A brief history of ....... website brief introduction & initial thoughts

A brief history of ....... website brief introduction & initial thoughts

Studio Brief

Based on your research into 'A brief history of....' design a multi-page website that effectively informs a user about the interesting and informative facts, figures, observations and visual content that you have descovered. You will be supported throughout this project by a series of web development workshops, tutorials, crits as well as studio-based sessions.

The relationship between your content and design decisions should inform the tone of voice. 
Do you require humour, sophistication, authority, clarity or ....? 
You will need to demonstrate an awareness and understanding of the relevant industry standard requirements 
of designing for web based delivery. 

Theses will include:

• Web standard fonts, image formats, websafe colours etc.
• Drafting interfaces, layouts and storyboards.
• Creating images and layouts for web formats.
• Engaging and user-friendly interface design.
• Usability and navigation conventions.
• Content management of both files and page elements.
• Designing for an online audience
• Costings and hosting fees.
• Managing website creation briefs.

Background/considerations

Balancing the effective delivery of (or access to) online content with the ability to deliver information in a visually engaging manner is essential to succesful web design. It is the job of a designer to manage this balancing act by considering the informed use of design principles in the technically demanding  (and at times restrictive) area of screen based interactive technologies.

You will need to explore the relationship between creative possibilities and the functional demands of the end user. These decisions and discussions should be documented and evaluated consistently in your design practice blog.

Consider the various functions of websites and how this will affect the visual reresentation of your selected conent.
You should take into account the range of possible roles that graphic design plays in web based distribution. 
These include:

• The function of containing, organisinng, accessing and distributing information or products
• The marketing of the product as part of a multi-media age of access and distribution.
• The sales function and brand manifestation of conent, information or product at the point of delivery or interaction.
• Product identification and differentiation in amongst a visually competitive culture.
• A reflection of lifestyle, trends and behavioral patterns of consumers.
• Opportunities for adding value and stepping beyond the functional.

You should consider, recognise and reference existing modes, forms and formats of web based and interactive
delivery where necessary.

Mandatory Requirements & Deliverables  To show a good understanding of design for web through documented and ongoing design and development. Your content should demonstrate an understanding of design for web, which includes but is not restricted to layouts, usability, content management and designing for your audience. Your finished product should show an understanding of the role of a graphic designer in web-based delivery, as well as demonstrating industry standard requirements. Correct labelling of your work on your blog is essential.  Failure to organise your work clearly will affect the assessment of your work.

Evidence of systematic and organised development of source material posted to your Design Practice Blog. Evidence of research into appropriate contexts of designing for web and interactive technologies. A fully functioning indexfile and supporting media ready for online hosting. A pdf of 5 presentation boards summarising the key practical, conceptual and technical decisions made  during the development of your site. This should be posted to your design Practice blog via Issuu. Ongoing evaluation of your work posted to your Design Practice blog.

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Initial thoughts & Plans
Web Design is something completely new to me, so this brief is going to be challenging yet informative. To work alongside the workshops and studio sessions I will do alot of independent research into aspects of web design more so the technical side of things to get my head full around it all for future projects. 

The project itself will take content and influence from my body of research I did over the summer on automotive culture and racing events. The website I produce needs to be informative in the sense of communicating facts, figures, observations and visual content and presented in a clear & concise tone of voice as some aspects are quite technical so I need to explain these in an understandable way. 

Thoughts at this stage for the initial plan of action would be that I have a good body of research that includes lots of elements of research:

• I have lots of informative & technical details on car mechanics/engineering which could form a nice bank of figures
•  I have a collation of my own personal observations on the racing events and car culture so influence will come from this too
• I have a few interviews containing opinions on car culture that could inform something down the line
• I have a large amount of photographs so visual content is covered to work alongside all these contextual areas, I have some design analyses of car designs which could influence aesthetics (color, layout, use of image)  somewhere in the project
• I have a certain organization & categorization of my research so breaking this up may help sort out specific content for specific pages
• To keep things informative and clear & concise a certain focus on the way information is communicate needs to be considered

Alternatively I could look at extending one particular point of my research or a combination of one or 2 points to create a more considered and informed body of presented research rather than a wide spread of content presentation:

• Could expand on and look deeper into Drifting as it has a long history and has strong links with Japanese culture so this may uncover some interesting options & it would be more fitting to the briefs title "A brief history of"
• Could also look into the history of time attack but this only has about a decade worth of history but again came from Japan and I still think theres some potential in creating work based on Japanese car culture.
• Create a very informative website that takes further my previous focus point on "What makes a race car, drift car and show car"

Organisation of source material in a clear and legible manner is important. 

Consider the target audience when creating the website aesthetics, tone of voice and selected content and visuals from my body of research. 

The most important thing right now is that I look into coding and basic web design aspects (web standard fonts, image formats, web safe colors, design interfaces, layouts, interfaces, hosting etc) to give me a base of information to work from.

When analyzing websites look into how they are coded by viewing the source code to give me an idea of what makes up a website. 

Look into web design Terminology. 

Look into skeuomorphism, an idea Apple used where they emulated real life objects in there mobile apps, real life metaphors used in a virtual world context, like an envelope representing mail. Open envelope represents read, shut represents unread. Or apples newsstand representing a virtual magazine/newspaper shelf. 

Considerations into been realistic when designing the site, keep it simple so the site remains functional. 

Whats Next

To gather an initial body of research and to inform me of successful web design delivery mainly based on aesthetics of the website I am going to analyses a number of websites and note down the first word I think of it and decide if thats the intended thoughts and message they want to send across from that website. 

Also look at design trends that are used & look how websites appear on other devices like TVs, Tablets, and phones to show a versatile website system.

Focus down on a specific area or combination of areas within my summer research to develop content for the website. 

Get some books out on coding and web design and look at website sources.