AU Blogspot

Jonathan Ive is arguably the most ingenious designer of the last decade.  An analysis of Ives’ portfolio requires almost a suspension of belief to comprehend.  The term portfolio could easily be replaced by “culture” in this case, since the products of Ives’ masterful mind have literally altered the way all of us, collectively, have learned to communicate, conduct business, entertain ourselves, etc.  Well, if you haven’t heard of Jonathan Ive, I’ll go ahead and reveal why his multifunctional industrial/graphic/technical design talents are recognized in the same scope as a Leonardo DaVinci.  Ives is the principle designer of the iMac, iPod, and iPhone.  He is currently the VP of Industrial Design at Apple.  The video I’m sharing today consists of a short interview with Ives in which he discusses the overall arch of his design style.  It’s simply an introduction that I hope will inspire you to reach your creative potential as you progress through your program studies.  I look forward to hearing what you think.  Stay focused!

Ryan Rode
Interactive Services Manager
Ashworth University

All you Graphic Artists out there give us a holler!! The upcoming Ashworth Newspaper is in need of your talents! We desperately need cartoonists. We would like a funny page! Any takers?   

If you’re interested, follow up with us on the Ashworth University Forum “Student Newspaper” thread.  Click here to view and participate in this thread.  Thanks!

David
Student
Ashworth University Criminal Justice Program

P.S.  Remember; Greatness is not a matter of if, but a matter of when. 

As a web designer with the ability to create dynamic online business platforms, you are truly in a unique position to turn your entrepreneurial dreams into reality.  This video tells the inspiring story of Theresa Rodriguez, a young entrepreneur who founded BostonNighlifeTV, an online site that keeps Bostonians in touch with everything “cool” going on in the city’s nightlife scene.  Do you have a great business plan that you’ve been sitting on?  What are you waiting for?  Think about it.  You’re a web designer.  You don’t have to wait on anyone to get your idea off the ground in the online marketplace.  It’s not unrealistic to think that you could be the next Theresa Rodriguez.  If you have an idea that you’d like some feedback on or would like to share your own success story, feel free to email me at:

aublogspot@ashworthuniversity.edu

I look forward to hearing from you!

Ryan Rode
Interactive Services Manager
Ashworth University

Joshua Davis is acknowledged as one of the most innovative multimedia-digital designers the world has ever seen.  Creator of such seminal web sites as Praystation, whose’ radical use of open source flash applications was almost unheard of at the time; Davis has redefined the very concept of “interactivity” for a generation of web designers.  His relentlessly creative work defies classification and incorporates elements of physics, mathematics, code, architecture, etc.  Are you getting the picture?  This guy is a monster.  I decided to post this video chronicling his work on what is now considered a legendary campaign for BMW’s Z4 automobile.  It doesn’t matter if you’re a web designer, graphic designer, or just someone who appreciates brilliance in any form; you should take a few minutes to learn from Joshua Davis.  Let me know your thoughts.  Who are some of your favorite designers?  If you’re not sure, simply share some of your favorite web sites with the Ashworth student community.  Talk to you later.

Ryan Rode
Interactive Services Manager
Ashworth University

              Thanks to Heidi Kuisma for permission to use this Photo.

“Get The Glass” is an interactive flash website oriented around animation, gaming, and oddly enough: milk.  In fact, it’s actually a microsite developed for the Got Milk? marketing campaign, a campaign that never seems to run out of money by the way.  It must be working.  The interactive gaming component has certainly crossed over into mainstream marketing strategies, so all of our student web design students should take note of what makes this site a success.  You’ll notice the flash applications are not groundbreaking by any means, and they’re not intended to be; the focus is on the execution of the site’s message.  Because the designers understood how to use interactivity as a tool to communicate rather than an end in itself, “Get The Glass” was recognized as one of 2007’s top microsites.  Personally, I don’t want to drink more milk, which probably means that I’m already the victim of some other campaign, probably for grape soda.

Ryan Rode
Interactive Services Manager
Ashworth University

We decided it was time to perform some spring cleaning on our Myspace page, and with that we spent an afternoon on our Apple iBook G4, mashing up some HTML and CSS to make create our new sophisticated Myspace theme.

We first created this page in iWeb (available only on Mac OS), because iWeb allowed us to apply the reflection effect to our images quickly and easily. We then imported our site into Adobe (formely Macromedia) Dreamweaver. In Dreamweaver, we were able to incorporate our friends list, and comment box. Once completed, we uploaded our files to a webserver.

It’s tricky coding CSS. We had to first start off by creating an overlay to cover up the default myspace theme. Then we applied our HTML and CSS to our container DIV. There were a few quirks we had to workaround, but in the end we were able to create a nice theme for our Myspace presence. It’s a shame that it is only best viewed in Firefox.

When we get a chance, we’ll upload the steps as a PDF download for those who would like to create their own Apple-esque Theme for Myspace.

Jubril Olayiwola
Web Content Manager
Ashworth University

          Thanks to Robert Marinkovic for permission to use this Photo.

Cascading Stylesheets, or CSS, can be pretty awkward at times. It allows you total control over the presentation of a webpage within a browser; but having the resulting webpage look identical in each different browser (IE, FireFox, et al) can sometimes be difficult. Here’s a selection of handy tips I’ve found - see if they help you too.

100.01% Font Size

CSS: Getting Into Good Coding Habits says:

This odd 100.01% value for the font size compensates for several browser bugs. First, setting a default body font size in percent (instead of em) eliminates an IE/Win problem with growing or shrinking fonts out of proportion if they are later set in ems in other elements. Additionally, some versions of Opera will draw a default font-size of 100% too small compared to other browsers. Safari, on the other hand, has a problem with a font-size of 101%. The current “best” suggestion is to use the 100.01% value for this property.

Link Styling: “Love/Hate

Link Specifity says:

All of them can apply to a hyperlink, and in some cases, more than one will apply. For example, an unvisited link can be hovered and active at the same time as it’s an unvisited link. Since three of the above rules apply to the hyperlink, and the selectors all have the same specificity, then the last one listed wins. Therefore, the “active” style will never appear, because it will always be overridden by the “hover” style. (more…)

Ever walked around and see a terrible designed poster on the wall? Now you can take action with the Design Police. They have up to 5 different templates of stickers that will apply to possibly any design mistake people can make. Really nice idea, and I will surely print out some of these suckers!

Frederik Samuel
Creator of adgoodness
Ashworth University Contributing Blogger

*Frederik Samuel is an art director/designer working out of Toronto, Canada. Through his blog, adgoodness, Frederik comprehensively covers the best and worst advertising and design from around the globe. We’re excited to have Frederik Samuel as a member of our contributing bloggers’ network and would like to sincerely thank him for his generosity. Thanks Frederik!

Sony Ericsson has recently launched a colorful global mini-site to promote its new W910i and W580 models. Everything is conceived around a rather psychedelic experience that mixes music and colors and allows users to create unique and personalized kaleidoscopes.

It’s a nice site, and apparently a lot of people have already created their own kaleidoscope.

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