Squares!

Color Choice

I'm choosing gray for my color. I'd enjoy studying a color that is neither black nor white; an "in-between". Gray is reminiscent of smoke, mist, fuzziness and, at least for me; uncertainty. Creating a site representing smoke and the color gray gives me the opportunity to make a site that confuses and simultaneously intrigues the visitor. Creating a site that requires the user to think and use their head can create a favorable fan base.

I think there is a lot of potential in using fog, smoke and steam; maybe making a page that represents the properties of each.

There is also a duality within the color. While gray can represent aging and death, I think it is also a pretty futuristic color; the concrete and smoke of industrial progress.

Morally or ethically, gray represents an in-between. Neither black or white.

Gray is also referenced heavily in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Borrowing heavily from European folklore, Tolkien references the color "gray" several times as a thematic element. The most substantial of which would be Gandalf the Gray, who later returns as Gandalf the White. Yeah, Lord of the Rings is rad.

The grim hypothetical scenario known as ecophagy, also known in some circles as the "gray goo" scenario", is a futuristic idea that self-replicating nano-robots consume all living matter on earth, while replicating themselves.

Gray has also been a term of slang used to describe alcohol inebriation in both American and French cultures.

Revised Haiku Poem

Haiku Assignment 1

 

 I liked the word choice in this haiku and thought that the words gave me a lot of room for creative manipulation of the html text. I wanted to keep the stylization very subtle yet aesthetically pleasing.

For the first line, I wanted to give it a classic storybook kind of feel, so I enlarged the first letter and changed the color; keeping it simple while still looking good.

I wanted to fool around with different font styles for the second line, boldening the word, "throbbing" and changing its font to have some contrast. I felt the best color to embody the word would be maroon.

The final line I decided to focus more on manipulating the color scheme, showing a transition from warm colors to a cooler green to represent the word blooming. I also increased the font size gradually, building it to an epic finale.

Bad Sites / Good Sites?

Alrighty, well I suppose I'll start with what I feel exhibits bad website design:

www.doteasy.com

Assuming you can find some sort of virtual tugboat to dredge you around this site, it seems that you will be lost and eventually die among all the visual clutter and hyperlinks. Sites should be simple to be effective. I actually tried making a website with this provider and was utterly and completely dissapointed. The website creation UI constantly glitches out and loading any sort of outside coding turns into a huge ordeal.

http://www.ashtarcommandcrew.net/profiles/blogs/cosmic-people-of-light-powers

Ah, the cosmic people of light powers. A Nordic cult that believes Jesus was an alien. Some great and hilarious stuff here, but please put on welding goggles if you scroll down the page. Terrible rainbowy color design reminiscent of early 90's web sites for people and their cats.

Now, onto good design:

www.demonoid.me

As far as torrenting goes, I've lost quite a few computers to downloaded torrents, but this site was easy to navigate and as far as torrenting sites go, virtually free of errors. All of the uploaded files are peer reviewed and scanned for files, while the membership greatly reduces the amount of malware that ends up on the site. Clean, easy and free.

www,Google.com

Dont get me wrong, I'm well aware that soon we will be living in "Googlopolis", a dark, gritty reimagining of 1984. But by god they've earned it. Succesfully integrating every facet of an online experience into a simple, glitch-free mechanic. Now my e-mail is linked to my social networking which will soon be linked to my toaster.