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Archive for the ‘DESIGN’ Category

Tuning in to Free Internet Radio Websites

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009


Not talking about any statistics in particular, but a general consent would agree that music piracy began a very long time.  I ran across an article on A Little History on Music Piracy, and it got me to think what has the Internet done to help fight this problem. Not to dispute who is right or who is wrong, but to find an alternative for music lovers.

I came across Pandora sometime back and loved the idea of free music streaming from my browser or my Blackberry. The idea is to be able to listen to your favorite artists and similar music related to that genre. As I researched more into this, I found that there are many sites on the world wide web which cater to this audience in need. Each site was evaluated for it’s usability and design for the end user.


Pandora

One of the most well-known music streaming site, Pandora uses Flash to implement the layout and functionality of their radio streams. Choose an artist and Pandora will do the rest for you by playing similar artists in that genre of music.

Pandora Radio

The Pandora website has a clean blue, silver, and greys color scheme and uses advertisements in it's web page by implementing different ads which show to the right of the player screen. At a song change, the ad changes to another. Very clean integration of the ad, as it catches the user's eye and at the same time, keeps it away from it's main purpose. You can make as many different radio stations as you like by simply entering your favorite artist.

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Designing to Scare: Horror Movie Websites

Saturday, October 31st, 2009


It’s that time of the year again! Halloween with it’s dark and delightfully scary attitude is the season that I wait for. I love the horror genre probably more than many people would like to include in their collection of a first preference. Growing up, I remember watching some awesome movies which made me stay up for nights looking around my dark room for a scare. As a designer, I love seeing scary movie websites. Aside from the work, it is important to understand the implementation of a site with a purpose to engage the viewer through design. Showcased here are some works of some incredible people.


Saw IV

The Saw movies franchise has taken the horror genre by its creepy games and challenges presented to each victim. John Kramer as Jigsaw played by Tobin Bell, the devious mastermind behind the gruesome deaths, has proved to be one of the most twisted characters that has blessed the horror movie scene.

Saw 6

The Flash website is comprised of backgrounds which look like they were taken straight from the horror house of which Jigsaw operates. As you click on the top navigation, the transition effect shows clips from the movie and lands in another room. Play the various games and see if you can survive in time. Very good implementation of grunge design and interactivity.


Check It Out!

saw6film.com


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How to Make a Gravatar in 6 Steps

Thursday, September 24th, 2009


So looking at blogging sites, it’s usually the first thing you want: an avatar. An avatar is your icon with a dose of your own personality. These can be anything from an image to a photograph. Simple enough to understand. Now what is a gravatar? It’s pretty much a “globally recognized avatar” as stated by gravatar.com. What this means is that your gravatar which you create using the gravatar.com service will carry from one site to another. How this is implemented is by the blog checking the email address against the Gravatar service. Once a user submits a comment using their email address, if an avatar is setup from gravatar.com it will be displayed. So let’s go about setting one up for you!


Step 1:

Go to gravatar.com and at the top left mouse over “Log in to, or Sign up for, Gravatar” link and select “Sign Up.”

Log in to gravatar.com


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The Difference Between a $500 vs $5,000 Website

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009


It seems like an easy enough answer for some people. You need a website done so why does it matter if you pay $500 versus $5,000. Well if the designer is professional enough you will know why they charge what they charge. I will be discussing some ideas and differences in this article about the cost of a website and what to look out for.


The $500 Website

Let’s start with the $500 website. Now it’s no secret that you can buy a template from any of the websites there are around the web. I myself as a designer even noticed this and honestly thought to myself “If we could buy templates then why is there a degree that teaches me how to make a website template?” Confusing to many designers I’m sure. Then I took another look at the template selling websites and this is what I found interesting:


Template Monster

Templatemonster.com


If you notice the templates are pretty good designs and I do wonder where that designer is who is making some great designs and selling it as “regular price” and “buyout price.” The regular price means that as many people who want to pay the regular price for that template can buy that template. Which means I can pay a regular price for a template but then someone else can as well and get the same exact design. But then there is the buy out price which stated by Template Monster is the price if you solely want to buy the design and they will take it out of their website so that no one else can get that same design. I honestly wonder how many times a certain template has been downloaded. Maybe run into the same exact designed website somewhere one day.


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