want to click on all of them to find out more about the project and to see the design in its full form. Her designs have variety in them, although most are pretty simplistic. Morla finds ways to make sure her designs look different while keeping the continuity of simplistic that is Jennifer Morla. The main page of Morla Design’s website includes a display of her work as an on going “slide show” (couldn’t think of a better word). It shows how versatile her skills are and the wide range in her cliental. I really like all of her work because I often take a simplistic approach to my projects. Sometimes simple can be hard and its awesome that she can make it work so often.

  

Jessica Hische

Jessica Hische is a very talented letterer, illustrator, and designer. She attended Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia and graduated only five years ago. Ever since she was in high school she knew she wanted to attend art school after she graduated. Hische figured she would end up working with painting or drawing but once she took a design class she never looked back. She would procrastinate all of her other work to work on designing and she became very passionate about it. Once she graduated she worked at Headcase Design in Philadelphia then worked as Senior Designer at Louise Fili Ltd along with freelance work on the side. After two and a half years with Louise Fili, Hische left to continue her freelance career and work on personal, fun projects. Hische began Daily Drop Cap, a project in which every day she created a new illustrative letter, working through the alphabet a total of twelve times. Hische has a long list of clients that include Tiffany & Co., The New York Times, Penguin Books, Target, Leo Burnett, American Express, and Wired Magazine to name a few. She also reads design blogs and looks at images online for inspirations. She also says she love vintage packaging and interior design and vintage/retro furniture design. She also finds inspiration from other designers because when you see something someone else does and get jealous it can be the best motivation to make yourself better.

I found Hische’s work to be really awesome. I felt like I could really related to the way she thinks and works due to the fact that I find similar things inspirational. She also is an inspiration because she is so young and talented and has already made a name for herself. Hische worked with some of the most talented designers in this area and the fact that she is only five years out of school and already developed her own font is incredible. Everything she’s done is so well done and beautifully created; You can tell she really takes the time to think things out before beginning a project. I really like all her work with handwritten fonts and how she uses them illustratively. I also enjoyed reading her answers to her FAQ section of her website and how she said that people could email her just to say hi and ask questions. Opening her website alone made me envious seeing the image that is her background; I love organizing things and her desk and office is so great for that.