Teaser

His a mockup of how the site could appear...

Group task

Now that a layout for the group has been agreed, I have told both Ryan and Kiel to produce a website screenshot of how they eprcieve the site should appear. This task will be completed by Monday, giving us time to relay what works and have a completed design ready to present next Thursday to the group leaders.

Over the next week I will also be researching domains to see what will give us the best deal on setting up a website.

The two that are of main interest are www.one.com & www.1and1.com

Initial Team Leader Meeting

The first team leader meeting was today and I am impressed with how dedicated each leader is. Each leader had their own agenda. For me it was to discuss the initial designs of the website and gain feedback as to what the two leaders would need.

Sav stated that the website would need:

- Email Accounts (seperate ones for mailshots and team leader accounts)
- Sponsors Page
- Events Page (both Exhibition and fund raisers

Craig bought his groups initial logo design to the table, slight alterations would be needed for the background colour, but after stating some of my ideas we are all happy that each group is moving in the right direction.

The layout that I proposed is farerly basic:

- navigation bar on the left
- Clear title
- Clear Logo
- Main Information Display
- Advertising banners
- Sponsorship banner


The initial feedback was good, in terms of displaying the work both Sav and Craig liked the concepts. The one thing Sav wasn't sure on was the title sponsor banner on the right of the screen. In practice it was good, but in reality he doesn't see it working. Due to the scale of the exhibition, plus the unknowns surrounding any sponsorship he doesn't feel it right to have such a banner. This was not a problem that I had anticipated so it was welcome feedback, so this particular banner will have to be thought through again.

The 2nd stage of my presentation concsisted of how the website would link to the theme of "The Design Studio". My idea is to setout the website as if it were a designers desk. A bit messy but containing objects that would be relevant to the theme.

The first plan was to setup the navigation system, going by Ryans presentation last week he showed of replicating a piece of paper that was stuck down with masking tape.

This was a succesful idea, both team leaders agreeing that it replicated the theme well.

The 2nd idea was purely to solve a space issue on the website. The logo would overlap the information display area of the site, my idea was to place the logo upon a curled up post-it note, that would easily be seen by the viewer; allow the text below the logo to be read easily and at the same time kept the link with the theme. This was another idea that went down succesfully.

Website Group Tasks

The first task I have set for the group is to produce plans on how the website could be laid out and collect ideas as to what the buttons could look like.

The idea is to collect a number of plans so that we can present them to the class and see what they believe could or could not work. Ryan was in "The Studio" planning group so his knowledge on what his old group members would want will be important. I don;t see the point in producing a website then finding the others don't find it suitable. So we will find what they require and go from there.

Work to display

Everyone has been asked to submit 3 or more pieces of work towards the exhibition.

I have many styles of work that I could use that would work within the exhibition including:

Photography
2D Animation
3D Animation
Graphic Design

As it will not be possible to display all of these I have decided to go with my personal favourites that I will enjoy explaining on the Information Boards.

Selected theme and grouping

After the initial theme presentations I believe that my initial groups went extremely poorly. Compared to other groups we did not gather enough research and present enough in detail. Part of me is glad that neither of the initial ideas were nominated, this is because I believe it would have been hard for it to be successful, as well as the cost of setting up either idea.

The idea that has been voted for "The Studio" has everything to be a successful exhibition. The theme of setting up the room like an artists studio links perfectly with the work. Not only will it be possible to display the completed articles, but also allows us to use designs for the work to be displayed to decorate the room.

Personally, I voted for "The Studio" as I was instantly hooked by the designs portrayed by that group and it had a very stable basis for which we can work from. The cost of setup should not be much, but I would be willing to put in money fi required. I have found that many students do not want to put money into the exhibtion, me personally I'd rather students put in money and end up with a successful exhibition, than moan how badly it could go and not even try to support it.


After previously being voted as team leader for a task that I was not confident within with my own abilities, I can say that I am excited to be named as Team LEader of the Website Group. For this exhibition to be successful I believe that the three team leaders will have to work closely together to make sure everyone is working in the same direction.

How do the themes relate to our work?

From the feedback received on the groups two main themes that we aim to present, it may appear to some that Magnification & Natural may appear random. One idea links directly to our work whereas one is more subtle.

Magnification is based on presenting the work in a greater view. Trying to represent our work in much finer detail than can be seen to the naked eye. There are qualities within glass than could make it a fun theme to work with, especially if voted for with such a broad mindset within the class.

The theme of Natural is more subtle, you have to appreciate the work for what it is and where the creator has come from to be able to produce something of that particular quality.
Just like in Nature you have to start at the bottom and learn your ways before being able to become something big.
Our work follows such a trend, we all started at the bottom (some with more knowledge than others) and slowly worked our way to producing finer pieces of work.
This is what makes it such a subtle theme compared to Magnification.

Theme Title Ideas

Magnification:

A Clearer Picture
Glassed
Over Emphasis

Natural:

Calm
Environment
Environmental Work

Business Card

To further my personal development the weekly task was to produce a business card that would fit in with the CV that I had previously created. I have decided to go for a constant theme using colour. With the Orange & Blue standing out and hopefully drawing attention to the card.

From feedback on my CV the order isn't quite right so once time allows me this will be adjusted.

Here is the 2 sided business card that I have developed:

Front:
Back:

Displays

Over the past week I have tried to find ways for work to be displayed within the exhibition. The ideas so far include:

- chicken wire
- wire mesh
- panel stands
- velcro
- polystyrene

The idea of using chicken wire and wire mesh work in a similar way. It is to get maximum usage from the space that we will have. Mounting the work to wire mesh would allow us to hang work in the corners of the room as well as different angles along the walls. Although this would appear messy and out of place within the exhibit, the natural theme would allow us to cover it up quite easily to blend in. The use of the wire mesh and chicken wire would be the most effective for a discrete display for the work.


With the chicken wire it would allow us to hang work away from the walls and possibly add depth to the exhibits. Using this alongside the polystyrene, the work could be displayed at numerous angles and also not appear flat. This would hopefully offer variety and make the displays more interesting.

Idea:
The problem with these ideas is that they may not be strong enough to hold the display boards. A way round it is to cut the display boards into smaller sections.

If it is found that the above ideas are not strong enough then an alternative is to use panel stands or even velcro. Velcro is very strong and could easily be used to attach the work to the walls. Also if the work was to be knocked by a visitor then it would withstand the hit and still remain on the wall.

The panel stands could be decorated to fit in with the theme, they are sturdy and offer a secure base for us to mount the work onto. the problem with the stands is that they are not cost effective. With a decent budget then i'd recommend these, but as this is not the case then it will not be as easy to find the money towards them.

Room Layout

So far I have looked into two styles of floor layout.

The closed layout follows a windy path with the work set around the visitor. The only direction for the visitor is to follow this path till they reach the far end of the exhibit. As it could be hard for the visitor to take in all information the work could be split into 3 sections that are based between the 2 walls. This would allow them to concentrate on a particular wall, then as they finish viewing them the next section would appear on the opposite wall.
Last week Dan from one of the other groups mentioned about using light to attract people to each of the displays and having a lack of light around the work. I believe this could work and using a simple spot light that does not cost alot - these could be situated around the work to give a similar impression. It keeps the focus on specific areas and if succesful make the visitor want to explore further into the exhibition.

The problem that I can see from having such a floor layout is it may feel clostraphobic to the visitors which would reduce their enjoyment and satisfaction levels during the exhibition.

The second floor layout that I propose is a more spaced out style. It would allow us to utilise maximum space within the room. With the layout allowing the visitor to choose what work to display next it would hopefully offer a more relaxing mood to their visit.


The problems that could arise from such a layout is that the visitor may miss work or not take all the information due to the vast amoutn of work around them.
Another problem is using suitable displays that would be safe within the themes so that there isn't any health and safety issues.

Hospitality

As part of my assigned tasks towards the presentation of the groups themes, it was down to me to research ideas for hospitality and making the visitors feel as welcome and relaxed as possible.

I have had a number of ideas:

- To have people on the main door to welcome the guests as they visit the exhibiton. This not only would make the guests feel welcome, but to also show a friendly face to explain what the exhibition is based upon and what they should expect to see. If possible leaflets should be made avilable to hand out to our guests to thank them for their visit and offer information that may not be relevant for display information.

- The second idea is to have drinks made available to our adult guests. Possibly a complimentary glass of wine. I believe that plastic cups would look tacky for any exhibit and replica glasses are avilable from supermarkets at a not to high a price.

- On each of the days that the exhibit is open each person should be ready to speak when asked questions, not being prepared for questions could end up making us appear stupuid and possibly leave a bad impression on our guests. This is even more so when it comes to the organisations that may visit, if we want to attract possible employers then this could be a big benefit to us. Even if a guest asks a question on someones elses piece of work, it wouldnt take much to find out about each piece of work prior to the event launching.

- My final suggestion is to offer a limited seating area (depending on the size of the exhibtion room).

Weekly Tasks

I have emailed all of you a copy of your tasks for this week. Here is a copy incase you delete the email.


If you believe you have ideas for a task that another member is doing then still produce something if you believe it will help. The more ideas we can produce the easier it will become to make people want to vote for our idea.

Exhibition Layout

From the multiple museums that have been visited as part of the research into how exhibits can be setout,they contain a number of interactive styles.

The styles witnessed were:

- Voice overs
- Interactive touch screens
- Information Kiosks
- Poster Boards
- Physical exhibits


I found that all worked well within their environments and allowed a variety of information to be passed on. More, compared to if one style was used. This was because I found that I had missed detail on an exhibit, but thanks to another style of information I still managed to recieve it.



During my visits I also noticed a big difference in my general feeling to the museums depending on the layouts.

I found that Brooklands had their exhibits close together and felt quite clostraphobic. This lead to me feeling rushed to go round the exhibits and felt I missed out on information as I wasn't enjoying it. Where as the Mercedes World was very spacious, even though there were large amounts of wall space the text and exhibits were displayed in such a way to make maximum use of the building. With chairs and tables added in areas, it allowed for a relaxing venue for the public to calmly walk around. I found I took a lot of time on each exhibit to take in maximum information.


Due to this I feel the best way to layout the Natural Concept is to use displays with space and give plenty of chance for the public to manouvre around at their own pace.

Personal Development - CV

As Part of my Personal Devleopment I have to submit a Curriculum Vitae.

Here is my first attempt at creating one:


Here is a copy that links to my website and business card in terms of colour scheme:

Fonts & Colours

From the information that was gathered at the museums it is important that the group discuss possible colour schemes for the information displays.

Throughout each of the exhibits there were two main colour schemes for text. For the technical information appeared to be presented in a formal style. The purpose to make it easier for the public to read the displays. These were mainly used for the selling of the exhibits so it was clear to see what would be avilable in a sale. For such a formal style the text appeared to be in black.

Other displays consisted of text set in a pastel colour. From research found, pastel colours relax the viewer - "...Cool and pastel colors work to provide a calming feel." (Doyle, 2003).

I believe it is important for the public to be calm and take their time while visiting the exhibiton so using such colours could be important for this to happen.

Using the website typo face, it was possible to come up with a colour that could be suitably read on a white background, but also stand out from the surrounding natural colours of green and brown.

The most suitable colour found was a pastel blue. Which supports the idea of the Americans where using pastel colours keeps the onlooker at their calmest psychologically.



For the font I don't believe Times New Roman or such formal fonts should be used. They are mainly associated with documents, and I think this would give the wrong impression. A font that is easy to read and doesn't give a strict formal format would work well.

For this I have elected the font "Euphemia".


On thursday I will discuss these findings with the group and see what they have researched and come to a conclusion on what should be used for the Natural theme.

Natural Theme - Information Displays

After a discussion with Richard, Martin and Robert on Monday it has been decided to concentrate on producing the Natural theme.

Over the previous week I have been researching the use of Information Boards and how they can be used to display information on an exhibit.

I have been to 2 museums and 1 exhibition to gather it:

London Motorcycle Exhibition.
Mercedes Benz World.
Brooklands.

Even though they are all completely separate, the ideas for portraying information are very similar.

The three key styles identified within each of the museums were:

Technical - this consisted of information based upon how it was produced. The aim for this style of sign appeared to be to sell the exhibit to the public.




This technical style used very little clear imagery and was concise with what was being displayed. In terms of the Natural exhibit for the group, I believe this style could be used to:

- inform the public of what software has been used to produce the exhibit.
- what effects have been used.
- whether the piece of work was completed in 2ND or 3RD year.
- title of exhibit.

Entertaining - the use of imagery and text appeared to be laid out to attract the attention of the public. In each of the examples pictures of past and present were displayed to show the life of the exhibit. The text was produced in the form of a story, it made the exhibit appear exciting and also gave the feeling that the public was part of that history just by reading about its accomplishments.



In terms of using this style within our exhibit, may be harder to do successfully. As the work is graphic based, it will be harder to produce a compelling story about it.
An alternative method is a question and answer fact board that allows the public to see what the inspiration for such a piece of work was, and also find out possibly why things were or were not done in a particular way. Shows reflection from the creator, so if the piece of work was created in the 2ND year, with the knowledge that has been taken from the 3RD year how would they change parts.

Relevance - this style of displaying information is concise and displays only the basic information.
It is displayed by taking a key characteristic from the exhibit, and adjusting it to display the information within that section. If done successfully, the information is discrete so that it doesn't take away from the exhibit but also is noticeable enough for the information to be passed on to the public.





This style of information could be produced by displaying the most vital information such as title, date of completion and creator name.

As seen in all of the museums/ exhibitions visited, poster board has been used to display all information. The only variances are the size of the board used.

Team tasks

Over the next week the group will be investigating how Information could be displayed within the two developed ideas (Natural Mosaic & Magnify)

Rob has been set the task of producing a basic 3D visualisation of the room.

But at the same time group members will be exploring different ways of portraying exhibition information to the public.

Theme - Natural Mosaic

Martin had previously expressed an idea to use a natural theme to based the exhibition upon. This would require decorating the exhibition room in artificial plantations.

The work would be situated on the walls as well as on display stands. So that the stands do not ditract from the surroundings, these would be decorated aswell to blend in.

The idea is to give a calm surround for the viewing public, this is to entice them to take their time when viewing the work and not overlook what they are seeing.

With the use of 2D & 3D work, this will enable the displays to stand out, to make it easily understandable as to what the focus should be on.

There are many ways in wich the theme could be designed. In terms of the floor space around the work, this could be designed to give the impression of a forest. Using natural sticks, leaves and flowers as decoration and green felt and cloth as underlining to make it easier to pack away and clean up when finished with.

The only problem with using natural objects is that they may start to rot within a warm exhibition room so as an alternative I have managed to find suppliers of artificial plantations, grass and leaves.




To decorate the walls, the initial idea was to use natural based mosaic tiles. Green/ brown around the flooring to resemble the ground, then blue to resemble sky, and orange/ yeloow/ red for the sun.

The major issue with this is the cost. It would be almost impossible to retile an entire exhibition room with the small amount of time that we have. A direct alternative would be to use card, or even polystyrene. The issue with this is how effective it would be to fit in alongside the surrounding work and props.

This natural theme would work similar to that of a stage setting in a theatre (picture to follow shortly)

If this idea is deemed not suitable then the alternative way of deocrating the walls around the work is using draped material (such as the example below on a larger scale).

Theme - Magnification

The group have discussed using the fractured glass idea with the use of light to give a visual illusion.
The work would be split into segments and situated at different depths to attempt to give a 3 dimensional visualisation.

The use of light would be important for this style of display. It is important to get the mood of the light correct. If it is too bright then the public will not focus on the work itself and possibly be put off.
Using an soft ambient light gives a relaxing mood to the exhibit. The problem we are having is deciding how to display/ position the work in a cost effective way.

One idea was to hang the segments of work off of the ceiling, the only problem with this is the work may spin.

(UPDATE)

Since the initial idea to split the work into segments was produced, it has been decided to keep the pieces of work in one piece. From an artistic side we believe that using the segmented style would appear visually stimulating and appear different - we also believe that this shouldn't have to be be justified, but due to the group having to present the idea to further groups they may struggle to understand the idea.

The advantage of keeping the work intact is it gives clarity as to what the public should be concentrating on.

The surrounding walls would appear white, this would be to give the impression of space but also to keep maximum focus of the public upon the work.

Example:



As shown in the example above, using glass to magnify the work can show hidden information. Not only is more detail added - but the styles of textures used upon work will also be noticable. The magnifying theme would be a good way for the public to understand the lengths of hardwork that has gone into creating the work.

The artwork chosen from each group would be displayed in different positions upon the walls.

With the magnifying glasses situiated within in numerous positions between the centre of the floor and the walls.


Disadvantages:

The cost of setting up such an exhibit would be quite high.

Initial Idea 3

Sticking with the Science & Technology theme that had been previously discussed by the group. My final idea consists of a periodic style table of work.

Each segment of the table is based on a piece of work. Segments in Bronze would be first year work, 2nd year work based in silver and final year work based in gold.

The main picture for each section would be the work. Then the information supporting it would be titles, date of completion, and designer name.

Initial Idea 2

An idea for presenting the work is to base the displays on the different effects of glass. The key attributes of glass that I would like to accentuate are magnification, reflection as well as fractured glass.

Magnification - for the work to be placed at a 45 degree angle with circular piece of glass above it (1 foot distance) with the vector work it will make the work appear larger/ smaller... with the pixel produced work the finer detail will be noticed within the shading.
This style would allow for the detail to be compared by the public to show what styles of work have been produced.

The idea for reflection is to have the piece of work situated out of sight of the public eye, but to use reflective material to give the illusion that the work is infront of them.

The idea for fractured glass is to have each piece of work cut into segments. Then when the work is displayed each segment is spaced out.

Initial Idea 1

Over the past week I have tried to come up with possible ideas for the theme to the exhibition.

The initial idea is to replicate a “virtual world” stage for the work to be displayed within. The idea would be to give a surreal atmosphere around the viewing public. A way of doing this could be to use ambient lighting. The main surround appearing dark, with the ambient lighting used to detail areas of work. The use of this style lighting could also be used to detail a path for direction as to where the public should be walking to and from. The reason for this style of lighting is to limit the dead zones around the work so it is obvious as to where their focus should be.

I believe that the use of spotlights placed directly at the work would come across to harsh and may cause problems for the public viewing the work.The use of bright lighting may also take the focus away if wall space in specific areas is limited. Work can be portrayed at an indifferent angle to maximise space and with the ambient light still be shown effectively.In terms of arranging work I believe that the best way would be Like for Like. Such as displaying 3D designs together and then the next section there would be 2D design together. Another way would be to arrange in order of size, or better still genre.Keeping the exhibition consistent may help to keep the focus of the public and make them want to look further.