Things have gone pretty well over the last week, working on my re-design of CHNM’s French Revolution website, “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.” In my work this week, compared with the design project, I really appreciate having the content finished and basically organized. Trying to redesign CHNM’s home page was challenging in large part because, as Lee Ann and Paula highlighted, a new organization of the material is essential. (more…)

As part of my brainstorming to come up with design ideas this morning, I was surfing around the ol’ Internet and came across a wonderful little site. It was highlighted on Stylegala as a new entry, and I thought it was really cool. Since our class is always talking about and questioning what makes good design, I thought I would flag it for everyone. The site is a promotional site for the book designer Jason Beaird has recently published: The Principles of Beautiful Web Design. What is most fun about the site is that when you hover and/or click on the menu items, such as “Layout,” you get a visual description of how Jason applied certain design principles on his page. This creative use of imagery is a good explanation of how to use different elements and how to apply different techniques.

For anyone interested, I have added to the design portion of my portfolio page one example of a new redesign of my design project. As I write there, there are still many things left to change…colors, size of images, add text, and certainly to code it. I’ve found through this design process that I do like to do Photoshop mock-ups. If I had taken a snapshot of each version, there would be many, many more to post here. Now, however, it is time to move on to the final…

After reading more from James Paul Gee in his article “Learning by Design: Good Video Games as Learning Machines” (PDF) I was no more encouraged than I was before about using video games of any kind to teach our children. His argument strikes me as being provocative for the sake of creating controversy and debate on the topic more so than to make a clear and compelling case for adopting gaming technologies for use in educational programs. (more…)

After last night’s class, I have to say I was rather discouraged. And my site wasn’t even critiqued. I think many of the comments were useful, but some seemed gratuitous and not necessarily designed to help the person receiving criticism. Some things are a matter of opinion. Some things are a matter of design sense. If you take the concept of the CSS Zen Garden as an example, you understand that there is no One Correct Design. (more…)

I’ve recently discovered a great little podcast that has helped me a bunch lately as I try to improve my Photoshop skills. Thought I would share it with the class. They are great, short little bits that definitely provide some helpful hints for how to achieve certain effects in PS. Fair warning, though: they can be addictive! Have fun.

I think I’m going to need every last minute on this one this week. I’ve decided to tackle a fun, free-thinking redesign of the CHNM homepage. I’m trying to think completely differently and do something new. So far, I’ve been through at least 10 different designs–and that’s after I created the first sketch with my idea. (more…)

Mouthwatering photo of David Lebovitz’s Salted Butter Caramel Ice Cream.

Recently I gave in and bought a copy of Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book. I do love their ice cream, and after my dear friend Michelle made one of their recipes last summer, I knew I’d have to buy the book. So I’ve been keeping it in the back of my mind and planning and preparing on waiting until summer to try out the recipes. Why wait? Well, really, it gets dangerous to make delicious treats year-round, and if I limit ice cream to summer, I’m that much safer. Plus, it makes it more special. Today, however, I ran across a post on a blog I discovered recently, written by ice cream and dessert cookbook writer David Lebovitz. The title was Salted Butter Caramel Ice Cream. Oh my! It sounds divine. Michelle…what do you say we try this in June?

A key theme I’m sure you’ve noticed if you’ve been reading my posts is that I am a rather impatient person. So, if you don’t mind, I’m going to rant a bit. The Internet visits for this week were frustrating for me and a bit of a let down. Admittedly, it could be my mood…

Nonetheless, the Lost Museum seemed really cool at first, but as I started to wander through, I felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere. (more…)

Whenever I sit down to read the books and articles for class, I get really antsy. I want to go design something. I think part of the reason I prefer web design to being a historian is because I simply don’t have the patience to read as much as a historian should read. I like to be doing something. I like the process, sense of progress, near-immediate gratification, and the accomplishment of creation that web design offers. (Which is why I like the researching and writing aspect of being a historian, even though it’s a longer process.) So, sitting down to read this week, I kept flitting back and forth to tweak something on the project I was working on, to jot down questions that popped into mind, and to make notes for things to remember in later designs. (more…)