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Banner_Cert IV WebBTech-C1

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Today’s Class

  • Inspirations
  • Webdesign with Photoshop – Revised Tutorial
  • Assessment 2
  • Feedback

Inspirations

Colour Palette for Quentin Tarantino Movie: Inglorious Basterds. Source: Flavorwire.com - Image Credit: Roxy Radulescu
Colour Palette for Quentin Tarantino Movie: Inglorious Basterds. Source: Flavorwire.com – Image Credit: Roxy Radulescu

When it comes to webdesign the appeal of a site will depend on the taste, preferences and experience of a target audience. We can safely say that children tend to be attracted to bright colours and shapes they can relate to. When it comes to older audiences I recommend to focus on the common interest and purpose of the website. A website for a SciFi purpose (eg a Conference of Star Wars Fans) will need the colour palette and visual appearance of that genre: See Colour Palette Star Wars Colour Palette SciFi Colour Palette Blade Runner. If you look at a wider scale you find that every genre has its own preferred and collectively agreed set of colours: Colour Palettes of Films.

Try a Google Search for Color Palette Generator, you may find this one: DeGraeve Color Palette Generator (degraeve.com). Kuler is another excellent Color Palette Generator.

When it comes to website layout it is important to come from an organised starting point. Initially you should look at applying a grid. We looked at Nathan Smith’s 960 Grid System last week, which can be found at 960 Grid System.

A Clean and Beautiful Layout for a Portfolio by Graphic Designer Derek Chan. Source: Computer Arts Projects- Issue 153, 2011, Design for the Web
A Clean and Beautiful Layout for a Portfolio by Graphic Designer Derek Chan. Source: Computer Arts Projects- Issue 153, 2011, Design for the Web

The design above for a portfolio website is an elegant and simple (in its beautiful sense) approach to the display of thumbnails. Please notice that the rectangles of the thumbnails match the rectangular shape of the thumbnail cluster as well as the proportions of a screen. This design was based on the 960 Grid System.

Once you have started with the layout and the initial idea for the the website you can create something that suits the need or purpose, the genre and target audience. An excellent read on grid design, how to create your own or how to apply the 960 grid system: Smashing Magazin: Grid-Based Web Design, Simplified.

Some other clean layouts:

Ink WordPress Theme, found at: DzineBlog.com
Ink WordPress Theme, found at: DzineBlog.com
An example in Spanish with a retro appearance: Hodei Design
An example in Spanish with a retro appearance: Hodei Design
Sam McCoist Website - Photography. Not exactly my cup of tea, actually coffee, but I like the daring aspect of using large fonts for the menu.
Sam McCoist Website – Photography. Not exactly my cup of tea, actually coffee, but I like the daring aspect of using large fonts for the menu.
This is a template for a business website found at TemplateMonster. It is interesting in the sense that it breaks up the main image as part of the navigation. The sound it comes with is annoying.
This is a template for a business website found at TemplateMonster. It is interesting in the sense that it breaks up the main image as part of the navigation. The sound it comes with is annoying.

Webdesign with Photoshop – Revised Tutorial

In-class workshop. I will show you some basic elements of Photoshop that will help you in your design of a website. It has become obvious last week that the Photoshop skills in the class are below what I expected, so that this Photoshop crash course today will make it easier for you to create the 5 concept pages for your final assessment. It will be good for you to attend to make sure that you get the most out of this workshop.

  • Creating a file from scratch – for Web or Print
  • Saving files for the Web, formats
  • Viewing and changing the sizes of a file
  • Working with grids
  • Showing grid and guides
  • Snap to grid option
  • Creating a portfolio page
  • Working with layers
  • Merging layers (Ctrl+E)
  • Grouping Layers (Create group and drag layers in)
  • Working with move tool (using Alt + drag to copy a file)
  • Hiding layers
  • Tick the Auto Select option in the options panel for the Move tool
  • Creating Thumbnails and placing images inside the file
  • Creating a banner by placing an image in a banner sized file
  • Placing the banner and thumbnails
  • Working with Layer masks
  • Using the gradient for layer masks
  • Creating the menu, looking at alignment
  • Creating the title for the header
  • Saving the portfolio page
  • Saving the portfolio page as home page
  • Adjusting the home page
  • Adding an image and text to the home page

Assessment 2

Please check MyKangan for the assessment. It will be uploaded today and link provided here.

Feedback

Please leave your feedback in form of a comment. Your feedback and suggestions will help me to make this blog more user friendly. Thanks!