AU Blogspot

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 Starck Ting for permission to use this Photo.

Throughout his career, Philippe Starck has positioned himself ahead of the design curve, practically ignoring it, but not through the prescient recognition and/or early adoption of trends.  Starck instead relies on ingenuity to reinterpret the concept of design itself, reworking the most mundane of objects (clocks, silverware, computer mouses, etc.) until they are capable of being perceived in different contexts—with new meaning and functions.  In this conceptual sense, one can detect traces of Marcel Duchamp and his influential readymade objects.  The following video offers a fine introduction to the vision of Philippe Starck.  Starck’s vision will inspire you.  Click on the image above to watch this video.  Let us know what you think. 

Ryan Rode
Interactive Services Manager
Ashworth University  

        Thanks to Alex Whittaker for permission to use this Photo. 

The Brooklyn Digital Foundry does some great web and digital media work. I think what makes their designs excel is their control of information and how their interfaces gradually reveal only the necessary information.

They also appear to do an excellent job of attracting cool clients, which is a difficult and important design skill to master and taught no where.

Michael R. Nelson
Graphic Design Instructor
Ashworth University  

                           Image courtesy of Front Design.

The design applications provided by the latest in motion capture/rapid prototyping technologies are empowering new designers to experiment like never before.  Front is a furniture design company based out Sweden and they have pioneered the use of this amazing technology, which allows the user to take their traditional free hand sketches and translate them into 3-D digital files; the process doesn’t end there though.  These virtual design files are then transformed into actual physical models that mirror what one originally began as a free-hand sketch!  It’s quite an abstract process to describe with words, so I’ll let the following video show you what’s it all about.  Whether you’re a graphic, web, fashion, or interior designer—you should feel excited that such tools are becoming increasingly available on the market at affordable prices.  Have you had an opportunity to work with a design program of this nature?  Let us know.  

Ryan Rode
Ashworth University  

                           Thanks to Paul Jackson for permission to use this Photo.

If you haven’t heard by now, Microsoft has created a customized version of Office for the Mac. Based on their sometimes contentious relationship over the last decade, this collaboration may come as a surprise to many, but these two giants actually have a long history of integrated development dating back to the early 1980’s. It seems that Apple’s softer and smilier aesthetic has leaked into Microsoft’s current “simplify your work” campaign. Their website is user-centric from a navigational persective, with a design emphasis on intentionally amateurish animation.  I’m interested to hear how successful you think Microsoft was at conveying a looser image through this website.

Ryan Rode
Ashworth University

 
             Thanks to Rick Prelinger for permission to use this Photo.

Photoshop TV is an excellent resource for online tips, tutorials, and best practices for new designers/developers/photographers.  Their database of instructional videos are easy to follow and rich with useful applications.  The video we’re featuring today covers some of Camera Raw’s features, neat ways to incorporate Smart Objects, as well as a few different cropping techniques.  Let us know when you start utilizing these methods in your work. 

P.S.  These guys have recently changed their approach to displaying videos, but they’re still easy to access.  To watch the aforementioned video, simply scroll down to the bottom of the screen linked above and click download.  If you have any issues, let me know in the comments section of this post… 

Ryan Rode
Interactive Services Manager
Ashworth University

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.

(more…)

 
                  Thanks to Lyndal for permission to use this Photo.
 
As a web designer/developer, one role often required is to secure adequate web hosting for the website(s) you’ve been assigned to build. The kind of hosting you should pick should certainly be matched to the website — any colossal site rolled out for a new corporate product would not be hosted on a super budget hosting plan. But you shouldn’t go overboard and use hosting that is too advanced for the project either, especially if your client has a limited budget. In this post I’ll discuss the various types of web hosting available to better inform you. I’d love to hear your views too.

Shared Hosting

Shared hosting, also often called virtual hosting, is where your website is stored in it’s own directory on a web server which, generally speaking, hosts between a hundred and a thousand websites in total. Having this many different websites on one server means the costs of being hosted are kept to a minimum, but there are physical limitations imposed on you.

Pros: