That's a wrap!

(Yasalam Mlawan!! Allaaah :P)

Current mood: Acerbic
Current song: In For The Kill - La Roux

So I'm just sitting in the living room, being pathetic. It's the other way around really, I feel proud that I'm keep up with this course; portfolio development. I acquired valuable information regarding a portfolio website as I did lots of research, saw many examples, analyzed them, knew the pros and cons, discovered new things in general.

Video production: I handed in the rough cut of my film: the making-of Quileutilda the quaffing Quapaw. Essentially the film shows the process and the steps taken to create and develop Qtilda (for short), in both Flash animation, Graphic Design.

Speaking of flash, I'm required to not only refine what I did, but start from scratch without actually getting credit for it. Sugar. I'd love to do that if I had the time. And in the Graphic Design class, ms. B said that she liked the banner I designed, but that's not all, I'm also going to work on the merchandise of Quileutida. T-shirts, cups and the usual package.

IELTS mock was a duck soup though I arrived 30+ minutes late. And no not because I have a manner to arrive late, but I thought it starts at 8:45, but it starts at 7:45, so supposedly I was, as a matter of fact, early. Hmph.

Ladies and gentlemen, have a look at the final design:



Worry not, I'll keep updating the blog as frequently as i can.

Picture not related

Current mood: Hectic
Current song: Bathwater - No Doubt

Coraline was nice. I like the fact that, unlike most 3D films, it focused more on the story rather than aesthetics. It reminded me a bit of Alice in Wonderland. Okay let's talk about how have I been keeping up with school work.

• Portfolio development: I did a presentation showing my 3 designs. Next week I'll talk about which one I opted for to finalize. Plus, talk about the process of creating them while showing this very blog.

• Marketing: Fazal asked us to promote the product we picked. I'm going to to plan a poster soon. it has to be different.
• Arabic Communication: The press conference I was responsible for will be part of the Media Campaign, which is the project the guys are working on these days.
• English Communications: Intensive IELTS revision. Nothing new. Mock exam on Wednesday.
  
• Media studio:
  Video production: rough cut due next thursday, i need to shoot my the IV. Graphic Design: I submitted my banner, and they will get it to the printer. I hope it looks good. Flash Animation: Not satisfied with my work. Period.

I'll try to re-edit some of the posts to include images of the process, but it takes too damn long to upload. I guess I'm overburdened now. This bad luck sure knows how to find its way around things. it just has to kick in somehow.

Expect more soon.

update #?

**Hadn't it been for bloggers sucky image uploading system, I would have included the three versions of my portfolio webdesigns.


Current mood: Liberated (for no at least)
Current song: Say - John Mayer

Phew, we finally did the presentations of our websites. I presented three versions, and I was quite surprised that 50% of the class voted for Design no. 2 to be finalized, as apposed to what I've opted for; that is Design no. 3. Oh well, different people have different opinions right?

Design no. 1 and no. 2 iare attached in previous posts, so I'm just going to include the third design:






How annoying is it when you spend 10+ hours on something and it ends up looking like crap? well this is the case of my soundless Flash animation. Put aside the tutorials we were doing all semester long, I mainly constructed my animation on merely motion and shape tweening and importing images (that I worked on) to the program. THAT'S NOT AS SIMPLE AS IT SOUNDS LIKE, I CAN ASSURE YOU. The final animation shaped up to be far from what I had in mind, and even further from what I've drawn in the storyboard. What I learned is; Never plan anything that you are not 100% capable of doing.

We were also supposed to submit our banner (pull-up) designs as an InDesign file to Ms. Barbra, but something's wrong with the file that we're given... Meh, never ending chain of obstacles.

Enough from the nagging and bragging. I went to watch X-men origins: Wolverine with the guys and it was great. Well, I need to get some rest, because tomorrow doesn't seem to be a short day (Ross, FF, Haircut, Christine, College).

some examples and Struggling to maintain afloat

Current mood: Overwhelmed
Current Song: The Wind Forest - Joe Hisaishi

Hey, I've been working on my assignments lightly, so worry not, I'm slightly progressing. With this soft song playing on my iTunes, I can't help but act polite. Speaking about music, just met up with Omran who had promised to give me Ayumi's new record which he got his hand on early from his "sources". And It's being imported to my iTunes library as we speak :D

While on my way back from... I can't remember, I was having an internal conversation with myself about how well I'm coping with life. And then I smiled, I was doing a pretty good job following my objectives. I asked myself how do I do it? I set the bar higher was the answer.

Just last thursday did we wrapped the accurately planned Arabic conference, and I think the guys and myself did a great job co-operating.

In the Graphic Design class last week, we did a presentation where I presented various versions of my character. Most people voted for the Olive-green and crimson color combination as the main color scheme.

In the Flash aspect, I'm halfway through drawing just the backgrounds. So I've got a long way to go.

I don't want to create a website outline that I know I won't be satisfied with. I mean we did all these research and critique sessions about the pros and cons of a portfolio website, so I should make sure I apply all that I've learnt from that and put together a nice fullfilling website. This stage has been progessing sluggishly, but once I pull the trigger everything will flow smoothly.

However, the problem is pulling the trigger. Have a look at my recent developments below:

A month already?!

Current mood: Resposible/guilty.
Current song: Energetic - BoA

Whoa, never noticed that I haven't been updating until this class. We had the independent learning week, and I guess I missed a couple of classes. No wonder I haven't been keeping up with this blog.

Independent learning week was awesome. It was completely filled with activities. I've volunteered to help Don Kamp in showcasing the whole "Education without borders 2009"event in a short film (that I never got to see). The experience was fun and I'll try to catch every similar opportunity that passes by. I also helped in doing some serious stuff (educational) that I'd rather make another post about it later.

Cirque Du Soleil: Alegria was OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD! Words can't do it any justice. Furthermore about the entertainment side of my time is the movie "Duplicity". Julia Roberts was eyecandy and the story was engaging, add to that a confusing twist too. Mr. and Mrs. Smith for matures, as my cousin would call it. I've been playing Pokemon Platinum over the past three weeks. I still have a long way to go to get my team at its peak. Last friday was great; we went to Marwan's 3zba (Ranch) and had alot of fun riding the camels, barbequing, and baking poffins and playing contests on our DS'. Too bad my (and Ahmed's) battery died.

I didn't really have the time to "intensively' work on my Portfolio website design, as I was occupied by doing and planning other projects, as follows;

• Arabic Press conference: Organizer + Director (Due Thursday the 16th)
• Flash Animation: I have submitted the Final draft story board an hour ago, and started working lightly on my character animation.
• Graphic Design; I can assure you that I have not developed this aspect since... I can't even remember.
• Video: storyboard, brief and project treatment has been handed in already. Mission succeeded. I did take my time on the treatment, but it ended up pretty nicely.
• English course; IELTS samples and more practice. Oh, and the Speaking exam was a piece of cake. I've been told I got the full mark ;) yes I deserve to brag about it. Hmph.
• And the last on is the BIG fish; Fazal's Marketing folder. I did a survey about the product I've chosen to talk about; ALOE FRESH toothpaste. It took a big hunch of my schedual.

Okay enough justifying myself, I'm off to work on my portfolio website designs right now. See my first designing attempts below:

Fresh from the farm assignements

I did not attend yesterday's classes, I was too lazy. that simlple, sorry to disappoint you, but that's the truth. Yesterday while having my coffee and enjoying my claimed day-off , I took a sip and opened the newspaper. In the horoscopes section, I scrutinized my tower, which is the Taurus. Surprisingly I found out that on Sunday I would be very lazy getting up from bed, I happened to be a tad too lazy. Sorry Jeneen, but it's written on my horoscope, that should be a good excuse!

The next day, which is today, like right now, I came early ( not that I want to make up for yesterdays absence or anything...). Not shockingly, I learnt that there are lots of projects to keep us busy for the rest of the semester:

• Flash animation (storyboard, actual .flv)
• Portfolio website design (this blog is part of the process)
• Experimental film (due tomorrow)
• Ms. Sue just gave us an IELTS book.
• Fazal's research.

That's all. 'til next time.

and the countdown begins

only 9 hours left for the presentation! Phew, I just finished wrapping up my powerpoint file and made sure it works properly. Actually it wasn't working well on my mac (yousef would love that) so I had to steal my sis' laptop for that.

I promise you guys are gonna like it, not complicated at all so don't worry. Jeneen and Ahmed would love the fact that it's done simply. It's not so simple that even Saeed will find relish in listening.

Susan's paper is also complete. But I need to double check my Grammar in some phrases. Moreover, I feel satisfied about last week's presentation for the Media Studio course, the Graphic Design aspect with Barbra. My choice is mostly leaning towards the pregnant mad witch scientist doctor vixen lady, and the Mohawk guy. Though I need more depth in their personality and storyline.

We need two more shooting sessions for Guy and one for editing. All hail the Randomness.

Oh and thanks for a very special someone for helping me out! I don't know how I would live without you!!! you are a lifesaver!

the website I'll be doing my presentation on is www.vanityclaire.com



Chibaku Tensei and Gambate everyone. (that wasn't so bad (long) was it?)

Impending storm

Current mood: Enthusiasic
Current song: Watch me Shine

What's up everyone, I've been checking my blog once in a while and I've noticed my posts are a bit ...lengthy, so I'll just go straight to the point from now on. I promise not more than 200 words.

I arrived at Jeneen's class a little late today. Not so surprising as I always crash in late. But believe me I had an early errand to run, actually an early kitty errand. Diamond, the beloved diva and mother cat of the house, was all meow meow on me. In other words, she was hungry as well as angry. According to Rosalina (the new housemaid) we're not only out of cat-food but chicken, meat, fish or anything edible for cats. Yeah, right! like I would believe that ( I could have sworn I saw some chicken in that pot on the corner). I let it pass because I did not want to get caught up in unnecessary early morning argument with her. So I decided to run to the closest store and buy a dozen of tuna cans. It took me 2 traffic lights to arrive back home ( that equals 15 minutes, sorry Ahmed for using lots of numbers, check with Nora). And that was it, my justification for being late.

Lesson Learned:

• A man cannot say no to a demanding cute little kitty face, even if it makes you late to class.
• Maids are evil.

Okay, enough chattery and more serious talk. The impending storm that I'm referring to in the post's title is the presentation we'll be doing on the 8th next month. We just had a semi website evaluation game. Everyone contributed and said what they thought was good/bad about the website shown via the projector (except Yousef, I guess). Moreover, Jeneen kept saying "Why" everytime someone opened their mouth, not that it's a bad thing though. I kinda was in a little talkative mood, so I was very critical if I didn't like a bit from the website evaluated. And boy did I not like many things. Haha hehe haha ho

Crap, that's what I was afraid of; writing walls of texts. Sorry *runs away*

One more thing, I'll just post some points that will remind people what aspects they should focus on during their presentations:

1. Download time
2. Content
3. Design
4. Navigation
5. Topicality
6. Usability (HCI: Human computer Interaction)
7. Interactivity
8. Audience

So I'm off to search for a bunch of websites, in order to find the most appropriate one to utilize the above-mentioned areas. I'll let you know if I cam across any good ones. 'til next then.

Another day, another drama

current mood: workaholic
current song: Behind These Hazel Eyes

Hey guys, I just started the third week of this semester and allow me to say it's crammed with assignments attacking from all courses (Teachers are doing their best though, expecially Jeneen :P).

Not only that, but I'm also nominated to join an exchange program, which is basically a trip to St. Gallen University in Switzerland. We go there for 10 days and their students come to our college and stay for 10 days. Wait, wasn't it the other way around?

Anyway, I'm in the Web-Portfolio class right now. Jeneen just asked us to update our blogs, so here I am! One more thing relevant to this course; we are also expected to to do a website evaluation presentation. I remember doing one of these last year with (my collegue) Saeed AKA AOW. planning for it was fun. However, this time we are supposed to do it not just about any website of our choice but within the boundaries of portfolio websites.

To sum, as you can see we are still in the early stages of this course, in other words we are merely doing research about portfolio websites, looking for more examples, good ones.

I'll let you know how's everything going with the presentation, which will be held on the 8th next month.

Portfolio website evaluation

http://www.olawojtowicz.com/

This website neatly fits in the portfolio category as it represents a person’s work, achievements, interests and personal information.

I think Ola Wojtowicz’ website replaces a business card, because it showcases everything a viewer would like to learn about her. Here's brief evaluation on Olga's website that Ms. Jeneen asked us to do:

As you type the website in your browser’s search bar, a welcoming page shows up. I’m not usually a fan of this, but I could make an exception about this page. The welcoming page exposes a beautifully designed “ENTER” and an array of the awards logos that the website’s creator has won, just in case the viewer is not tempted enough by the charming appearance of the “ENTER” button.

Along with many others I just couldn’t resist, “Click”. A very jazzy, yet calm tune plays to get you in the mood (there’s a small Radio icon in the left hand corner if you want to turn off the music). The main page itself looked organized and not busy. Considering the site is totally done in Flash, nothing “attacks” you when you enter which is sometimes the case with other flash websites, but you are in full control of the page. Moving on to other elements, the main page is so easy to navigate that you can locate a small notebook on the ground. When you click it, it automatically opens up and comes to the screen as if by magic. The notebook lists all the important information about Ola Wojtowicz on one page, and a changing portrait of her is on the other side.

Ola herself is a designer so the portfolio itself is an essential place to display that, and it does. The gallery branches into more than one section including graphics, painting and photography. Whenever you hover the mouse over any of them, they change colors and in some cases the first letter becomes capitalized, so it’s visually attractive.

The designer made sure that every single page contains a moving thing/object to keep it alive and vibrant, and therefore keep the viewer interested. Interactivity in the website is simple, fast and easy to access. Just click the “CONTACT” button on the menu column and your Mac will automatically open the Mail program, allowing you to type in whatever notes you want to send directly to the web-designer. In short, I think the website completely covers every aspect of a portfolio website in a very engaging way and keeps the viewer fully interested and in my opinion make them a regular visitor to check for more updates. I say this speaking from experience.

So clicky clicky, go have a look!