Page two

I was unable to do another blog last week because I have been away until today. But on the other blog is the first rough draft page of my website. This page on this blog invovles my scholarly identity. I go to Pennsylvania State at home, and I have my own identity at school. The identity that I have created while in class is very different from any of my other identities.

This identity is very serious, and very concentrated. But throughout my career the identity has been changed drastically. In the beginning I was a pre-vet major, and so my identity was surrounded by students very different from me. They all grew up on farms, and around animals. I had to adjust my identity to fit in with this group in order to be successful in the major. But during my sophomore year I realized that this identity did not work for me. This is when I changed to pre-dental. This major caused me to drastically change my scholar identity. I had to change more to fit in with people that are more like the type of people that I grew up with.

The new identity seemed to fit me better because I feel more comfortable in this skin. I know better where this identity is going to take me, and this identity seems to flow better with my other identities in my life. It revolves better around my life of extreme, with my family, and with my girlfriend. Now the identity has altered somewhat since I have been studying in Australia, and that is a more relaxed identity that is not as serious because I am not taking my core classes. I am taking electives, such as webart design, that will make my identity more well-rounded and universal. This is a rough draft of the page because I had to use powerpoint rather than photoshop.

(I am unable to upload my picture right now because our internet at home is really terrible. I saved it on a hardrive and will edit this post when I get to class tomorrow. So this post was from Tuesday at 1:30 PM)

Photoshop with layering

For next week we are going to be creating a general page or a few pages of how we may want our site to be set up. I was thinking about making my "homepage" a collage of my different identities. I will have between 3 and 4 different identities that will describe my life. As I think about identity I realize that I can separate myself into about 3 or 4 identities in my life. With the layering that we are going to learn today, I can create a collage of pictures on that homepage that would be used as links to the next pages in the website.

In photoshop, we learned different skills such as layering and text to include in our site for next week. I decided to use graphics that are very soothing, and great on the eye. The two background pictures that I used are the types of pictures that will make your mind wander. These are the sceneries that everyone wants to be at, and it makes the mind think that nothing else matters at the time.

This is good because I will be moving onto 3 or 4 different extremes (identities), throughout the website. I make the mind wander first to get it thinking about what is included beyond the first page. Here is the first rough draft of the front page.

Assessment

Last class, we had an assessment. This assessment has been the most helpful thing so far in the class because up to this point I was just following along with the directions. By having to create linking pages by myself, I was much better able to learn how to link. Photoshop has been a good tool in creating a page, and then bringing that onto Dreamweaver in order to design the website. Photoshop is like the art part of the class, and Dreamweaver is the design. Now that I am able to link pages between each other much more easily, I am more confident with making a website, which I have no idea how to do coming into this class.

So one my websites that I commonly look at is Ultimate guitar tabs(http://www.ultimate-guitar.com). I think this website is relevant because there is no art involved with this website, and it is strictly a design site. This website is also relevant because it is part of one of my many identities. Playing guitar is part of my identity that I created during high school and college. I realized that I wanted a more well-rounded identity that involved multiple skills.

Coming into college everyone changes their identity somewhat, and this was one of my attempts at a change. This identity I do not usually show to my parents, or adults, but it is more part of the identity with my friends and girls. Guitar changes my identity because when I play, nothing else matters, and it also makes you the center of attention at the time. This identity can make you more noticed, and also the center of the party. People sing along with you and just have a good time, and that is what my college identity is all about; having fun and exploring.
This was just a cool animation that I found of a moving guitar. It looks simple enough that it could be something that I can recreate.
(http://www.animationlibrary.com/animation/25844/Guitar_2/)

Art vs. Design - The Simpsons - Research assignment

As my presentation for an art or design website, I used the Simpson's website (www.thesimpsons.com). I chose this website because I do love the show, but more importantly, I realized that I had a good opportunity to compare the art of the show, with the design that the website brings. The show itself is obviously art, maybe not the best art because that is not the point of the show, but it is definitely art given it is a cartoon. Now the nice part abuot the show being art itself, is that the website now does not have any trouble adding the art part. They are able to use the art of the show, and make it into design.

For example, my favorite part of the website is the page where they show a frame from each of the 400 episodes over the past years. In the background, there is a picture of Homer, and the colors of his body blend in with the frames that are over him. This part of the page is considered art because of how the various frames are integrated with Homer's body. This page is not only an art page though. I believe that this page can also fall under the design category. The reason that this could be design is because when you roll over one of the frames from the episode guides, the frame becomes enlarged so that you can look at the picture better. But what this design does to make the site even more descriptive is that when you click on that frame, more information about the episode comes up. This is created by a webdesign person because the purpose of this part of the website is to give information about the episode, rather than present the art of the Simpsons.

In my head, I see a definite difference between art and design. Yet, art and design have been able to become much more integrated ever since the uprising of the internet. The internet has allowed art to be organized, and sorted by design. Art is very free flowing, and design has more structure to it. I believe that design has been used with art on the internet in order to organize art. Art is given more publicity with the use of the internet and design online. For example, there is another part to the Simpson's website that shows the different episodes. In this case, the episodes are sorted in a virtual file cabinet. This page helps to prove my point that design is used to organize, and structure art. File cabinets are used in order to be organized. That is why it is very interesting that the website decides to use a virtual file cabinet to sort all of their episodes (which is the art).

Another good thing about this website is that all of the design aspects of it are very simple and to the point. Since the design on this website is so simple, it is easy to find the art that the website is composed of. Design compliments art so that art can be more easily accessed on the web, and in a sense giving art more publicity. The Simpsons website is a great example of how people were able to create a site, in which they designed easy ways for people to find information on the show (which is considered art). The art of the show was organized by simple, well designed web pages.

Website rethought

So as I have been thinking about everything that I have done so far while being abroad, I have rethought about what the scope of my website is going to be. I realize that everything I have done being abroad, starting from just coming out here, proves how far I can push myself to try new things, and layout my what my limits are.



For example, as I am standing on the edge of a 134 meter drop I realized that the people working for the company will not push me, but I have to find the will in me to jump. Just coming out here, I had to find the will to come across the world, 20 hour flight away from home. The decisions on where to go in Australia, what to do, how risky I should risk my life, will help to carve my pathway in life.

My outlook on this experience was to let go. My parents are very uptight, and would never do this experience like I have, and I know that I will do anything now on this trip because I do not want to look back and be like "I should have done this, or I should have done that".

For example, I went to Thailand this past week as I talked about in my last blog. I got a chance to spin fire at the bar, and even though I have no idea how to do it, I tried anyway because I realized that there is no other time that I could do something like that. Above is a picture of me doing this. I also have a video that I can put on the website.

Thailand

For another section of my website, I have a lot of information. I have just gotten back from spending 9 days in Thailand. I started out in Bangkok for one night where we saw some of the craziest/dirtiest places in the world. The next stop after Bangkok was Chaing Mai. This was the cultural and most learned part of the trip. Here we stayed in a village about 3 hours in the mountains out of the city. This was a great cultural experience because I was able to learn about how Thai people lived in the mountains, and how everything was just so simple for them and happy.

Before we got back into the city, we took a day to ride elephants through the jungle. Throughout this trip I have traveled on almost every possible type of transportation. We were able to also shop around the night bazaar market, and the Sunday night market when we got back into Chaing Mai.

There are many, many other types of things that I have done on this trip that I can have a whole section on. I am planning on making this part of my website a Thai style of writing, as well as Thai design, graphics and photographs.

Since I realized that I have many different types of cultures, and experiences on this abroad experience, I can have various parts of my website culturally different. They can be very distinct from each other,

Surf camp and more

So this past weekend I went to surf camp through a company called Waves. They bring you three hours away near the beach of seal rocks. This beach is a secluded beach, and one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen. Even though I had surfed before, this weekend helped me to become a much better surfer. It also gave me a great experience by coming within 10 feet of dolphins, and seeing lots of fish in the clear water.

The camp site it very much like a little fraternity house because all of the instructors live in tents around the site, and just party every night, and surf during the day. On my website I will be posting pictures, and providing more information about the excursions and how to go about participating.