Unnecessary Glorification

Note: Not my actual submission for the design process task, just pointless fluff note material.

So, we've a week to write a small journal about design processes, and how we work with our ideas.

Last real design project I did was my portfolio. I could just crank out a page or so about that.

...

Nah.

This blog is looking a bit plain. As of writing, that title at the top is just some kind of Arial text saying RootBlog. In white. Against grey.

I'm beginning to hate it.



First thing's first, figuring out what I'm going to do. Answer is, create a header image for this blog.

How do most headers look?

Not sure. So, I shamelessly look at other blog headers. I suppose this section of my design process could be considered Market Research. Looking at what other kind of material is out there and how it's being used.

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/03/05/blog-headers-for-free-download/
http://www.freewebpageheaders.com/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/533

Okay, looks like 800x200 pixels is a good size for them. By no means am I going to glue to this boundry, I'm aware larger ones are possible, but they run the risk of becoming too dominating if not done right.

I've not much experience with Photoshop, and unless you really know what you're doing with the program, images just tend to become swirly masses of pointless filters that just look amateur. So I go for Fireworks, which is far simpler.

Now I consider the design.

Things I think about:

• Context of the image: Where will it be positioned, how will it link with other areas of the blog to look like part of a whole design, rather than misplaced.
• Colour scheme: I dislike going for 'Dark' colour schemes, but white text on dark grey or black is easier to read and causes less eyestrain. And eyestrain is bad. Orange tends to be a colour that goes quite well with a dark colour scheme, in my opinion. but I might also want to use a white majority for the header for contrast with the rest of the blog.
• Information needed: What needs getting across quickly to the reader.
• Style: Professional, casual, colourful, modern, impressive, etc.

I kind of want to include an image I'd make, but that's a matter of time. Hence, I'll complete the important aspects first to give myself freedom to focus on the hardest part.

I decide the colour scheme will be bright, to contrast with the greyness of the rest of the blog. It's an easy change to make later if I ever choose to redesign the entirety of the blog with a more optimistic and less gloomy theme.

The information I need is my name, course, and the blogs title. I write these down on a notepad next to my laptop so's I don't forget.

As for style, I already know what I want. Something that looks fairly professional, whilst not being serious in the slightest. Good old reliable pixels, 8-bit design.

Context is figured out with a test image.


Anyway, time to make a start on the actual header with all these in mind. Tomorrow I'll probably finish it and add it to the blog, and then start writing up what I was supposed to do in the first place, that being the design process.


Edit: I notice I'm doing a lot of test exports and then previewing it. I suppose this could be considered prototyping.

Edit 2- The Addition Strikes Back: Just finished a little 8-bit image of me, intentionally based on the Megaman sprite. The whole theme of the blog header is currently a kind of tribute to 8-bit video games. Which I'm happy with.