Project 2 Self Eval

The only page on my site that I am content with

 For project two I chose to focus on web design- specifically the design of my own page created in digital media I. Last semester, http://students.smcm.edu/docope/index.html was built with the intention of presenting my acting/filmmaking/art resume along with an extra radio tab. While for my first Dreamweaver creation I was pleased with it, certain elements of the site could be polished and/or added. Because this page represented my creative ability and professional talents, I wanted to re-enter the site for necessary changes.

To begin my project, I did research on multiple artists who happened to have outstanding and/or relatable web designs. The first was David Hockney, a 76 year old painter, sketch artist, photographer, and stage designer from England. While I am not a fan of his work, I never the less appreciate the clean professionalism of his website. Similar to mine, each tab is color coordinated to a degree. For example, if you click on the purple media tab, the name David changes to purple (as seen left). I eventually integrated this feature into my own site- with the film section's red font to the radio page's pink. This helped keep the site refreshing and unique beyond the continual background changes. The only technical issue I encountered was in the resume page. Despite my efforts to keep them black, the links remained purple without change. The roll over color change also does not function properly, even when selected in the page properties section.

Resume page with incorrect and seemingly
 unchangeable link color

My next artist was Tauba Aurebach, a painter, sculptor, and graphic artist who was born and still resides in San Francisco. What struck me by her website was not the fun visual presence it gave, but how well the design co-existed with her own art. One thing that immediately differentiated my site from both Aurebach's and Hockney's was the use of an "introduction page." I feel the first thing that a user sees should always be different, interactive, and exciting- a sort of gate that prepares them to enter. For Aurebach, her introduction is her name in an interactive form of hieroglyphic letters, changing colors at an almost alarming rate with any movement of the mouse. Simple and clean, I sought to chase down this design in order to achieve an advanced first impression. Unfortunately such a feat remained out of reach at the current time due to my lack of coding experience.

Originally I aimed for my introductory page to flash just like Aurebach's, however after some suggestions from my fellow classmates the idea of a changing background fell into place. Essentially I wanted the page to appear simple at first glance, a white background with the name DYLAN COPE in all caps was the target. After rolling over individual letters, the background would change into a repeated wallpaper of one of my art works. Despite its simplicity, Dreamweaver again struggled to follow the most basic of page property commands- ignoring my link font, size, and even color when input. Things only got worse after the complexity of layering div tags; filled with various artworks seemingly popping up at random and making the process overwhelming. After discussing my vision and current issues with Professor Friebele, he pointed me towards the way of coding- searching via Google towards a site that had already laid out interactive color change codes. Unfortunately I (yet again) hit a road block due to technical difficulty.

Example of Lightbox with one of my works

With my introductory page off to a bad start, I chose to focus my time more on recreating the old site rather than fumbling over the new. Beginning with the dreaded (but very necessary) Lightbox program, I downloaded the software and watched an assortment of painstaking tutorials until the program was up and running. For those who are not familiar with Lightbox, it is a collection of codes that display pictures in a more professional manner- dimming the page and presenting an image in a floating box, rather than sending you to another page. With this element in place, viewers could now browse art by album, along with resume head shots, and film clips off YouTube. Unlike last semester when I created the site and fumbled at the end to incorporate Lightbox, it was now up and looking great. This achievement was arguably the greatest accomplishment for me in this project and it felt freakin fantastic.

Stepping back and looking at the page I can't say I am happy with the unfinished product. While I was able to recreate the page in a short amount of time, my limited experience cost me. During the class critiques the site also drew mixed reviews- mainly through the page backgrounds clashing with the subject foreground. Another issue the class seemed to focus on was my acting resume, which frustrated me mainly because it was unrelated to the critique and also a good professional resume confirmed by David Ellsworth and Michael Tolaydo. Regardless, this has been my most anti-climatic project in digital media. While there isn't a polished final project, I was still able to accomplish a sizable amount of work in a short amount of time. I'd give myself a B-.  

The Language of New Media: Marshall McLuhan

In McLuhan's article New Media: The Guerilla Culture to Gadget Art he addresses the definitions and effects of "new media" in our culture. To him, new media can be broken down into two groups, art observers and the "lay public." The public group holds a paranoid perspective towards the recent advancements in technology despite ironically using it everyday. He draws comparisons of technology from the comic book boom in the 1960s where parents sheltered their kids from the imaginative stories that "hindered" their developmental growth. Of course as time passed it became evident that the books had no such impact, if anything the books artistically benefited the young minds of that era- but that's a whole other discussion.

With new media comes new ways of expression. Take this very class for example, without the many programs and advanced components available we could not create/deliver the visual messages we intended. Same goes with the vast conection artists have for inspiration through media.

To McLuhan, new media is not visual art, it is a developing art form. It's a neutral device that becomes political through the individual operating it. In the hands of industrial and commercial conglomerates, international television has become fully commercialized- filled with product placement and advertised messages, some more blatant than others.

An interesting perspective he uses is the Indonesian revolution of new media. Beginning in the late 80s, private television became available to the general public- something that the government realized could hold great power if controlled. However with great power comes great responsibility, with the introduction of global TV and eventually the internet, a guerrilla rebellion took place that knocked down the central government. This modern situational example clearly shows the potential power of new media for an oppressed culture. I find it fascinating in this day and age that governments are able to successfully suppress all outer influence of technology and media.

Project 2 Website Development

For my second project in Advanced Digital Art I plan to revitalize my personal website. Last semester I created http://students.smcm.edu/docope/index.html with the intention of presenting my acting/filmmaking/art resume along with an extra radio tab. While for my first Dreamweaver creation I was pleased with it, certain elements of the site could be polished and/or added.

To begin my project, I did research on multiple artists who happened to have outstanding or relatable web designs. In the end, two sites I believe really encaptured my vision of what I wanted my site to become.

The first was David Hockney, a 76 year old painter, sketch artist, photographer, and stage designer from England. Despite his bio being inactive as of 2010, Hockney's work is exhibited and updated- showing the website is still in great use. While I am not a fan of his work, I never the less appreciate the clean, professionalism of his website.

Similar to mine, each tab is color coordinated to a degree. For example, if you click on the purple media tab, the name David changes to purple (as seen left). His works are also categorized neatly into decades- a feat I won't be able to accomplish for a number of years. The only slight gripe I had was that I found the drop down menus never disappeared after each interaction- causing text to block subject matter.

My next artist was Tauba Aurebach, a painter, sculptor, and graphic artist who was born and still resides in San Francisco. A graduate of Stanford University, Aurebach's work has a natural vibrancy through dream-like textures and patterns. What struck me by her website was not the fun visual presence it gave, but how well the design co-existed with her own art.

Firstly, one thing that immediately differentiated my site from both Aurebach's and Hockney's was the use of an "introduction page." I feel the first thing that a user sees should always be different, interactive, and exciting- a sort of gate that prepares them to enter. For Aurebach, her introduction is her name in an interactive form of hieroglyphic letters, changing colors at an almost alarming rate with any movement of the mouse.

In terms of the site, Aurebach also keeps it  simple but fun- layering the menu in a font that's barely legible and makes you feel drunk. Under "works" I enjoyed the display of her art. The animation it makes once loaded is also a factor that makes the page less static. On my own pages for art and film I plan towards simplifying the presentation through the use of Lightbox.

In conclusion, my research compiled a number of things: 

1. My own site is too static. It needs a interactive entrance to prepare viewers for what is to come. 
2. Simplify. My Art and Film pages have simply too much going on with back/foreground clashing
3. More color. I dipped briefly into the menu bar change but I can take it further.
4. Polish! Lightbox and my resume not showing up are the two technical issues I've run into.

Artist Sites:

• (http://www.hockneypictures.com)

• (http://taubaauerbach.com)