photography...

Another job that the website group had to complete was taking photographs of the students and the students work that will be displayed.

We found inspiration from a car modification blog. The photographs of the staff in charge of their website were taken against a white background with high quality lighting to give a soft feel. The pose that the people are in is also very inspriring. It shows the people acting natural, laughing and having a good time. Here is the website...





I had a play around in Photoshop an made up a quick design using the photos from the shoot. I think they turned out really well and could be used on the home page for students as links. You click this banner and Sam's page will open up containing his work and his full profile picture. I am aware the typeface is different. This is just a rough idea to give an idea of what it will look like. A final design will be created sticking to the same font.

Curriculum Vitae...

I decided to redesign my original CV as I felt it was not upto scratch for a designer. Here is the original.



I did this in Microsoft Word. I redesigned it using Adobe Photoshop, so I had much more features to play with. Here is the redesigned CV featuring the Logo, colour scheme and texture scheme:



I am pleased with how this turned out.

Business card...

Now I had a logo and colour scheme, I could begin to design a business card. Here is the initial concept:






As you can see, the concept has evolved from the top card. I decided to curve the sharp edges to make it look more appealing. I also added a texture which will run thoughout the self branding theme.


Colour Scheme Phychology

I looked at the phychology behind colour schemes and how they affect the way you think about a product. I used a website called http://psychology.about.com/od/sensationandperception/a/colorpsych.htm to gain some information about this matter.

colour is often used in therapy to treat patience with various illnesses. Below shows the information:

* Red was used to stimulate the body and mind and to increase circulation.

* Yellow was thought to stimulate the nerves and purify the body.

* Orange was used to heal the lungs and to increase energy levels.

* Blue was believed to soothe illnesses and treat pain.

* Indigo shades were thought to alleviate skin problems.

All these colours help in some way.


Red – Affects us physically, affecting what might be termed ‘lower order’ psychological activity.

Blue – Affects the intellect, promoting thought and ‘higher order’ activity.

Yellow – Affects the emotions.

Green – Affects the essential balance between mind, body and emotions – a more important consideration than is often realised.

The psychological effects of the remaining hues in the spectrum are combinations of the psychological effects of these primaries.

Orange – a mixture of red and yellow, therefore combining physical with emotional reaction - activates awareness of secondary survival issues of food, warmth, shelter and sensuality.

Indigo – a mixture of blue and violet, and invariably a dark colour – evokes deep contemplation and thought.

Violet – a mixture of red and blue, physical and mental – appears to take awareness to a higher plane of thought, stimulating imagination and consideration of wider philosophical ideas; it can be described as the colour of the ‘spirit’.

It states that blue affects intellect which may promote people to think about by business card and CV and begin to take in the information more.

I also looked into complementary colours. This wheel below shows which colours complement each other, when used at the same time...



As you can see when the arrow is rotated, the colours that it is pointing at should complement each other. For example, Yellow and purple. I will use this when deciding on a colour for my personal branding theme.

Self Branding logo...

I have been working more on my self branding logo. After attain some inspiration from a quick 'Google' search. I could see what sort of logo looked professional and what looked good when applied to a CV or business card.

I found out thhat crisp lines, and flowing colours not onyl look aestheically pleasing, but are also easy to read. Here is a few logo ideas and colour schemes which I really like.



Here is a few I have used with my initials. I have mirrored the 'D' and have removed sections to make it look like a 'J'. I am pleased with how this looks.

Writing for the website...

Among our group (Me, Glenn, Sam) We had to certain tasks to complete to make sure the website got done on time. I was given the task to write up some text for the website pages. the first being course information:

"The Sustainable Design and Innovation course aims to produce graduates who thrive to design both exciting new products and redesign existing products to make them perform more efficiently and effectively. It is the up-most importance to the designer to consider aesthetics, function and ergonomics whilst ensuring the materials, services and manufacturing methods used can be taken from creation to disposal with minimal impact on the environment. The pathway provides a good grounding in creative sustainable design methodology, its principles and how they are applied in practice. The large extent of skills acquired during the course can be applied throughout the design-life of a product; Starting at the initial 2D concept, through the 3D modelling, testing and manufacture, ending in the advertising of the product."

I tried to write it so it was appealing to whoever was reading it, almost selling the course. I also had to included a small paragraph about the university:

"Anglia Ruskin University has educated thousands of students since being awarded university status in 1991 (initially called ‘Anglia Polytechnic). Today, it is home to roughly 31,000 students, spread across 2 main campuses. The main campuses at Cambridge and Chelmsford attract students not only from the East of England but in increasing numbers from mainland Europe and from further afield. In addition, the University has an extensive network of contacts with institutions throughout the world, delivering courses in countries as far removed as Malaysia and Trinidad."

Website Idea...

We thought it would be a good idea to see what the London underground tube website looked like. Here is a screenshot of the site.



This look is very clear and fresh. The bright colours shown on the website reflect the look of the underground. It is easy to navigate and all information is displayed clearly.