s.p.a.c.e concept...

ellis.pace...

this week neseccitated a mock-up concept for a website revolving and drawing inspiration from the theme of "space".

when considering space and "my-space" i brought together a few ideas to communicate the space around me and my life.  another inspiration was the idea of "representing" a new persona or reflecting ones self onto a website and using those elements and functions to structure a website on "space".

my concept was centralised on important areas of life that encompass my living space.  "mind, body, faith, spirit, soul, work, play" etc.

to illustrate my conceptual space i wanted to do it through graphics that encouraged thinking and imagination.  a space of fantasy that still connected to reality through the content held deeper within the site.  my precedents came from an appreciation of vector graphics.  these appeal to me cause of their simplicity in colour and "depth" but richness in highlighting imagination and originality.

reflections on donniedarkofilm

reflections

Through researching the website of donniedarkofilm i have gathered a few thoughts, ideas and learnings from art as a medium on the web. In my opinion this site has a strong art focus as it reflects the art of the film itself. As someone uneducated in the film i found this site rather confronting and and interactive artform as it draws the viewer in through layout use, colour contrast and curiousity.

I learnt from this site being an "art" website as i discovered new means to engage and interact with the viewer. In many ways it is an organic site - free to be explored and taking the user on a journey through the plot of the film. At the same time however it seems the site is directing you in a certain direction. What i liked about this site was the role each element of design had to play in the structure of the site. The flash animations and static images re-enforced the theme while text was relied upon for conveying the true message of the site. What i found interesting was that the text is an informative means however it still seemed to tie in nicely as a support for the art aspect of the site.

Dislikes:
I didn't like the amount of text needed to be read. I found myself getting bored and not wanting to go deeper into the site because of the reading effort required. If i had seen the film i'd possibly have stayed more attentive.
On that note the site seemed to taylor to just those who'd seen the film - not much there for others.

I don't think i enjoyed the site. Its an arty site and it seemed to lack really interest and punch. Rather bland in my opinion.

art//design website...

donniedarkofilm...

for week 3 we were to look into a website that was either/or (or combining) art and design.

the website i decided to explore was www.donniedarkofilm.com - i chose this site as a recommendation from a friend. i found it intriguing and rather frustrating when browsing. i believe the site was developed in support of the film or perhaps to promote it.  the website had many interesting features to it, as it engaged the user with a unique layout and structure.  i believe it contributes to development of the internet and identifying possibilities for contemporary art/design practice in its usability and interactivity.

some notably things:

/structure: 

construction is rather grey and bleak. the initial attention is grabbed through flash movement but there is still no direct and concrete point of structure. the site is rather organic as you get deeper as options are given and "power" to the user is allowed.

/interactivity:

the site really relies on interactivity. it relies on user curiousity and therefore interactivity for the site to be experienced in its fullest.

the art in my opinion is progressive, encompassing sound, typography, text, animation and storyline to develop the site as opposed to structured links and familiarity. by some means the site produces suspense and works on this through interaction through both sound and visual stimulation.

/identity:

this site i believe has extremely clear identity for donniedarko fans and viewers and yet the same realisation would come across to non-viewers and in that sense produces an identity to that audience as well.

/technology:

the site's construction is heavily reliant and centralised on flash animation.