URL of my website

http://studentnet.kingston.ac.uk/k0826142/

Evaluation

I started the project for “Designing of the Internet” on the 8th of February and finished it on the 16th of May. In the following Evaluation I will be mentioning the difficulties I faced throughout the procedure of creating the website, how I could have improved it and my progress in the field of designing for the Internet. In addition I will be talking about my project management skills development and my personal “highlights” of this module.

After struggling to find a good concept for a while, I finally found an idea that excited me and seemed realistic. I created the website about a fictitious club that I opened in Kingston. My aim was to create a website with a very elegant and professional layout and therefore chose to work with Photoshop. I firstly tried to create layouts in Dreamweaver but felt I could only use limited fonts and could not really be as creative as I wished to be. I then changed to Photoshop and created a few different home layouts. I could see that my skills in Photoshop were developing after every layout that I created and after a while when I felt confident with the program I tried to create the final layout for my homepage. Keeping the main home layout in mind I created the other four layouts, as I wanted all 5 pages to have a consistent look.

To put the layouts in Dreamweaver was a big task. I sliced the single graphics/text boxes in Photoshop and opened them in Dreamweaver; I hid the text in Photoshop as I wanted to add the text through html and not as an image. I had to reorganise the slices a lot and many images were appearing blurred or were having other graphic mistakes, which caused me many problems. It was very time consuming to finally have all five pages in Dreamweaver with no mistakes and to have everything on its right place.

After organising all the pages in Dreamweaver and inserting the text I decided to add the web banners that I created in After Effects and also add the music. I faced many difficulties to adjust the web banners into my pages, as I did not create a separate “slice” for it in Photoshop. I could luckily put the banners at the bottom of the pages, which did not look bad to me. I added the music through the “embedded” tag in html. I chose Dennis Ferrer’s song “hey hey” as it’s a club/dance song yet it’s not too distracting.

I really enjoyed the fact that I could use my knowledge from the previous modules like Digital media and Motion Graphics, in which I learnt how to work with After Effects, Flash and Photoshop and combine them with Dreamweaver and create one project. I tried to put in all my digital media skills together and create a website which I personally like. I created “crystal” the way I planned on and therefore I am satisfied with the outcome although I could have definitely improved the website by putting in “roll over images” or more graphics. Working with all these different programs and also updating the blogs at the same time was very challenging at first and I could not understand how I could link these programs together and make the website look professional but through the tutorials on Studyspace and other online recourses I learnt a lot.

Uploading the website to the server:

The biggest difficulty that I had was uploading the website on to the server studentnet.kingston.ac.uk. Firstly the server was not connecting therefore I had to wait 3 days in order to contact the tech-guys on Monday (today) and then when we finally managed to upload the website; the links, music and banners did not work. With help of my tutors, a very strong will power and a lot of patience and time I managed to make most of the website work on the server although I faced many difficulties and it took me more than 12 hours to make it work! The banners were still not working, I tried everything that I could think of and finally after exchanging a few emails with my tutor Fleeta, we arranged a meeting in the media lab and solved the banners-issues and made the entire website finally work perfectly. The main problem was that the entire folder of my website was over 15mb so through deleting some jpegs and After Effect files File zilla could upload the missing banners. In future I know to only try to upload the necessary files and make sure that I don't underestimate the procedure of uploading the website to the server and do it at least a week before deadline. However I am very glad that the entire website is working and feel that I truly learnt a lot of skills in this module such as time keeping, planning, independent study, communicating with tutors and last but not least, solving problems.

Uploading the website to the sever

I have been trying to upload the website for the past 4 hours and have been facing a big amount of difficulties doing so. I uploaded the website to studentnet.kingston.ac.uk but the links are sound are not working. I have tried to get help from the tech-guys who have tried to solve the problem but have not been successful doing so. I am not sure what I can do now as the tech- guys are are unaware of the issues which I am facing and I can not contact my tutors either. I will try to be my best to solve the problem by keep on trying to re-link and upload the files. I hope it works!

The Link between the website "Crystal" and McLuhan's concept "the world is a global village"

The most important and obvious link to McLuhan's concept is that the club is very multicultural. Not only the crowd that comes to party at Crystal but also the promoters, staff, DJs, artists and dance performers are from all over the world. The one thing that makes Crystal stand out from the rest of the clubs in London is the fact that it has 6 different rooms named after cities from which it got its influences from. For example we have a room called "Paris" and the flair in that chill out lounge is very french and Paris-like (the architecture, the music, the paintings on the wall)! Another room would be Dubai in which we have an Arab theme!

The world is a global village- this concept also shows in the kind of nights and themes the club feautures as every night has a theme from a culture. Mondays it would be indian as Crystal plays Bhangra music and invites Punjabi artists- not only from London but also from other places like the US, Canada and India. Tuesdays are very spanish and latin american as the music is Salsa! The club features Salsa dancers who give performances throughout the whole night! This is how every night "promotes" a different culture and proves that London is one of the most urban and vibrant destinations in the world.

The world is a global village- LONDON is a global village!

Completed banner number 4

I have now completed the fourth banner for the last page and added in Dreamweaver. I have updated all the pages and feel like I have reached the goal I was aiming for! Now it is time to upload the website on the server and then update my written Evaluation!

more images for banner

http://www.cubanisimovineyards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/salsa_dance_club_logo_2_633x600.jpg (accessed: 14/05/10)













http://www.riseupradio.org/uploaded_images/hip-hop-rapper-02-799700.jpg (accessed: 14/05/10)
















http://images.buycostumes.com/mgen/merchandiser/24349.jpg (accessed: 14/05/10)

images for the last banner

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://bp3.blogger.com/_xrqB9QT4Czs/RoESBD5E2uI/AAAAAAAAAjs/fuVpy98AgOs/bellydancer2web.jpg&imgrefurl=http://doolerino.blogspot.com/2007/06/bellydancer-joseph-caleb-auditorium.html&usg=__tH0QAZ2md4BxfM4leIlN1_WSjW4=&h=560&w=400&sz=104&hl=en&start=16&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=475Y6X7ItdlxRM:&tbnh=133&tbnw=95&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbellydancer%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26sa%3DG%26rls%3Den%26tbs%3Disch:1 (accessed: 14/05/10)













http://danceparade.org/EE/images/uploads/1236779844735.jpg (accessed: 14/05/10)

Last thoughts..

I just looked at my final website again and I realised how one of the banners was too slow- therefore I edited it and updated the page with my new banner; I also noticed that I only have one page (the "about us" page) without a banner! I am now going to create a last banner for my 5th website as I want every website to have the same look and have some interactive aspect to it!
Let's get started with banner number 4!

images I used for my banners

http://991.com/newGallery/David-Guetta-One-Love-480455.jpg (accessed: 06/04/10)















http://abodenyc.com/images/New%20York%20City%20Images/New-York-Skyline-Night%20-%20Fixed.jpg (accessed: 02/04/10)



















http://www.thewonderingeye.co.uk/Images/Large/london_big_ben.jpg (accessed: 02/04/10)















http://compilers.cs.ucla.edu/spin08/LA/LA-skyline.jpg (accessed: 02/04/10)
















http://www.opentravelinfo.com/files/images/dubai.jpg (accessed: 02/04/10)
















http://www.germanistik.uni-freiburg.de/dafphil/internetprojekte/fortbildungen/daad04/claudiasusanne/berlin.jpg (accessed: 02/04/10)

more images

http://modernmindsmanagement.com/images/poseultralounge.jpg (accessed: 29/04/10)













http://www.aboutbar.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01 (accessed: 04/05/10)













http://candlefind.com/uploads/images/Misc/Candle1.jpg (accessed: 04/05/10)

Difficulties I have faced so far

- Difficulties with Photoshop: creating the right slices, keeping the same general layout style for all 5 pages

- Difficulties with Dreamweaver: when I first started working with Dreamweaver I faced many problems with the html tags. I tried to first work with the tags only which seemed to take much longer than designing the page in dreamweaver. I tried my best to use html and design in the programe and found it challenging to find a way of combining what I had done in Photoshop with html and Dreamweaver.

- Difficulties with the Banner: after finishing the pages in Dreamweaver I tried to insert my Banners in Dreamweaver which took me a while as I had not kept the Banner in mind while creating the slices in Photoshop and therefore had to go back to the slicing and edit it all again.

- Difficulties with inserting the sound: I first tried creating Buttons in Flash for the sound I wanted but then decieded to insert the song I chose ("hey hey" by Dennis Ferrer") through a HTML tag ("embedded")

Crystal Background

http://www.headpieceheaven.com/files/medczbouquet.jpg (accessed: 17/03/10)

This is the image I have used as a suttle background for all my pages. I wanted an image which was would reflect the name of the club "crystal". I have put the opacity of this image down in all pages and I think it gives the website a bit more of a elegant touch.

images I used for the gallery section

http://www.palmira-palace.com/images/photos/active/nightclub1.jpg (accessed: 12/04/10)
















http://www.dusktilldawnclub.com/_images/club/01.jpg (accessed: 12/04/10)














http://www.lasvegaslogue.com/files/2007/10/eyecandy4.jpg (accessed: 28/04/10)














http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/dining/reviews/blog/XS_Lounge_1.jpg (accessed: 28/04/10)

"membership" layout

"Event" Layout

"About Us" Page- 4 layouts: the first one is the Final Layout

The Home Layout

My -almost- final layout

Progress

After creating my final "home" layout I started working on my other layouts of "about us" and "events". It took me a while to finalize the colors and backgrounds. I want the website to look sleek, elegant and professional therefore I tried to not use many different colors yet avoid making it look boring which was a bit of a challenge.

Creation of the previously posted layout

After playing around a lot in Photoshop I have found some very useful effects like the 'drop down shadow'. I have used shadows for my 'crystal' logo and added two golden 'stars' next to the name to give it a glamourous look. I have put a crystal flower in the background of my website and put the opacity down which gives the website an interesting look as a simple black background looked rather boring.

New Layout

I have worked on a few layouts and tried to figure out to make an elegant website in gold and black featuring the name of the club 'funkyhouse' in which I miserably failed as the name funkyhouse does not go hand in hand with the idea of an 'elegant' and classy website, therefore I have changed the name of the club to 'Crystal', which was a random idea. I find the name more suitable for my club. I have also created a logo for "crystal" and designed its first layout which I am finally content with.

Layout idea 3

Layout idea 2

My first Layout

The Layout which I posted previously was created in Photoshop as I want to first finalize the look of the website before starting creating the actual website with html and dreamweaver. I used two colors: Gold and Black - which I like but I am not 100% satisfied the that layout. Now before creating another layout I want to finalize the content of the 5 pages.

First Layout: trial

Intro

Pictures I might be using on my website

http://www.exploringlasvegas.com/nightclubs/lax/lax_nightclub_las_vegas.jpg




http://media.photobucket.com/image/nightclub/falling_star_2008/nightclub.jpg

First Influences

http://www.fabriclondon.com/
http://www.fbmayfair.co.uk/main.html
http://www.amikalondon.com/
http://www.themayfairclub.co.uk/
http://www.embassylondon.com/embassy/london/
http://www.thepenthouselondon.com/

First HTML practise

Hi

This is a google tag

FLower

TEST TEST TEST

Oranges

Bananas

Apples/li>

Proposal 1st draft

Proposal: Designing for the Internet Project

Funky House – the new nightclub in Kingston

Concept:

After working on various different ideas I finally decided to create a website of a new fictional club called “Funky House” which I opened in Kingston. My first ideas were creating a website which would compare the top universities from five different English speaking countries but after presentation the idea to the class I decided to go back to all my other ideas and decided to work on the idea of a club which I was personally most interested.

I am motivated to create a website about a club as I have always been interested in the design and style of places such as clubs, bars and restaurants and its interior design. I am also a passion dancer and love all sorts of music and one place in which I could bring in all my ideas at ones would be a club. My target audience are mainly students but the club also features night for “over 21 only”. So the audience would be broad as I will have different nights with different music every day. The majority of people who will be coming to Funky House will be Kingston students. I do not want the club to be a so called “student’s club” but want to give it a classy, posh and stylish touch. The club can be compared to clubs in Mayfair and Leicester Square but the entry costs and drinks costs will be comparable to the other local clubs in Kingston so the price does not come into the way of students.

The main concept of Funky House which makes it different to other clubs is the fact that it has a different theme every night. E.g.:

Mondays: Bhangra night

Tuesdays: Arabic night

Wednesdays: Salsa night

Thursdays: House night

Fridays: Funky house & Hip hop night

Saturdays: 21+ only (international music)

This goes hand in hand with McLuhan’s concept of the “world is a global village”. The club will have an international staff and will invite DJs and artists from different countries which make it multicultural. The main focus of the club will be diversity. Every night at the Funky House will be different and featuring music from different cultures. Local artists- such as Kingston music and dance students will get the chance to perform at the club which give the club a more down to earth touch and will avoid the club to spend a big amount of money to get famous artists to come and will give students a chance to show their skills.

Project Timeline:

Week 1-5: As mentioned previously I have been working on other ideas throughout the first 5 weeks and have changed the topic of my website various times therefore I will not go into detail of my previous work but will start off from the time when I finalised my project. In week 3 I thought about the club Idea for the first time and started researching online and tried to come up with a name and its special features. As I do not want to share the previous timelines I had created before starting the finalised project I will be giving a short insight to what I did from week 1 until week 5 and then add the timeline I set for the future.

Week 1: Introduction to the module (I missed the session this week due to illness but tried to gain information from my classmates). I read the module guide and tried to find useful inspiring websites.

Week 2: Introduction to Dreamweaver and refreshment of Photoshop. This week I started thinking of ideas for the final project. Getting familiar with Mc Luhan’s concepts “medium is the message” and “world is a global village”. Creation of my blog!

Week 3: First ideas

· website about London for tourists

· website which compares London’s top 5 shopping spots

· website about my own new shopping mall

· website about my new club in Kingston

· website which compares universities from 5 different countries

I started working on a few of those ideas but still very unsure on what exactly to do. I tried to find links to McLuhan’s ideas and started thinking of logos. I did a few Photoshop exercises and refreshed my flash skills. I also looked back to my Digital Media Project from first year in which I used FLASH.

Week 4: Now I started working on the idea of comparing universities from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the USA. I did a lot of research on various universities and looked up their rankings on websites such as guardian.com and timesonline.com

Week 5: Created my presentation about the universities on Power Point. I did some more exercises on Photoshop and also made a storyboard.

Week 6: Presentation day. I presented my idea and was not satisfied with the feedback therefore spent many hours thinking about another idea and finally decided to go back to the Club Idea and felt very motivated to work on it. I finalised it today afternoon and have been working on it ever since. I realised that I am most passionate about it as I have always wanted to open up my own club. I have made a flowchart and a storyboard, I have decided which colours I will be using and have been creating a few design templates in Photoshop and Dreamweaver. Hand in the final Proposal!

Week 7: By week 7 I want to have all my pages, colours, the logo and the design of my website finalised. Chose the soundtrack and start creating navigating websites. Research more about clubs in London and Kingston and compare them. This week we get introduced to HTML so start working with codes and production.

Week 8: Finalise all images which I want to use and by week 8 I want to have already worked on the images in Photoshop. Editing Editing Editing!

Week 9: Project development! Try to bring things together: sounds, images, videos

Week 10: Create the final presentation and work on the project. Make the presentation clear so that the class gets an exact idea of what I want to do.

Week 11: Present my website and after getting feedback work on my mistakes and improve the work

Week 12: Upload all the files, register with search engines and website maintenance. FINAL work!

Project Requirements:

1) A MAC computer with the following programmes:

§ Dreamweaver

§ Photoshop

§ Flash

§ After Effects (maybe)

2) Digital Camera: to take pictures which I want to add to my gallery section and videos of musicians and friends who I interview for reviews

3) Friends/Classmates who agree on letting me take their pictures and act in my videos

Project Description:

I want the website to have a glamorous, classy and elegant look. The design should be stylish and tacky yet have funky elements which avoid boredom while looking through. The sound should be catchy, fresh and fast but not annoyingly loud or distracting. I want the background to be black and use a golden font. The 5 main pages are:

Ø About us

Ø Events

Ø Membership

Ø Gallery

Ø Home

The first site is going to have a “funky” background and the name of the club “Funky House” and an enter button bellow the name. The sound will already start playing and will change by entering the website.

(Words: 1,240)

Change of topic

After today's presentation in class I changed my mind about doing a website on universities. Instead I have gone back to my older idea about doing a website about my own club called "Funky House".

More ideas:

•How do I link that to “Medium is the message”?

•Students rely on online information while deciding which university to go to

•Many universities -> only way to apply is online (UCAS in the UK)

5 Universities

5 Universities (for media)

•UK: Warwick

•USA: University of California

•Canada: University of Toronto

•Australia: Australian National University

•New Zealand: University of Auckland

Preparation for the Presentation which needs to be presented next monday:

• First ideas
• Concept
• Narrative
• Photoshop, Dreamweaver, After Effects
• Deadline
• Inspiration

Idea

COMPARE 5 universities from all over the world:

New York

Sidney

Los Angeles

London

Birmingham

-> global approach

Paragraph about The Website

My initial idea for the website is to create an informative website about the universities in the UK. I would like to compare five universities which offer the Media Course and discuss their pro and cons. The website can be useful to A-Levels students who have to apply for five universities. I will be giving guidelines on how to start off applying for a course in the UK, which will be quite useful for international students in particular. I am not quite sure if I will be looking at Bachelors or Masters Courses. I want to add sounds for every button on the homepage.

Pooja Ahluwalia K0826142 Designing For The Internet

I want to start thinking about what kind of a website I want to create. I have had a look at a few websites which interest me and have various ideas which I will be working on in the near future.